PlayStation Home "Universal Game Launching" Update Hits Oct. 1

Denizens of PlayStation Home should warm up the internet connection for tomorrow, as the latest and greatest update to the virtual hang out service will hit Thursday, October 1. [Kotaku]

PlayStation Home 1.3 to Support Integrated Game Launching

This September, the 1.3 version of PS Home will roll out to PS3 users. The big upgrade? You'll be able to launch any game straight from Home. More »

The First Reasonable Use of PlayStation Home

OK, now we get it, Sony. The free Batcave included with Batman: Arkham Asylum will make the digital dryhumping fest infinitely more tolerable...unless Val Kilmer and George Clooney show up. [joystiq]

Star Trek Boldly Goes To PlayStation Home

Red shirts and spacey mini-skirts are coming to PlayStation Home, as the upcoming Star Trek, helmed by J.J. Abrams, sets a course for the PlayStation 3 virtual hang out zone. [Kotaku]

The Average PS Home Session Lasts One Hour (ORLY)

Remember the world before the PlayStation Home open beta launched? You may, because it looked a lot like the world after PlayStation Home launched. Still, Sony has some numbers they'd like to share with you: More »

A First Glimpse of How the PSP Will Integrate to PS Home

While our PSP wish list has yet to be fulfilled, one game called The Idol Master SP (PSP) will offer PSP users a new level of PS Home integration.

PlayStation Home Will Probably Be in Beta Forever

Like Gmail, there's a good chance that Sony's weak virtual life simulator PlayStation Home will remain in beta indefinitely, says Home director Jack Buser in this week's Kotaku podcast. Anyone really surprised by that? [Kotaku]

PlayStation Home Voice Chat Restored, Screws Sex Chats with Reality Again

After cutting down the voice chat feature in PlayStation Home, Sony PlayStation Network's Abigail Murphy says that their new 1.05 update brings the feature back but limiting it to users' personal spaces and clubhouses:

City of Decatur, Georgia Mulling Virtual World Interface

Not one to be outdone by the likes of PlayStation Home, World of Warcraft, or even that cesspool of flying dildos Second Life, the city of Decatur, Georgia might be going virtual.

G4's Priming a Flashmob in PlayStation Home Tonight

Attack of the Show is planning a little gathering tonight in PlayStation Home, encouraging one and all to join them in 7PM EST to dance the robot. Will the servers hold?

PS Home Hacked, But the Door Was Wide Open

It's technically an "Open Beta," but PlayStation Home features major security vulnerabilities that hackers have already exploited. The first, seen here in blurry video, allows you to play, say, Pineapple Express on Home screens.

Female Avatars Are Not Safe in PlayStation Home

Here's some uplifting video from the trainwreck PlayStation Home. In it, we see two female avatars being surrounded by male avatars doing little dances. Apparently this is happening all over the service. A lot.

PlayStation Home Open Beta Is Out Now

The PlayStation Home Open Beta (77MB) can now be downloaded onto your PS3 from the XMB (it's not a firmware update). Enjoy your second third life.

PlayStation Home Coming in 9 Days?

According to Times Online, the PlayStation Home open beta will hit on December 17th. From an article published yesterday:

PlayStation Home Coming This Year, Kind Of

PlayStation Home has long lost its lurid appeal, our relationship with it having transgressed from potential infatuation to being stood up at Applebee's, sucking down some purple margarita that we're beginning to suspect might be void of both alcohol and dignity. Regardless, PS Home director Jack Buster assures the world that the service will hit in 2008. More »

Grab Guaranteed Access To PlayStation Home Closed Beta For $3 via Qore

If you're dying to start outfitting your virtual apartment in the PS3's oft-delayed virtual world/XBLA-like community add-on, PlayStation Home, Sony has set it up so all downloaders of the November edition of Qore, a monthly video news feature available via the PS Store, will receive guaranteed access to the closed beta. You can still try your luck at getting a randomly-assigned invitation via a free downloadable PS Home theme, but if you're impatient and don't mind dropping $3 on something that will eventually be free, grab the new Qore available soon. [Ars]

PlayStation Home and Firmware 2.5 Hitting in October?

It's not officially confirmed, but PS3Fanboy received this screenshot of the PSHome beta tester forums. In it, you can see that Home Manager "TedtheDog" explaining that a fix to Home crashes will most likely be coming "later" next month with the release firmware 2.5. And though some of the remaining text is cut off, it seems that he hints to the firmware timing coinciding with Home 1.0. Since its original announcement, Home has certainly lost some of the mystique as we collectively remember what keeps us away from Second Life, but we'll still give it a whirl. [PS3Fanboy]

PlayStation Home Impressions (Verdict: Needs Content)

In case you're curious as to the progress of the PS3's upcoming PlayStation Home, the 3D Second Lifeish world in which you can interact with others, watch movie trailers, play games or just decorate a virtual apartment, one of our own readers was invited to participate in Sony's closed beta program and then kindly drafted up his experience for the world to read. His account confirms our skepticism while painting a pretty clear picture of exactly how Home works. And if you've got a second and a PS3, read on for his account. More »

Download PlayStation Home Theme, Automatically Apply for Home Beta Test

Want to get in on the closed beta for Sony's once-upon-a-time hotly anticipated PlayStation Home? To throw your name into the hat, just download the PlayStation Home theme that'll be added to the store later today. That's it. Your level of activity is apparently one of the criteria they'll be looking at—it's implied the more hardcore you are, the better your chances, though they might wanna see how nubbie nubs like it too. [PlayStation Blog]

Sony Shows Latest PS3 Home, Now Recruiting Beta Testers

Sony is now recruiting beta testers for PlayStation Home, the virtual world that PS3 users will use to interact with each other—and try to have virtual sex. They will invite 10,000 users from today to August 11, with the beta starting later in the month. The beta will include only a limited number of places, including a Game Venue developed in collaboration with Namco, where you would be able to play Pac-Man, Galaga, and DigDug. All of them look very nice and polished, however: More »

PlayStation Home Arriving This Year...With One Caveat

The good news: those of us still looking forward to Sony's virtual world platform called PlayStation Home will be happy to know that it's arriving in 2008. The potentially bad news: it's arriving in "open, working beta" form. You know, like Google Everything. (To their defense, Sony actually fessed up to this obvious comparison, describing Home's rollout as "similar to Gmail.") My guess is that this beta angle is just a way to manage public expectations. And knowing that Sony is finally delivering Home should make us happy, even if a little skeptical. [Wired via Kotaku]

25 Minutes of PlayStation Home

We don't expect most of you to sit through all 25 minutes of this PSHome walk-through, but let the video buffer and give it a quick skim. Our impressions? Sony's online Sims/Second Life clone looks fantastic. And embedded multimedia like games and video streaming look excellent, included with some interesting effects like walking up to an arcade cabinet and playing a game...without going full screen. More »

Sony Won't Allow Profanity, Sex at Your Own Home's Home

While our brothers-in-arms at Kotaku seem to only care about gardens, neighbourhoods and doing "cute little waves" with their Sixaxis in Sony's upcoming PlayStation Home, here in Gizmodo we only care about one: sex the naughty bits. Apparently, Sony has decided to actively monitor public spaces for profanity and "inappropriate behaviour". And while they won't be policing private areas, they are going to enforce those "inappropriate behaviour" rules there too, following any complaints they may receive from users. More »

Playstation Home Coming in October; Beta Next Month

You suckersPS3 owners who want to get Home will have your chance soon enough. There will be a 15,000 person private beta starting in April, with a 50,000 person public beta starting in August in anticipation of an October launch. More »

Dumb Wii Commercials Still Not a Patch On PlayStation Home

So, apparently these kids were watching telly at home when some japanese Mulder-and-Scully-wannabes arrive with some white magic wand. Then the whole family gathers around the TV to laugh at grandpa while changing his hairstyle. It's like, oh grandpa, we love you, but you would be so much cooler with an afro wig, man. And then it's like, you know, like everyone is laughing at each other and they can spend hours doing cartoons of other people and stuff. More »

PlayStation Home: The Video

You already saw read and saw what the PlayStation Home feature was like. Now see it in action. The sexy British accent really makes the video. – Jason Chen More »