Sony Announces Redesign of PlayStation Home, Coming Fall 2011

Sony have announced that major changes are coming to PlayStation Home this Fall.

The complete redesign includes a new core experience for PlayStation Home, featuring an all-new Hub that integrates games, quests, community events and user-generated content, while providing players with additional navigation, shopping, socialization and entertainment options.

From the Hub, players can teleport to various genre-based districts, where they will encounter games tailored to their interests and style, while introducing them to a rich and diverse selection of game experiences.

In the Hub, players can head over to the Activity Board, where they will discover the robust questing system that transforms PlayStation Home itself into a game, quickly find games and content, and create their own events to share with their friends.

PlayStation Home's new core experience provides players with a dynamic and constantly changing pool of activities and challenges throughout the Hub and districts, with thematic content that enables players to find games that are relevant to their interests:

• The Hub: The new, futuristic Hub brings games directly to players with a featured game front-and-center upon login, the Activity Board where players can engage in quests and community activities, and a direct path to free games via the teleporter.


• 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

Also planned to be released this fall as a separate core client upgrade is a revamp of the underlying user experience in PlayStation Home. This update will deliver a more streamlined experience upon login with customized tracks for new, returning and regular PlayStation Home users, minimizing the time it takes for players to get into games.