Doctor Who landed on PlayStation Home this week, and unfortunately for fans of the Time Lord, it’s quite possibly worst thing to happen to the franchise since the Daleks were recreated as Power Ranger portaloos.
In celebration of the Doctor’s 50th birthday, PS Home users now have access to a multitude of Doctor Who-themed items such as skins, pets, etc. The official blurb states as follows:
"We’re really excited to be bringing this much-loved series to social and virtual worlds,” said Simon Hutson, senior vice president digital development at BBC Worldwide. “Discovering new ways to engage with our fans is incredibly important to us, especially as we approach Doctor Who’s 50th year.”
The quote is slightly inaccurate as the BBC seem determined to engage with fans by milking the cash cow that is Doctor Who until its udders bleed.
So what can you buy? Well, the first wave of PS Home content that has launched will allow you, if you wish to part with £12 of your hard-earned cash, to have access to skins, a clubhouse a pet and other items that are unique in their unremakableness.
The items have certainly been chosen to represent the worst of Doctor Who, however. Let me give you an example. You can purchase a pet Cybermat; now when you think Doctor Who pets, this isn’t the first creature to spring to mind, is it? Where the hell is K9 ? I would have bought him as he is the most popular "pet " to accompany the Doctor on his travels and is far more aesthetically pleasing than a Cybermat, too.
The rest of the choices are just as bad and include a modern Silurian skin and a skin of the Silent — a monster that’s hardly been in the show. Where are the Cybermen skins, where are the classic Doctor skins, was there any input from anyone who knows anything about Doctor Who, or did the developers just use Wikipedia ?
Elsewhere, you can also purchase a Tardis clubhouse and film your own episodes of Doctor Who for uploading to YouTube. However, this is a cheap gimmick I feel as Doctor Who fans have been making their own episodes for years without having to pay for the privilege, and they look better as well.
PS Home is not eagerly embracing this new content as I found out in chat, as the general opinion is that there is nothing spectacular on offer and what’s available is overpriced. There will be a free items today, but why it’s not available at launch is unknown and certainly not the best way to promote anything.
All in all there is nothing in this content to excite Doctor Who fans or PS Home members. As such, I would save your money for the Doctor Who stamps from the Royal Mail — they’re half the price, look nicer and will only go up in value. That’s infinitely more than can be said of this dreadful effort to fleece cash from fans of this beloved series.