PlayStation Home Message Board older than one year ago

'Sodium One' provides futuristic multiplayer gameplay and evolving adventure to PlayStation 3 users.

To coincide with the launch of Final Fantasy XIII in Japan, PlayStation Home has been updated with a number of virtual Square Enix goods -- all of them terribly expensive. For 600 yen (about $6.66), Final Fantasy fans will be able to purchase an avatar costume of Snow, Lightning or Sazh. (The Baby Chocobo wig for Sazh will cost an additional 100 yen, though.) While these costumes may be pricey, the alternative (cosplaying in real life) exacts an even greater cost. FF13-inspired furniture is also available at the Home Marketplace, ranging from 100 to 200 yen each. Perhaps you'll want a Cactaur for your apartment? Or a Final Fantasy XIII sofa? Certainly, there's no better way to relax after a lengthy FF13 grind than to sit down on your virtual couch.

Sony heard you liked games, so it put an MMO in your Home so you could socially game while you socially game. The company just announced the launch of Sodium One (yeah, we don't know either), a self-contained social MMO space within PlayStation Home. By taking the Teleporter installed in the Central Plaza, Home users can receive in-game objectives from an AI called "VICKIE." Said objectives then task the player with playing various minigames, including "objective-based meta-games, full arcade-style games and community events." The first game accessible in the space: Salt Shooter, a game in which players use tanks to shoot robots. Only five levels of this minigame are available for free, with more levels and items unlockable through microtransactions. Sony is giving away 1,050 free Salt Shooter unlocks to early Sodium One adopters, so be sure to go check that out soon if you're interested. More games, events, and virtual goods will be added over time.

You may be nearing the end of your assassinating adventures with Ezio in Assassin's Creed II. But, what are you supposed to do as you agonizingly wait for the upcoming DLC? Make your own AC2 adventures in PlayStation Home and LittleBigPlanet, of course!The LBP Ezio costume will be available today on the PlayStation Store worldwide for £1.59 / €1.99 / US $1.99 / AUS $ 3.45 / NZD $3.90. Unfortunately, this costume set doesn't include any hidden wrist blades, so you'll have to make do with slapping your friends silly.PlayStation Home's offering is a little less adventurous. The virtual Mall will feature "Renaissance costumes pulled straight from 15th Century Italy." In other words, you can dress like a courtesan (essentially, a fancy way for saying "prostitute"). Once again, no lethal weapons will be included, so instead of killing, you'll have to make do with ... um, dancing.Source - Assassin's Creed II Costume - LittleBigPlanetSource - This Week in PlayStation Home - PlayStation.Blog

Santa has added a layover in PlayStation Home to an already-packed holiday itinerary. On December 10, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is opening up a new PlayStation Home space that allows you to see Santa's workshop through the unique Home filter -- by which we mean it's now kind of eerie. The new Winter Wonderland space will allow you to interact with a vaguely Shatner-esque Santa Claus and elves like Robin Williams here, as you help the crew get all its preparations for Christmas done. Which means minigames! There will be presents, of course, and a Photo Elf who will take festively decorated pictures of your Home avatar. You know, so you can always remember the time you saved Christmas.

Tomorrow, you'll find some big additions coming to the Red Bull Island space in PlayStation Home. Don't worry, Sony isn't fiddling with your cherished Red Bull Air Race mini-game, but rather adding two new mini-games to the virtual tropical island. First is Red Bull Illume, an area for the sports and action photogs out there. Then there's the Redbull Flugtag mini-game, which will pretty much be a game adaptation of the real thing -- players can launch one of five pre-made flying contraptions off a 30-foot launch pad. Starting on Monday, November 30 at 6pm PDT, you'll be able to see some real-life, behind-the-scenes footage of the Flugtag in the Home theater. There will also be trivia and, if you're one of the first five lucky individuals who send in a trivia answer here during the event, you could win yourself a PSP Go! How's that for incentive?

It's rare we quote someone extensively for a post, but we thought this update from PlayStation Home's Locust_Star speaks for itself: "In celebration of the impending Turkey Day, users will approach the giant stone turkey in Central Plaza and, of course, pledge their allegiance to the almighty Meleagris Gallopavo by stating 'Gobble gobble' and/or other assorted turkey-isms ... You will be given a chance to chase a bunch of wily turkeys around Central Plaza. If you can manage to catch them all, you will unlock some truly hilarious rewards that are sure to make you an object of envy amongst your peers." Yeah, the PS3 really can do everything.

Andrew Eades, executive director of Buzz! developer Relentless Software, recently had a few nonplussed things to say to VideoGamer.com about Sony's virtual social hub, PlayStation Home. Specifically, he remarked "Home doesn't appeal to me personally that much," adding that he doesn't know why the platform appeals to people. However, though he might not be its biggest fan, he later added that the platform still has room to grow, and that only now is it "realising its potential." Eades suggested that Sony focus on "[building] the tools to allow people to create content for it," mentioning that his studio has plans for "a game we're considering doing which only could work in Home." We're picturing a multiplayer trivia title with heavy crossdressing elements, but the scope of our PlayStation Home experience is admittedly pretty narrow.

While we're certainly happy to hear that a brand new Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the theater in PlayStation Home tomorrow, we can't help but be a little put out too. Is this the announcement that had been hinted at on Sunday? Because we were honestly hoping for something a bit more ... announcementy. On the bright side, maybe there's some real news coming and the trailer's just a nice compliment, or on the even brighter side, maybe there's big news nestled lovingly within the clip. On the double-triple bright side, the Home theaters are also showing a sneak preview of Steven Seagal: Lawman on Friday, so there's no way you're not logging out of Home happier than when you logged in.

IGN examines the pratfalls and potential of Sony's social experiment.

"Interactive movie technology," you may find yourself asking, "isn't that just another word for video games?" Well, grandpa, yes and no. While this recently filed patent from Sony Computer Entertainment America will likely be implemented in some form of game -- our guess is PlayStation Home -- it doesn't really resemble anything we've ever seen from a ludological offering. Basically, SCEA is designing a framework for "avatars" to interact with a film in a number of different ways, such as tossing tomatoes at on-screen actors, or climbing into the film to deliver a swift kick to one of the characters' behinds. The patent's illustrations resemble pencil-drawn versions of Mystery Science Theater 3000, where a player's avatar can be seen sitting in a chair in front of the interactive movie. These interactions can even be scored, granting bonus points for a well-aimed tomato toss. We have no idea how well this type of technology would work, but our deep, deep fondness for Mike and the 'Bots makes us more than a little interested in how SCEA is planning on using it. [Via Siliconera]

Don't want to bother going outside with friends on Halloween? Good! PlayStation Home is hosting two different virtual events, one for Europe and one for America.On Halloween Day, from 6-8PM GMT, SCEE will be hosting a virtual party in the Burn Zombie Burn space. Participants that purchase and wear appropriately undead attire will receive a special "treat" upon arriving. For more details, visit the EU PlayStation.blog.SCEA is celebrating one day earlier, on Halloween Eve. At 11:59PM EST, the Central Plaza will feature a zombie rally that will put Hamsters vs Humans to shame (cough). Once again, virtual prizes will be handed out to all that participate -- and isn't that so much better than going outside, only to get tooth decay? For more details on America's festivities, visit the US PlayStation.blog.Source - Halloween comes to PlayStation HomeSource - Celebrate Halloween PlayStation Home-Style at the Zombie Rally

It's hard for us to blame you for wanting to extend the Uncharted 2 experience. Who wouldn't want a big second helping of the one of the year's best titles? While it's no substitute, we're hopeful that the Home space based on the game opening on Thursday will help to fill the hole in your heart, if only a little. Those of you who haven't played the game might be able to help stave off the cravings with the space's three mini-games, though we'd submit that time would be far better spent finding a second job so you can just buy your own copy already.

The sentence following this sentence will be completely unprecedented for this humble news blog: We completely endorse the practice of spending real-life money on virtual articles of clothing -- provided that clothing is the jersey seen above. Sure, black and pink jerseys may not be your style, but when you purchase that shirt in PlayStation Home's EA Sports Complex, the entirety of your $2.00 goes to the charity of New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees, the Brees Dream Foundation, which raises money for breast cancer awareness. Though altruism is its own reward, we'll sweeten the pot even further: Anyone seen wearing this jersey will be granted amnesty from our Quincying, which has grown increasingly violent over the past few months. Trust us, it's a worthwhile investment.

Sony is set to unleash a new Home space to coincide with the release of LocoRoco Midnight Carnival in Japan this November, andriasang reports. The new destination -- which features an island theme and many of the LocoRoco franchise's signature characters -- will sport "gimmicks" that make it feel more unique than any of the other Home spaces available, Sony says. Sounds fine to us, though we think it's going to be tough granted how high the bar has been set by the Ratchet & Clank space.

Okay, we'll admit that this is one of the cooler items you can wear in PlayStation Home: Wolverine's adamantium claws. Best of all, you can don these shredders for free. Yes, you'll have to suffer through the trailer for X-Men Origins; Wolverine at the Home Theatre -- but once the painful two minutes are over, you'll find these claws waiting for you in the Threads store of the Home Mall.Unfortunately, these are non-functional weapons. We so would've loved to go on a virtual rampage in Home. Also, this is strictly a European affair. Sorry, everyone else.[Via Kotaku]

The biggest update to PlayStation Home since its public beta debut went live not too long ago. However, the transition hasn't been as smooth as many hoped. There are sporadic reports of system hangs during the initialization screen, post 1.3 update. While EndSights says "many systems" are affected, it seems likely the problem is isolated to a minority of PlayStation Home users.According to Home Manager Locust_Star, a few items in the virtual world may be causing the hiccups. Items like the Namco Bandai Love Seat, Fat Princess Throne and Ghostbusters Bagel are amongst the few suspected to be causing crashes. Until a proper patch is implemented, the PlayStation team recommends deleting and reinstalling PlayStation Home. Erasing Home data from the Save Data Utility may also help PlayStation gamers that are desperate to log into the virtual world.Let us know if you've been affected by the latest Home update, and if these workarounds, um, work.

Sony has announced a new PSP service for designing 3D avatars and "my room" spaces, along with blog, album, and group gathering and chat support. Um ... does this sound familiar to anyone?Yes, it looks like PlayStation Home is coming to PSP ... sort of. PlayStation Room (officially spelled with an infinity symbol in place of the "oo" in Room) will be added to PSP in an upcoming firmware update this winter and can be launched directly from the PlayStation Network section of the XMB. Just like in Home, PSP owners will be able to invite other PlayStation players into their rooms to "enjoy real time communication." Is that what the kids call it these days?While anything remotely resembling PlayStation Home has us reeling with trepidation, we do think Room's stylized avatars look significantly less creepy than the Home avatars ripped from the uncanny valley. We're also hopeful that the advent of Room will mean the addition of much-needed features, like a friends list and proper messaging services. And just imagine the connectivity possibilities: PlayStation HomeRoom! ... Anybody?

Yet another enormous corporation is dipping its toes into the advertising-friendly waters of PlayStation Home -- later this year, Audi is releasing a Home space with a whole slew of new features beyond "televisions that show commercials all day long." Well, they have those too (of course), but the space will also grant access to an Audi-driving minigame. Those who perform well in said game can unlock apartments in a massive housing complex in the middle of Audi square. We assume if you lose your ranking, you get evicted. Such is life in the high-stakes, no-mercy Home racing circuit.

Among the truckloads of possibly legit megatons included in the alleged leaked minutes from a meeting between Sega of America and Sony Computer Entertainment America, a number of notable gaffes and oddities can be found. Besides wondering if "characters from [the] Rare or Fable universes" should be included in Sonic Racing, it appears that Sega may be interested in assigning all of its properties a PlayStation Home-room. Oh, and a product evaluator thought Alpha Protocol felt "barely RPG" -- final analysis: make it even more Mass Effect-y.Additionally, the mention of PS2 games as downloadable content on PSN makes us reminisce all the way back to mid-2006 when the idea first popped up on our radar --- surely, this isn't why Sony removed built-in backwards compatibility? And either the person taking minutes was daydreaming or knows something we don't, as reference is made to "Eidos' Batman" featuring "PS3/PSP interoperability" support -- a Batman or related DC Comics PSP game then? Juicer still, that little mention comes right after talk of a project named "Vanguard" and a possible PSP iteration of the currently shelved Aliens: Colonial Marines that Gearbox Software is working on. Also, Sony is eager to check out that hopefully not-so-crappy Thor game soon (suggestion: make it less Iron Man 2-y).The cherry on top comes in the form of what we've been calling around the Joystiq water cooler: "Sonic and the Inverted Castle." Found under the "Sonic Anniversary" subhead, the note taker jots down, "SCEA would love PSN exclusive power ups/different game modes (like Castlevania's flip it over/backwards)." Actually, we believe that's Missy Elliott who puts the thing down, flips it and reverses it, thank you very much.

British artist Dizzee Rascal will headline the European launch of the new SingStar VIP space during an online PlayStation Home event on September 24 at 20:00 BST (UK time)/ 21:00 CEST (Mainland Europe). The Mercury Award-winning rapper will be on hand to promote his upcoming fourth album Tongue N' Cheek and answer fan questions, but not before taking the stage to perform some of his chart topping jams and his upcoming single.If you need more incentive to connect, Home users who join the artist's launch party can get their hands on a free Dizzee Rascal mask (as terrifyingly seen above) for 48 hours. With an accessory as crazy as that, we hope to see a quick Quincy resurgence.

Home just got a little darker.

Fat Princess gobbles its way into Playstation Home.

Hatsune Miku invades PS Home in Japan.

EA Sports Complex has been revamped with a new Fight Night Round 4 area including PSHome-sized Rock'em-Sock'em Robots and much more!

Post your own graffiti and harness your electric powers to zap targets in minigames.