How the PlayStation Home idea came to be

PlayStation Home, after being revealed by Phil Harrison at the 2007 Game Developers Conference, became one of the most ambitious projects by the Sony to deliver onto a console yet. Probably establishing itself as the first epitome in the Age of Connected Consoles, the idea of a virtual online world didn’t actual start off from the PlayStation 3 age.

It started from the golden years of the PlayStation 2. Sony actually had the idea of a “virtual online lobby” prototyped back in the PS2 prototype phase. The end result was an online lobby called Hub, which was supposed to end up as an online meeting place for players to meet, socialize and even play some mini-games.

Jonathan Venables, lead artist on that project, stated in an exclusive write up for Develop that the online gaming mechanics needed a more “accessible and elegant” way of captivating online gamers, instead of shooing them away with avoiding eye-sore chats and having to jump right into a game.

But in the days of the PlayStation 2, the technology for something as ambitious as Hub needed a little more power than the PS2 could deliver. Thus, when the Playstation 3 was realized, the team saw the opportunity to finally refine the idea and make it attainable in the age of next-generation consoles. Venables commented, “As time passed we gained momentum and team morale grew as did belief in the product.”

Learn more about Home’s metamorphosis from PS2 idea to PS3 product after the jump!

PlayStation Home, after being revealed by Phil Harrison at the 2007 Game Developers Conference, became one of the most ambitious projects by the Sony to deliver onto a console yet. Probably establishing itself as the first epitome in the Age of Connected Consoles, the idea of a virtual online world didn’t actual start off from the PlayStation 3 age.

It started from the golden years of the PlayStation 2. Sony actually had the idea of a “virtual online lobby” prototyped back in the PS2 prototype phase. The end result was an online lobby called Hub, which was supposed to end up as an online meeting place for players to meet, socialize and even play some mini-games.

Jonathan Venables, lead artist on that project, stated in an exclusive write up for Develop that the online gaming mechanics needed a more “accessible and elegant” way of captivating online gamers, instead of shooing them away with avoiding eye-sore chats and having to jump right into a game.

But in the days of the PlayStation 2, the technology for something as ambitious as Hub needed a little more power than the PS2 could deliver. Thus, when the Playstation 3 was realized, the team saw the opportunity to finally refine the idea and make it attainable in the age of next-generation consoles. Venables commented, “As time passed we gained momentum and team morale grew as did belief in the product.”

The engine was revamped with the first PlayStation 3 devkits that came out, and soon the Hub idea was even closer to actual realization than before. The momentum that spurred from the ambition during the prototyping phase continued through the recent developments of Home, and even more concepts and designs grew with it. Suddenly, the expectation of Home ballooned to a big buzz at the Game Developers Conference.

Now instead of just becoming a virtual online lobby, developers, publishers and even retailers could provide their own content to the Home world and create locations that Home users can visit and interact in. As Phil Harrison concluded, Home “is just good for everybody.” Content provided by them and even the Home users are streamable as audio, video and even 3D animation, right in the virtual world of Home.

As a console version of Second Life with Trophies (the Sony equivalent of Xbox Live achievements), the primary concern of Sony to create Home didn’t escape the fact that the PlayStation Home was another way to earn more revenue. The in-world advertising, the services, and even products sold are all sources for the giant to rake in big cash.

Via Develop