PlayStation Home Gets Improvements and Final Fantasy XIII Special Items

Sony continued its bonanza of announcements built around the GDC press conference by saying that the Home social network environment would get a new version, numbered 1.35, coming with important new features and a host of fresh content supporting the launch of Final Fantasy XIII on Western markets.

The 1.35 update to Home makes sure that the accessing the social space from the XMB is faster than ever, with fewer loading screens between the player and their goal and with quicker overall loading times.

There is also a new navigator, which Sony describes as intuitive, allowing the user to quickly jump to that section of Home that is most important to them. There are favorites, which can be stored for future reference, personal spaces listed for quick access and Friends lists available with quick navigation enabled so that the player can quickly join them.

Sony says that there are now 12 million people using Home and that there is more content delivered everyday by the company in an effort to make accessing the social space an integral part of the PlayStation 3 experience.

Meanwhile, publisher Square Enix has announced that a selection of items based around Final Fantasy XIII, the blockbuster Japanese role playing game, which is finally coming out in the West, will be offered in Home. The items that can be collected include: an Eden - Primarch’s Vigilarium apartment; a Vigilarium sofa, table, chair, shelves, desk, planter set and Taxidermic Specimen; Cactuar, Flowering Cactuar and Tonberry figures and a Carbuncle Plushie. Square Enix has not said how much each of them will cost users.

SEGA is also delivering costumes based on Aliens vs. Predator for Home, with gamers able to wear a mask of all threes species for less than a dollar and a full costume for 2.99 dollars. Both male and female versions are offered.