I don't think this will warrant too much discussion around here as it's very much Japan specific, but there may be others like me who were wondering just what the hell this was - so with that in mind...
I kept seeing this in PSN updates, but didn't realise it was a free download.
It's basically an information distribution service, done in a cute way. Toro the cat lives in his house, you go there and watch him do news broadcasts with his friends. When you're not reading anything Toro does random activities.. the house environment updates real time so at night he will be sleeping etc. There are some mini games but it's not worth downloading for those - in fact I didn't have any patience for the non-information sections of the 'game', because your Nyavatar walks so slowly it's frustrating even trying to go somewhere! Mostly you don't need to use your Nyavatar though, so it's not a problem really. Some games may be fun, I haven't tried them yet.
The news broadcasts occasionally award you presents, furniture and stuff that you can put in Toro's house, and he will interact with it. It's also possible to buy such items using in-game points or real cash (two chances of that happening lol). Some of this stuff is pretty cool, and collecting it has already become a minor compulsion for me. The best stuff I got so far was from the MGS4 news broadcasts - I got a Hideo Kojima signature to put on my fridge, a piece of Yoji Shinkawa artwork, the Gakko timer (which makes it's quacking noise on the hour) and the Metal Gear Mk.II - Toro plays games with it! I'm saving up my points for a Dante action figure cos I want to see what he does with it.
The range of topics covered is really diverse - In the last few days I've seen shows about Monty Python (very weird to see their interpretation of the spanish inquisition etc), an interview with the creator of Xevious, a Japanese history lesson, an explanation of the sub-prime loan problem, a motorstorm tutorial, special kind of cakes you can buy in Niigata prefecture.. and information of new year customs around the world (It was funny to see them mention that Scottish people 'drink all night'... Toro commented that it must make it hard to go home, and his buddy said 'They don't go home!') There was also a nice feature on animated paper craft that I really want to track down in the shops...
There is a lot of interesting stuff.. but if you can't read it then it would be interminably boring. I struggle with some of it and my eyes tend to glaze over if it's too hard to follow, so it's hard to recommend if you have no interest in Japanese language.
A word of warning about the trophies too - if you download the PS3 version and play it once (on any account) you will be given one trophy... but unless you are playing on a Japanese account you will not be able to earn any more, leaving you with a permanently gimped trophy list. They apparently did this to stop the bandwith getting hammered by non-Japanese residents who were reading just for the trophies.
What I'd suggest if you want to check it out, is get the PSP version. It has the same news broadcasts, just less features in the game. The only functional difference I've noticed is you have to download the news updates manually. I would like to know if there's any kind of cross-over between the two versions if you are using one account, but I don't think there is.
It shares some characteristics with Home actually (you can customise your garden and other people can visit it)... but it has much more personality and the information given out makes it a damn sight more interesting too. I wonder how many of these 'virtual life experiences' Sony feel they need?
I kept seeing this in PSN updates, but didn't realise it was a free download.
It's basically an information distribution service, done in a cute way. Toro the cat lives in his house, you go there and watch him do news broadcasts with his friends. When you're not reading anything Toro does random activities.. the house environment updates real time so at night he will be sleeping etc. There are some mini games but it's not worth downloading for those - in fact I didn't have any patience for the non-information sections of the 'game', because your Nyavatar walks so slowly it's frustrating even trying to go somewhere! Mostly you don't need to use your Nyavatar though, so it's not a problem really. Some games may be fun, I haven't tried them yet.
The news broadcasts occasionally award you presents, furniture and stuff that you can put in Toro's house, and he will interact with it. It's also possible to buy such items using in-game points or real cash (two chances of that happening lol). Some of this stuff is pretty cool, and collecting it has already become a minor compulsion for me. The best stuff I got so far was from the MGS4 news broadcasts - I got a Hideo Kojima signature to put on my fridge, a piece of Yoji Shinkawa artwork, the Gakko timer (which makes it's quacking noise on the hour) and the Metal Gear Mk.II - Toro plays games with it! I'm saving up my points for a Dante action figure cos I want to see what he does with it.
The range of topics covered is really diverse - In the last few days I've seen shows about Monty Python (very weird to see their interpretation of the spanish inquisition etc), an interview with the creator of Xevious, a Japanese history lesson, an explanation of the sub-prime loan problem, a motorstorm tutorial, special kind of cakes you can buy in Niigata prefecture.. and information of new year customs around the world (It was funny to see them mention that Scottish people 'drink all night'... Toro commented that it must make it hard to go home, and his buddy said 'They don't go home!') There was also a nice feature on animated paper craft that I really want to track down in the shops...
There is a lot of interesting stuff.. but if you can't read it then it would be interminably boring. I struggle with some of it and my eyes tend to glaze over if it's too hard to follow, so it's hard to recommend if you have no interest in Japanese language.
A word of warning about the trophies too - if you download the PS3 version and play it once (on any account) you will be given one trophy... but unless you are playing on a Japanese account you will not be able to earn any more, leaving you with a permanently gimped trophy list. They apparently did this to stop the bandwith getting hammered by non-Japanese residents who were reading just for the trophies.
What I'd suggest if you want to check it out, is get the PSP version. It has the same news broadcasts, just less features in the game. The only functional difference I've noticed is you have to download the news updates manually. I would like to know if there's any kind of cross-over between the two versions if you are using one account, but I don't think there is.
It shares some characteristics with Home actually (you can customise your garden and other people can visit it)... but it has much more personality and the information given out makes it a damn sight more interesting too. I wonder how many of these 'virtual life experiences' Sony feel they need?
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