Home, Open Shitty

So after being in development for three years, Sony unleashed last month their interpretation of Second Life. Some how, they made Second Life even worse.

I will come out and say it, the video game industry for the last few years has been leading me to a path of complete dissapointment. You get gems here in there, but more so than any other media, you have to deal with marketers bullshit and their lame ideas to appeal to a mass audience. No company in my mind represents this better than Sony. I bought a PS3 for the sole purpose of playing Metal Gear Solid 4, but after that game, I've only used it to play one other game (Bionic Commando: Rearmed) and to play countless blu-rays and DVD's. But it's rarely served it's purpose of being a machine to play video games on.

I was ready to give Sony the benefit of the doubt when they released Home. I honestly thought for a brief second "This won't be so bad". I remember gaming websites and magazines practically orgasming over the idea. I logged in, got a glass of water, and prepared myself.

When I saw I had to create a small little avatar, I got excited. "Hey, it's like a Mii, except (quite possibly), less lame" I told my self. So after spending a rediculous amount of time calibrating my characters body, head ratio, and height, I went to the clothes.

That when I knew something was dreadfully wrong. The options were very, very scarce. In fact, it was a wasteland. The shirt options were as varied as a white t-shirt to a wife beater. For pants, cargos and jeans. I still was in denial. "It's still in beta! They're probably just don't have their shit straight yet. Give them time!" I said to myself. I thought most of the clothes were representative of what a douche would wear, so all I decided to wear was a white shirt, sneakers, jeans, and a pair of gloves because I thought they looked awful with the clothes.

When I logged in, they gave me several options of what to visit. Finally, I felt the digital world was open to me. I checked the locations, and saw that there was a main section and locations for the games Far Cry 2 and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. I already hate themeparks, and the idea of going to one based on video games I've never played didn't sit well with me, so I decided to go to the theatre. I love the art of cinema, and thought it might be at least an interesting experience.

So I magically transport to the theatre. Inside were nothing more than a bunch of teenages talking about how tough they are, about their shitty taste in music and trying to pick up on female avatars. It's lame enough to try to pick up on someone from a different part of the country than yourself over the internet, but these awful looking avatars just some how made the act more pathetic. In the front of the theatre, crowds of douche bags are dancing on continous loops. Finally, the theatre screen loads. I almost unloaded my lunch when I saw a trailer for Twilight playing. I'm exaggerating a bit, I know, but a trailer for Twilight wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting entertainment, not an advertisement. I wait for the next video. Great, an awful music video for Twilight. So I wait for the next video. It's the Twilight trailer, AGAIN! Thats all the theatre had to offer, the same two commercials over and over again. It was then I knew something was terribly wrong.

So I go to the mall. I don't like going to malls in real life, but I was compelled, just to see how it looks. I see a small clothing store, look at my attire, and decide I could really use some new threads. I go inside and see what they have to offer. I click to get a new shirt, and then Sony asks for my credit card number. I thought they were shitting me, but I noticed they were charging a dollar for each article of clothing. It's ridiculous. Not only do I need to buy clothes in the real world, my pile of polygons needs clothes, and Sony wants my money for it.

I exit, go the the bowling alley and see the arcade. They had Echochrome, I game I imported a while back and one of the few recents games that's not a port or a rehash on the PSP. I start the game and prepare myself. What I get instead is a flash version of the PSP game, but somehow made absolutly awful. The music was there, the style was there, but the graphics and gameplay were so different than the excellent PSP game. What's worse it's only a few levels.

What I experienced in that arcade made me figure out what Home is. It's Sony's ad world. It's not enough to buy Sony crap in real life, but now we have to get it in the digital world. It's not enough to be surrounded by ad's all day, but now we're surrounded by ad's Sony can control, and it's sicking. What kind of freedom is Sony offering or what kind of new experience are they giving to us? People have already become so desensitized to advertising, who says Sony's venture will do any better?

It's not like Home is any fun, too. If someone's idea of fun is watching ugly avatars dance and then hear the thirteen year-olds behind thme talk about while Soulja Boy demands you respect, then they will have succeded. The thing is, it's not a game, there's no fun aspect to it. No vast worlds to explore, it's almost clostrophobic. And then Sony complains why they are in the crapper. Instead of spending the millions of dollars on developing Home, why couldn't they have spent the money on making GAMES for people to play on their VIDEO GAMES systems? And they complain when Little Big Planet fails. It's because they're making the wrong kind of software for the machine.

I can say, with all sincerity, that Home epitomizes everything that's wrong with the industry today.