PlayStation Home is being boarded up. Sony announced late last week that it will be evicting residents from its ambitious virtual world, and dismantling the servers like an old block of flats. For many of us, it’s an opportunity to point and laugh at the service’s protracted lifespan – but this move is going to negatively impact many smaller developers that made money from the online establishment.
Fortunately, the likes of Hellfire Games have planned ahead. While not exactly a household name [Sorry - Ed], the Texas based outfit has been slowly slaving away on the Japanese giant’s connected community for several years now, concocting clever meta games such as construction sim Home Tycoon and space shooter Novus Prime. And it looks like the former is going to form the basis for its first PlayStation 4 project.
The firm’s not saying a whole lot at the minute, but it has released a tech demo showing off a very, well, PlayStation Home-esque experience. The studio says that the next-gen super machine will allow it to do things that it couldn’t do in the abovementioned online world, such as incorporate dynamic weather effects and highly detailed lighting. Honestly, the title doesn’t look like much yet, but we’re sure that it’s still very early.
Considering that the company really pushed PlayStation Home to its limits at times, we’re interested to see what it dreams up on the manufacturer’s newest machine. Personally, we reckon that there’s a real lack of Theme Park-esque simulations on all systems right now, so we’d welcome an updated version of Home Tycoon. Fortunately for us, that looks exactly like what the outfit’s got in the works.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 8
Wasted time and resources.
@Pink_Floyd That's incredibly cynical of you. Unfortunately, I'm inclined to agree.
Wait, so this isn't GTAV for Vita? Hopefully we'll end up with something really interesting, this doesn't really look it so far.
Well i wouldnt go that far, it would seem that the addition to cars , a bigger city to explore, Perhaps some quest and games along with the social aspect of HOME it could be promising atleast. Dont forget the visuals too, its ps4 era dammit i think its safe to say we need to be pleasured in our eyes sockets.
I really liked PS Home, but it was just too damn slow. Made it unusable. I am just not that patient.
If they could bring it to PS4 and make it crisp and responsive, I don't know. I think there is a niche for this.
David
@Ginkgo I think there is room for a social hub like Playstation home on the PS4. I liked elements of Home as well and I agree it was slow. With a wider world with more to do and smoother loading times it could get quite a dedicated community. It would also help Sonys financial situation if it still had the micro transactions that Home utilises...for those that want to pay for a digital diesel tee shirt.
I suppose you could count upcoming Big Fest as a Theme park type game?
PlayStation Home never really reached its full potential on the PS3 due to hardware limitations, loading times and network issues. The XB360 had Avatars which you could dress up in your favourite gaming gear and props which accompanied your profile and followed you into party chat rooms. Just image the potential with todays technology. You could have a real social hub where you and your friends could gather together, play and launch games, watch twich streams and generally socialize which each other and also meet new like minded people. You could leave messages at each others own personal houses just like receiving post from the postman. And best of all this could all be done in Virtual reality with Sony's new Project Morpheus. I think that would be the first application that would showcase the potential of Virtual Reality and also a great social leap forward for gaming and Sony alike. But hey, thats just my oopinion.
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