Sony's recent unveiling of PSHome has caused quite a stir. While I think it's a fantastic feature for the PS3, I think Home's potential is being blown way out of proportion.

"like.no.other." is Sony's slogan. When I look at PSHome, I see something that's certainly going to improve the system, and something that will appeal to a lot of people. However, I certainly don't see something that is "like.no.other."

I'm not saying that Home is a rip-off, yet it's hardly original. PSHome is eerily reminiscent of a certain series of simulation pc games, that seems to take Xbox Live and Nintendo's Miis and blend them together. In fact, Mr. Harrison himself has bascially said as much. Sure, it's a great idea, and it certainly has its advantages, but Home does not put the PS3 above the Wii or the Xbox 360 by any means.

Yes, Home does offer many of its own great ideas and innovations, yet this doesn't give Sony-fans the right to say it renders other consoles obsolete.

Of course, this has predictably set System Wars on fire. At the moment, there seem to be two types of people down System Wars way:

The first type - the Home Lovers - think that Home is remarkable, that it puts Sony above and beyond all other systems. People from this side of the spectrum say things like: "Wow. PShome MAKES Xbox live seem LAST GEN..So IRONIC..OWNAGE!!" and "Wow, Nintendo's Kiddy Mii's and XBox Live just got owned all in just one video. PS Home is amazing."

And then there is another type of person...the Home Hater. Home haters despise the new feature, believing it to be a blatant rip-off, that isn't going to "save the PS3". Home Haters say things like: "To me its nothing great. Honestly why would I want to speak to a load of random people online about Playstation stuff or real life things using a headset when I can do that on Habbo Hotel... which is ****." and "Its a pity the cows have to wait til fall for this, its the only thing that comes close to justifying the $600 price tag, and cover the fact that the PS3 library is full of flops."

These two types of people are both wrong, as Home is a good idea, yet it does not "Own Xbox Live and the Wii"

Yes, PSHome is a cool idea, and it definitely offers a lot to the system. However I strongly doubt that Home will have any bearing at all on the success of the PS3. To be honest, I'm sick of all the attention Home has been getting, because really, Home is not "like.no.other."

Nintendo Legends has been a huge part of my Gamespot experience. When I first joined the site, I went looking for a union that I might want to be a part of. Eventually, I found the Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoyo union, a place that was right up my alley.

Before long, I found out that the union was in decline, after its original leader had been banned. The leader at that time told me that he got an admin to transfer the leadership to him, though since the original leader had left, things weren't the same.

I made it a priority of mine to help out the union, to become an active member and help turn it around. Before long, I was promoted to an officer.

Soon I had an idea to change and improve the union. I suggested  redesign the union, to focus not only on two people, but the people of Nintendo in general. After that, I was promoted to leader, and since then, I turned The Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto Union - a Level 2 MIA with aprox. 200 members into Nintendo Legends  - an active level 6 union with just over 1000 members

But lately, the union has been in decline once more. People seem less interested to post in the board - myself included. Also, I have come to the realization that a union focusing on the people of a company never really had much potential to begin with. Sure, this focus was more of a tribute, and we discussed all areas of Nintendo, but even then, several unions already do that better. The bottom line is, as far as we've gone with the union, it cannot go any further.

So, I have decided to disband Nintendo Legends.

It was a tough decision to make, but I've thought about it for awhile, and most officers agree, so I'm sure it's the right one.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the union, and I will definitely miss having it. I'm proud of how far I took it, and maybe sometime in the future I will make my own union from scratch.

We'll see.

Until then, goodbye old friend.


 

Well, some of the other finalists have been uploading their entries for people to read, and as I have promised one of these users I would, I've uploaded mine.

You can download Silentium here, but it'll only be there for 7 days or so.

Anyway, I'd appreciate it if you refrained from any negative, non-constructive comments towards my document, because like you, I have feelings.

Enjoy! (I hope)
 

As much as I love Gamespot's new avatar update, I can't say I'm having an easy time acclimatising to it myself. I was always very happy with my sig, icon and banner combo, so of course, I was reluctant to change.

Hoping to keep it as similar to the original as possible, I simply vut the face out of the above image, and after a few attempts of getting it down to the right size, I uploaded it.

While I prefer the way it was before, Im fairly content with the new, larger icon...but there's a problem.

You see, as you may have noticed by now, when the image is reduced, it makes the Happy_Cloud look evil! Yes, for some reason, the innocent, joyful smile, turns into a malicious grin when it's made smaller.

So, I'm going to have to make some more changes and alterations until it all fits together perfectly again.

...sigh...I hate change.

EDIT: I've made another change, so now, I've used the image from my sig. The good news is that it no longer looks evil, but it seems to be oddly proportioned. I still have some changes to make. :(

My God! I just realized, this all must not be interesting at all! You're all probably...dare I say it - bored!

That's it, you'll never hear of this again!

Today is a very special day. Yes, it is the 19th of February, and every year, on this day, I make the transition from one age to another. That's right folks, it's my birthday! Yes, as of today, I have been alive for 21 years. Gosh, sounds old doesn't it? It sure does to me. To tell you the truth, I find the concept that I am 21 years of age to be a little hard to grasp. In fact, I don't "feel" 21 at all. I don't know, I guess the whole "growing up" process has happened a lot faster than I thought it would. Time flies when you're having fun I guess. The past few years have been great for me, so maybe that explains it. Still, I feel a lot younger than I should feel. I know I'm not really making sense, but it's just a very weird feeling to realize that I'm more or less all grown-up, after so many years of being a "kid".

It's funny the way things work out.

Those of you who follow my blogs know that I have not been feeling myself lately. I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm depressed, though for a while now I have suffered from a general lack of interest and motivation.

Thankfully, I am cured.

For those who haven't heard, the results for the 5th Developer for a Day contest have been announced, and I am a finalist.

Now, as happy as this makes me, it's not so much the joy of making it this far that has repaired my state of mind, but rather the fact that my hard work has seen results. If I had simply won the lottery, I'd be just as happy...well, I'd be happier, but the point is I still wouldn't feel motivated, as I would not have earnt the money. This, I've earnt.

I guess I owe most of you an explanation, I never told you I entered. It wasn't a secret or anything, I just didn't want to announce and build up hype for something which I didn't think would make it. Don't get me wrong, I have huge faith in my concept, I just believed that the others would be better, and didn't really consider myself to be in the same league as the other finalists.

It's good to be wrong.

Unfortunately, this does come at a little bit of a bad time, as I am particularly busy at the moment, and the additional upgrades I have to make to Silentium will take up time that I just don't think that I've got. Despite this, I'm still going to try my absolute best.

I'm not expecting to win, but even in the worst-case scenario, my entry will be the tenth best out of many, which is better than I could have hoped for.

Congratulations to all the other finalists, and good luck.
 

... I really can't.

Okay, you guys should know me fairly well by now, and I'm sure you'll be as shocked to hear this as I am.

Well, I guess I'm not happy.

Before I continue, please, no "Happy_Cloud" jokes or "Sad_Cloud" jokes, because I'm neither sad nor depressed, yet nowhere near happy either.

Yup, that's right. I'm...neutral .

I can't shake this overwhelming feeling of indifference. I used to be such a passionate and interested person. I remember a while ago I made a blog talking about the lives of coins, imagining the amount of times they changed hands and the different things they could've bought. I used to wright stories about watermelons, and I remember not too long ago I wrote a huge blog when I was bored featuring poems, action scenes and even drawings.

But now, it's like I just don't care. And this applies not only to Gamespot but life in general. Don't you dare say "emo", but more and more I find myself wondering just what the point is. I feel strange and unusual saying this, as we all know that's not who I am. It took me a little while to realise I've been feeling this way, and the more time passes, the stronger the feeling gets.

I'm worried I'm becoming a nihilist, despite the fact that my life has so much meaning. It's frustrating, because everything is going right, my life is entirely on track, and I should feel satisfied, but I don't. I just don't, and I can't change that.

I'm hoping this is all just a phase, and I'll be back to myself soon, but at the moment, this sounds too much like wishful thinking.

I used to be so happy, and content with life, but now for some inexplicable reason, nothing seems to satisfy me.

I've got a few different things to say today, so like a box of chocolates, this latest post will have an assortment of flavours.



Flavour 1 - Cute, girly DS



Last night some old family friends came over for dinner. They have recently moved back to New Zealand, after a few years living in England. These people have an eight year old daughter, who had received a pink DS Lite for Christmas last year. Not only was it pink, but inside was Super Princess Peach.

The ultimate female gaming package.

I actually liked Super Princess Peach, the only problem was it was far too easy, and it seems apparent that the game was definately developed for the target audience of little girls, and indeed, the game was ideally suited for little Rose.

At her insistance, we chatted wirelessly for a little bit, though of course the discussion wasn't extremely thought-provoking or intellectual. I did learn a few things though.

Flavour 2 - Idiocy

With nothing better to watch, this morning I found myself watching Bert's Family Feud - a very strange show, with a very strange host.



The idea is, contestants are givin a subjest, "Out-of-fashion haricuts" for instance, and then they must guess the most popular answer from a survery taken by 100 people.

This particular game was very close, and eventually, there was a Sudden Death! situation.



Two contestants had to guess the most popular answer for "Animal with a mane". The lady to the right hit the buzzer first, and guessed lion. I was convinced she had the most popular answer and I was surprised to see that lion was only at number two! The lady to the left had a chance.

I thought for a second..."Horse!" I exclaimed, but the lady to the left couldn't hear me, perhaps if she did she wouldn't have said "Ummm....a tiger?"

I almost fell off my seat, I wanted to jump into the TV and stab the ignorant woman, and sure enough the correct answer was horse.

Is everyone dumb except for Cloud?

Flavour 3 - Opera House



In a few hours, I'l be leaving. I'm going to Sydney for a few days with me family, for a little holiday. Normally this is the sort of thing only my parents would attend, but my brother and I managed to pursuade them otherwise.

Despite our presence, romance will still occur, so they will still be going to plenty of fancy resturaunts by themselves, but if you ask me, pizza is as fine a cuisine as any.

Flavour 4 - Hazelnut Praline

Who is Mathew Gray Maingay? What is he like? What are his interests? Your guess is as good as mine, you see, I don't know Mathew Gray Maingay myself, but I hate him.

I hate him with every fibre of my being.

My mother is a doctor, and she must keep the medical records of all the deceased patients of her practice, and the ones who have transferred to another doctor elsewhere. She has about 20 polystyrene boxes in our storeroom, each containing these files.

For whatever reason, she needed to find the file for Mathew Gray Maingay. I gathered that he's not dead, so maybe he had transferred to another doctor, and the need to see some records of his medical history.

Perhaps this wasn't poor Mathew's fault, but I hate him for it. No, I loath him for it.

You see, I was given the task of finding Mr. Maingay's record among the unorganised and unlabeled collection of hundreds of files.

Now, I've never been one to whine and complain about a job, in fact, I never really mind helping. However, you need to understand just how excruciatingly tedious this job is. Maingay? No, just Smith. Maingay? No, it's Heath. Maingay? Sorry, it's Maingray.

Every file is potentially the one I'm looking for, so the job can take as little as 5 minutes, or as long as...well, very, very long. And this isn't the sort of job you can just to subconsciously, no, it needs your undivided attention, because if you miss the name you're looking for, so much time is going to be wasted.

Believe me, this thought does strange things to a man.

Then, in comes my father, with a brilliant idea. How I adore him. He suggests, that instead of looking for one single file, I should label them all! Every. Single. One. I've learnt the hard way that doctors have handwriting that's very difficult to read. At one point, I was clueless as to whether I should write down "Dooley" or "Dooky".

Of course, this time, I'm offered payment. Seven dollars per box, which is about five American dollars.

So, that's what I'm doing these days. Sorting through the medical history of dead people, or those who have betrayed my mother's practice, for a sum of money that is much needed, yet not enough to ease the pain.

And It's all because of Mathew Gray Maingay.

Last night, Happy_Cloud went and saw Varekai, a production by the Cirque Du Soleil. In 2004, he saw Quidam, and he loved it, so he was very eager to see their next performance. Tickets were not cheap, but he was able to afford a ticket for himself and his gorgeous girlfriend.

They both were thoroughly entertained and amazed at the show, and Happy_Cloud's girlfriend was very grateful, which pleased Happy_Cloud. The only problem with the show was that the costumes were very tight, and Happy_Cloud noticed they didn't leave much to the imagination.

The next day, Happy_Cloud and his friend went to EB games. His friend picked up his reserved copy of the Burning Crusade, and Happy_Cloud bought himself a sexy classic controller for his shiny Wii.

At Happy_Clouds friend's house, they played on his Wii, and Happy_Cloud won Wii Sports: Bowling every time. He's so good at bowling!

His friend wasn't very happy though, because so many people were playing the new expansion, everywhere was either full or seriously lagging. Happy_Cloud realized that there are lots and lots of nerds out there!

Before dinner, Happy_Cloud went home, where he sat down at his computer and wrote a blog. He enjoyed writing the blog, and will eventually write another.

But when?

Tune in next time for another exciting episode of...The Adventures of Happy_Cloud!