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Planned Freemium Home Games Are The Most Ambitious Yet

As usual, just when you think you've seen everything PlayStation Home has to offer, a big ol' update comes along to prove you dead flat wrong.

Today, Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (SCEA) has announced a new roll-out of some of the "deepest and most immersive genre-based freemium games for PlayStation Home." This includes a squad-based third-person shooter and even a fantasy MMO of sorts. All of these will further expand the new overhauled Home structure, which launched last November.

The games in question will start releasing as of today and go through the Summer, and they will use "the latest development tools available." First on the list is Cutthroats: Battle for Black Powder Cove , which officially launches today and lets up to 24 players battle aboard pirate ships as both captains and gunners. It's ship vs. ship and yes, it's free-to-play, although you can purchase upgrades for your ship by grabbing special coins (which do cost real money). Here are the other games:

No Man's Land: Arguably PS Home's most ambitious title yet, No Man's Land offers gamers the most advanced shooter experience the platform has ever seen. The game's unique cover-based mechanics were designed to take full advantage of the platform's technology. Players utilize a grid interface to sprint from cover to cover, popping up to take out opponents at every turn. The game offers a traditional "Team Deathmatch" mode, as well as a cooperative mode where salvage must be delivered back to the team's depots, while fighting to stay alive in the process. (Release Date: Spring 2012)

Mercia: Developed by Lockwood Publishing, PS Home's first multiplayer role-playing title transports players into a fantasyl world of treacherous dungeons, magic spells, and a plethora of weapons and enemies. Mercia invites players to traverse a number of enemy-filled dungeons, and for the first time in PS Home's history, the game continually streams new content, leading to zero load times while playing. Mercia also utilizes a number of RPG mainstays such as crafting, upgrading, and resource management, giving gamers the deepest RPG experience available on the platform. (Release Date: Summer 2012)

Said Home Senior Business Manager Chris Mahoney:

"These new titles are delivering on the promise we made to the PlayStation Home community when we first launched the new core experience in November of last year, offering a variety of genre-based games to suit every gamer's preference. We're bringing gamers the kind of experiences they expect from these genres with the social elements that are only available through PlayStation Home."

The goal of last year's overhaul was to cater to the gamer, and that's exactly what Home continues to do.

Home Update 1.55 Available Today

Next month, PlayStation Home will undergo quite the change, as you know.

But before that happens, Sony has prepared an update patch for the virtual social service; it's update 1.55 and it has been fully detailed at the PlayStation Blog .

Available today, the 1.55 patch delivers all sorts of upgrades, including an improved layout, design, and color scheme, new menu options for your wardrobe and furniture browser, an option to manually clear the cache of data that Home creates on your HDD, etc. Here's a brief look:

— There is an option to view “Help” from the carousel on the Menu Pad. This is only available to new users.

— There is an option to “Redecorate” on the carousel on the Menu Pad. This is only available when you are in your Personal Space or a Clubhouse that you own (i.e. somewhere that you can place furniture).

They also say they continue to work to improve general stability, which is always a good thing. Home will shift to a definite gamer focus in October, as the new Hub and corresponding areas dedicated to various genres should appeal more to those who list gaming among their primary hobbies. Oh, and we're supposed to talk to Sony tomorrow about something else involving the PlayStation Network, but it may not be Home-related…we'll see. The info will probably be emargoed until next week, though.

SCEA Reveals Huge, Game-Changing Home Update

PlayStation Home is about to experience the single biggest upgrade since the service was launched.

Today, Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) has revealed major changes for the social service; specifically, a shift in focus that caters to the target audience: gamers. This new change will come about this fall, so get ready.

Home will be redesigned around an all-new Hub that integrates games, quests, community events and user-generated content, all the while still providing users with familiar features, like navigation, shopping, socializing and general entertainment. The Hub will connect you to four different genre-based districts; Home boss Jack Buser told us it'd be sort of like Disney World in that way. Furthermore, they will introduce a brand new questing system, which turns Home itself into one giant video game. Said Buser:

"PlayStation Home’s new core experience is a giant leap in the evolution of the platform, not to mention a major milestone for PlayStation Network, and its new model quickly deploys our users to many compelling free-to-play games that fit their interests. With this update, coming this fall, PlayStation Home becomes a game itself, making it the most robust gamified social experience available."

With a "dynamic and constantly changing pool of activities and challenges throughout the Hub and districts," Home will become a gamer's haven. Here's a brief explanation of each of the four districts:

Action District: A gathering place for the hardcore demographic, the Action District has a gritty, urban feel reminiscent of a first-person shooter level and provides a direct travel point to action and horror games.

Sportswalk: The Sportswalk has an exciting outside-the-stadium feel with instant major league sports scores, headlines and highlights, ample space for sports-themed games and provides direct travel points to sports-related games.

Adventure District: The Adventure District drops you in a lush island jungle with an air of mystery, hidden treasure and discovery, where players will be able to launch directly into adventure-themed games.

Pier Park: A waterfront boardwalk leads players to carnival, puzzle, outdoor and arcade games. Take a ride on the Pier Park Ferris wheel or visit the arcade for some bright entertainment.

In addition, Sony will release a separate core client upgrade as part of the revamp; this upgrade "will deliver a more streamlined experience upon login with customized tracks for new, returning and regular PlayStation Home users." Home has soared since its inception in December 2008; there are over 23 million users worldwide, the average session duration per user is 70 minutes, and there are no less than 230 games ready-to-play.

The end result? A new service that still lets you do everything you always did (that won't change) along with a new centralized focus on our favorite hobby. Stay tuned for more; later we'll deliver Buser's thoughts on this when we talked to him last week.

Massive Home Update: Midway 2, Holiday Goodness

If you haven't visited PlayStation Home in the last few months, you'll be quite surprised at the bevy of new stuff. If you haven't visited this year, you have no idea what you're missing. If you only logged in once during the early days back in late 2008 or early 2009…logging in will blow your freaking mind.

Home gets an absolutely massive update this week; you can check out all the details over at the PlayStation Blog : first and foremost, they're unveiling the Midway 2 game space. Annexed to the Midway complex, Midway 2 gives the Home explorers no less than 10 new games and 100 new prizes. Grab that Golden Ticket and try new games like Kitty Cannon (oh dear God), Half Cocked and Tee'd Off, and see if you can unlock all the prizes. They've also updated the Mall's LOOT store, which now features the Ameratsu Yacht space, and you can always take advantage of LOOT's Entertainment on Demand (EOD) system so you can sit and watch cool content with buddies. What, you think that's it? We haven't mentioned the Winter Wonderland event space; "a snowy location filled with games and rewards galore."

They go on to talk about the new space for Tron: Evolution , an "epic event" slated for December 10 (check it out!), more items in the Mall, and the Community Theater's debut of the new HomeCast Rewind series. In the premier episode, host HearItNow tells you how to get the most out of the 1.4 client update, and don't forget that more stuff is going on around the theater section. It's just endless. And finally, we may be speaking to Home boss Jack Buser again tomorrow; sort of a spur of the moment thing, so we can't really take reader questions. But maybe we can make him read the comments in this article. 😉