Playstation Home... WtF is the problem??

I game on multiple platforms like most of us. I know very few devoted gamers that have only one system that they are dedicated to. Sure, most of us have a favored system for one reason or another. Until about 6 months ago my favored system was the Xbox 360 primarily for it's ease of use socially. Now of course, I spend the majority of my time on my PC mostly because I've started gaming with my brother online and he's a PC gamer down to his core.

And then there's my Playstation 3, I love it so. Of course I would love it a lot more if there could be a few changes.

The things I love about the PS3 is the intuitive interface that hasn't changed much since it was introduced. While the XBox has been changing user interface like some people change pants, the PS3 has stayed with the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy.

The PS3 is robust, and that's an understatement. I am currently in possession of my sixth Xbox 360. That doesn't include the OTHER system I bought for my wife and daughter to use as a family system and that one has also been replaced once. The XBox 360 can best be described as unpredictably exciting to keep it polite. MicroShaft (as I affectionately call them) has made statements that it is due to the system's heat generation due to it's power and the case limitations. I say, "You're full of shit, and your saving money on low quality components at the expense of your devoted customers patience".

My PS3 (my first and ONLY PS3) was bought second hand from a dude who had stored this system in his CAR... for over a YEAR AND A HALF! The system not only worked the first time I plugged it in but it has kept running with NO screw ups for three years now. It sits there on the opposite side of my gaming set-up smugly purring away while I just stare at my 360 wondering when it is going to shit the bed again.

My PS3 plays my Blu-Ray, it has a nicer and simpler interface for all of my media and it has had a 250 gb hd in it since I got it thanks to the simple hard-drive swap (I love you Sony, I really do).

If the PS3 were more flexible socially I would only turn my 360 on when a new Halo game was released.

And now we get to the intent of this entry (see, I ramble, but I get there), why the fuck is the PS3 so limited in it's social network?

It's almost like they don't want you to have friends. It's hard enough to have a voice conversation with ONE person on your friends list and unless you are in a multiplayer game don't even dream about it with more than one.

For cripes sake, on the PC I can use Team Speak or the Steam Network... for FREE... and the voice quality is amazing.

It's almost better to have your PS3 network friends to all have a PC next to them (and face it, if you have a PS3 you are probably either 12 or techy enough to have a decent PC anyway) and use TeamSpeak. The games that have dedicated servers provided by the developers are the only real exception.

I love the Playstation Home as an idea but so far it just seems frustratingly limited. I see people, lots of them. But I just can't talk to them and I do mean TALK. If I wanted to send a fucking text message for privacy i would use my cell phone. I wouldn't mind it as an option, you know like on the LIVE network. Talking in a group of several friends and you want to say something private you just open the chat window and send a text message. Simple.

But, when I'm running around the Home environment (with a fucking Ak47 on my back because the PS3 is fucking awesome!!) I just can't bring myself to waste valuable time typing out a shit load of text to people I AM LITERALLY STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO!

You know how that feels right, you're walking around in the mall and you see a group of teenagers. They are standing around in a group, as teens do, except they aren't talking THEY"RE FUCKING TEXTING EACH OTHER!!??!?!?!! Why the FUCK would you do that! I kind of understand the occasional text for privacy sake (kind of like on LIVE) but a whole damn conversation! Really! Are we getting that anti-social when we can't even just have a civil conversation without grabbing our devices?

Where the hell is that Mayan asteroid when you really need it?

What I would really like is a mash-up of the two things I like about both of my systems. I want the Home environment with the XBox LIVE social network. I want to be able to hang out with several friends who are hundreds of miles away but I can "see" them in a somewhat physical form and hang out with them in a semi-realistic way. And, I want to do all that while talking to them with all the pitfalls that go along with it. I want us to be interrupting each other, saying fucked up shit before we have a chance to edit ourselves, etc. I want all the pitfalls of actually having an interaction with people.

I can almost see and understand what Sony wants for Home and if it were to come to it's full fruition it would be amazing. I'd love to be able to have a couple of friends meet up with me online and go to the movies. "Walk" up to the ticket kiosk and decide what movie we wanted to see together, pay for the movie or use a subscription service and then "walk" into the theater and watch the show. The LIVE theater is really close except is is far too simplistic. But, it's a lot closer than Sony's Home and that's disappointing.

Sony is close, I can feel it. If they could just get it so that you can actually talk to people openly without the "Push to Talk" bullshit (and even that's a pain in the ass).

Come on Sony, you are a much nicer company than MicroSatan. You have better vision and a more open mind. You're like that hippy uncle that everybody likes. He has a lot of great ideas "if he could just get the investment dude". I know you make money, I've seen your shit in the mall. You can do this, so what's keeping you?