Posting earlier today on the European Playstation Blog, SCEE blog manager James Gallagher announced the 1.5 client now being online and listed the new features available to players. The first one listed and by far the biggest is real-time multiplayer, meaning that the networking has been greatly improved which should allow for faster games to be created, including FPS.
The second thing to be listed is the improved physics. Here Gallagher cites that developers now have "improved access to the core elements of the Havok physics engine". I personally never knew that Home runs of the Havok engine, so that to me is an interesting fact. He then follows on to note the overall improved graphics animation and graphics.
As for the additional content Audi have released a new game in the form of Audi Sled, a manic downhill sled race for up to six players.
Home Threads has also received a bulk of new content in the form of clothing for SOCOM: Special Forces,some of which is free, as well as SOCOM furniture being available from Furniture and Alter Ego.
The next announcement is that nDreams have begun a two week event dubbed Aurora War. The event actually began on the 17th, but will still run until May 1st. In the event North America will be compared to Europe, as the top fifty percent of all Orb Runner and Aurora Defence scores from both terrioties will constantly be recorded and shown to everyone via AuroraWar.com.
The final new content, does in fact come from Lockwood. The first is numerous new furniture for the Cucumber collection of items.
The second is a new game... TankTop. This new game is only a demo version though and can be played in Home Square. It is similar to Salt Shooter, but is instead shown from a top-down perspective and is small, appearing to be played on a large table. Anyone who is familiar with Salt Shooter will most likely understand the game and it's gameplay style. Even if you are not familiar to it, as I said the demo is available in the Square. To unlock the full version of TankTop, the player must purchase Blaster's Paradise, the new Personal Space from Lockwood.
Blaster's Paradise is the dream Personal Space for any fans of Sodium. The space stays true to the themes and designs in Sodium and is set around a beach location, offering sandy areas, a waterfall and of course, the full version of TankTop, along with a highscore board. Overall I personally feel that Blaster's Paradise has already made good use of 1.50's improved graphics.
So, that is all of client 1.50's new offerings and I feel that they are a fair jump from 1.40 and can indeed see the potential of the client's new power if used by the right developers in the right way. It is a shame that S2 hasn't been released on the originally hoped for release date, but this may mean that Lockwood wish to further develop the game and improve it more.
If you wish to read the full and original details regarding 1.50, James Gallagher's post can be viewed here from his post feed. At the moment it is currently the top post on the feed, but being the blog manager and always posting more, it will begin to move down the list and may later require some hunting to find the post.
And to add onto everything I have said, if you do own a PS3 and currently have not tried Home, why not give it a go? It's a feature that many PSN users overlook and never do try. Some people do like it, whilst others don't, it's simply a difference of opinion, but it is PSN's largest social feature and one that has been carefully thought out.
And finally I would like to mention that this series of posts, ''Home Weekly'' will be joining the post schedule I posted earlier today, with Home Weekly being posted on Saturday's, but I felt it was more relevant posting this today.
So this is randomthings and until next time, thank you for reading.
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