SCEE: Home focused on games, not social networking

[xtop]

http://www.qj.net/SCEE-Home-focused-.../49/aid/122750

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's Darren Cairns and Liam Wickham are in the forefront of PlayStation Home development. While in a developer conference in Brighton, the two took the chance to clarify a common but wrong notion about Sony's virtual world to come. They say it's not a social networking site, contrary to most assumptions.

"Home is not a social network - it's focused on games. It's a visual representation of the PlayStation community," they said in the conference.

The focus, they say, is on creating a virtual representation of the PS3's online community. More than socialization, Home is geared towards enhancing online play and other facets of PS3 gaming.

One of the most exciting things that SCEE discussed is how Home can be a good way for starting sessions of online play. They talked about the possibility of viewing things like lobbies and match setup screens while inside Home and eventually being able to launch games themselves from within the virtual world.

After a session is concluded, players can be taken back to Home where they can discuss what went on in their respective batches. The devs, however, said that game developers will have to work towards incorporating this feature into their games if their titles are to take advantage of it.

Cairns and Wickham detailed methods in which XML files and Lua coding will be useful in making this work. SCEE said the closed beta will be expanding as we go along, while the open one is on track for launch this year. We'll give you more Home news as updates arrive.