It’s all well and good having loads of spaces, but what do they offer, aside from some themed architecture and comfy sofas to park your virtual behind? While this aspect of Home is a mixed bag, there are some genuinely rich gaming experiences to be found if you’re willing to explore. Red Bull Air Race for example, though slight (like much of Home’s offerings) has the ‘just one more go factor’ in spades, and trying to beat your best times can be hugely addictive. The Buzz Space offers a satisfying quiz experience, the InFamous and Resistance spaces have solid shooting games. Recently launched Home based massively multiplayer online game Sodium One marks a genuine step up the platform; visually, mechanically, and structurally, it offers an experience that is on par with standalone titles selling in the PSN store and Xbox Live arcade. As a signpost for what may lie around the corner for Home, Sodium One is very promising indeed.

Another misconception that surrounds Home is that you have to be prepared to spend a lot of money to get the most out it. This is simply not true. Personally, in all the time I have spent ‘there’, I’ve spent a grand total of £3.99 (for a Sodium One tank-jacket that serves as a key to unlock the rest of the game’s 50 levels). Despite my virtual-stinginess, I’ve accrued 4 living spaces, a wardrobe featuring (among other things) Street Fighter IV t-shirts, Watchmen costumes, Wolverine claws and Star Trek outfits, alongside a plethora of ‘normal’ street-wear (how cool am I?! Ahem). My apartment (which now serves as a virtual record of my experiences both in Home and achievements on other PlayStation 3 titles) is fitted out with Transformers statues, Killzone 2 and Fat Princess thrones, an arcade machine, trophies for completing Xi… And so on. Obviously, the ‘value’ of these virtual items is relative to the users investment (be it in time, emotion or, if you choose, in finances) – in Home as an experience. In many ways, it’s the same as the Xbox 360s Achievements and PlayStation 3 Trophies – for some, they mean the world; for others they are a non-entity.

But, you may say, it still all seems a little bit slight; and in some ways you would be right, but in this case there is now strength in numbers. In the same way that the iPhone thrives on bite-sized gaming, a trip around Home can serve up an array of small, yet perfectly formed gaming experiences. Add to this the fact that some spaces and games are only available for limited times (such as the Podium Space’s many promotions, the recent Winter Wonderland, and alternative reality game ‘Xi’, which itself was another console first) and you have a relatively dynamic, feature rich experience.

Taking all of the above into account, there is still one undeniable fact: Home is flawed. Loading times, for example, can be long and constantly having to update and re-download spaces a chore; the implementation of core features – such as game-launching – have been painfully slow to come to fruition. The cost of items is also expensive (59p for a pair trainers? No thanks!), and having to run all the way to shop to buy them can feel unnecessary, when a menu would suffice (though this would negate the point of Home…). Making an avatar that looks like you can be tough and (to start out with) it’s hard to look like anything other than a model from a Gap commercial. Also, having to queue for some games is lunacy (this alone has probably done as much to damage Home’s reputation as anything else). That not all users have a mic and or/keyboard is also a hindrance (‘I have no keyboard’ is something of a catchphrase for Home residents…). No, Home is not perfect.

Despite this however – despite an oblique sense of purpose, the flaws, the long, slow development…Home still has a certain raw energy about it that a brief visit will fail to identify. Yes, it can be boring, but it can be many other things besides…it’s a place to relax, to mess about, to explore, to watch video content and listen to music, to meet people to socialise with or challenge to games or to just people watch.

Home has not been the massive hit that Sony were no doubt hoping for and to some extent, this is right and proper; from a technical perspective its current form can be a raw, flawed and at times unfocussed experience – it’s a work in progress. But, to spin out a cliché, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and so is the case with Home – despite its wobbly start it has laid some solid foundations. Technical considerations aside, Home’s greatest shortcoming has been in failing to convince the world that it is necessary, and I can see many of you shaking your head already. Well, to those doing so I say this: Rather than simply dismissing it, why not venture back in? You never know, you may find yourself popping to your forum of choice and typing - “I tried Home again the other day. And you know what? It was alright”. And “alright” is a start, isn’t it? As for those who are already using and enjoying Home….see you around!

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