Sony updated PlayStation Home within the spring of this year, and gave its virtual world multiplayer support and higher graphics . Evidently that update wasn’t quite what Sony wanted, so the corporate will roll out an entire redesign of the community this fall to make it easier for oldsters to hook up with desired content. The revamped Home lets users find games by exploring several themed districts (Action, Adventure, Sportswalk and Pier Park) with their digital doppelgängers. Sony’s saying the changes will make PlayStation Home itself a game, so maybe it is time for Second Life to begin shaking in its boots. Denizens of Sony’s digital world can get more details within the PR below.
New Design Opens up an entire New World of Games and Reinforces PlayStation Home’s Evolution right into a Social Game Platform
FOSTER CITY, Calif., Aug. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) today announced major changes coming to PlayStation®Home in Fall 2011. This entire redesign incorporates a new core experience for PlayStation Home, available exclusively on PlayStation®Network for the PlayStation®3 (PS3™) system, featuring an all-new Hub that integrates games, quests, community events and user-generated content, while providing players with additional navigation, shopping, socialization and entertainment options. From the Hub, players can teleport to varied genre-based districts, where they are going to encounter games tailored to their interests and magnificence, while introducing them to a rich and various choice of game experiences.
The recent core experience reinforces PlayStation Home’s evolution from a virtual environment to a global of games, with a spotlight on rapidly connecting players with game content that relates to their style and mood. Within the Hub, players can head over to the Activity Board, where they’ll discover the robust questing system that transforms PlayStation Home itself right into a game, quickly find games and content, and create their very own events to share with their friends.
“PlayStation Home’s new core experience is a huge leap inside the evolution of the platform, let alone an incredible milestone for PlayStation Network, and its new model quickly deploys our users to many compelling free-to-play games that fit their interests,” said Jack Buser, director of PlayStation Home, SCEA. “With this update, coming this autumn, PlayStation Home becomes a game itself, making it the foremost robust gamified social experience available.”
PlayStation Home’s new core experience provides players with a dynamic and constantly changing pool of activities and challenges within the Hub and districts, with thematic content that allows players to discover games which are relevant to their interests:
The Hub: The recent, futuristic Hub brings games on to players with a featured game front-and-center upon login, the Activity Board where players can engage in quests and community activities, and a right away route to free games via the teleporter.
Action District: a meeting place for the hardcore demographic, the Action District has a gritty, urban feel equivalent to a primary-person shooter level and offers an immediate travel point to action and horror games.
Sportswalk: The Sportswalk has an exhilarating outside-the-stadium feel with instant major league sports scores, headlines and highlights, ample space for sports-themed games and give direct travel points to sports-related games.
Adventure District: The journey District drops you in a lush island jungle with an aura, hidden treasure and discovery, where players would be ready to launch directly into adventure-themed games.
Pier Park: A waterfront boardwalk leads players to carnival, puzzle, outdoor and arcade games. Take a ride at the Pier Park Ferris wheel or visit the arcade for some bright entertainment.
Also planned to be released this autumn as a separate core client upgrade is a revamp of the underlying user experience in PlayStation Home. This update will deliver a more streamlined experience upon login with customized tracks for brand spanking new, returning and regular PlayStation Home users, minimizing the time it takes for players to get into games.
PlayStation pioneered new ground in interactive entertainment with the launch of PlayStation Home in December 2008. PlayStation Home has since evolved beyond a social network right into a true social game platform:
PlayStation Home was utilized by over 23 million users worldwide. (WW)
The typical time spent in the house platform is 70 minutes per session (SCEA)
Over 230 games ready-to-play (SCEA)
Over 9,000 virtual items (SCEA)
Over 65 spaces (SCEA)
Over 600 community events (SCEA)
Over 35 partners (SCEA)
Total Game Integration: Total Game Integration extends the sport experience for players of Blu-ray Disc™ or PlayStation Network games to PlayStation Home. The primary Total Game Integration was introduced in January 2011, where players in PlayStation Home could complete a chain of mini-games to earn unlock points for Killzone 3 multiplayer. Total Game Integration for Deep Silver’s Dead Island™ is obtainable now in PlayStation Home’s Central Plaza.
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