PlayStation Home Launch Announced, Hits December 11, 2008

Submitter: Starlight - (http://www.electronictheatre.co.uk)

Site Tags: playstation home launch announced hits december 2008

Category: PS3 Online

Note: This is the third (and hopefully final) announcement that the much-anticipated PlayStation Home Open BETA will indeed arrive tomorrow. For additional details, be sure to check both the first and second PS Home articles from earlier today.

SONY Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced that its highly anticipated PlayStation Home Beta service for PLAYSTATION 3 will become available for all PS3 users around the world on December 11th, 2008.

Following the successful completion of the closed beta service, PlayStation Home’s open beta service will continue to evolve with new features and functionality.

PlayStation Home is a ground-breaking 3D social gaming community available on PLAYSTATION 3 that allows users to interact, communicate and share gaming experiences. By leveraging the power of PLAYSTATION 3, PlayStation Home delivers overwhelming visual graphics and rich gaming social experiences only possible on the PLAYSTATION 3 platform. Within PlayStation Home, users can create and customize their own unique avatars and explore the virtual community in real time where they can communicate freely through text or voice chat.

PlayStation Home users will not only be able to enjoy variety of entertainment content such as Mini-Games, videos and special events along with their friends, but will also be able to create their own community by using the “Club” feature to create clubs with other PlayStation Home users who share the same interests. PlayStation Home also allows groups of users to launch directly into their favourite online games together from PlayStation Home.

PlayStation Home, available as a free download starting December 11th, will launch directly from the PlayStation Home icon on the PlayStation Network column of XMB (XrossMediaBar) on PLAYSTATION 3. Users will be able to experience basic features and services of PlayStation Home, free of charge.

PlayStation Home will allow open interaction among users, business partners and SCE, and will evolve with additional features including dedicated game spaces, special events and exclusive themed items, to further enrich the entertainment experience on the PLAYSTATION 3 platform.

“PlayStation Home is truly a promising network community service on the PlayStation platform, made possible with the powerful combination of PS3's overwhelming computational power and PlayStation Network that covers many countries around the globe,” said Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, SCE.

“We are committed to providing PS3 users with exciting gaming experiences with PlayStation Home and together with our partners and users, expand the new world of interactive entertainment as we move forward.”

For users accessing PlayStation Home in the SONY Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) regions, themed virtual environments will be available to explore. Starting with a themed Far Cry 2 space, PlayStation Home will offer game inspired environments that allow people to discuss the specific games, plan strategies and access content and clues that will enhance the gaming experience.

The number of gaming environments such as this will regularly increase, with spaces for Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Warhawk, Motorstorm and SOCOM following very soon. SCEE is working with leading publishers such as: Electronic Arts, UBISOFT, Midway, Sega and ATARI to create engaging environments that will provide users with an on-going gaming experience.

“We are very excited to be bringing PlayStation Home to Europe and the PAL territories, offering users an interactive, social, gaming experience,” said Daniel Hill, Home Service Manager, SCEE. “PlayStation Home is unique to anything else in the gaming world and by partnering with both global and regional gaming and non-gaming brands, we are able to offer exciting and entertaining content that will enhance the PlayStation experience.”

SCEE today also announced the first partnerships with some of the world’s most respected lifestyle brands for the Open Beta. Fashion leader Diesel, contemporary furniture designers Ligne Roset, energy drink Red Bull, film studio Paramount Pictures and video content providers Hexus TV and Eurogamer are the first on board. They will offer resident’s virtual clothing for their avatar, virtual furniture for their PlayStation Home apartments, exclusive video content and a virtual flying challenge: the Red Bull Air Race.

Visitors and residents will be able to explore PlayStation Home with their avatar character and, thanks to Diesel, avatars can look great from the start with Diesel offering the latest men’s and women’s designer avatar clothing, with items ranging from free of charge to €1.50. So for those visiting PlayStation Home, they can dress their avatars in the latest jeans and jacket prior to getting out and about.

On the home front, PlayStation Home gives everyone their own apartment to spend time in and entertain friends - who will now be able relax on exclusive Ligne Roset furniture. At the virtual store, people will be able to choose from a selection of the most popular Ligne Roset designs, including the iconic Togo and Facett upholstery collections.

It will be possible to personalise furniture by selecting from a wide selection of fabrics and leathers allowing a unique and individual look. This is an opportunity to get acquainted with Ligne Roset’s cutting edge designs created by some of Europe’s most talented designers.

As the very first consumer brand space, Red Bull has created the Red Bull Island where visitors to the Island can interact and take part in many of Red Bull’s unique events. Initially there will be the opportunity to get inside the cockpit of a Red Bull Air Race plane and compete against the PlayStation community. The real-world Red Bull Air Race World Championship has become a global phenomenon in just four years, attracting millions of spectators.

Now those spectators can leave the stands, become a pilot and tackle the Red Bull Island course themselves. The Red Bull Island will continue to expand, adding new and exciting content in early 2009. Taking full advantage of the PlayStation Home Theatre, SCEE has partnered with various content providers to enhance the cinematic experience.

Offering a wide range of content, the PlayStation Home Theatre will provide lifestyle technology programming from Hexus TV, gaming content from Eurogamer and exclusive film content from Paramount Pictures. Starting with the release of the highly anticipated film, Watchmen, Paramount Pictures International will use PlayStation Home to promote its latest films.

Initially, PlayStation Home residents will be able to view an exclusive video greeting from Watchmen Director Zack Snyder as well as the latest Watchmen trailer. A selection of virtual Watchmen merchandise e.g. T-Shirts with the smiley face logo, Doomsday clocks and character statues, will also be available in the New Year, ahead of an exclusive Q & A event where cast and filmmakers will meet selected press and competition winners fans within the Watchmen themed environment.

PlayStation Home is exclusive to PLAYSTATION 3, free to download and easy to join. It’s the ultimate online community – a place where you can meet friends, try the latest games, hear new music, watch videos, relax in the apartment of your dreams and much, much more. With more and more spaces being created and partners like Diesel, Ligne Roset and Red Bull coming on board, the PlayStation Home experience is just getting started.

SCE will vigorously promote the expansion of the world of PLAYSTATION 3 by introducing new services that will open up new possibilities and enjoyment in interactive entertainment.

Posted 345 days ago

4 Comments

PermaLink

Comments

By hibone on 49 weeks ago:

It's 4.26am. December 11th. I'm just getting ready for work and its not on the Playstation store yet.

I was hoping to have it all installed and ready to steal away all of my spare time over the Christmas holiday before I went to work. :(~

By PS3 News on 49 weeks ago:

Quote:

Originally Posted by hibone

It's 4.26am. December 11th. I'm just getting ready for work and its not on the Playstation store yet.

Here there is about 10 minutes to go... based on when the PS3 Firmware Updates hit, it's usually around midnight EST so I guess we'll see soon enough. :wacky:

Update: According to the official PS Home forum: "around 7am eastern will have the update for the actual beta testers,and later on the day it will be available on the ps store for everybody else"

http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3home&thread.id=430872

Also:

Quote:

1.- For the guys that already have Home,an update to the 1.03 version will pop up around 7am eastern time,right when the servers come back up.

2.- For the people that don't have it,it will be available for download from the ps store which updates around 5pm to 7pm eastern time...this is just to avoid any issues with the app..

By PSPSwampy on 49 weeks ago:

Hi, just got in from work (10:30 UK time) and the 1.03 beta patch is available to me. So i download it and try HOME - damnnit looks like it's all gone a bit Pete Tong.

Sorry to say this chaps but i think you'll be waiting a bit longer for the OPEN! (That is unless you lot in the USA have been given it and that's why it's no longer working due to overloaded servers!)

this is typical!

Well hope they sort it all out soon - i wanted to have a game of pool!!!

By Dinnerticketboy on 49 weeks ago:

do we know when home is available to all in the UK?