Ben-DutkaAlmost exactly one year after PlayStation Home launched on the PlayStation 3, Sony has introduced what is perhaps the single biggest step in the social application's existence: the arrival of the first in-Home MMO.
It's called Sodium One and this game space is now available within Home. We've already got over 100 little mini-games to play, 50 spaces to explore and over 2,000 virtual items to collect, but this will offer an entirely new experience; just step onto the Sodium "Teleporter" and be whisked away to yet another world. As of today, this teleporter will bring you a futuristic setting where "interstellar travel, rapid colonization of the galaxy, inexhaustible energy, advanced Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and the power of travel between quantum realities" all feels very real. The game has been developed by Outso and is published by Lockwood Publishing, and you will start somewhere in the Nevada desert. Your virtual escort of sorts, "VICKIE," will assign objectives that put you into individual or multiplayer combat, which will allow you to earn credits and rewards that can be redeemed later. Sodium boasts several different types of games, including "meta-games, full arcade-style games and community events." The very first section of the game is called "Salt Shooter," which is when you must hunt "self-replacing robots with tanks in order to control their population." The first five levels are entirely free; after which, you can unlock additional levels and new experiences with the purchase of virtual items (ranging from $0.99 to $4.99).
Furthermore, due to the very nature of Home itself, this MMO will continue to expand and grow over time. They will continually add new games, new virtual items, and new community events. And besides, you won't all be forced to do the same thing: if you want a more social – and less combative – experience, you could be a bartender at the "Sodium Hub," or simply wander around and compete with friends in a few simple mini-games. And of course, full customization of your avatar and communication with others comes with the territory. Said SCEA senior vice president of marketing and the PlayStation Network, Peter Dille:
"The launch of PlayStation Home in 2008 pioneered new ground in interactive entertainment and, since then, increasing support and enthusiasm from our PS3 user and game publisher communities have helped to make this a tremendous first year for the platform. Today we further push the envelope with the launch of PlayStation Home's Sodium — an evolving space that leverages the incredible computing power of PS3 to deliver truly unique, and visually stunning social gaming experiences that you won't find on any other platform."
We just gotta check this out. But I guess my question would be, does this warrant an actual review? Like, a real game review with scores and all that? We do that for PSN titles, of course, but this is a whole other thing…well, at the very least, it's worth trying, right? Home has become something pretty special over the past year. If you want to learn more about Sodium One , watch the video over at the PlayStation Blog , and visit the game's offical website .
Related Game(s): Sodium One
Tis the beginning of a bold direction for HOME! First read about it early this morning! Hey Ben! Did you get my email on it? I wasn't sure if it actually went through.
I may have, but I got about five e-mails on this, three of which were official press releases.
ben how do we email you?
Technically, Xi was probably the beginning of this direction.
I'm interested in trying this when my PS3 comes home to me, but I almost certainly won't be paying for the extra content. At least it's not a subscription, though; then, it would be a definite no-go.
This will be interesting. I'll try it, but I'm definitely skeptic.
He's Dwight Schrute! Whoaaa! Selling paper, fighting evil! Dwight Schrute , whoaoaoa! 😉
In case you don't know this is from the dwight schrute music vid in youtube.
"Home has become something pretty special over the past year."
I just read this and literally laughed out loud. I missed that during the first read-through…
This might get me back there..
HOME is truely a unique thing on its own and that they add content like this is crazy. video games are quickly turning into a whole new thing with the PS3. i continue to be amazed by this machine.
this might make me revisit home again. i haven't been there in a while. this seems pretty interesting.
I hope Sony cranks up the outside partnerships to bring more content and ad dollars to Home so the costs to the customer stays minimum.
The issue I see with HOME is the lack of VISION and IMAGINATION that some people have when they discuss it! Is a new venture which has evolved over time, and will continue to evolve. Next year it my be completley alien to what we are experiencing now. Hence the beta status! Peoples expectations were way off! It is NOT a GAME! It is a SERVICE! Of course it was not implemented as expected as far as how it was marketed by SONY but overall I am satified with its progress and hope that it reaches the levels of users it deserves.
They finally put the true you in the game. freakin sweet……
This is *exactly* the kind of thing that Sony can do, that Microsoft can't. Sony continues to innovate, and Home is the platform for that. It's a giant experimental gaming platform which from Sony's point of view is probably invaluable.
This should be fun, and very interesting.
Sounds very interesting… can't wait to try it out
Last edited by Deathb4Dishonor on 12/17/2009 2:44:27 PM
@ Ben,
<<<<But I guess my question would be, does this warrant an actual review? Like, a real game review with scores and all that? We do that for PSN titles, of course, but this is a whole other thing…well, at the very least, it's worth trying, right?>>>>
Yes, since Sodium One is still a game too, I vote a loud "YES" on doing a full review of it.
FYI, I for one don't do MMO's or multi-players, but I think most of us "single-players only" would be just as curious as I am about SO & would like to have all the 411 on it too.
Thanks,
Saint
I concur.
It would have been nice if some websites had reviewed Xi when it was running, if for no other reason than to spread the word of its existence. My guess is that they all just disregarded Home like the PS3 team over at IGN, who still talk about it like it's as lame as it was a year ago.
I still say Xi is the best pure adventure game I've played on my PS3. And it was free.
I really liked the salt shooter trainer in Sodium One, it was actually pretty fun, don't have the money right now for it, but its definitely something I'll think about in the future.
everything else with sodium one seemed kind of standard for Home…meaning its not that great…hopefully they'll come up with something more entertaining?
This is what I expected… I think the actual platform that "Home" is built on is not really that advanced; especially the core 3D engine. Now I wish "Home" had a base engine like Uncharted; then we are looking at a Social application that create the type of detailed spaces one would could simulate as if it were an Uncharted level – at least that level of detail. I also do wish the Home avatar had more movements; can climb and jump over low walls, climb on stuff, make it more entertaining when even when just walking around…
Q!
"i am home"
Last edited by Qubex on 12/17/2009 8:50:54 PM
The thing is Qubex, there is a whole hell of a lot of difference between an optimized game rendering engine like the one Naughty Dog built for Uncharted and something that has to be able to dynamically render any environment thrown at it as well as all the dynamic elements such as up to 63 other gamers in the same space and so forth. Not to mention it's HTTP under the hood, so the content arrives asynchronously which means the engine is not fed data continuously like a game engine would be. It's a whole other animal.
I hear you Highlander; thanks for that little knowledge booster 🙂
Q!
"i am home"
@Zet
I somehow got the (full?) hovertank game for free as an additional "apartment". You might want to check to see if the same happened to you.
@ Qubex
Also, if you allow avatars to move in three dimensions, you have to run QC checks on all of the places where they can go, to make sure there aren't glitches. And more testing means higher production costs, which for a free service is huge.
Though I also wish the avatars could do more than just dance. I particularly felt that way when visiting the Uncharted 2 space.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 12/18/2009 5:28:16 PM
@Fane
I think I got it free too. I happened to be in Home on Thursday and found S1 on accident during the launch. I later read that certain numbers of patrons would get it free.
BTW, How do I get My PSN-ID up like yours?
<a href="http://profiles.us.playstation.com/playstation/psn/visit/profiles/THE-NTMIDTR"><img src="http://fp.profiles.us.playstation.com/playstation/psn/pid/THE-NTMIDTR.png" width="230" height="155" border="0" /></a><br/><a href="http://www.us.playstation.com/PSN/SignUp">Get your Portable ID!</a>
Go to the PlayStation site (NOT the Blog part).
Sign in with your PSN ID. Select My Profile. Click on Portable ID. Refresh. Save image as…. Log out.
Come to psxextreme. Log in. Click on User CP. Update Account Information. Browse for the image you just saved. Update information to set it as your psxextreme avatar. You may need to trim the image to get it to work right. Hopefully, the new avatar shows up.
I just refreshed mine and the new trophy count isn't shown yet.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 12/21/2009 3:04:16 PM
Is this why Home was down yesterday?
so this was that mini MMO they were speaking of?
And they even released the Audi space!
That is actually sweet, because cars and motoring are very international/global.
When I first seen my GF playing the battling part of the space on Home, my jaw dropped merely for the simple fact that I didn't expect to see something like that in Home, at least not yet. Great addition to Home. I always express how I can't wait to see how Home will be whenever it graduates from Beta into full on Home. If there Beta Home has a game where you can control a machine, just imagine the intensity of Home whenever it's out of Beta!! Just another reason why the PS3 is ALWAYS the better buy compared to a 360. Sure, the 360 is a gaming console that houses almost nothing but FPS games, which the other genres of games are all on the PS3 as well (and BETTER) in the first place. Then the PS3 is all your entertainment needs in one system. What else could you ask for in a purchase? lol. (Other than backwards compatibility)
Last edited by DeathOfChaos on 12/20/2009 4:08:10 PM