Get the Home [PS3] Trailer off WP (16mb)
PlayStation Home Beta service for PS3 will become available for all PS3 users around the world on December 11, 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 PS3 that allows users to interact, communicate and share gaming experiences. By leveraging the power of PS3, PlayStation Home delivers overwhelming visual graphics and rich gaming social experiences only possible on the PS3 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 11, will launch directly from the PlayStation Home icon on the PlayStation Network column of XMB (XrossMediaBar) on PS3. 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 PS3 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 in North America and Europe Sony Computer Entertainment will launch game themed high-definition virtual environments including the Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Far Cry 2 spaces and the soon to be released Warhawk, Resistance, Guitar Hero and SOCOM spaces. In these environments, users will discuss specific games, plan strategies and access content and clues that will enhance their gaming experience. Through these virtual environments, publishers will be able to increase and extend consumer interest in their game titles via new mediums of game play. SCEA is partnering with Activision, Disney Eidos, Electronic Arts, Lucas Arts, THQ and UBISOFT, to develop virtual environments among other content for PlayStation Home.
“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.”
“PlayStation Home is a social gaming service unlike anything else on the market and we are excited to be partnering with gaming and non-gaming partners to develop content that connects and entertains today's PS3 users like never before,” said Susan Panico, Senior Director of PlayStation Network, SCEA. “PlayStation Home is a tremendous addition to the growing suite of entertainment services available only through PlayStation Network.”
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.
SCEA is announcing partnerships with some of the world’s most respected lifestyle brands during open beta including Ligne Roset, a contemporary furniture designer, and Diesel, an international fashion design company. These partnerships will allow users to purchase customizable furniture for their personal apartments and designer clothes for their avatars, respectively.
A variety of studio partners including Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Paramount Pictures will bring the PlayStation community original intellectual property through dedicated spaces, sponsorship of in-world events, virtual items and exclusive media viewings in the PlayStation Home Theater. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will use PlayStation Home to promote its latest films, offering exclusive video content, interviews and appearances from film talent. Paramount Digital Entertainment will bring to PlayStation Home virtual goods and video content based on its most relevant and popular franchises.
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.
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