Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) today announced that its highly anticipated PlayStation Home Beta service for PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) will become available for all PS3 users around the world on December 11, 2008.

Following the completion of the closed beta service, PlayStation Home?s open beta service will continue to evolve with new features and functionality.PlayStation Home is a 3D social gaming community available on PS3 that allows users to interact, communicate and share gaming experiences. Within PlayStation Home, users can create and customize their own unique avatars and explore the virtual community in real time where they can communicate freely through text or voice chat. PlayStation Home users will beable to enjoy variety of entertainment content such as mini-games, videos and special events along with their friends, but will also be able to create their own community by using the "Club" feature to create clubs with other PlayStation Home users who share the same interests. PlayStation Home also allows groups of users to launch directly into their favourite online games together from PlayStation Home.

PlayStation Home, available as a free download starting December 11, will launch directly from the PlayStation Home icon on the PlayStation Network column of XMB (XrossMediaBar) on PS3. Sony said that the basic features and services of PlayStation Home will be free of charge although "some content and services are charged", according to the company's statement.

"PlayStation Home is truly a promising network community service on the PlayStation platform, made possible with the powerful combination of PS3's overwhelming computational power and PlayStation Network that covers many countries around the globe," said Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, SCE.
For users accessing PlayStation Home in the Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) regions, themed virtual environments will be available to explore. Starting with a themed Far Cry 2 space, PlayStation Home will offer game inspired environments that allow people to discuss the specific games, plan strategies and access content and clues that will enhance the gaming experience. The number of gaming environments such as this will regularly increase, with spaces for Uncharted: Drake?s Fortune, Warhawk, Motorstorm and SOCOM following very soon. SCEE is working with publishers such as: Electronic Arts, UBISOFT, Midway, Sega and Atari to create engaging environments.

SCEE also announced the first partnerships with fashion leader Diesel, contemporary furniture designers Ligne Roset, energy drink Red Bull, film studio Paramount Pictures and video content providers Hexus TV and Eurogamer are the first on board. They will offer resident?s virtual clothing for their avatar, virtual furniture for their PlayStation Home apartments, exclusive video content and a virtual flying challenge: the Red Bull Air Race.

Is the video game industry recession proof?

At a time when retailers are struggling to sell merchandise leading up to Christmas less than one month away, video game makers have seen great success selling game consoles and video games.

Recently, October video game sales were up 18 percent -- up to $1.31 billion from $1.12 billion -- from the same time last year. Fable II led the way in October with 790,000 units sold throughout the month.

The Nintendo Wii continued its domination of the console market, with the Japanese company selling more than 13 million consoles since its launch in 2006. Microsoft has sold 12.1 million Xbox 360 units and Sony has sold just 5.1 million PlayStation 3 game consoles since launch.

Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 have had price cuts to help lure in new gamers, while the Wii is still being sold for $249. Even with its Blu-ray capabilities, the Wii and Xbox 360 are expected to be the top selling consoles -- the Xbox 360 will get a strong boost due to the recent release of the New Xbox Experience (NXE), which includes streaming Netflix.

In addition to October video game sales, the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, sold 2.8 million units in one day, which became the all-time one-day PC game sales leader.

Why all of the success for the video game industry?

"There are a couple of reasons," Hollywood Interactive Group director Ron Meiners told CNET. "One is the traditional value of entertainment during tough economic times. Like the great fantastic musicals in the 30s. Movies did great, because they took people's mind off of the troubles they were facing. (And) video games have great value as entertainment. The number of hours of solid entertainment that comes from a video game purchase is much greater than a movie, for example, for very comparable cost."Video games today offer gamers a level of interactivity and engagement that simply wasn't possible 10 years ago, which is important for game sales. If the economy continues to slide down hill, and Americans continue to be more careful with their money, it's likely video games and movies will be a good alternative to keep them distracted.

Although Blu-ray, HDTVs, and other consumer products have the necessary products and price cuts in place, the video game industry has the products but doesn't necessarily need to slash prices.

Nintendo introduced two limited edition Nintendo DS bundles for the holiday shopping season: Mario Red Nintendo DS and Ice Blue Nintendo DS. Japanese consumers now can get their hands on the Nintendo DSi, a next generation DS.

Sony also released its PSP 3000, a next-generation PSP aimed at competing with the newer DS game consoles.

Although other industries are expected to struggle, it's certainly a great time to be a gamer.

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) unveiled comprehensive line up of software for PLAYSTATION3 (PS3), PSP (PlayStationPortable), and PlayStation2 available during the 2008 holiday season. With 19 titles from SCEA and limited edition hardware bundles providing great consumer value, PlayStation aims to have fresh content for gamers this holiday season whether they are at home, traveling, or celebrating the holidays with family and friends.

In conjunction with the PS3 system's recently celebrated second anniversary, SCEA released the limited-edition Uncharted: Drake's Fortune PS3 system bundle. Featuring an impressive 160GB hard drive, the new PS3 system provides consumers with enough space to store a robust combination of games and entertainment content, such as 24 high definition movies, 8 standard definition television shows, 100 PlayStation(R)Network games, 2,000 music files, and 2,000 photos. The PS3 system has the strongest first party software lineup heading into the holiday season with titles like LittleBigPlanet(TM) from Media Molecule and its groundbreaking user generated content; Resistance 2(TM) from Insomniac Games, with unprecedented 60 player multiplayer mayhem; Motorstorm Pacific Rift, with no holds barred racing action; and BUZZ! Quiz TV, the quiz game show with over 5,000 questions and easy-to-use wireless buzzers."This holiday season we have gifts of the highest caliber to suit the taste of every gamer in your household; from community based experiences like LittleBigPlanet, to first person shooters like Resistance 2 to racing games like Motorstorm: Pacific Rift to casual games like SingStar(R) and BUZZ! (TM)," said Scott A. Steinberg, vice president of product marketing, SCEA. "We are dedicated to delivering entertainment of the finest quality to our consumers to help make this holiday a lot more enjoyable."

Winter travel is a bit brighter with the newly released PSP system (PSP- 3000), which offers an enhanced LCD screen with a wider color gamut and higher contrast ratio and a built-in microphone. The new PSP system is capable of displaying movies and photos in more natural and vibrant colors on its high resolution 4.3 inch wide screen. Available in Mystic Silver or Piano Black, the updated hardware is available in two limited edition Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters PSP Entertainment Packs. Titles like BUZZ! Master Quiz, NBA 09 The Inside, and Secret Agent Clank will make the trip to visit family more enjoyable.

Family and friends can easily entertain at home during the holiday season with all new versions of the hit interactive singing experience SingStar(R) for both the PS3 and PlayStation 2 systems. December 2 marks the release of the disco-centric SingStar(R) ABBA which joins currently available the recently released versions of the hit franchise including SingStar(R) Country, SingStar(R) Pop vol. 22, and SingStar(R) Legends for PlayStation 2. For PS3 owners, SingStar(R) Vo1. 2 and SingStar(R) ABBA add new tracks and videos for the rising star in your family to perform.

SCEA's Currently Available First Party 2008 Holiday Lineup Includes:

PLAYSTATION(R)3:

BUZZ!(TM) Quiz TV
LittleBigPlanet(TM)
Motorstorm(TM): Pacific Rift
NBA 09 The Inside
Resistance 2(TM)
SingStar(R) ABBA
SingStar(R) Vol. 2
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation


PlayStation(R) Network:

Linger In Shadows(TM)
Pain Movie Studio
Crash Commando(TM)
Savage Moon


PSP(R) (PlayStation(R)Portable):

BUZZ!(TM) Master Quiz
NBA 09 The Inside


PlayStation(R)2:

NBA 09 The Inside
SingStar(R)ABBA
SingStar(R)Country
SingStar(R)Legends
SingStar(R)Pop Volume 2

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan has announced that it will release its new 80GB PlayStation3 computer entertainment system with DualShock3 wireless controller on October 30. The new 80GB PS3 system will be available in three basic colors namely Clear Black, Ceramic White and Satin Silver.

For the holiday season it bundles up a limited edition of Blu-ray Disc version of the best-selling racing and online car life simulator, GRAN TURISMO 5 Prologue Spec III for PS3 which is developed by Polyphony Digital and published by SCE. Concurrently with the release of the new 80GB PS3 system, this exciting new game will also hit the stores at a 4,980 yen (approx Rs. 2,434).Well this is not all, the long awaited LittleBigPlanet for PS3 will also become available on October 30. Especially for the Holiday Season, PlayStation3 “LittleBigPlanet Dream Box” consisting an 80GB PS3 with DualShock 3 wireless controller, LittleBigPlanet game and an additional DualShock wireless controller will be introduced at a RRP of 44,980 yen (approx Rs. 21,952). For the ones who already own a PS3, “LittleBigPlanet DualShock 3 Bundle Pack” featuring LittleBigPlanet game and a DualShocK 3 wireless controller will become available at 7,980 yen (approx Rs. 3,895). Both these offers are available only in a limited edition.

The new 80GB PS3 console will include all the features and functionalities of the current 40GB model. To meet the ever increasing demand, PlayStation Network now offers about 300 games, 40 anime titles and free playable demos.

After some delay, Sony Computer Entertainment has released Life with PlayStation for Playstation3 (PS3) worldwide. This feature provides web-based content organized into channels that can be browsed by time and location.

Life with PlayStation is a new lifestyle service that offers users a new visual and interactive way to use their PS3 to access news and information from around the world. The channel delivers worldwide news and information around two themes: "place" and "time" on a world map interface.Some of the live content includes: cloud imagery, along with weather information, news headlines, and live camera images of nearly 60 cities around the globe. PS3 users can join Life with PlayStation by clicking the Folding@home icon in the Network column of the XMB (XrossMediaBar).

With the latest update, Folding@home will support more advanced simulation of protein fold, and will also support PS3's unique Folding@home ranking system, which enables users to see where they stand among the worldwide contributors based on their level of contribution.