As promised yesterday, we have four new videos of the extended closed beta of PlayStation Home. The new videos cover customizing your character and ‘My Home Space’, as well as show off two of the public areas in Home: the Central Plaza and Games Arcade. As you will see from the videos, there are currently only two ways to customize your personal space: wallpaper and furniture. The Games Arcade video shows off the pool tables and two of the mini arcade games you can play.

Customize your Character:

There are several options available to help customize your character. This includes gender, face, clothes, accessories and height/weight. The customization options available for your face are pretty advanced allowing to tweak nearly every part of your face.

Customizing your Home Space:

You can personalize your personal space in PlayStation Home in one of two ways – changing the wallpaper and adding furniture. This video demonstrated both of the above with a few examples. There are 8 wallpapers available and you are get some furniture in you inventory when you first access Home. More furniture can be purchased from the shops in the Mall.

The Central Plaza:

The Central Plaza is the main public area in Home, where you can access the other various areas available including the Theater, Mall and Game Space. The Central Plaza for each region is different (the below video shows the US Central Plaza). There is a public dance area called Listen@Home where you can dance to a selection of tracks (the feature is currently a prototype).

The Games Space:

The Games Space is where most of the fun happens. The Games Space has social and non-social games you can enjoy while within Home. These include pool and bowling (both social), and four arcade games (found on the arcade machines). Sony is looking to expand the number of games available with possibilities of adding games like Darts, Mini Golf and Table Tennis (among others).

Any feedback welcome. If you would like to see a certain area, let us know and we will try and make a video for you. We will try and bring you more videos tomorrow.

PlayStation Home has been high on our agenda, ever since we were invited to the beta. In order to share our experience with though of you who are not part of the beta, we have created some videos showing off the virtual world Sony is so proud off. Below, you will find two videos taking you around the virtual world and exploring the various areas you can visit. We will be uploading more videos over the next few days to give you a better insight.

So far, Home is looking great. There are four public areas you can visit including the Theater, Mall, Games Arcade and Central Plaza. You can listen to music in the Listen@Home area in the Central Plaza or dance along to it. In the Games Arcade, you will find pool tables, bowling lanes and arcade machines with various mini-games you can enjoy. Pool and Bowling can be enjoyed by yourself or with friends.

You are given one living space (called My Home Space) when you first start, but you can also get the Summer House for free from the Mall. You can get new content, such as clothes and furniture from the Mall too. Currently, everything is free but eventually you will be able to buy additional content using your PlayStation Wallet. The above videos give an example of visiting shops and purchasing content. We will bring you more details on the beta in the near future.

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Metal Gear Online has been updated to version 1.12, fixing some bugs in the game. In addition, the Drebin Point requirement of two weapons have been decreased and the skill cost for NARC has been increased too. The bug fixes include the game crashing when a clan member is invited to Survival mode, and correcting the display of "Match Time" when viewing the rules in the Survival Lobby. You can find a full list of changes below.

Changelog:

• Bug fixes:
  • When a host leaves a game, the position of host is automatically forwarded to someone else. When someone else filled the free 16th slot, the player would be invisible to the new host.
  • The game would sometimes freeze if a player would invite a Clan Member while in Survival mode.
  • The day of the week of "Match Time" was not correctly displayed when viewing the rules in the Survival Lobby.
• Game Specification Change:
  • The motion of reloading the shotgun cannot be canceled by equipping a box or changing weapons.
• Weapon Specificaion Change:
  • Saiga 12’s cost changed from 8000DP to 5000DP.
  • G3A3’s cost changed from 5000DP to 4000DP.
• Skill Specification Change:
  • "NARC" Lv2’s cost from 1 to 2
  • "NARC" Lv3’s cost from 1 to 3

[Via: MGO Official Website]

EA is currently developing a map pack, Par for the Course, as voted for by the users. In addition to the map pack, an update for the game will also be released (along side the map pack) adding new features as well as fixing bugs and tweaking parts of the game. Trophy support is the main addition to the game, and gamers will also be given three weapons for free. Bug fixes will include server lag issues, dog tag lag and PS3 VOIP fixes.

The number of trophies available to unlock in the game have not been revealed, but expect more on this in coming weeks. The release date for the new update was not mentioned either.

Changelog:

• Bug fixes:
  • Server lag
  • Dog tag lag
  • PS3 VOIP
• Additions:
  • Trophy support
• Tweaks:
  • Removed one hit kills for knife against Friendlies
  • Bullets and knives go through bushes
  • After sprinting, you will be able to fire your weapon quicker
  • Helicopter can take damage from multiple trees
  • Additional minor tweaks to improve gameplay
• Other:
  • Unlocking 3 weapons for all –
    the Pre-order weapon, Newsletter sign-up weapon and Demo weapon will be made available to everyone playing Battlefield: Bad Company for free.

[Via: Bad Company Official Website]

Novastrike, a PlayStation Network title, has been updated to include trophy support, easier difficulty, customizable controls and more. The game will include a total of 16 unlockable trophies – 12 bronze, two of which are hidden, and 4 silver (see the list below). The game’s difficulty has also been rebalanced to make it easier for new players. The controls are now fully customizable and the size of the ship has been increased to help visibility.

Trophies:

• Bronze:
  • Heralder No More: Destroy a Heralder aircraft on any difficulty
  • Broken Falchion: Shoot down a Falchion aircraft on any difficulty
  • Champion of Praxor: Finish the second stage on any difficulty
  • Destroyer: Destroy 500 aerial opponents on any difficulty
  • Defender of Khara: Finish the fourth stage on any difficulty
  • Ground Sweeper: Destroy 200 Draelus ground structures on any difficulty
  • Searer Extinguished: Destroy the Searer on Tolak on any difficulty
  • Master of Arms: Unlock the final ship on any difficulty
  • Savior of Tolak: Finish the sixth stage on any difficulty
  • Don’t You Die On Me (Hidden): The friendly rebel Heralder must survive through the end of Khara (Stage 3)
  • Hidden Trophy
  • Hidden Trophy
• Silver:
  • Challenger: Defeat the game on RECRUIT difficulty or higher
  • Reckoning Force: Defeat the game on SOLDIER difficulty or higher
  • Unstoppable: Defeat the game on VETERAN difficulty or higher
  • Legendary: Defeat the game on HARDCORE difficulty

Two weeks ago the official PlayStation 3 wireless keypad was announced; this week Anand Agarwal, Product Manager for PlayStation Peripherals, reveals more information about the official bluetooth headset for the PS3 that was unveiled during SOCOM Media Day. The bluetooth headset will come bundled with SOCOM Confrontation next month and will be available as a standalone accessory later this year. The PS3 will receive a firmware update in the fall to unlock some new features for use by the headset. Check out the features below. The device will retail for $49.99 (approx. £25).

Features:

• The headset will feature "High-Quality (HQ) mode" with PS3. In this mode, the headset will take advantage of advanced voice technologies and noise cancellation techniques to provide clear and wideband voice input to the PS3. The HQ mode will ensure a much better voice chat quality on the PS3.
• HQ mode will also enable accurate speech recognition required to support or enhance "Voice Command" and "Voice Animation" features. Voice Command was originally used in SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs for PS2 to administer the AI-controlled teammates using the WHO, WHAT, and WHERE format (example: Bravo, Attack, Nav Point Zulu). Voice Animation refers to the in-game character mimicking you during voice chat. With HQ mode, these features can be enabled on a much larger vocabulary in select PS3 games.
• PS3 will display an in-game status indicator exclusively for this headset that will show the headset’s connection status, battery charge level, speaker volume level and microphone mute status.
• Tired of wearing the headset during a long multiplayer gaming session or is your headset battery running out of charge? Just dock the headset in the supplied charging cradle, and the headset will work as a desktop microphone while charging.
• Last but not least, the headset will automatically pair with the PS3 by connecting with a USB cable.

­

Gamers in Europe received invites to PlayStation Home extended beta last month, and now US gamers are getting their invitations too. People who downloaded the PlayStation Home PS3 XMB Theme were eligible to participate in the extended beta, but as there are a limited number of spaces, gamers were chosen based on their PlayStation Network participation. Those who have been chosed to take part in the beta will receive an email directly to their registered PSN email address (the email address you sign-in with).

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­The first PlayStation Store update­ for September is in! The US has received a fairly large update while Europe has received a small one. Both stores have received the PURE playable demo as well as the Haze Destruction add-on pack. Europe has also received another new demo and the Warhawk triple combo pack (which the US got last week). Qore Episode 4 is now available to purchase from the US Store and there are also over ten new videos to download. Check out the list below.

European Additions:

• Playable Demos
  • NHL 2K9 Demo
  • PURE Demo
• Game Add-on Content
  • HAZE DESTRUCTION PACK (£3.49)
  • Warhawk Triple Combo Pack (£7.99)
• Wallpapers
  
  • SOULCALIBUR Wallpapers (4)

US Additions:

• Qore Digital Magazine
  
  • Qore Episode 04: September, 2008 ($2.99 Issue, $24.99 Annual Subscription)
• Playable Demos
  
  • PURE Demo
• Downloadable Games
  
  • NFL Head Coach 09 ($49.99)
• Game Add-on Content
  
  • HAZE Destruction Pack ($9.99)
  • Rock Band
    
    • Skullcrusher Mountain – Jonathan Coulton ($0.99)
    • Shhh . – The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets ($0.99)
    • Livin at the Corner of Dude and Catastrophe – MC Frontalot ($0.99)
    • PAX Pack 1 ($2.99) – includes Shhh . by The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, Livin at the Corner of Dude and Catastrophe by MC Frontalot, and Skullcrusher Mountain by Jonathan Coulton.
• Game Videos
  
  • JEOPARDY! Trailer
  • Super Stardust HD Tips Video 1
  • Super Stardust HD Tips Video 2
  • PAIN Call Da Shot Mode Video
  • Brothers in Arms: Hell s Highway – Making Of #3:
  • Legendary Behind the Scenes Episode 1
  • Midnight Club Los Angeles Trailer 2
  • Midnight Club Los Angeles Trailer 3
  • Red Baron Arcade Trailer
  • Saints Row 2 Uncle Gary Motorcycles Trailer
  • Saints Row 2 Uncle Gary Taunting Trailer
• Movie and Blu-ray Trailers
  
  • The Ultimates Featurette
  • Nick & Norah s Infinite Playlist Trailer
  • The Fall Trailer
• PS3 Wallpaper
  
  • The Last Guy Wallpaper