14 DAY TRIAL // Sony is finally overhauling its PlayStation Home online service, effectively turning it into a social gaming hub, as opposed to the virtual social network it was up until now.
PlayStation Home had a pretty decent debut a few years ago and, at least according to Sony, is quite successful, drawing in lots of PlayStation 3 owners to its array of services.
Now, in order to make it a proper success, the Japanese company is completely overhauling it, turning it into a "social gaming experience."
"The next stage of PlayStation Home‘s evolution will arrive on your PS3," Sony revealed about this overhaul. "This enormous update integrates games, quests, community events and user-generated content, while providing players with additional navigation, shopping, socialization, and entertainment options."
PS3 owners that now enter PlayStation Home will arrive at the Hub, which features a special game in a spotlight, as well as an Activity Board that ties into a questing and events system. Stores with new games, personal spaces and enhancements for the avatars of Home users are still present.
From the Hub, people can jump into various spaces, focused on all sorts of activities, ranging from the Action or Adventure districts to Sportswalk, Pier Park, or the PlayStation Home Theater, where people can enjoy various videos, trailers or episodes of Pulse and Qore. The PlayStation Home Mall has also received lots of new items, if you want to spend some real world cash on them.
Besides the overhaul, Sony is also adding new free-to-play games, like Bootleggers '29, a first person shooter set in the Prohibition-era, Hold 'Em, a variation of Texas Hold 'Em poker, or Sports Trivia, which allows users to unlock rewards by answering more than 10,000 trivia questions.
There's also RC Rally, which allows players to build, customize and race their own remote controlled cars against friends on all sorts of tracks, as well as a free version of Cogs, the steampunk puzzle game made by Lazy 8 Studios.
"With more than 230 ready-to-play games, upwards of 10,000 virtual items, and new community events happening every day of the week, PlayStation Home is the place that the PlayStation community gathers to play a wide range of games with their friends. Whether you are a seasoned member of the community or someone that hasn’t visited PlayStation Home in a while, never has there been a better time to come into PlayStation Home join up with our community of millions of passionate PlayStation gamers."
The PlayStation Home is set to receive its overhaul today, during the maintenance period already announced by Sony. Until then, check out a video highlighting its improvements below.
