Thu, May 27, 2010 | 14:50 BST

PlayStation Home to leave Beta in December [UPDATE]

homelogo

Update: SCEE has responded to Ewing’s comment stating that it has no current plans to end the Home Beta.

“The service is still evolving and as such we have no current plans to take Home out of Beta,” said a spokesperson via Videogamer.

Original: PlayStation Home will leave Beta in December, two years after the service launched, according to comments made by one developer for it.

Kirk Ewing of Veemee, who have created content for Home like the Audi space and more, said at Game in Scotland last weekend: “Home is due to come out of its Beta-testing phase in December of this year.”

He was also keen to emphasise the service wasn’t “shit”.

“Most people think that Home is shit. I’m here to say that it’s not,” said Ewing, adding that over 1.7 million repeat users were using Home for just under an hour.

“One in three PS3 owners use Home. There are 1.7 million repeat users each using Home for around 53 minutes on average.”

Got that? Not shit.

From play.tm, via TSA.

15 comments

Raining_Upwards
27/05/10, 9:24 am

I love those kinds of rebuttals.

‘Most people think Home is shit. I’m here to say it’s not”

ninjanutta
27/05/10, 9:33 am

i agree,theres a lot going on in home now and if used correctly,it can be really useful,its one way of having party chat and theres some pretty funny mini games etc.

Gekidami
27/05/10, 9:33 am

Home hasnt been carrying the ‘beta’ tag since that interface update it got some time ago.

DrDamn
27/05/10, 9:36 am

@ninjanutta
I think it was an idea which probably should never have left the drawing board. If they spent the time and resources on the standard PSN service think what it would be. Then again I think it was never going to be an application I would enjoy, if there are really 1.7m regular users then why not.

KAP
27/05/10, 10:23 am

What a joke: Home is not “shit”. Really?

SunKing
27/05/10, 10:40 am

The best way of giving an allegation substance is by issuing an even stronger denial.

StaceyEmerson
27/05/10, 10:42 am

had lots of laughs in home so far

Freek
27/05/10, 2:22 pm

Isn’t Home just one big virtual product placement advertising extravaganza, with some chat and mini games bolted on to justfiy it’s exitence?

OlderGamer
27/05/10, 2:38 pm

That and lots of kids roaming around.

The best thing I enjoy doing on Home is watching male avatars locking in on female ones like heat seaking missles, talking dirty, and begging them to go pvt for some “Fun”.

Funnier then hell.

Honestly if Home was only avalible in the new premuim PSN+ service, that could help some. But free acsess to anyone and everyone is not a wise idea. It creates a situation like the one I just described. Too much anominity and freedom to be an ass.

If home was seen as a paid privilage and not a gaurenteed right, I think things would fair a bit better. But in the end it really is heavy on adverts and lite on fun things to do.

That being said if they allowed that bowlling game to be downloaded for personial/private use, I would already own it. I just won’t put up with all of the damn foul mouth kids in order to play it.

#10

Aimless
27/05/10, 2:40 pm

Pretty much, Freek, but that doesn’t mean there’s no enjoyment to be had; a funny advert is still entertaining even though it’s trying to sell you something.

Home has improved immeasurably since when it first launched, but it’s still fairly irrelevant for a large section of the userbase. Apparently it makes money, though, and a lot of people seem to really enjoy using the service so I can’t say I’ve any real objection to its existence, although the unfulfilled potential does irk me some.

#11

reask
27/05/10, 2:47 pm

I have tried it twice and whilst its not my cup of tea there is nothing wrong with it.
After all its free and non compulsory.

#12

NGCes26294BIV
27/05/10, 3:32 pm

Anyone know if Minority Report is out on Blu-Ray?

#13

justiceblob
27/05/10, 3:36 pm

It is actually:
http://www.amazon.com/Minority-Report-Blu-ray-Tom-Cruise/dp/B000PC6XDQ

#14

mington
27/05/10, 3:40 pm

What about the little Mermaid?