PS3 Home will not replace XMB or compete with Xbox Live
Many gamers are anticipating the launch of the PS3 Home very soon. There is even a rumor going around that it will launch December 17th. The PS3 Home has been hailed as the ultimate Xbox Live killer and XMB replacement. However, many will be disappointed as Home neither competes directly with the NXE nor replaces the XMB.
The XMB (cross media bar) is the basic interface on the PS3, PSP and several other Sony devices. The XMB is quite sufficient; even the New Xbox Experience copies the layout of it, because it is probably the most efficient way of organizing multiple media functions such as music, videos and games.
I have been beta testing the PS3 Home for quite some time now (before 1.00), and I have to say that Home in no way replaces the XMB. If you want to use Home instead of the XMB as a menu system, not only will you be sorely disappointed, you will also be frustrated beyond belief. Yes, you will be able to watch movies, listen to music and launch games from Home but it is not the most efficient way of doing so.
Some fanboys may have the wrong idea of what Home is. To do anything in Home you have to walk or teleport to another portal location, which takes far longer than just clicking on it in the XMB. It also is in no way the ultimate answer to the NXE. The two applications do not even directly compete with each other.
The PS3 Home is more of a community/social media application. Similarly to how some Blu-ray movies allow you to watch as a community and give feedback to each other via the Blu-ray player; Home delivers a similar type of experience. Users will be able to go to a theater within Home and watch the same movie and talk about it to each other while watching it.
Users will also be able to gather together at a designated location and launch into a game together and talk about strategy afterwards at the same location. This is probably by far the coolest and most useful feature of Home that interests me. I will probably not use Home for much of anything else, but one thing that is for sure, I will take advantage of the great party system.
There are also social clubs where users with any interest can create or join. There is even a club dedicated to David Hasselhoff. Who knows why someone would create such a club, but that does shows you how diverse the populous of Home is.
PS3 Home will not be for everyone. I’m sure, considering the anti-social stigma attached to most gamers; it will not be for many hardcore gamers. However, I can guarantee you, that there will be lots of people that will live in Home for days at a time similarly to Second Life.
It seems like Home is not really geared towards the hardcore fanbase but for the casual gamer or the teenager who want to decorate their pretend mansion and stroll through the virtual mall with their virtual friends. I recommend all users to at least give Home a try before passing judgment because it is an interesting experience.
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31 Responses to “PS3 Home will not replace XMB or compete with Xbox Live”
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December 9th, 2008
no one has stated how much buying things in home will cost, or if there will be a way 2 buy stuff without having to use real world money (some sort of way of generating cash in game but how much you play a certain game or how well you do maybe?)
causes theres no way in hell im droping a $20 note in order to buy some virtual mansion which will prob been seen by 10 people tops…
December 9th, 2008
the xmb is the best interface that I have ever used… fast and responsive and practical…
But theres a lot of loading screens to go through to get to Home… which pisses me off… maybe if I was IN home when I started my console… that would be cool… and I could still use XMB… its not like they have to compete with eachother… give me the choice of logging onto home instantly or in the side…
December 9th, 2008
I don’t understand the concept of replacing the quick, easy XMB, by going into home during a game. For example, if someone sends me a message on PSN, i can simply go into XMB during a game, open it up and quickly read and write back. Now the concept of opening up home, walking into my apartment and go through the hassle of the home is beyond belief. Am i missing something here?
December 9th, 2008
Yes you are. The blog siad it DOES NOT replace XMB.
December 9th, 2008
I am joining the David Hasselhoff club tonight. That man is a god among men.
December 9th, 2008
ncaissie yes i know its not replacing it, i just don’t see how people thought it would, i was putting together a scenario IF it was replaced by home.
December 9th, 2008
BOURNE!!! ARVIS!! ALL YOU OTHER ASSHOLES!!!
I ordered warhammer online from amazon… you guys get a copy so we can grief some noobs… yay my first real MMO…. Im psyched
December 9th, 2008
I dont have a PC, i have a mac, but be assured if i did have one i’d probably not buy it, i’d get too addicted. Im too addicted to MGO already let alone a MMO. DWH you still haven’t added me : Anihal8r
December 9th, 2008
I played the beta of warhammer and hated every second of it. Then again, I also hate WoW.
I’m one of those ‘play till you hit the level cap’ types
Prefer the replayability of FPS’s. 
As for home, someone mentioned the other day that it could take off if Sony integrated it with popular websites such as facebook or myspace.
I doubt it will happen, but I would be cool to have a an app. on facebook that showed a screeny of your apartment and character etc etc etc.
Alas, Sony’s ‘gamercard’ is what I would expect in terms of quality. It sucks.
December 9th, 2008
Are the trophy rooms of any interest in Home? I will be sneaking into Bourne’s trophy room to make sure he doesn’t have more than me, as I have been spying on him this last week.
Anyone else notice the ‘gamer card’ that comes up when you click on a friend on the XMB, where you can see what number of trophies you / they have, takes aaaages to load??!
December 9th, 2008
you fucking assholes… GO BACK TO HALO YOU IDIOTS!!! you wouldnt know a good mmo if it slapped you in the face… :”(
I was excited to play the game… now you ruined it for me…
I ADDDED YOU BOURNE!!! IT SAYS YOU HAVENT ADDED ME YET!!!
arvis youre my only hope…. stop being a dick and log into warhammer… we’ll both pick witch hunter and greif people…
also Ferro and Parrack… if youre not rolling around in your Sony money (haha I called you a fan boy) you could join me and spread the blorge love…
cmon peeps…
December 9th, 2008
SW… theres a facebook app called sackbook… helpfull if you want to find good levels and keep in touch with fellow sack people…
December 9th, 2008
Lol Royzy ok if we’re coming clean, you’re my biggest competition when it comes to trophies, Arvis has very few, and i cant remember how many Wylie has, i’ve been comparing trophies, if i remember clearly you’ve got some catching up to do in COD:WAW. But im a trophy whore. I think im a level 4 now… but anyways DWH you added me on the PSN, or MGO? I can’t remember it on either, i’ll double check then try to add you.
December 9th, 2008
I’m trying to get the Platinum on Uncharted at the minute, I desire a Platinum.
I may get the new COD when I have drained a few of my other games dry, so you will still be owning me for a little while yet on that one. I still need to grab a few more trophies to push me up to Lvl 5.
Wish MGS4/MGO had trophies. I love trophies.
Parrack and Ferro – are you willing to offer us your PSN IDs?
December 9th, 2008
oh crap, if its not you who is playing CODWAW it must be someone else! but i have still been comparing our trophies. Lazy Kojima, makes a great game and doesn’t put trophies in! Nah i forgive him, especially if he makes a decent MGS5. I still think MGO is better than R2 online
December 9th, 2008
I have about 108 or so trophies and I am still stuck at level 4.
I’m publishing my first Little Big Planet level hopefully later tonight. Shameless plug: The level’s name is The Santa Rescue, and as you may have guessed by the title it’s a holiday themed level. The level will be jammed packed with mystery, adventure, romance, and intrigue. Be sure to hart the level and me (kdiggyd123) as an author if you like it.
December 9th, 2008
Home was never suppose to replace anything wow. The New Xbox Experience is pure gay looks dated. Home is going to be great when it launches i have the beta and is always full of people joking around pure fun.
December 9th, 2008
Ivan, i like your tv/hi-fi setup, that looks tasty. Especially since im playing on a 32inch SDTV ¬_¬
Platinum trophies are so hard to get! Warhawk trophies are simply impossible. Some of those trophies are just pure luck as opposed to skill, COD:WAW are fairly easy to get, thats my best chance of getting platinum.
On topic: SO there’s going to be a trophy room in our apartments in home or something?
December 9th, 2008
DWH,
I don’t play MMOs.
As for trophies, Midnight Club and Warhawk are the only games I own that have trophy support and I don’t get around to playing them much because of Valkyria Chronicles and Eternal Sonata.
Also, how many of you are on my friends list? I can’t keep track of you guys because you have different names on this site…
-Arvis
December 9th, 2008
I got to say I really don’t care about trophies. I think I have one or two on WaW but I really don’t pay attention. I’ve only played the single player for an hour or two. I by those games more for the online play. I never did finish CoD 4. But truth be told I’m more of a casual player with not enough time to play. I might get an hour or two in 3 or 4 times a week, sometimes more when I’m lucky.
December 9th, 2008
@ Bourne and Arvis,
By the way that DWH is rattling on, I don’t blame you for ignoring his friend requests! haha
December 9th, 2008
Ahh Eternal Sonata, fun times
Still need to get Valkyria Chronicles tho…
Trophies/achievements not lightning my fire either.
At first I was like wow!, but after recieving them for playing a game for the first time, or completing a race I had to in order to progress anywhoos, whats the fucking point.
December 9th, 2008
Arvis mine is Royzy, add me! add me!
I’ll check your level out Barnabe Jones, I just wrote kdiggyd123 on a post-it-note for when I next go on.
Bourne, yeh some of the Warhawk ones are pretty insane. Apparently Wipeout HD is the/one of the hardest to get Platinum on. May buy Wipeout at some point, haven’t played it since the ol’ PS1 days.
Oh yeah Bourne, since you had 1% on GTA4, I put my own disc in and restarted the game just so I could get 1 trophy (complete first mission). Now we are even!…
…yeh that was pretty sad of me, but this is a competition going on here.
December 9th, 2008
SW,
Usually the trophies / achievements are for completing tasks that are above and beyond what you need to just complete the game. Like ‘kill a Colossus with just your elbows’.
It’s a completest/bragging rights thing, that’s all.
December 9th, 2008
dammit harry… you dont make fun of me… Im special… dammit arvis… DOES ANYONE PLAY MMOs in this hell hole??
Im playing mk vs dc… I dont wanna play WaW… waste of my fucking time… play soul calibur 4 and mk with me if youre a real man…. anyone??? anyone??
December 10th, 2008
looks like home will be out tomorrow! I’m interested in the galactic senate like room for trophy’s. For the people already in the beta… Have they bee supporting that trophy room yet?
December 10th, 2008
DWH,
A power surge wiped out all my SC4 data, so I don’t play it anymore. But I do have Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Ultra Special Mega Awesome Remake Extravaganza. Get it, and you can beat up on me in that.
Phrankie,
The closed beta had no trophy room, but they will be adding A LOT of new stuff tomorrow when they open that thing up. I don’t know if a Trophy Room will be on that list of “new stuff” tomorrow or not…
-Arvis
December 10th, 2008
YEES ARVIS!!! I HAVE SUPER MEGA ULTRA “spank me harder” street fighter…
what the hell is your PSN???
December 11th, 2008
Yes. The trophies are the main appeal of PS3 to me, and seem to be the main topic of the comments here… but I could have sworn a few of the people here that are loving the trophies now were dogging 360’s achievements and calling them gay not too long ago… ah well, everybody is a hypocrite in some form or fashion.
December 11th, 2008
DWH,
I’ve given you my PSN like a million times. I posted my PSN for you in a recent Blorge article. Royzy found it and added me. So go find it, boyo!
CarlB,
There’s a reason I only have 5 trophies. I will never go out of my way to acquire them… unless Sony actually DOES use them as a form of currency in Home…
-Arvis
December 13th, 2008
Arvis,
I thought there just were not that many games with trophies in them and they were not utilized until this year? Give it a chance, it might grow on you, especially when they challenge you to replay games in different ways.
I do not have a fraction of the achievements available on all the games I have played either, but the ones I did get were pretty fun.