The end of an era is nigh for Playstation fans. After an incredible run beginning with early development in 2005, PS Home is shutting down on March 31st, 2015.
What is PS Home?
PS Home embodies much of what makes Playstation consoles so memorable. With customizable avatars, mini games, decorations and networking, PS Home has always been the way to turn your PS3 into something a little more “you”.
But nothing lasts forever and after an awesome 10 year run, PS Home is coming to an end. So, what exactly was it that made PS Home so special?
For starters, it turned PS3 consoles into a veritable social hub. Gamers could purchase and form clubs and hang out with their buddies in a virtual space.
Of course, PS Home had much more to offer gamers than just an interactive social hub.
PS Home Games
PS Home holds the distinction of being the launching platform for the world’s first console based, virtual world based alternate reality game, Xi.
The game itself was an adventure gaming taking place in a series of secret areas in Home that changed frequently, with the goal of finding “Jess” and the origin of the letter Xi by collecting fragments and butterflies.
It was this kind of innovation that drove PS Home and has always been one of Sony’s driving forces behind the Playstation brand. Innovation and interaction, while never trying to hide the fact that their platform is one designed for gamers, regardless of how many additional features and accessories each iteration of the Playstation possesses.
Other notable PS Home games included Sodium, Novus Prime, The Midway, No Man’s Land, and three of Intellivision Productions’ classic Intellivision games Astrosmash, Shark! Shark!, and Night Stalker.
Game developers shine
It’s entirely possible to purchase a Playstation 3 and play around exclusively on Home. The platform has faithfully served as a virtual world for 10 years and caters to far more than just gamers, Second-Life‘ers and Sims fans.
Game developers are able to create “Developer’s Spaces” and showcase their company’s products via Home. The feature functions very similarly to “Game Spaces” but these are not limited to specific games.
Legacy
The closing down of PS Home is obviously sad news but understandable. After 10 years of development and use, Sony is ready to move on and create bigger and better things. PS Home’s legacy can’t be defined by its features, its functions or the length of its run.
Rather, it should be remembered as innovative and immersive, a way for gamers to interact with their consoles in a way they hadn’t before. For game developers, PS Home served as a way to connect with gamers directly without the noise of TV ads or the hassle of brick and mortar store advertisements.
There are six days left before PS Home closes the doors for good, so get back in there and soak up the experience one more time before it happens!
