Sony are on the ball with Question and Answer sessions this month. First we had the PSPgo Q&A, and now we get the second PlayStation Home Q&A, held within Home itself. But it’s all been and gone, until next time. Questions are gathered by the community on the Official EU PlayStation Forum, and asked by a representative within an apartment or club space with the EU Home developers. So what answers did we get that were actually interesting? We’ve summarised the meeting into mini-answers to make it easier to read. If the text isn’t in quote marks, it’s been summarised:
Q: Can we get more info on the stats when we report abuse?
A: We’ll look into it, depending on how much info there is to share.
Q: How much do the stakeholders in Home affect your decisions?
A: Like most companies, we put the user first, but also have to work with the companies who fund us. We try and make you come back. If the service was boring, then no-one would use it, and no-one would fund us.
Q: Will Home ever come out of Beta?
A: Not for the foreseeable months or possibly years. “If we call it open beta, it’s simply a better way of managing both our expectations. At least in the short to medium term.”
Q: How long does it take from approving to publishing a new space on average?
A: Four to six months.
Q: The US has a different Home Square to the EU as it was updated. Will we get an update?
A: It’s better for us this way, as it’s easier to implement new things, such as the Helicopter Hit game. However, we’ve started on concept art for an upgraded Home Square.
Q: How many new spaces are we likely to get a month from now on? The US Home apparently has a ‘3 spaces a month’ rule.
A: We’re working on a content scheduale at the moment with our new Assistant Producer. This should probably take two more weeks. Then we’ll get back to you on this. There’ll likely be things still that the US get but the EU don’t. However, the EU Home may get things that the US don’t, like the Transformers quest. The US didn’t get that.
Q: With localisation problems, it seems that the smallest Home team is getting the most difficult problems. What are you doing about this?
A: “It’s being addressed … Â my team may be small, but I can assure you they are passionate, committed and very talented and they take your opinions VERY seriously”
Q: In what way is Home moving ‘towards a gaming platform’ as you’ve said before?
A: We have a prototype of a Facebook app, but no deals have been made with Facebook or Twitter yet … “There’s an obvious role for PSP to play there, too but that really is a [long-term] thing at the moment, that I’m looking at.”
Q: For colour-blind people, Home is a little difficult to navigate. Can you look into making changes for colour-blind people?
A: Yes. We’ll talk to the designers and someone will get back to you next week.
Q: What are the prospects for getting more interactive items for our apartments and clubs?
A: We had an idea for a bowling alley to place in the apartment, but that was in 2007. Letting users buy pool tables is on our radar, but the tables in the Bowling Alley space currently hard-coded in, so we need to make more portable items. I’m commissioning a darts game, but that’s a long way off. Nevertheless, the developers are well aware of the need for interactive items.
Read the entire Q&A session here.
Source: Official EU PlayStation Forum