14 DAY TRIAL // PlayStation Home are about to extend their portfolio with two new environments. The brand-new spaces will be inspired by Rachet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time and Uncharted 2 and they'll bring a whole new series of minigames and prizes. According to PlayStation Home director Jack Buser this update to the social network is meant to "blur the line" between the classic gaming experience and the ones inside Home.
Home has showcased a few games and tasks that are meant to promote Buser's idea of introducing “social, repeatable and fun minigames.” In the Rachet & Clank Future area a "find-the-sheep" type of minigame is available as well as a Tower Defense, playable by up to four people simultaneously. Finishing these games or any of the future ones that will be available will award players with special prizes. These are meant to motivate players into a competitive discussion regarding the best way to complete the games, further promoting the social concept of the network.
Based in a Nepalese village, the Uncharted 2 area will bring a different concept, focusing more on a competitive experience. Centered around a game called "Fortunate Thieves" the Uncharted 2 space will give players a more brutal, fast-paced gameplay with the more flexible human opponents. Home users that decide to drop in here will race against each other in a treasure hunt, looking for clues and trying to foil the competition’s attempts. The anti-player arsenal will be composed of all sorts of cards, like an “earthquake” card that will alter the landscape and obstruct rivals.
Sony would like to turn the PlayStation Home in a standalone gaming platform, and the Uncharted 2 area is supposed to be a prototype for this. Associate producer KC Coleman thinks that Fortunate Thieves is a great starting point for this project. "We wanted to give someone a real leap forward in turns of the entertainment value of the space. It goes back to the whole thing of having this actually stand on its own. This is something that you could easily purchase in the PSN Store, but you have a chance to play it in Home for free with your friends, and actually have a lot of fun." Since both games will be out by the end of the month, the spaces should be available in pretty much the same timetable and they will also include a universal game launching system.