Xi

[Badnik Mechanic]

A long time ago, Sony had this as one of their slogans for the PS2.

"Welcome to the third place"

Around 12 weeks ago, a strange symbol appeared in the Home square, when a user clicked on it they were transported to an Alpha area of home and were greated with a cut scene and a challenge.

Upon completion of this challenge the user begins the mystery.

I don't want to give too much of the plot away because thats all part of Xi's charm. But basically... theres this old Home Alpha tester called Jess who was working on a secret project called Xi, however she's gone missing and your task is to find her and discover what Xi is and what you will do with it.

The game was played episodically, with a new chapter/puzzle/quest beginning each week. New areas of Home were opened, some secret entrances that had been in home from the start were used to deepen the quest.

In order to complete the game users had to view youtube pages, websites created by the game, solve puzzles, math problems, anagrams, use their home avatar to navigate a maze each one with a different theme of problem. Teamwork was needed on some tasks.

And one task required you to play a Xi creared level of little big planet! Yup, you actually had to get a copy of little big planet, get search for a level and find the code in that level in order to progress!

It's taken me around a day to complete it, but I had to use a walkthrough... before you say cheat or moan... I defy anyone to do this without a walkthrough... In order to complete Xi you must be a master in the following.

Japanese, Binary code, mathematics (advanced stage stuff), french, geography, the works of william Shakespeare. Politics, famous historical figures, music theory, as well as a keen mind for puzzles and problem solving.

Nobody could do it on their own. Websites and groups were set up in order to colleact and solve the information. No one person could do it.

Eventually you come to the end and you learn the truth as to what Xi really was, it was interesting to say the least.

Sadly... it's days are numbered.

Theres only a short space of time left to play Xi and complete it before it closes it's doors forever.

You can now however join and skip the game and just go to the winners area... but if you do that you'll skip out some of the rewards, like home clothing and items for your... home... But it's certainly an experience to play the game in full before you go for the ending, as once you finish the game, you cannot attempt it again.

Xi is one of the best free things to have been distributed, and it's certainly a grand showcase as to what Home can be, the mazes alone should get their own place in Home. Theres other things too like an old style text based RPG that you must complete, lots of minigames to complete, it really does put the bowling ally to shame in so many ways.

Sony once said "Welcome to the third place" Xi may just be that place. If you have a PS3 and didn't get much of an interest when Xi was announced. Get playing it before it's too late.

Why is there no pictures of videos? Because, no matter what I publish... it would be a spoiler... and a big one, theres no way you can distribute anything without spoiling a task or quest.

[Crystal Kingfisher]

That sounds sweet. LONG LIVE THE THIRD PLACE!