PlayStation®Home

[LittleTortuga]

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Jersquall wrote:

How many of you have PS+ and find this to be a bonus?

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KarateChampChad wrote:
^ A bonus would be discounts on Home items. Charging for core features is a slap to the face. And again, I have Plus.

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I'm with Chad.

The only thing I might make use of is the extra pop-up colours. That's only if they have a green that suits me more than the current green I'm using.

[artform-fazeone]

As a Playstation Plus member for two years plus..

This is a great add on to the service.

I do the $20 every three months,  So every year the service receives $80

Still waiting on the Playstation Plus lounge to hit North America.!

Good move and thanks.!

[Crixix]

Can someone explain what exactly is happening? Are Plus members getting something other members are not?

[Angry_Santa]

I for one support this. I want home to continue to alienate more and more users so that when the day finally comes, and they find themselves in a 50 foot trench they dug, I'll be there shoveling dirt on them.

[KarateChampChad]

^ Plus members are getting 8 new hair colors, a new color palette, 24 extra avatar save slots, and 8 new pop up character labels.

[Crazy-88]

I never pay for PS+, but am regularly finding/winning odd codes for a month or 3-month codes... but even so, this is rediculous. :/

Why do we need core colors to be based on Plus? I could understand lil tags, more rentals, etc., but making our very out of date core options first upgrade be Plus only? That's low. -.-

[Burmecian_Rat]

Pretty disgusted with this move quite frankly. Whoever is responsible for dreaming this up needs to give their head a shake.

I never posted in that other thread because I thought maybe it was going too far. No longer. Maybe it really is time for a NA Home management overhaul, since I can see them being the ones who pushed this. I highly doubt it was Japanese Home management.

[Angry_Santa]

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KarateChampChad wrote:
^ Plus members are getting 8 new hair colors, a new color palette, 24 extra avatar save slots, and 8 new pop up character labels.

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Everyone else "Sorry your poor, But that isn't our problem"

Continue the great work playstation home, You adorable idiots you.

[AfrosRockMan]

To answer your question & quote the patch notes:

PlayStation Plus Improvements

• Extra functionality has been added for PlayStation Plus members.
• PlayStation Plus members will now be able to select custom colours for their hair and make-up.
  • The colour menu now has an additional customise option containing a colour picker.
  • The last 8 custom colours that you have used are also kept in a palette so that you can select the exact same colours again if you need to.
  • 7The D-Pad can be used to switch between the colour picker and the palette.
• The number of character save slots for PlayStation Plus members has been doubled from 24 to 48.
• An additional 8 pop up colours will also be available for PlayStation Plus members.
• PlayStation Plus members can choose to display a PlayStation Plus icon on their character label.
• Your PlayStation Plus subscription must be active to access these features.

What Sony is doing here is the equivilent of charging us for expansions on preexisting features we have been begging for such as a more functional internet browser or a way to sort through our download list & it's disgusting. These are extensions of fundamental features to the Home experience that have long been neglected. And quite frankly, this is way out of line with what Sony has offered with PS+ traditionally. Yeah, with Plus you get beta access, early access, more demos, discounts & freebies, but they don't lock away essential features that are core to the experience that you cannot get otherwise.

Not to mention that all of this is going to cause a huge rift in the community that will only hurt the platform in the long run.

[HearItWow]

I really don't see this moving the needle for Plus. I suspect that the Home userbase which is going to sign up for Plus already has, and those that haven't won't be motivated by a few extra save slots and customization options. If some exclusive rewards had been added to the pot, it would likely be more successful than simply extending some bits of functionality.

There are three groups of users this will affect.

1. Plus users who don't use Home. Zero incentive for them to become Home users.

2. Home users who have Plus. Some extra benefits here, but this isn't why you signed up for Plus, and it probably won't convince more than a handful to extend a Plus subscription.

3. Home users who don't have Plus. Either they're not interested in other PS3 content, they can't afford Plus or they don't see the need for it. Nothing that is a core motivator of Home consumption (exclusive rewards or access to spaces) is included in this update.

Home needs to do a lot more than throw out some save slots and hair colors to get non-Home users interested in the service. The upcoming arcade titles will probably do much more to generate interest than this will.

For Home users who don't have Plus, there really isn't anything lost. Your experience stays the same as it was, unless you're willing to pay to get some extra features. If you're not sold on everything that Plus offers, the modest benefits in Home probably aren't worth the extra $50 a year.

It likely would have been a better move to charge a flat fee for the extra save slots and customized colors and to provide exclusive content to Plus users. I see that approach monetizing better on both sides and potentially driving Plus subscriptions.