This Old Home

Playstation Home gets an extreme make over! Home looks to be more of an "all inclusive" experience compared to it's previous zones.

PlayStation Home Update

1.21 is live today. The most notable difference is the text chat screen has changed. We can now L3 click it so it doesn't show. Also the color we chose for our Pop Up Window selection is not the color of our text in the chat window. Another handy feature is you can scroll the chat window and highlight a users post. You can then bring up their profile and ignore, block, add friend etc etc all from the chat window. There is also a new Sony space called the Presentation Podium... this space kinda looks like a theme park, except without rides. It's still coolbeans as is. It has a pretty neat design.There are some new Sony Generic clothes in Threads, .49 cents a piece. Also Street Fighter 4's selection has updated with several new female costumes, including Cammy's and Rose's outfits, .99 cents per piece.Let's see what else ... [mock forgetfulness] ... Oh yeah! Resistance has launched into Home. The space is pretty neat and has one of the best mini-games in all of Home. It's a turret shooter mini-game and rewards you with clothing items for getting to certain levels/high scores. The space also has a leaderboard so it's fun to compete with your friends or the whole community. Already there are some CRAZY scores in there and it just went live. The top score is over 800k points. My top score is a measly, in comparison, 56133 points. I keep dying on Wave 5.Also today the EA Sports Complex got an update. The Poker space is redone and the betting blinds readjusted. New rewards are in place for winners and also we now have winnable chips that we "bank". The chips are banked automatically when you win and you must have AT LEAST 1000 chips to compete on the RED table. Overall the space is a marked improvement over it's first issue.

Playstation Home Update

Locust_Star, Official Home Community Specialist:Greetings, Home-people. Locust_Star here dropping in to give you the straight truth on what new goodies to expect in PlayStation Home this week. Simply put, this is one of the biggest content updates in the history of Home and we think you're going to dig what we have in store for you.By popular demand, we have brought the Siren: Blood Curse space over from Japan (this space will appear in the European region at a later date). The basic overview is this: The Siren Home space is broken up into three basic zones. When you first enter the Siren space, you're outside the Ward of Despair, in what looks like an old, rundown carnival space. The entrance to the Ward is just a few steps away. Upon entering it, you'll find yourself in the mini-game's lobby. Inside you'll see video screens on the walls and places to sit and mingle with other players waiting their turn to enter the Ward of Despair mini game. When you're ready to play, simply approach the receptionist and she'll send you into the Ward (assuming that the background downloading is complete, which begins upon entry to the lobby scene and can take a few moments).The Ward of Despair is the Saiga Hospital stage from this PSN downloadable game, recreated as a mini-game for Home, and playable with up to 5 players. Everyone is tasked with objectives that must be completed within the 5 minute time limit. If a Shibito, or zombie, catches you, it's game over. Also, if you can't complete the game before the time limit runs out, it's game over for everyone. Successful completion of all objectives presents the player(s) with reward items in the form of some super creepy costumes.Take time over the weekend to visit this space and earn these reward items, as we'll be throwing a special event for those of you that manage to successfully complete the Ward of Despair mini-game. See, on Tuesday, May 12th, between the hours of 4:00pm and 7:00pm PT (6:00pm and 9:00am EST), we�€™ll be throwing the Siren: HorrorBowl bowling tournament. Users that show up for this bowling tournament outfitted with the Siren reward items will qualify for a random giveaway of the first Siren: Blood Curse bundle (episodes 1-4), which we'll be passing out via PSN vouchers throughout the event.In coordination with this space launch and event, the PlayStation Store will be offering a special sale on the full game and the episode bundles. The full game is now only $29.99, and each of the 3 episode bundles is only $10.99. So now's the time to head over to the store and pick up the game if you haven't already, or to snatch up those last remaining episodes to complete your collection. There's even a demo available on the PS Store, so you can try it out before you buy it.By now, you're probably well aware of the Patapon 2 event/t-shirt launch also going on in Home on Thursday, May 7th. But I'm here to tell you that we have even more in terms of exclusive vids playing in-world for you this weekend. The fine folk behind the hilarious upcoming PSN multiplayer game Fat Princess have given us an exclusive behind-the-scenes developer diary video, delving into the inspiration behind this comic medieval battle royale, to air for one week in the Theater. This video will only be up for a limited time one week only before it makes its way to the PS Store later this month. So make sure you log in to Home and head over to the Theater to check it out before anyone else.Moving away from this week's events and into the realm of apartments, we are pleased to announce two new premium areas coming your way this Thursday. These two apartments are a new Log Cabin-themed area and the Living Room Stage Set.The Living Room Stage Set will go on sale in the PlayStation Home Mall and will be loaded with interactive lights, cameras, backdrops and movie-related equipment to simulate a real-life studio production environment. The versatile lighting and camera systems allow for a wide range of desired angles, movements, transitions, cuts and lens set-ups that allow you to take control of the technical and artistic aspects. Combined with 12 props that come with the space to decorate the set, you'll have access to the tools necessary to create your own film when hooked up to a video capture system. Priced at $4.99, the Living Room Stage Set will be available at the Estates store in PlayStation Home Mall for your directorial debut.On top of all this, we have a metric boatload of virtual items coming down the pike including Tekken costumes and figurines and 14 Killzone 2 shirts (plus a bunch of other gear in the Threads store). We also think you'll pleased to find that the inFAMOUS pre-order and reward outfits will begin unlocking right on time.There's more stuff to do in Home than ever before, so come on in and give it all a spin. We'll be looking for you.

PlayStation Home EA Sports Complex

Haven't been home in awhile? Getting bored of Bowling and Billiards? Well EA is coming to the rescue this March with a much needed update to PS Home, a virtual Sports Complex! The first areas that PS Homey's will get to experience is the casino section, with FREE poker tables, racing games and mini golf sections, EA states that there will be enough tables for over 50 people in the zone, poker games will begin when 4 or more people sit at a table. EA has ambitious plans for their virtual sports complex with a Football stadium, and other major sports stadiums planned to break virtual ground soon!

Playstation Home: First Impressions

So I completed the DL this AM and made me, the system gives some decent customization options for recreating your face, the options for hair color and style seem a bit limited, especially for females...no long hair option??? How hard would it have been to take one of those books in a unisex hair salon and duplicate every style? My Harbor Studio has a nice view but I couldn't throw my art deco furniture over the balcony...darn.Before I left my studio I familiarized my self with all the emotes, I'm impressed with the amount and variety of emotes...do the robot and talk to the hand at the same time...made me smile in approval. The comm system is great hold R2 to talk via headset and just type away for texting, if you don't have a USB keybord or headset hit L1 for pre formatted messages or use the PS3's built in keybord (slow). As far as curse words, they get the astrik treatment...although I didn't test l33t text...

Start brings up your triquarter thingie (looks like a PSP in other peoples hands) this little dodad has a lot of uses like warping to a differnent area of Home, calling a friend, inviting a friend to where you are and more (can't remember now).

Before I started to explore Home I DL'd all the zones while in my studio then I headed to the theater, grabbed a seat and sat while the movie trailer was DLing (Optimum or Fios will definately make the wait a lot less painful compared to my Verizon DSL) Got an invite from a guy in my clan, pulled out my trusty triquarter and warped to the mall. Here is the core of the Home experience....you can set up a chat room with your PS3 where up to 9 friends can chat and if you have a PS Eye you can video chat...with Home every PS3 owner is in this virtual environment and can communicate with anyone, this open ended environment can trully build the Playstation community beyond your basic friends list. The one thing I was a little disapointed in was the fact developer zones like Sully's bar didn't seem "connected" to the rest of the Home areas which kinda takes you out of the cyber reality of the landscape of Home. So I'm at the mall now talking to one of the guys in my clan via my headset and text, he shows me the new sweatshirt he bought in one of the stores in the mall...$00.50 for a virtual sweatshirt, I laughed thinking of the repercusions if my wife found out I spent real money on a virtual sweatshirt! The real estate store was open and I could've dropped $4.99 on a summer home...prices seem a little off in home...$00.50 for a sweatshirt and only 10X that for a summer house! Maybe that's where we're headed with the RL economy...with all the sweatshirts my wife and I have we'll be owning an island in the carribean soon! I think conversations are proximity based meaning people walking by would hear our conversation. As I talked with my my clanmate I couldn't help but compare Home to your typical message board, the mall being a section of a message board such as a Video Games section and the we were having a conversation about Home so you could compare it to me and my clanmate talking about CoD4 in the CoD4 thread of a message board. Same concept, different application. Then I thought to myself as dozens and dozens of people interacted...where's the mods? The Mr. Smiths of Home...

All in all Home is potentially a new way for people to meet online and participate in community based activities.There is also unlimited potential for Home to generate RL revenue via advertising and micro transactions. I'm looking forward to more publishers embracing Home and using it to promote their games with game-centric zones such as Sully's Bar and special events where Home owners can acquire unique items to showcase how involved they are in home. And Capcom....if by some miracle you're reading this make Chun Li's stage as an area in home to promote Street Fighter IV! And If EA BIG makes another SSX game make a Ski Lodge with a store where we can purchase boards and equipment to use within the game...and an Elise lamp or statue to buy for our homes! So many ideas I could go on and on...

Mama I'm coming Home!

PS home has been in development for so long now I can't remember when I first read about it. I've seen all of Sony's video's showcasing Home, from the TV being thrown down the stairs to the avatar creation vids, to the aimless wanderings throughtout Home from your "Home" to the mall, to the theater and arcade area's. I've lurked in the Playstation.com Home forums hoping to read a legit post regarding a release but that never happened. Little by little my friends began recieving invites to the beta...I even downloaded that gawd awful Home theme in hopes to find a "golden ticket" into Home in my email...alas I was never able to join my friends in Sony's digital eden, or as some call it Sony's 2nd life/sims spinoff.

Sony has promised that Home will open before 2009 which leaves them 21 days to keep their promise....

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/691543/PlayStation_Home_Will_Be_Available_In_Nine_Days.html
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/09/scea-confirms-that-playstation-home-launch-coming-this-month-in/

UPDATE 12/10/08

Well looks like Sony will be keeping their promise, the doors to Home will open tomorrow for all PS3 owners!

http://threespeech.com/blog/2008/12/home-to-open-up-to-all-ps3-users-on-the-11th-of-december/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/10/playstation-home-launching-globally-on-11-december/

Mog Houses...they ain't what they used to be!