Sony announced today that the Playstation Home Open Beta has been pushed back until Fall ‘08 and the Closed Beta will be “expanded” both in length and number of testers. This announcement seems to have rubbed a lot of people the wrong way as if there is somehow this technological Utopia they’re being told they can’t enter yet. Sony (ie. “the man”) is somehow keeping them down. It seems like some of you think this is somehow cruel and unusual punishment. You know what? Suck it up guys.
It’s generally a good idea to delay if someone’s coming out with software or a service and THEY say it’s not ready. Shigeru Miyamoto has a pretty good outlook on this kind of situation with reference to games (and no, Home isn’t a game, but his outlook applies here nonetheless). He said “A late game is only late until it comes out, a bad game is bad forever.” Obviously that statement was made before the “release now, patch later” mentality of today’s console landscape was commonplace or even possible.
I realize it may not be obvious since most folks aren’t actually in the current beta, but a LOT of what’s already been shown in Home months ago still isn’t in the beta for folks to be testing. It should be no surprise to anyone in the beta that if they planned to launch with anywhere near the number of features they’ve shown during tradeshow presentations that it wouldn’t be launching anytime soon. I know folks are understandably curious and I have to agree with the folks that are saying Sony probably played this card a lot earlier than they should have. If there’s any truth to the old adage “any press is good press” then Sony’s getting a lot of buzz built up while (in my opinion) doing the right thing.
For Home to be an unqualified success, I think it’s going to need to succeed on multiple fronts. It has to succeed as a social networking service, a game media portal of sorts (think of the rumored Home spaces for Uncharted, Warhawk, and Resistance), and to some degree, the whole “virtual world” concept needs to gain traction beyond its popular yet unflattering Sims and Second Life comparisons. I think Home will be considered a success by some (Sony included) if it can win two of these three fronts. If they somehow manage to succeed on all three, you probably won’t even need to ask if Home is a success.
Keep reading to find out why you shouldn’t worry about Home today…
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20 responses so far ↓
1 RK1 FaMiCuS // Apr 22, 2008 at 1:21 pm
I predict Home will be delayed till 2009. How many Betas is it going to take to get in right?
2 andyg // Apr 22, 2008 at 1:31 pm
How about the open beta will be delayed till 2009 lol… I was looking forward to the trophy case… Must… have… ps3 achievements!!
3 Artemas // Apr 22, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Wow. the new console gen will come out before home does.
Ironicly the security word to post this is “canceled”
4 RK1 FaMiCuS // Apr 22, 2008 at 1:41 pm
You might be right with that. I’m sorry but Sony needs to get their act together so the Playstation can stop being referred to as the Delaystation.
5 Darius // Apr 22, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Well, I disagree, letting everyone in to an open beta just now would make people a lot happier, the thing is people are going to get there hopes up higher for either it to be delayed or its not to there expectations, you see the thing is they announced it for last year, and they advertised it when PS3 was about to come out. That Is 2 years now, why announce it coming out if they know deep down it isn’t. An open beta people would understand its still a beta and would be mightily happy using it, people can’t grasp with the fact that other people can use it and we can’t and to even take part in it you have to live in the US, why can Europe have there own closed beta version of home, if they refuse to bring out the open. People would be happy with,”making their own apartment , playing the mini games, launching into a game together, and playing music videos through the virtual TV’s and stereos. I would totally understand it’s still under construction. But you know what, I reckon they will either cancel this idea after countless delays or it won’t come out for at least over a year. There is delays I understand but a 2 year delay is ridiculous. Bring out the Open beta.
6 IncredibleBulk9 // Apr 22, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Sorry I still don’t get why people even care about this. Home won’t do anything amazing new or special, I can talk to people on MSN, I can watch trailers on youtube, probably on the same day its released on Home. I’m happy with this series of icons and menus that currently consists of my XMB. Why can’t they just scrap it and put the resources into things people care about, like in-game XMB, sountracks or maybe *gasp* original features. The new store was a leap in the right direction. More stuff like that if anything Sony.
7 Tweepe // Apr 22, 2008 at 2:24 pm
I still remember Kaz saying something about 4d and the PS2 and how it would blow us away or other quotes you can attribute to the Sony Big Wig’s that have been parodied already.
Still, since Killzone 2 has been delayed (and went off the map) to make a triumphant return I am optimistic that Home will do the same, still, it WAS promised last fall.
8 Anski // Apr 22, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I don’t think opening up the beta to anyone now would be a good idea. Some people would get the understanding that it is still in development, but a lot wouldn’t. All they would do is bitch and moan about how this feature isn’t there, that feature isn’t here.
I think it would totally ruin the experience for people who are looking for something fully functional. Just because they say over and over that it is just a beta, doesn’t mean people would understand.
The beta phase of a program is there for the community to test and send feedback to the developers. Why make an open beta when they know people will just get it to be in Home? Open beta is just there to show off most of your goods before the product is released. Halo 3, MGO, anyone?
9 patrick // Apr 22, 2008 at 4:11 pm
IncredibleBulk9 you took the words right out of my mouth. Who cares if HOME ever comes out. My PS3 is doing just fine without it and I only see HOME causing more problems then solutions anyways
10 RaiseHavok // Apr 22, 2008 at 5:09 pm
I agree that Sony played its had too early. Home should have been kept under wraps and only announced when they were sure it was close to completion. However, competition being what it is, Sony was getting it handed to them by Microsoft and Nintendo and obviously felt they needed something big to stop the bleeding. I support delays if they help improve quality, but I am growing tired of these early announcements followed by numerous delays.
11 RaiseHavok // Apr 22, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I meant to say “played its hand too early.”
12 Adam Harley // Apr 22, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Isn’t Shigeru Miyamoto the Nintendo guy?
13 Blades144 // Apr 22, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Is Home going to feature Duke Nukem Forever in it? Cause then I am totally down for that action!
Home to me seems more like Second Life / Sims hybrid. If I wanted that, I would buy another PC, waste of time……
14 Sean "Rothbart" Workman // Apr 22, 2008 at 10:47 pm
@Adam Harley: Yes, the creator of Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, etc. Someone familiar with not releasing something until it’s ready.
@Blades144: I won’t hold your ignorance against you… or laziness, whichever it is.
15 Tweepe // Apr 23, 2008 at 10:21 am
The creator of Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda etc has the track record to release a game when it’s ready; does Sony?
16 instant // Apr 23, 2008 at 12:07 pm
im sure they know all this delaying is upsetting people, so they’ll make sure its worth our wait because if it isn’t then it sux2b them
17 Doc // Apr 23, 2008 at 3:08 pm
test
18 Wolf26pack // Apr 24, 2008 at 7:15 pm
I also agree that Sony released the Home info to early. I believe it was because they needed something BIG to combat Microsofts 360. I think the delays are because Sony is understaffed and when it was annouced it was still something that was barely on the Drawing Board. Although they showed what seemed like a working version of it 2 years ago, I have learned that when it comes to Sony annoucing a new feature it is quite a ways off.
I also agree with Mr. Miyamoto’s philosophy of a releasing a game when it is ready. I am really tired of games being half released and then getting patched over & over & over again.
In the end though if it was released now like said above people would whine and complain that certain features aren’t there and people would get bored of it within 2 weeks and never return. Although I also would like to get it now I have the Patience to wait for it to be completed. I just hope I am invited to the Extended Beta so I can have my opinion be heard.
19 Blades144 // Apr 24, 2008 at 7:35 pm
uhh both and sarcasm Rothbart.
20 Meresin // Apr 24, 2008 at 11:59 pm
I’d rather wait on a complete product. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds cool, and I’m very excited, but I think we’ll all be better off if they keep it under wraps until it is in working order. Same goes for games…I’d rather wait a few more months for them to be ready than deal with the problems a longer beta period would have ironed out.
It does make me chuckle when people claim that the beta should be open now, regardless of its level of completion, yet history has proven time and again that opening a beta on a product that isn’t ready is a recipe for disaster. It generates a tremendous amount of bad press and drives people away from a product that might have real promise.
The last thing in the world Sony needs right now is for a ridiculous number of people to flood the Home beta overnight and start posting like mad about how disappointing and pathetic it is. Like it or not, idiots assume that open betas are finished products constantly, and treat them as such.
Worse would be all those comparing it to Xbox Live, a product that has been around since some point in the original Xbox’s life…A decent level of polish is required to release the open beta, because those comparisons will be made regardless. Microsoft has had a huge head start, and I don’t begrudge Sony a little time to play catchup.
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