PlayStation Home Message Board older than one year ago

Sony is preparing to launch a new incentives program called PlayStation Rewards. A closed beta for the offer is currently invite-only -- for "highly engaged" PlayStation owners -- but the full service will open up to include everyone next year. The program will reward players with a number of PSN bonuses, including "exclusive" avatars, dynamic themes and PlayStation Home content. In addition, Rewards will feature "member-only" sweepstakes, events and giveaways.

At first glance, PlayStation Rewards seems to offer many of the same features as PlayStation Plus. However, the two services are separate from each other and will offer different bonuses. Rewards is free, and will be open to all PlayStation owners, regardless of Plus status -- although, Plus members are more likely to be offered entry into the service during the beta.

Like Club Nintendo and Square Enix Members, PlayStation Rewards is tiered, separating its members into three groups: Select, Pro and Legendary. Playing games, downloading demos, using PlayStation Home, being active on the PlayStation.com Forums, answering surveys and buying content on the PlayStation Store are some of the ways in which members can increase their ranks in a Trophy-inspired leveling system.

On Thursday, October 21st, Lord Pumpkinhead (aka “the Demon Gourd from Hell”) will appear In the middle of PlayStation Home’s Central Plaza, his gigantic glowing face sneering like an intolerant king at his unworthy subjects, rotating so that all can bear witness to his glorious image.

As an offering to your pumpkin overlord, you and your friends must toss coins into his mouth as it rotates past. Make a proper offering, and the exalted one will reward you as one of his followers. Fail in your tithing efforts, and you will anger the ever-powerful Lord Pumpkinhead, hindering your chances of entering the Demon Gourd’s fold.

Legend has it that Lord Pumpkinhead has additional rewards for his most loyal subjects. Can you ascend to the ranks of his chosen few?

Speaking of Halloween festivities, this week our friends over at Heavy Water release their first pieces in the “Heavy Pets” line of items for your personal space. Celebrate Halloween properly by visiting the Furniture store (or the Central Plaza kiosk) in the PlayStation Home Mall, where you can purchase a ghostly tombstone, an eerie bell tower, or a flaming brazier. Place one in your personal space of choice and watch as a trio of Halloween creatures comes out to play – ghosts will rise from the tombstone, vampire bats will fly from the belfry, and flaming skulls will stream out of the brazier. These spooky new items are available for single purchase and are also offered together as a bundle at a special low price.

Also available this week from Heavy Water is the new Heavy Strike game. Place the Heavy Strike cannon in the personal space of your choice and then strap on your helmet, grab your walkie talkie, and order in an artillery strike. Simply place your sights over your intended target and tap X to fire away. You can even drop two cannons across from one another and exchange fire with a friend! Pick yours up from the Furniture store (or the Central Plaza kiosk) this Thursday.

“Want to play a game?” Join Konami this Halloween by sporting the infamous mascot Billy the Puppet’s costume from the horrifying hit film and game franchise Saw, available from the Costumes store in the PlayStation Home Mall. Konami also passes along the friendly reminder to make sure you check out the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow demo. After you’ve completed the demo, check your PlayStation Home wardrobe and you’ll find a special Castlevania: Lords of Shadow t-shirt!

The newest additions to our long line of Costumes are being released this week in the PlayStation Home Mall. Choose from a new Ninja costume (male), Midnight Rogue costume (female), or the Aqua Suit costume (female). Check out the picture below for a sneak peek at these brand new costumes.

Finally, Lockwood has updated the Sodium store with a literal ton of creepy contact lenses, perfect additions to your Halloween costumes. And our friends over at VIZ Media have given us a full episode of Bleach to put up in the Theater for a week starting this Thursday. Watch episode 168, where a new captain joins Squad Three, taking the place of the rebel Gin Ichimaru.

See you in Home!

This Thursday, October 12th brings a wide variety of content into the ever-evolving world of PlayStation Home – from unlockable rewards from top PS3 games to stylish body art for your avatar to spooky Halloween items to help you get in the spirit of the season.

Our friends over at Heavy Water kick things off this week with their Heavy Ink line of body art. Choose from full-body, back and arm tattoos – including animated and glow-in-the-dark designs. Check out this video for a sneak peek at some of the wild tattoos releasing this Thursday in PlayStation Home.

The Heavy Ink line will be expanded in the future. The developers over at Heavy Water encourage you to reach out to them with any comments or suggestions: communityinput@heavystrike.com. And if you have a specific tattoo design that you’d like to request, go ahead and give ‘em a shout at: mytattoo@heavyinked.com.

Lockwood brings even more Halloween content into PlayStation Home with the new Cauldron of the Sunless Kingdom. Toss ingredients into the boiling pot and, if you manage to get the right mix, you’ll unlock some uber-exclusive rewards.

The newest additions to our line of Superhero costumes will be available this week from the Exclusives store. Check out this video for a sneak peek at these hot new costumes – including my personal favorite: the Fire Elemental.

Come this Thursday, you’ll be able to purchase a special Medal of Honor Tier 1 outfit from the Costumes store and celebrate this critically-acclaimed title properly. And if you pick up Namco Bandai’s Time Crisis: Razing Storm, you’ll be able to unlock special rewards in PlayStation Home. Here’s how:

• Boot up Deadstorm Pirates from the Title Selection Screen and receive a DeadStorm Pirates t-shirt.
• Boot up Time Crisis: Razing Storm from the Title Selection Screen and receive a Razing Storm shirt.
• Boot up Time Crisis 4 from the Title Selection Screen and receive a Time Crisis 4 shirt.

Scion’s “Take on the Machine” activity returns to the Central Plaza this week. Log in to PlayStation Home this Thursday to join the challenge and unlock special rewards. Then head to TakeOnTheMachine.com for additional information on the all new Scion tC and to find a dealer near you.

Finally, be sure to head to the Threads and Furniture stores to pick up the new LocoRoco clothing and furniture items – from Doonga Doonga hats to Loco Sofas for your personal space.

See you in Home!

This week brings yet another update full of exclusive content, Home-grown community programs, and special events into the ever-evolving world of PlayStation Home. To start, we will be airing the Episode 3 of the PS Nation videocast in our mega-popular PlayStation Home Community Theater. Glenn Percival – PS Nation main man – sent along this teaser blurb to promote their newest episode, showing this Thursday only in PlayStation Home.

“In this episode we discuss some truly great PSN titles including ‘Tales from Space: About a Blob’ (which packs awesome cooperative action), ‘Kung-Fu Live’ (which puts you IN the game using the PlayStation Eye), and ‘Slam Bolt Scrappers’ (which offers equal parts insanity and hilarity). The feature segment focuses on ‘Joe Danger’ from Hello Games and, to top it all off, you’ll get to see just how ‘old school’ Jim Sterling from Destructoid really is! Word to the wise: you’ll want to watch all the way to the end ;).”

Also screening in the PlayStation Home Theater this week is Inuyasha episode 1: “The Girl Who Overcame Time…” In feudal Japan, the half demon Inuyasha was sealed away by the priestess Kikyo. “The Girl Who Overcame Time” picks up many years later, where Inuyasha is revived by Kagome, who has slipped through time from the present day. Watch this episode for free for one week only, starting Thursday, October 7th.

We are proud to announce that the second wave of the Home Community Volunteer program will launch this Thursday, October 7th. Let me pass the mic to my esteemed colleague GlassWalls so he can give you all the details as to what has changed since the first wave of HCVs (and what has not):

“First off, we want to thank all of you who have so graciously offered to take part in the Home Community Volunteer program. Even if you have yet to receive confirmation from PlayStation Home Community Management, we want to assure you that we will be continually (and constantly) reviewing applications and inducting new volunteers into the fold. In fact, you’ll notice in the coming weeks and months that many more community members will be involved in this program than before. Many thanks in advance for your patience.

For those of you who are not familiar with the program, we point you to this FAQ on the official PlayStation Home forums for an overview as to what the program entails (note: HCVs are gamers just like you – they are not employees of Sony Computer Entertainment, they are not moderators, etc). Home veterans will notice that volunteers will no longer be identifiable by the famous red and white “Guide” jerseys but, rather, by a “Guide” beacon that floats above their avatars.

Just as in the past, Home Community Volunteers will provide support to users both new and old as well as aid in the administration of events and other important community initiatives. Expect to see volunteers all throughout Home – some you will recognize as veterans from the first wave of HCVs but many, many more will be new to the program and eager to participate. So please, please feel free to use them as a resource while in-world.”

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and all of you Home-guys and Home-girls can do your part in helping to drive awareness by picking up the “Save the ta-tas” items – available beginning this Thursday from the LOOT and Threads stores in the PlayStation Home Mall. A refreshing, positive take on a serious subject, the “Save the ta-tas” items allow you to make a bold and caring fashion statement while also helping fund research to eradicate this deadly disease (a portion of the proceeds from each “Save the ta-tas” virtual item purchase goes directly to cancer research – for more information, or to make donations directly, visit www.savethetatas.com).

Re-appearing this week in the PlayStation Home Mall is select items from the line of Halloween costumes we introduced last year (stay tuned for details regarding all-new content for this year’s Halloween celebration), and some brand new clothing items from the Costumes store (the hilarious “Magnetic Man” outfit is sure to be a hit) along with new hairstyles and assorted items from the Sodium store. Check the Latest Update tab (in your Menu Pad under “Community”) on Thursday morning for a full list of new content.

Available now from the PlayStation Store are two new PlayStation Home content packs – the PlayStation Home Advanced Pack and the PlayStation Home Expert Pack. These two packs include bundles of some of our most popular items, packaged up and sold at a discounted price.

• Advanced Pack: Advance your PlayStation Home status! This Advanced Bundle Pack includes nearly 50 individual Home items, including (but not limited to) the Luxury Racing Box personal space, tons of Waterfall Terrace furniture, and select clothing items such as the Deep Sea Diver bundle and female Explorer items. It’s a $45 value at only $9.99!

• Expert Pack: Become a PlayStation Home Expert! This Expert Bundle Pack includes over 50 individual Home items, including two futuristic personal spaces (Planet Land and Anime Style), anime-themed furniture, futuristic-themed clothing such as the Cardboard Robot, Mech Suit, and more. It’s a $50 value at only $14.99!

See you in Home!

This week brings yet another exciting event to PlayStation Home’s Central Plaza. Scion’s “Take on the Machine” activity pits man against steel in a race (or shall we say “chase”) across plaza where players pursue a fleet of 2011 Scion tCs. The fastest and most agile players will unlock exclusive rewards and earn their place amongst the PlayStation Home elite. Log in to PlayStation Home this Thursday, September 30th to join the challenge and then head to TakeOnTheMachine.com for additional information on the all new Scion tC and to find a dealer near you.

Konami dives into PlayStation Home this week with both Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Contra gear for your avatar. Dress up as Lance Bean and Bill Rizer of Contra fame as well as Gabriel Belmont from the upcoming Castlevania: Lords of Shadow PS3 game. Be sure to check out these new items, available from the PlayStation Home Mall this Thursday, September 30th.

The Sodium store receives an update this week specifically for the ladies of PlayStation Home. Check out some the hot items that will be on the shelves come Thursday morning.

Attn: LocoRoco fanatics. We have Yokke hats (pictured below) and other furniture items, available from the Threads and Furniture stores in the PlayStation Home Mall!

Also available this week from the Furniture store in the PlayStation Home Mall is Shandor, the all-knowing, the all-seeing. This fortune telling-mini game is the newest addition to our line of personal games. Toss coins into the mouth of Shandor and, if you are successful, he will peer into his crystal ball (or maybe it’s just a magic 8-ball?) and tell you the future.

The mega-popular PlayStation Home Community Theater receives yet another update this week, with a new episode of the legendary GamerIndepth videocast. Narde15 – Executive Editor of GamerIndepth – had this to say about their newest addition to the PlayStation Home Community Theater.

“Hey everybody – be sure to log into PlayStation Home this Thursday to check out our second episode of GamerIndepth’s ‘ShoutOuts.’ The week we have a short, informative conversation on Mass Media (and all of the hot items and spaces they are responsible for) as well as an interview with Director_On_Duty from PSTalent, who tells us about how he got started and what his future plans are as far as PlayStation Home is concerned. Plus everyone that catches this week’s episode will be rewarded with an awesome GamerIndepth t-shirt!”

See you in Home!

Millions of gamers around the globe are counting down the days until Capcom’s zombie apocalypse action title known as Dead Rising 2 releases for the PlayStation 3. And if you count yourself amongst the legions of players that simply can’t wait another moment to gear up as Chuck Greene and begin hacking and slashing their way through waves of undead adversaries, you can log into PlayStation Home this Thursday, September 23rd and get a taste of the Dead Rising 2 experience. Head to the PlayStation Home Mall to pick up the hilarious Dead Rising 2 costumes (for both the guys and the gals) and load up on iconic weapons from this highly-anticipated game (Knife Boxing Gloves? Check! Paddlesaw? Check!).

After you’ve added the Dead Rising 2 items to your collection, be sure to shoot on over the Estates store to pick up the newest addition in our line of luxury personal spaces – the Lake House. This spacious, extravagant, and modern waterfront estate comes complete with awe-inspiring views and is arguably the hottest space on the proverbial block for hosting your next party. Check it out for yourself in this quick fly-through video we made for you.

 
If you want to take your personal space into the 22nd century, our friends over at Lockwood are offering you a full-on teleportation device that you can place at will in the personal space(s) of your choice. With the Sodium Telepad, you can zap yourself hither and thither with ease. Pick up this next generation relocation device come this Thursday from the Sodium store.
 







 

AlphabeTees fans will be stoked to learn that new additions to this wildly-popular social trivia game will be released later this week. The CalculaTees expansion pack includes numbers from 0-9 (plus a decimal point) and will add more options for the ongoing AlphabeTees/CalculaTees contests where PlayStation Home users and their friends answer daily trivia by spelling out the answer with their clothing, taking a group photo, and then uploading directly to the AlphabeTees competition entry portal (located under the Central Plaza Jumbotron). The winning entry is then shown on the Central Plaza Jumbotron screen the following day. You can grab the CalculaTees expansion pack this Thursday, September 23rd from the Threads store (just look under the VeeMee tile).

In other news, the PlayStation Home Theater will be hosting a behind-the-scenes/making-of Heavy Rain video starting this Thursday. Visit this screen to watch this awesome video and unlock a special Heavy Rain reward. When you’re done, head to the Costumes store in the PlayStation Home Mall and load up on our new, all-original costumes (the male and female 8-bit costumes are personal favourites).

See you in Home!

The evolution of the PlayStation Home platform continues this Thursday, September 16th with the release of our full-length mini-golf game: Dragon’s Green.

With nine holes of fantasy mini-golf – and four difficulty gauntlets – Dragon’s Green is among the richest and most robust gaming experiences available in PlayStation Home, coming complete with awe-inspiring graphics, ultra-addictive game play, and more than a handful of surprises we wouldn’t dare spoil for you here.

In the Dragon’s Green you can challenge up to three friends at a time and test your skills against dozens of enemy obstacles while uncovering secret challenges and unlocking special rewards. It’s truly an amazing experience possible only on the PlayStation Home platform. We caught up with Jeffrey Gullett, the Producer responsible for bringing you Dragon’s Green, to pick his brain regarding the inspiration behind this exciting new space. Here’s what he had to say:

There are lots of different mini-golf games out there. But what we wanted to do is to offer our community a new take on this classic game. Our community members had told us that they had wanted more ‘fantasy’ content for quite a while, so it seemed like the obvious choice to add a fantasy twist to this game.

I like to think of Dragon’s Green as a hybrid of mini-golf and pinball – it’s not just about sinking the ball in as few strokes possible. If you really want to succeed in Dragon’s Green, you’ll need to really explore the game and try different things. The game is designed to be played over and over again and still present players with different challenges. Dragon’s Green represents a big step forward in the type of gaming experiences you can expect in PlayStation Home. We hope you enjoy it!

Be sure to enter PlayStation Home this week and play the first three levels of Dragon’s Green for free. Then purchase the full version of the game and fulfill your destiny as a mini-golf warrior braving courses where danger lurks at every turn. While you are in-world, be sure to check out the update to the PlayStation Home Mall, where you can pick up some incredible new virtual items (such as the below pictured costumes). For the girls, we also have some unique new costumes coming your way this week – check the Latest Update tab in your Menu Pad (Start > Community > Latest Update) for a full list come Thursday morning.

See you in Home!

Sony's rolling out the average-sized guns for its celebration of the original PlayStation's 15th birthday. In a recent newsletter, the company announced that select titles on the PSOne Classics storefront will be discounted on a weekly basis over the coming months. In addition, one of the early PSN titles, Super Rub A Dub, will receive a 50 percent discount starting today and running until Monday, September 20.

If you don't feel like spending any cash to join in the revelry, you can also pick up a a free PS1 ornament (pictured above) with which to decorate your apartment in PlayStation Home by visiting the Theater space. We sure hope Sony also releases a "Tower of Dave Matthews Band CDs" ornament and "A VCR With a Copy of Bio-Dome Stuck Inside" ornament, just so we can recreate that late-90s college dorm room experience.

Firstly, to commemorate a very special moment in gaming history, we have a special video celebrating the 15-year anniversary of PlayStation up for you to enjoy in the Theater. It’s been a long time since we started, and I hope you’ll join us in celebrating our “birthday.” As a party favor, each person who checks out the video will get a commemorative ornament, nodding praise to the platform that started it all.

Bomberman fans unite! Visit the new Hudson Gate game space when it is released in PlayStation Home this Thursday, September 9th. Explore the “discs” of this futuristic space and place your bets on the regular Dolphy races, unlock unique rewards, and even pick up Bomberman outfits. Purchase your own Dolphy Room Apartment, where you can raise your very own Dolphy to take part in races. Raise your Dolphy right and you’ll be rewarded as it streaks its way to victory!

Also this week, we have more MAG items including the RAVEN armor now available to further complete your collection. Lockwood’s sweet generosity is definitely not lacking this week either. This week, you’ll find the Lollipop collection of outfits or both male and female, a ton of new furniture and for the ladies, a luxury leather handbag delivering some serious bling in a diamond ring.

Finally, we have a new partnership in the Home Community Theater to announce — GamerIndepth!

As one of Home’s longest-running fan groups, it seemed only natural to further connect with them. I was able to get a burning question answered by several members of GamerIndepth.

GlassWalls: “I have a question for each of you. You’ve all been supporters of Home for a long time, and now we’re partnering up in the Community Theater. Where do you see the future for both of us heading?”

From Narde15: “Home is such a unique and cutting-edge application that I don’t know how to answer that question. What I can say is that as long as GamerIndepth is around it will keep its ear to the ground and continue to shine the spotlight on everyone making positive noise in PlayStation Home. That’s what we’ve always been about and with the support of the Home Team and the community, we’re not going to limit ourselves.”

From Hippe: “The future looks bright for ALL those that love Home. The future of both Home as an application and the community depends on the bonds we establish with each other. The Home of tomorrow will not be the Home of today. It continues to evolve daily and I hope GamerIndepth can be a part of that evolution every step of the way.”

From homeboy79: “The future of Home looks brighter everyday. The community’s involvement in Home is ultimately key to its success. This is where we come in. I’m confident that together we will continue to provide the highest quality of media and material that is for the community, by the community.”

From YowsahsItsMeesh: “Being an avid Home user soon after open beta was released it has truly been an experience to watch Home evolve into what it has become today….I can definitely see future partnerships such as ours, drawing in more gamers and non-gamers alike, and taking social gaming to an entirely new level.”

There you have it. Go check out their first video playing now in the Home Community Theater.

See you in Home!

This week we bring yet another classic game into the ever-evolving world of PlayStation Home. Brimstone Poker — a devilishly fun version of Texas Hold ‘Em, plucked from the deepest, darkest depths of Sin City — is the newest addition to the line of games custom-made to be placed in the personal spaces of your choice. Invite your friends over for poker night, throw some cards, and unlock special rewards. Brimstone Poker is available Thursday, September 2nd from the Exclusives store in the PlayStation Home Mall, and will be receiving additional updates in the near future (including a tournament mode).

Also coming to PlayStation Home this week is the hotly-anticipated PlayStation Move event space. Come in first thing tomorrow morning and step up to the PlayStation Move team challenge. Play games, unlock exclusive rewards, and gear up for the release of the PlayStation Move motion controller – all in the special PlayStation Move event space, available only in PlayStation Home.

We’re pleased to announce that IO Interactive’s gritty third-person shooter — Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days — is coming into PlayStation Home. Pick up the heap of Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days clothing and furniture items from the PlayStation Home Mall when they release this Thursday. While you are at it, head to the Sodium store to load up on the Lockwood “trance lights” (which are sure to turn your personal space into the premier party pad) then shoot over to Threads to pick up the brand new Top Gun gear (including Maverick’s bomber jacket) and the MAG SVER items (costumes and furniture — stay tuned for items for the Raven and Valor factions).

See you in Home!

Last week we offered you a preview of a brand new game known as AlphabeTees – a social trivia game exclusive to PlayStation Home. The reaction from the community was, to say the least, incredibly positive. Your overwhelming enthusiasm is the reason why it brings us such pleasure to announce that AlphabeTees will be releasing this Thursday into the wide world of PlayStation Home.

AlphabeTees takes the standard trivia game to a whole new level. Think: Scrabble (or a crossword puzzle) that requires teamwork, with you and your friends using clothing to answer VeeMee’s trivia questions. Here’s a quick overview of the AlphabeTees game play:

• Buy the AlphabeTees Game Pack from Central Plaza (or Threads in the PlayStation Home Mall).
• Look out for questions on the Central Plaza Jumbotron screen.
• Find friends who own the AlphabeTees game pack.
• Solve the question by lining up with your friends and spelling out the answer using the AlphabeTees shirts.
• Take a photo of you and your friends spelling out the answer using your PlayStation Home camera.
• Upload your photo at the AlphabeTees game point in Central Plaza (simply go to the AlphabeTees kiosk, open the browser, and upload your photo!).
• Keep your eyes on the Central Plaza Jumbotron, where the winning photos will be displayed the day after the question has been posted.

To get everyone started, VeeMee will be giving away a sample pack of 5 letters from the AlphabeTees game pack to all members of the PlayStation Home community. Get yours this Thursday, August 26th from the AlphabeTees game point in Central Plaza.

We’ve been seeing a lot of people turning into crime-fighting guardians of the community (and even a few nefarious archnemeses) ever since we released the first round of our PlayStation Home Superheroes and Supervillains costume packs last week. This week, we add some new characters into the mix – Captain Inflame-O, Sandman, and The Cyborg. Add these characters to your collection by visiting the Costumes store in the PlayStation Home Mall this week (while you are there, be sure to check the Sodium store for updates – a full list of content can be found under the Latest Update tab in your Menu Pad come Thursday morning).

My good buddy GlassWalls has put together a list of some of the top sites, enthusiast media, podcasts, and other assorted projects that come from our most hardcore and loyal community members. When you can’t be in-world but need your PlayStation Home fix, we recommend you check out these offerings and support the efforts of your fellow community members.

PlayStation Home Today
One of the longest-running user-operated PlayStation Home sites, complete with a robust social networking feature, a PlayStation Home community news feed, and much, much more.

Gamer Indepth Podcast
One of the first podcasts focused on PlayStation Home. A fantastic resource for all PlayStation Home community members – the G.I. staff specialize in delivering relevant content, kept fresh with regular updates.

HOMEstyle Magazine
An incredible undertaking, the widely-applauded HOMEstyle magazine is affiliated with the PlayStation Home Today site and is packed from front to back with PlayStationHomeToday.com. Check out their newest issue (#7) today.

Gamer Knights
Another Home-centric podcast that is a must-listen for all PlayStation Home fanatics. Gamer Knights is connected to the mega-popular Gamer In-Depth podcast.

PS Talent
The brainchild of some of the most creative and dedicated PlayStation Home users, PS Talent is perhaps best known for their Machinima videos. These guys and gals have put a lot of effort into this site. We highly suggest taking a stroll through their Video Vault.

See you in Home!

Tomorrow, PlayStation Home enthusiasts will be able to pick up some Empire Strikes Back gear for their virtual pad. Pictured above are the upcoming items, available as part of the 30th celebration of Episode V in the Star Wars saga. The odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field may be 3,720 to 1, but the odds your pad will look totally badass with a carbonite Han Solo hanging on the wall? Definite.

Coincidentally, LucasArts will also release two PlayStation Home bundles tomorrow. The "Everything Empire Strikes Back Bundle" includes everything related to the movie released in PlayStation Home so far for $24.99 -- a total of 51 items. Then there's the "All Furniture Items Bundle," a specific collection of ten specific Empire Strikes Back items for $9.99.

Oh, and if you find yourself in PlayStation Home today, stop on by the LucasArts shop for a free "Yoda Ears" cap. Today's the last day you can snag one!

#ps3 Sorry, PlayStation Home fans, but news about furniture in Sony's PlayStation 3 virtual world seldom excites me...except when we're looking at an AT-AT table or a chair based on the Millennium Falcon escaping a space worm. Starting tomorrow, $10 for this set in Home. More »

Those of you who have always wanted to attend gamescom — one of the largest gaming conventions in the world — will finally have your chance this Thursday, August 19th when the gamescom event space launches in PlayStation Home. Get a sneak peek at upcoming PlayStation titles, play games with your friends, rack up exclusive rewards, and experience the excitement of the show floor — all in our gamescom event space!

Week three of the Empire Strikes Back 30th anniversary celebration continues with even more Star Wars items releasing into the ever-evolving world of PlayStation Home. We’re talking AT-AT tables, a Probe Droid chandelier, and even a Wompa skin rug. And if you really want to show the world how much of a Star Wars fanboy (or fangirl) you are, you can pick up the “Everything” Empire Strikes Back 30th Anniversary bundle, available (along with a ton of other awesome Star Wars content) from the LucasArts store in the PlayStation Home Mall.

Visit the Costumes store in the PlayStation Home Mall and transform yourself into a bonafide PlayStation Home superhero or supervillain. Choose from the Red Raven and Epsilon Viper costumes (available for the guys) or the Nocturne and Wild Scarlet costumes (for the gals). Grab the bundles at a super-low price and then take to the streets of PlayStation Home where you can wow civilians with your newfound super-gear!

Speaking of rounding out your PlayStation Home collection — be sure to visit the PlayStation Home Mall to pick up Scott Pilgrim t-shirts (available in the Threads store) and the new Lockwood items (pictured below and available from the Sodium store).

While you are at it, head to Central Plaza, where you can get a free Subway Fiery Footlong t-shirt and watch a special video of the Los Angeles Clippers’ own Blake Griffin, airing in the PlayStation Home Theater. Join the Subway Fiery Footlong Frenzy and you could win PlayStation games and hardware before they appear on shelves. You heard me – you can be the first of all your friends to own LittleBigPlanet 2, LBP2 Collector’s Edition, Gran Turismo 5, GT5 Collector’s Edition, PlayStation Move hardware and software bundles, and the Invizimals PSP bundle. Simply collect game codes at Subway restaurants and enter on SubwayFreshBuzz.com. There’s literally a prize every minute!

Top Gun the video game has launched on the PlayStation Network. To celebrate, we’re offering you a chance to win the game, the movie and two exclusive Top Gun t-shirts for your PlayStation Home avatar. Join the Top Gun Scavenger Hunt, being held in Central Plaza starting tomorrow, August 19th. Check out the official Rules and Regulations at the end of this post, and be sure to download the Top Gun game from the PlayStation Store before August 24th in order to receive a free limited edition flight suit for your PlayStation Home avatar!

Before I head out of here, I’d like to bring your attention to a new game that VeeMee (makers of the London Pub personal space, Pool personal games, and other hit pieces of PlayStation Home content) will be releasing in the very near future. Think: Scrabble…but this time you wear your answers.

Here’s how it works: Pick up the AlphabeTees Game Pack (made up of the 26 words of the Alphabet including some punctuation) from the PlayStation Home Mall. Each day a new question will be shown on the Central Plaza Jumbotron. Get together with your friends to form the answer, take a photo, and then upload directly to the AlphabeTees competition entry portal (located under the Central Plaza Jumbotron).The winning entry will then be shown on the Central Plaza Jumbotron screen the following day so that everyone in PlayStation Home knows just how skilled you are!

To get everyone into the swing of things AlphabeTees will be giving away a free sample pack of 5 letters from the AlphabeTees game point in Central Plaza. We’ll update you with more details (including release dates) on this Blog, so keep your eyes peeled.

See you in Home!

PlayStation®Home Top Gun Scavenger Hunt Contest

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Void outside the 50 United States, Washington D.C. (“D.C.”) and where prohibited. The following promotion is intended for viewing in the 50 United States and D.C. only and shall only be construed and evaluated according to United States law. Do not proceed in this site if you are not a legal resident of, and located in, the 50 United States or D.C. and are at least 13 years of age at the time of entry. To enter, you must have a PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, a valid PlayStation®Network account, a valid PlayStation Network ID (“PSN ID”), internet access, a copy of PlayStation®Home installed on your PlayStation®3 system and a valid registered PlayStation Network e-mail address.

1. ELIGIBILITY: The PlayStation®Home Top Gun Scavenger Hunt Contest (the “Promotion”) is only open to legal United States residents 13 years of age or older on or prior to August 19, 2010. Prize winners or prize winners’ parent or guardian (if the winner is under the age of 18) may be required to sign a notarized Affidavit of Eligibility and Release of Liability within 14 days of prize notification. By acceptance of prize, winners agree to the use of their name and/or likenesses for purposes of advertising, trade, or promotion without further compensation, unless prohibited by law. Return of any prize/prize notification as undeliverable or failure to return the affidavit within the designated time frame will result in disqualification. Employees of the Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (the “Sponsor”) and its parent, subsidiaries and affiliated companies and their immediate families are not eligible to participate in this Promotion.

2. SPONSOR: Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC, 919 East Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City, CA 94404.

3. TIMING: The Promotion begins August 19, 2010 12:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (“PDT”) and ends August 25, 2010 12:00 p.m. PDT (“Promotion Period”).

4. PRIZES:

• a. First Place Prize: The Sponsor will award the First Place Prize to the entrants who send the first 30 emails, containing the correct answers to the 5 trivia questions that are received by the Sponsor during the Promotion Period. First Place Prize winners will each receive vouchers for a copy of Top Gun the video game, a copy of Top Gun the movie, and 2 PlayStation Home virtual Top Gun t-shirts (1 male blue t-shirt and 1 female grey-shirt) all downloadable from the PlayStation store (ARV $25.97).
• b. Second Place Prize: The Sponsor will award the Second Place Prize to the entrants who send the first 20 emails after the 30 First Place Prize winners containing the correct answers to the 5 trivia questions that are received by the Sponsor during the Promotion Period. Second Place Prize winners will receive vouchers for a copy of Top Gun the movie and 2 PlayStation Home virtual Top Gun t-shirts (1 male blue t-shirt and 1 female grey-shirt) all downloadable from the PlayStation store (ARV $10.98).
• c. Participation Prize: All other qualifying entrants who submit entries during the Promotional Period but have not won the First Place prize or Second Place prize will receive a voucher for 2 PlayStation Home virtual Top Gun t-shirts (1 male blue t-shirt and 1 female grey- t-shirt) downloadable from the PlayStation store (ARV $0.99).

  Vouchers will be delivered to winners 6-8 weeks after the conclusion of the Promotion. Sponsor reserves the right to substitute prize of equal or greater value if prize is unavailable. Prizes are non-transferable and no substitutions allowed.

5. HOW TO ENTER:

• Log into your PlayStation Network account and launch PlayStation Home application.
• During the Promotion Period, make your way through PlayStation Home to view the Top Gun posters. There will be 5 Top Gun posters, each poster containing 1 trivia question.
• Answer the 5 trivia questions.
• Submit your answers to each of the 5 trivia questions by sending an e-mail to HomeContests@playstation.sony.com with “Top Gun” as the Subject line. Include your PSN ID in the body of the e-mail along with your answers to the trivia questions.
• The Sponsor will award the First Place Prize to the entrants who send the first 30 emails, containing the correct answers to the 5 trivia questions, that are received by the Sponsor during the Promotion Period.
• The Sponsor will award the Second Place Prize to the entrants who send the first 20 emails after the 30 First Place Prize winners containing the correct answers to the 5 trivia questions that are received by the Sponsor during the Promotion Period.
• All other qualifying entrants who submit entries during the Promotional Period but have not won the First Place prize or Second Place prize will receive the Participation Prize.
• Limit 1 entry per person and e-mail address. Subsequent entries will be disqualified. All winners will be notified via e-mail. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, mutilated, illegible, incomplete or misdirected entries. Sponsor is not responsible for technical, hardware or software failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections or failed, incomplete, garbled or delayed computer transmissions which may limit an entrant’s ability to participate in the Promotion. Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to cancel or suspend this Promotion should virus, bugs or other causes corrupt the administration, security or proper play of this Promotion. Entries not satisfying these Official Rules will be automatically disqualified.

6. General: By acceptance of prize, winner agrees to release and hold harmless Sponsor and its affiliate companies, subsidiaries, parent companies, advertising and promotion agencies, and their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents from any and all liability, claims or actions of any kind whatsoever for injuries, damages or losses to persons and property which may be sustained in connection with the receipt, ownership or use/misuse of the prize. Winner agrees to the use of his/her name and/or likeness for purposes of advertising, trade, or promotion without further compensation, unless prohibited by law. Neither Sponsor nor its affiliates, subsidiaries, division or related companies are responsible for any damages, taxes (federal, state or local if any), or expenses that winner might incur as a result of entering or participating in this Promotion or upon receipt or use of prize.

7. WINNER LIST: To obtain names of winners, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to PlayStation Home Top Gun Scavenger Hunt Contest, 919 E. Hillsdale Blvd. 4th floor, Foster City, CA 94404. Prize winners’ name request will be fulfilled within four weeks. Requests for winner list must be received by September 8, 2010.

8. RESTRICTIONS: Void where prohibited or restricted by law.

#lookatthis*crag*inghoopster Preordering NBA 2K11 from GameStop will land your Xbox Live or PlayStation Home avatar a Michael Jordan No. 23 Bulls jersey for free. I hear if you pre-order Rock Band: Lollapalooza you get a Gary Trent Miami Heat model instead. More »

Top Gun festivities include a troop parade, scavenger hunts and prizes from Paramount Digital Entertainment.

This Thursday, August 12th, the gates to the Presentation Podium re-open to celebrate the release of the upcoming PlayStation Move motion-sensor controller. And we are inviting you all to take part in this exclusive community event, only available in PlayStation Home.

Kicking off first thing tomorrow morning, visitors to the PlayStation Move event space will automatically be granted a unique PlayStation Move controller outfit that will serve as your key to access the full event experience. Don your outfit, grab three of your friends, and commence the team challenge: Coordinate with your team to earn new versions of the controller outfit (denoted by the color variants) until you unlock the ultimate prize, a PlayStation Move outfit complete with the iconic fully animated multi-colored orb. Also available within the space is a limited-edition multi-color PlayStation Move controller outfit that is packed with all-new emotes for your avatar!

Week two of the Empire Strikes Back 30th anniversary celebration continues with more Star Wars costumes – including the Boba Fett Mandalorian outfit (along with Han Solo and Luke Skywalker costumes). While you are in-world eating up all that special Star Wars content, be sure to visit the Central Plaza kiosk and pick up the Yoda Ears (available for free for one week only) and, of course, head to the recently-released Star Wars Cantina and experience one of the franchise’s most famous scenes PlayStation Home-style.

And for those of you who are lucky enough to be attending Star Wars Celebration V this weekend in Orlando, FL, be sure to say “hi” to our friend GlassWalls, who will be hanging out at the PlayStation Home booth (he’s easy to identify – just look for the bright pink hair!)

Paramount Digital Entertainment has just announced that Top Gun – the video game based on the 80’s iconic hypersonic film – will be making its debut on PlayStation Network on Tuesday, August 17. It’s a free-flying combat shooter featuring Maverick, Iceman & the rest of the Top Gun fliers, scripted with new dialogue and combat scenarios by the film’s screenwriter, Jack Epps, Jr., and features two single player & five multiplayer modes (Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Top Gun, Bombing Run & Capture the Flag).

Those of you who purchase Top Gun before August 24 will receive a free limited-edition flight suit for your PlayStation Home avatar. And that’s not all – on Monday, August 16th, at 5:00pm PDT (8:00pm EST), Top Gun screenwriter Jack Epps Jr. will be on-hand in Central Plaza to celebrate and chat with you, the PlayStation Home community! To participate, simply wear your new Top Gun avatar t-shirt, available when you watch the exciting new game trailer in the PlayStation Home Theater this Thursday, August 12th.

Also releasing this week into the wide world of PlayStation Home is a brand-new game for your personal space (Solitaire), a host of art (Patient Zero, Vlad the Impaler, and Blackbeard artwork from our friends at LOOT! and Sideshow Collectibles), clothing and furniture items from the soon-to-be-released Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (download the demo now from the PlayStation Network), the new Ocean Bubble aquarium, clocks (courtesy of Mass Media), and the hilarious new “Sneak Attack” items (free “traps” that you can place in your personal space that can be used to trick your friends – upgrade these with sound banks that change the gags and also come with special virtual items).

See you in Home!

#playstationhome Sony celebrates the 30th anniversary of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in PlayStation Home this Thursday with a faithful rendition of an iconic Star Wars location that did not appear in The Empire Strikes Back. More »

This year marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most critically-acclaimed installments of one of the most popular film franchises of all time – Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. And this Thursday, August 4th, we kick off the celebration with the release of a slew of exclusive Empire Strikes Back content, available only in PlayStation Home.

Plucked straight from the iconic planet of Tatooine, the Cantina – situated in the spaceport town of Mos Eisley – is a rough and tumble intergalactic watering hole that welcomes only the toughest and bravest of souls (no Droids allowed!) From the Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes house band to Wuher, the resident bartender, the Mos Eisley Cantina is an immersive environment that faithfully recreates one of the most memorable scenes from the Empire Strikes Back. Releasing alongside a score of items – including Chewbacca, C-3PO, and Leia Organa costumes – the Mos Eisley Cantina is available this Thursday via the PlayStation Home navigator.

While you are expanding your Empire Strikes Back experience by visiting the Mos Eisley Cantina in PlayStation Home and picking up the special Star Wars items (available from the LucasArts store in the PlayStation Home Mall), be sure to keep an eye on the posters throughout PlayStation Home’s Central Plaza during the next few weeks for portions of a secret voucher code. The first 10,000 users that assemble and redeem this voucher will receive a highly-limited Empire Strikes Back furniture item for their personal space. This item will only be available to those of you that participate in this ongoing scavenger hunt and will never be made for sale. So be sure to get in-world this Thursday to collect the first portion of this secret code and stay glued to this blog as well as the official PlayStation Facebook and Twitter accounts for more details surrounding future Empire Strikes Back events and content!

We wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate the winners of the ModNation Racers “Snap a Trick” contest, which we announced on this blog a few months back. We were inundated with entries, but have finally whittled it down to the top contestants. So, without further adieu, I ask that you join us in congratulating the following racers: ADRSKYLINE14, DTC_2010, FerrariThugs, kidd94, Mangus_Lorcan, ManiK, QCVic, silentkillerrei, and tbt924. Visit the ModNation Racers space in PlayStation Home this Thursday and check out pics of these guys and gals’ awesome kart tricks (here’s two of our favorite shots, just to whet your appetites)!

Finally, we wanted to draw your attention to a site ran by one of our hardcore PlayStation Home community members, Bandit731, who hosts a truly gorgeous gallery of photos taken in-world at the following site: http://photographyhome.tumblr.com/. Give the link a click when you get a moment and check it out for yourself – this user is very talented.

See you in Home!

Everyone’s favorite massive multiplayer first-person shooter, MAG, is unleashing yet another awesome personal space into the ever-evolving world of PlayStation Home — and just in time for the Zipper Interactive’s v1.07 update! Come Thursday, July 29th, soldiers from the Raven faction will be able to assemble their clans and plan the next course of attack in PlayStation Home’s new Raven personal space. Releasing alongside a slew of Raven furniture items, the Raven personal space is a strategic outpost situated in the heart of the jungle — dedicated to Raven Industries military operations — and a true must-have addition to any member of what is inarguably the most technologically advanced private military corporation’s repertoire.

In other news, the PlayStation Home Community Theater will be receiving a huge update this Thursday, with the next edition of PS Nation’s wildly popular (and PlayStation Home-exclusive) videocast. Serving to bring players closer to their favorite gaming websites, blogs, podcasts, videocasts (and other media outlets) while further uniting the enormous audience under the shared interest of the best PlayStation games, the PlayStation Home Community Theater has been a huge success since we launched last month.

We caught up with PS Nation head honcho Glenn Percival earlier this week to chat about the newest addition to PlayStation Home’s Community Theater, and this is what he had to say:

We are very excited to bring you the next episode of our exclusive PlayStation Home Community Theater videocast! This time around we are featuring highlights from E3 2010, the awesome PSP version of Gravity Crash (don’t miss our interview with Stewart Gilray in our Episode 173 podcast), and show that, even in stick-form, Joel is just irresistible to all. Judging by the latest batch of download stats for our PS Nation Podcast, some of you apparently enjoyed our first video (they’ve increased almost 5 times since our first episode aired in PlayStation Home! Thank You!)

Finally, the PlayStation Home Mall will receive an update this week. Check out the Latest Update tab in your Menu Pad (simply press Start > Community > Latest Update) for a full list of new content. Personally, I think the new Lockwood Wings, available in the Sodium store this Thursday, are going to be a hit — but as always, it is your feedback that drives the development of all content in PlayStation Home. So be sure to head to the PlayStation Home General forum to let us know what you think about all the new content after you’ve given it a try.

See you in Home!

While it's unlikely Scott Pilgrim vs. the World will be sold out when it launches on the PlayStation Store's virtual shelves next month, you may still want to pre-order the game. Ubisoft's official online store is throwing in a special bonus: a free "Sex Bob-omb" t-shirt for your PlayStation Home avatar.

Okay, this may not be the most exciting pre-order bonus ever concocted, but there's still good reason to be excited. The Ubishop has Scott Pilgrim listed at $9.99, bucking the recent trend of $15 downloads. We definitely approve.

Sony's Jack Buser describes the quiet success of Home and how it will become a model for the future of the games industry.

Sony has announced a partnership with upstart independent game label Codename that will see a variety of games from indie devs released on PlayStation Home, beginning with four revealed today that are due over "the course of the next several months."

The group includes Dueling Gentlemen from Odd Gentlemen, developer of the XBLA-exclusive Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, which, as its title suggests, will see Home inhabitants squaring off one-on-one in a classic battle of honor. The hook: Duels will take place live on stage in Home's Central Plaza. Addiitonally, Lazy 8 Studios is bringing its unique 3D puzzler Cogs to Home as a Central Plaza spectacle, complete with multiplayer.

Super Awesome Mountain RPG -- a board game/RPG mash-up from Codename itself -- and Minor Battle, Peanut Gallery's Indiecade award-winning, team-based platformer round out what we here at Joystiq HQ are calling "The Most Excited We've Been About Home in Forever Collection." The official announcement is posted after the break.

PlayStation Home features more than 100 ready-to-play games, but hardly anyone is playing. Perhaps that will change now that Sony has teamed up with independent games label Codename to bring fresh new experiences exclusively to the PlayStation Home service. More »

These days, every developer and their brother seems to be making a beeline for hot new gaming platforms like Facebook and the iPhone, visions of Farmville- and Doodle-Jump-style riches dancing in their heads. But nDreams CEO Patrick O'Luanaigh says all these gold rushers might be ignoring a more welcoming and neglected platform for their gaming projects: PlayStation Home.

With every passing week more and more awesome games arrive into the ever-expanding world on PlayStation Home. And this week promises to continue in this rich tradition of compelling content and exclusive gaming experiences, as we release three highly-anticipated games for use in your clubhouses and personal spaces.

By popular demand, our friends at VEEMEE are delivering special versions of Darts and Pool that you can share with your friends in the personal location(s) of your choice. To sweeten the deal, those of you that have already added VEEMEE’s London Pub personal space to your collection will receive a discount on each of these games ($1.99 for Darts, $2.49 for the English and American Pool package), which will be available from the Exclusives store beginning this Thursday, July 15th. So take this as your “cue” to “dart” on over to the PlayStation Home Mall and prove once and for all that you are the King (or Queen) of two of PlayStation Home’s most popular games.

Fans of the recently-released Midway space will finally be able to add the Trigger Happy-in-a-Box game to their collection of personal games. This game will be available at a discounted price of $0.49 for players that have purchased the Midway Bar Key (similarly, if you purchase the Trigger Happy-in-the-Box game at its full price of $2.99 you will receive a discount on the Midway Bar Key). Be sure to add this game to your collection by visiting the Midway space or the Exclusives store in the PlayStation Home Mall starting this Thursday.

Last but not least, the long-awaited Killzone 2 Radec costume will be made available this week along with additional Monkey Island 2 items. You can pick up the former from the Threads store in the PlayStation Home Mall while the latter can be found in the LucasArts store come this Thursday.

See you in Home!

Attention Speed Demons: WipEout – one of PlayStation’s most celebrated and longest-running franchises – turns 15 this year. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we’re launching the WipEout Museum – a brand new space stuffed to the brim with games based upon this critically-acclaimed series of hypersonic, futuristic racers. From the Team Logo Hunt questing game to the breakneck fury lying within in the WipEout 2D arcade cabinets; the point-and-blast excitement of the WipEout Shooter to the interactive DJ area (where you can crank your favorite tracks and pump yourself up for the impending races), the WipEout Museum is the premier destination for fans of the long line of classic, gravity-defying titles that make up the WipEout universe.

In other news, we’ll be opening the doors of the new Observatory space this Thursday, July 8th, for the PlayStation minis event. Challenge your friends to a battle of wits, memory, and luck over a board consisting of a grid of glowing tiles. Flip the tiles over to reveal a variety of minis images; reveal two matching tiles to score a point. To keep things interesting, we’ve riddled the board with random tiles hiding bonuses and traps (such as a tile that steals points from your opponent). You can even hide traps of your own, weakening your opponent and securing the spoils (which, of course, come in the form of a highly-collectible reward). Elsewhere in the Observatory you will find the pool-esque FreezeBall game, which rounds out the exclusive PlayStation minis event.

In terms of other events to keep you busy over the upcoming weekend, we’ve just received a report of an imminent outbreak of red scorpions in the Sodium Hub:

“Coming heat waves are predicted to cause numbers of red robotic scorpions in the Sodium Hub to swell! Experts predict numbers will reach their peak this weekend. Do your part to keep the Sodium Hub safe by donning your stomp boots and keeping the red scorpion menace at bay over the coming days. Remember, the more red scorpions you stomp the greater level of upgrade you’ll earn for your stomp boots. And that’s not all; each progressive Stomp Boot upgrade will increase the number of points awarded to you for stomping red scorpions when worn!”

As far as updates to the PlayStation Home Mall go, Just Cause 2 clothing and furniture items (including Rico and Tom Sheldon costumes) will be released alongside new Lockwood/Sodium clothing items (new stilettos for the ladies), the mega-popular Trigger Happy-in-the-Box game from the Midway space will be made available for use in your clubhouses and personal spaces (available at a discounted price of $0.49 for those of you who have purchased the Midway Bar Key – likewise, if you purchase the Trigger Happy-in-the-Box game at its full price of $2.99 you will get a discount on the Midway Bar Key), new Monkey Island 2 items will appear in the LucasArts store, and our friends at LOOT will release the new LOOT Mobile Internet Browser item, which allows you to access the Sony Pictures Emporium website from your personal space. Does your avatar have a shirt you want to sport on your next night out? Use the LOOT Mobile Internet Browser to access IRL versions of some of your favorite in-world items.

Last but certainly not least, we want to invite you all out to our nightly Featured Game parties to play the latest and greatest PS3 and PSN games with your friends in PlayStation Home. To participate in a Featured Game party, simply go to the Gamer’s Lounge between 4:00pm and 8:00pm PDT (7:00pm and 11:00pm EDT). Once at the event, insert the Featured Game into your PlayStation 3 and either set up your own game launching session or join someone else’s. (Pro tip: Make sure to add people you meet in PlayStation Home to your friends list so that you can find one another in the game lobby). Over the course of the next week, we’ll be playing some awesome multiplayer games – from ModNation Racers (Friday, July 9th) to the new Fat Princess DLC (Tuesday, July 13th). Come on out and join us!

See you in Home!

Ask anybody what they think about PlayStation Home and you'll likely get one of two reactions: "What is that?" and "Meh." For PlayStation Home director Jack Buser, however, it's quite the accomplishment -- a "very good business model for PlayStation, and quite profitable," he told Gamasutra.

"With numbers like we have, it goes without saying that Home has been a huge success for our company, something that we have been very proud of." The numbers he's talking about look pretty decent on paper: there are over 100 games on the service, the average user session is about 70 minutes, there are over 50 unique spaces available and 14 million people have at least stepped foot in Home once. Not bad, but it's all about the context -- do people play those games? Do people explore those unique spaces? How many of those 14 million are actual active users?

"We haven't talked too much about the platform itself, but what we have said is that every mature virtual item we have ever created has been profitable," Buser said. "We've released over 5,000 virtual items on the platform, and we know that once those items reach maturity, they are profitable. So you see us creating a tremendous amount of virtual items, because it is such a high margin business for us to be in." So it's very much a long-tail thing, then?

Look, you could probably present the numbers in any way possible and spin the service as a success, but for us, the real success is its ability to pull in new users, its effectiveness as a marketing tool and its profits from the sale of virtual goods. Log in now and you'll no doubt find a community there, passionate about Home. But is it pulling in new users? Are marketers beating down the (virtual) door to get into Home? And how much does Sony really earn from the service annually? Until we get less vague statistics and hard numbers, we might never know.

If you came out to the Los Angeles Convention Center a few weeks back and managed to catch up with GlassWalls and me in the PlayStation E3 Booth (err…complex), chances are you got a glimpse at a new suite of games packed into one convivial space known as Midway. And chances are you asked us when it was going to be released. And chances are we gave you a wink and a sly smile and said “soon.”

It’s funny how quickly “soon” turns to “tomorrow” in the rapidly-growing world of PlayStation Home. As the holiday weekend approaches us (and with it, all those extra hours to play our favorite games), we figured tomorrow would be the perfect time to launch what is easily one of the most epic gaming experiences to ever be released in PlayStation Home.

The Midway — available Thursday, July 1st — launches with 10 games, over a hundred rewards (including the Darla’s Den personal space), and plenty of secrets that you will have to uncover for yourself as you progress through this massive new game space. Simply collect your tickets from the kiosk at the entrance to the Midway and embark on a journey where a new reward is unlocked for every level of every game you master. Hang out in the space for long enough and you can even be rewarded with more plays for your favorite games (or the ultimate bragging rights at the Meet Darla photo booth). You can even collect exclusive arcade-style games like Trigger Happy-in-a-Box for the Darla’s Den personal space! Just enter the hilarious Tele-Porta-Potty in PlayStation Home’s Central Plaza to access the Midway when it launches this week.

For a holiday as important as Independence Day, we wanted to make sure we delivered the best event we possibly could to you, the loyal PlayStation Home community. And we wanted to make sure that both Canadians and Americans got an ample opportunity to celebrate – hence, Captain Kablooey’s Boombastic Bonanza! Simply head to the Central Plaza on Canada Day (Thursday, July 1st) and/or the 4th of July to participate in the festivities by playing the brand new Independence Day game with your friends, unlocking exclusive rewards (that you’ll have to see to believe), and then using those rewards to unlock progressively bigger and badder fireworks displays for the enjoyment of all onlookers. It’s easily one of the largest and most awesome events we’ve ever thrown — and it will only be available for a limited time — so come out to Central Plaza and show your national pride Home-style.

This week also plays host to some serious updates in the PlayStation Home Mall — with the highly-anticipated Active 8 Apartment UFO (which we’ve heard has a penchant for cattle abductions), new Independence Day-themed items from the Sodium store, full Woody, Jessie, and Zurg costumes from Toy Story 3 (and a bunch of furniture to boot), and tons of Alpha Protocol clothing items (including Michael Thornton, Sie, and Scarlet Lake costumes). So be sure to head to the PlayStation Home Mall this Thursday to keep your collection complete with these awesome new items.

See you in Home!

Though there are few things we love more than our annual excursion to E3, there are some inherent downsides to the trip which we could do without. Namely, the ever-present threat of apocalyptic earthquakes.

Next year, we might just follow the example of the quarter of a million people who PlayStation Blog claims stopped by Sony's virtual booth in PlayStation Home. Sure, our coverage might be a little one-sided given the absence of every other company, but seriously, guys, earthquakes are terrifying.