PlayStation Home (also marketed and referred to as Home) is a community-based service developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's London and Cambridge studios for the PlayStation 3 on the PlayStation Network (PSN). It is available directly from the PlayStation 3 XrossMediaBar. Membership is free, and only requires a PSN account. Home has been in development since early 2005 and started an open public beta test on December 11, 2008.

Home allows users to create a custom avatar, which can be made to suit the user's liking. Users can decorate their avatar's personal apartment ("HomeSpace") with default, bought, or won items. Users can travel throughout the Home world (except cross region) which is constantly updated by Sony and partners. Each part of the world is known as a space. Public spaces can just be for display, fun, or for meeting people. Home features many mini-games which can be single player or multiplayer. Users can shop for new items to express themselves more through their avatars or HomeSpace. Home features video screens in many places for advertising, but the main video content is shown at the theatre for entertainment. Home plays host to a variety of special events which range from prize-giving events to entertaining events. Users can also use Home to connect with friends and customise content.

History

The first "Central Plaza" was inside and enclosed from other spaces.

PlayStation Home (or Home), originally named 'Hub' started as a 2D online lobby for the PlayStation 2 game, The Getaway: Black Monday. However, the online userbase for the PlayStation 2 was too small and the project was never completed before the release of the PlayStation 3, at which point the developers began porting code to the new platform. Phil Harrison, then president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, liked the idea of having a virtual 3D community hub for PlayStation gamers, and transferred the project to become PlayStation Home. In a 2007 keynote speech, Phil Harrison used the term "Game 3.0" to describe the service.

An online-based service had been the subject of speculation since the launch of the PlayStation Network. Sony had expressed interest in such a service, specifically trophies (known at the time as "entitlements") for first-party titles. PlayStation Home, as a feature, was first publicly mentioned in an interview with NG-Gamer. This was later detailed by Kotaku and finally confirmed by NG-Gamer. It was officially announced by Phil Harrison on March 7, 2007, during his keynote speech at the 2007 Game Developers Conference^[12] and was originally scheduled for a global public release in October 2007.

Home was delayed and expanded several times before initially releasing. Invitations to the closed beta were offered to winners of a weekly Warhawk online gaming event. Kazuo Hirai, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, stated that "Spending more time on the development and on the Closed Beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation tradition". In July 2008, further invitations were sent to some Home XMB theme downloaders in Japan and North America. SCEE and SCEHK did the same, but without releasing a Home XMB theme. Users who purchased more than HK$60 or SG$12 worth of content in a single transaction over the PlayStation Store from August 29 to September 12, 2008 were also invited. In November 2008, SCEA invited annual Qore subscribers. After major version 1.0, invitations were sent worldwide.

The Open Beta test began on December 11, 2008, approximately 14 months later than the initial expected release date. In May 2009, Sony reported that Home had been downloaded by 6.5 million users, with 85% returning users. In June 2009, Peter Edwards, Director of Home for SCEE, reported that the number of users exceeded 7 million and that 80% of users are male aged 18–35. In August 2009, at Gamescom 2009, SCEE President Andrew House announced that Home has been downloaded by 7.5 million users globally. Jack Buser, Director of Home for SCEA, stated that Home will remain in beta "indefinitely," meaning that Sony does not know yet when Home will be out of the Open Beta. He also stated that, "We quite like the name 'open beta,' so you can expect us to stay in open beta for some time." In a Eurogamer interview with Peter Edwards on July 24, 2009, Eurogamer asked Edwards how long will the beta phase last for? Edwards responded, "Until we're ready to not call it a beta any more. We don't really get that fixated about it. Anyone who wants to access Home can, there are no barriers to entry, so in that respect it's not like there's anything holding users back." He continued with, "We're still developing it, we're still working on it, we're still improving it. We'll remove the beta name when we're happy that it represents something that is not final, because it'll always be evolving, but at least represents a kind of final quality. We don't have a specific target for when that will be."

Operation

Home is in third person, users walk or jog in that way. Upon entering Home, users are greeted with the "Message of the Day"'. It contains administrative information such as upcoming updates, events, and event winners. The Message of the Day is updated frequently.

User Interface

PlayStation Home has no HUD, however, all of Home’s features are available from the controller. The options are: Quick Chat, a Gestures menu, the Menu Pad, the Safe Screen, and in-game XMB. In time, users will be able to play music on their PlayStation 3 hard drive. Whether this will be private or can be heard by others will be determined by a complicated licensing issue that Sony must attempt to solve.

The "Menu Pad" – accessible by pressing Start; controls the user's avatar’s appearance – with the 'Wardrobe', decorations, where to travel (with the 'World Map'), settings, and other main options. The Menu Pad is shown in the user’s hands when in use. It has eleven options including a Help menu for beginners. The Menu Pad features an inventory, which currently only has the “Bubble machine”. With the version 1.3 patch, "Home Stuff" in the shopping complex, will have inventory items for purchase, which the user can use at any time. The "Safe Screen" is used for reporting, changing communication settings, and quick access to the user’s Personal Space and XMB friends list. This is accessed with the Select button.

The Menu Pad was introduced in version 1.0 and was formerly a “virtual PlayStation Portable” (vPSP), but was introduced to reorganise the menus and because of the addition of the in-game XMB feature, eliminating the need for the vPSP’s XMB. A SCEA public relations spokesperson explained that “We felt that PlayStation Home deserved its own navigation device, so we built a user interface that was dedicated to just that purpose.”

Communication

Users communicate in a variety of ways in Home. They are able to write text messages to each other using either a USB or Bluetooth keyboard or with a PlayStation 3 controller using the on-screen keyboard. These messages appear in speech bubbles over the avatar's head and in the 'chat log'. As of version 1.21, there are three modes of the chat log by clicking the left analog stick; normal, expanded, and minimized. Voice chat, with the use of a USB or Bluetooth headset is currently only available within personal spaces and clubs or by making a 'Phone call' to a specific user. The user can also perform gestures (or "e-motes") such as waving, nodding or dancing. As of version 1.10, some gestures can be performed whilst walking. A 'Quick chat' feature is also available. This library of short, predetermined phrases (such as "Hello" and "Where are you from?") can be accessed using a quick access menu.

Virtual economy

The shopping complex's store interface. Note its resemblance to the PlayStation Store.

Although the service itself can be used free of charge, premium content is available to purchase from various stores in the shopping complex. Users browse and pay for items such as virtual clothing and furniture by accessing a shop and using its PlayStation Store interface. Items are paid for in real currency using funds from the user's PlayStation Network Wallet. Alongside content designed by SCE, real-world companies are also able to sell virtual goods through their own stores in Home. For example, Diesel and Ligne Roset are both represented in Home with their own stores where users can purchase virtual items based on their companies’ own clothing and furniture designs respectively.

Advertising is prominent in Home’s public spaces. Currently, this is primarily PlayStation focused although other video gaming-related brands are also represented. Sony currently streams most advertising from ‘their’ Home servers. Most advertising is targeted to specific regional audiences although it is also possible to target particular users.

One of the ways Sony has used advertising in Home is with advertising of the PS3 exclusive Killzone 2. Users in the North American Home who pre-ordered Killzone 2 from Amazon.com received free I.S.A. and Helghast costumes for their avatar. On February 16, 2009, if users located a Helghast soldier in the North American Home, they were granted access to the Killzone 2 demo. European users got a chance to get the Killzone 2 costumes by participating in the "Killzone AM!" event hosted in the European Home on March 28, 2009 at 11 am CET. The requirement was that the users must participate in one full round of Killzone 2 and have a United Kingdom PSN. If users met the requirement, the Home Managers sent the users a voucher code for the costumes. In Japan, if users watched the Killzone 2 trailer and took the Questionnaire in the Home Theatre, the users received an I.S.A. costume. In order to get the Helghast costume, the users had to do a pre-order.

Another Amazon.com pre-order bonus occurred with the PS3 exclusive inFamous. Users in the North American Home who pre-ordered inFamous received a Reaper costume for their avatar. If users of the North American Home downloaded the demo of inFamous and beat it, users received a Cole costume for their avatar on June 18, 2009. European users received the Reaper costume through select promotions and pre-ordering and they received the Cole costume from pre-ordering.

Features

When first accessing Home, users are given an avatar and an invitation-only apartment which they can personalise with their own choice of decor and furnishings. The user's avatar is the means of travel and communication. The user's personal spaces and clubs are means of expressing their selves and meeting new people and friends alike.

A picture of a male Home avatar being created.

Avatar

The user can create their own avatar or use one of several preset avatars available in Home. Users can access the Wardrobe from the Menu Pad at any time and location except when in another users personal apartment. They may customise a variety of the characters features including gender, skin tone, hair, body shape and facial structure. They may also customise their avatar's clothing and accessories using a set of standard items, items bought from one of the clothing shops in Home's shopping complex, or won items from Home's mini-games or PS3 games that support Home rewards. The user has the ability to save up to nine versions of their avatar for quick access at any time.

An avatar sitting in their decorated Harbour Studio.

Personal Spaces

Each user has a Personal Space, called a "HomeSpace", which they can modify and change any time they are in it. The initial basic apartment, the Harbour Studio (a studio overlooking a harbour), is free and offers users limited options, such as a 50 item limit, for customisation and personalisation. In the future, Sony will provide tools that will enable users to have an even greater ability to create their own Personal spaces and content. Users may invite any other Home user (even cross-region) to their Personal Space and in time, will be able to stream the host's music from their console's hard drive. Videos may be enabled in the future, but not during the opening stages of the beta. Users can also place their own digital photographs in picture frames to display on the wall of their apartment; this feature is currently only available to the North American version. Whilst the Harbour Studio and basic furniture is provided to all users free of charge, premium Personal Spaces, dedicated furniture for the premium Personal Spaces, and other furniture is available to purchase from the shopping complex. Some furniture and decorative ornaments can be won from the mini-games in Home and PS3 games that support Home rewards.

Premium Personal spaces that are available from the Home Estates store include the Summer House, the Lakeside Log Cabin, the Living Room Stage Set from Loot (North America), the Ghostbusters Firehouse: On Location (North America), the City Penthouse (Currently unavailable to all regions due to a bug that needs fixed), and the Visari Throne Room (Currently Europe; North America at a later date). The Visari Throne Room is based on Visari's Throne Room from the last level of Killzone 2. The Chamber Apartment was a free personal space that was only available for one week from May 14, 2009 to May 21, 2009 in the North American Home. The Chamber Apartment has four interactive fire pits/waterfalls and the user can decide whether or not they want a fire pit or a waterfall by stepping on a switch. There is also a living tree with a face on it that will follow the user if the user walks by the face. Users who own Batman: Arkham Asylum (available on August 25, 2009) can unlock a special Arkham Asylum Batcave Outpost personal apartment that comes with Batman's suit, gadgets, and the Batmobile in the apartment. It has been confirmed as an unlockable for Europe and North America.

In time, Home will have a Hall of Fame which will include "Trophy Rooms". The Trophy Room is a Personal Space where users are able to display 3D representations of their PlayStation Network Trophies.

Clubs

Users are able to purchase a Club. Currently, there is only one club to purchase called the Basic Clubhouse. Each club has a leader (the user who purchased the club) who can elect up to 4 sub-leaders and can have up to 32 members in total. A user can only be a member of up to five clubs and if the user owns a club, they can only be a member of up to four clubs. Also, a user can only own one club. In a similar way to Personal Spaces, the club's owner is able to set-up and decorate a private clubhouse as a meeting point for club members. The clubhouse also features a notice board where the leader and sub-leaders can post messages and announcements to other members. There is also a video screen in the clubhouse that has currently only played two interviews from the directors and actors of the films Watchmen and Star Trek. Japan's clubhouse video screen has the option to access a Home members page after they've entered their PSN info.

Stage Sets from Loot

Stage Sets are premium personal spaces where users, if they have a video capture system, can make their own machinimas in Home. Stage Set was created by Loot, a newly formed group of developers from Sony Pictures Entertainment that creates experiences and products for Home. Loot has currently only made the Stage Sets available to the North American version at a price of $4.99 USD each from the Home Estates store in the shopping complex.

The first Stage Set, the "Living Room Stage Set from Loot", is loaded with interactive lights, cameras, backdrops and film-related equipment to simulate a real-life studio production environment. The lighting and camera systems allow for a wide range of desired angles, movements, transitions, cuts and lens set-ups that allow users to take control of the technical and artistic aspects. Combined with twelve props and a director's t-shirt that come with the space to decorate the set, users have access to the tools necessary to create their own film when hooked up to a video capture system. This Stage Set was made available on May 7, 2009.

The second Stage Set to be released from Loot in joint with Atari and Terminal Reality is the "Ghostbusters Firehouse: On Location". This space is dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Ghostbusters and it's worldwide release on Blu-ray on June 18, 2009. The Firehouse personal space is a detailed replica of the three floor Ghostbusters’ headquarters from the original film. It comes complete with the ghost containment unit in the basement, the garage and office areas on the 1st floor, plus the living room, laboratory, fire poles, bedroom and bathroom areas. It comes with the Living Room Stage Set's camera functionality, film props and portable blue screens. Users can, through the use of an external special effects/compositing programs, create images of their avatar driving the film's Ecto-1 vehicle in their own machinima movies. Users are also able to fly around as Slimer, a character from the film. Twenty-one furniture items and ornaments and a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man headwear for users avatars also comes with the purchase of the space. Ghostbusters' costumes, other ornaments, and t-shirts from Loot are available at the shopping complex. This Stage Set was made available on June 18, 2009.

Public Spaces

The North American Home Public Spaces "World map".

There are four main regions of Home: Asia, Europe, Japan, and North America. Countries which are not geographically related to those regions, join Europe. Countries that join Europe are Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates. Japan is the only country with its own version of Home. Each region has different features as well as some similar ones. SCEHK operates the Asian Home, SCEE operates the European Home, SCEJ operates the Japanese Home, and SCEA operates the North American Home.

"Spaces" on the world map are broken-up into categories based on the Spaces' publisher or purpose. Home consists of locations from Sony Computer Entertainment and various third-parties. These include a central meeting point; a bowling alley and gaming arcade; a shopping complex; a café; and various game, developer, and company Spaces. The user's personal spaces and clubs are accessed through a different option in the Menu Pad.

The Spaces' names and availability vary based on the user's location. For example, the shopping complex is called the "Shopping Mall" in Asia and Japan, "The Mall" in North America, and the "Shopping Centre" in Europe.

Core Spaces

The Core Spaces are the spaces made by Sony Computer Entertainment, specifically for the Home environment. These are the main spaces of Home and are updated the most. They are also where most events occur. The Core Spaces from SCE are the central meeting point, the theatre, the bowling alley and gaming arcade, the shopping complex, the café, and the PlayStation Events Spaces.

The North American Central Plaza.

The Home Square (Europe, Asia, and Japan) or Central Plaza (North America) is Home's central meeting point where users commonly meet and chat. It is where much of the advertising occurs, and it connects all of the core Home spaces together. Currently, they have two video screens, advertising posters, and region-specific features (such as Listen@Home for North America). 'Listen@Home' is a listening post in the Central Plaza where users gather to listen to music. There are a number of songs for users to vote on to listen to; songs change frequently and has featured the rapper 50 Cent and music from the Winter X Games. Also in the Central Plaza, there is a pond-like feature with the mini-game "Saucer Pop" which will soon feature a leaderboard and rewards. The European Home Square has the mini-game "Helicopter Hit", and a place to play chess and draughts/checkers. The Asian and Japanese Home Squares have a pier, located behind the Game Space. The Asian and Japanese Home Squares, from time to time, also feature an attraction in the middle of the Home Square. For example, beginning from July 11, 2009, the Japanese Home Square features a replica of the life-sized Gundam that is currently standing in Odaiba, Japan. From July 16, 2009 to July 23, 2009, the Asian Home Square featured a space ship that transported the users to the "Irem Square".

The Home Theatre (Asia, Europe, and Japan), or Movie Theatre Lobby (North America) is a virtual cinema where users can view a range of video content. This content includes film and game trailers and video game features from third-party publishers such as Eurogamer. Videos are displayed in the 3D environment on virtual video screens which can be viewed full screen. Users can walk around the cinema that they are in except in the European Home. The dynamic video content in Home is presented in standard definition to reduce loading times. The Asian and Japanese Home have the same version of the theatre featuring a two-story lobby with four cinemas. The European and North American Home also have the same version of the theatre featuring a two story lobby with ten cinemas. North Americas also features a shop where users can purchase film related clothes.

The Bowling Alley- Europe & North America (left: pool, right: arcade, centre: bowling)

At the Bowling Alley (Europe and North America) or the Game Space (Asia and Japan), social mini-games such as 10-pin bowling and pool billiards can be played; it also features a variety of arcade-machine games: Echochrome, Icebreaker, Carriage Return, and Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida www (Japan only). Prizes are awarded for beating the arcade-machine games, such as an Echochrome suit for users avatar. Users who have downloaded the Namco Museum collection (including the demo) from the Asian, Japanese, or North American PlayStation Store are able to unlock additional arcade games including Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Galaga, Xevious, Dragon Spirit, and Xevious Resurrection (the latter two are not included with the demo). Users with the Namco Museum collection or the demo on their PS3 can win the prizes for Home for the corresponding account it is played on. However, users can only play them (excluding the latter two listed) at the Game Space, and not the Bowling Alley. Currently, there is pool tables, bowling lanes, arcade machines, video screens, and dart boards (only in Game Space).

The Shopping Centre (Europe), The Mall (North America), or Shopping Mall (Asia and Japan), is where all purchases are made. The shopping complexes allow users to buy new clothes, accessories, premium locations (such as new Personal Spaces), and other items. Purchases use PlayStation Network Wallet funds, and work in a manner similar to the PlayStation Store. Currently there are stores, a video screen, advertising posters, and a place to play chess (unavailable in the Shopping Mall). The current stores consist of "Home Stuff", "Home Estates", "Home Threads", a Home "furniture store", 'Ligne Roset' furniture, and 'Diesel' clothes. The latter two are unavailable in the Shopping Mall. The Shopping Centre features two more clothing stores which are "Alter Ego" and "The Original V-Shirt Store". The Mall now features a "Costumes" store for full costumes as well as a "Threads II" featuring animated clothing and "Furniture 2" featuring animated furniture.

The Home Café (Asia and Japan) or The Gamer's Lounge (North America) is a two-story building where users can meet up and chat. There is a water feature, a wine gallery and chairs, which is slowly becoming an event space for developer talks and parties. The first developer talk occurred on March 4, 2009 in The Gamer's Lounge with the developers of Street Fighter IV. Users got to ask the developers questions about the game. For a time, Japan’s Café was sponsored by Famitsu Game Magazine which featured a statue of the mascot of Famitsu holding a video screen and the upstairs had a display of Famitsu’s office. The Home Café for Japan has been remodeled as the "Music Café" for a limited time. The first floor is a "Sound Space" for a dance club-like feel with music and on the second floor, a "Gallery Space" displaying various Sony entertainment products such as Bravia televisions, VAIO computers, and Walkman products, and there is a Questionnaire that rewards Sony headphones for users avatars. The Café is still closed for Asia and is unavailable to Europe.

PlayStation Events Space

The PlayStation Events Space opens to the public in the occurrence of an event. This space consists of three spaces - Events Landing, The Gallery, and the Presentation Podium (whether there is more or not is currently unknown) - and is a venue for special events, announcements, and parties.

The first event was the "PSP-3000 Treasure Hunt" and occurred during the end of January 2009. During that time, it featured "Events Landing" and "The Gallery". When first entering the space, users received a PSP Loco Roco hat for their avatar. In this event, users had to search for eight codes in the events spaces and enter them into the Touchpad for a chance to win a PSP-3000. Events Landing had a mini-game called 'Tri Sphere' and two video screens. The Gallery had animated Loco Rocos, the 'Touchpad', which accessed the PSP-3000 Treasure Hunt, a music-playing sphere, and two video screens. During the first event, the space was only used by Europe.

Another space opened on May 21, 2009 for the next event. The space newly featured the "Presentation Podium" which had a large screen and lounge. It is known as the "beating heart of the PlayStation Events Space". This event was for E3 2009. Sony's E3 2009 press conference was shown in the Presentation Podium a few hours after Sony's press conference ended in three part segments for each day of E3. The event had limited time, exclusive virtual items in the North American Home. The exclusive items were six differently coloured NPLH (No Place Like Home) t-shirts, and were obtained by finding the voucher codes in the SCE spaces and redeeming them. During this event, the space was used by Europe and North America.

The next event, currently taking place, began on July 30, 2009, and is for the PSN downloadable game, Fat Princess. The event is "Fat Princess: Quest for Cake" and uses Events Landing and The Gallery. In this event, the users must find eight pieces of cake, located away in cages. To unlock the cake and feed the Princess, users need to search for clues. If the users manage to unlock all eight pieces of cake, and feed the Princess, they receive a special reward – the Fat Princess’ throne for their personal apartment. Events Landing is decorated for the Fat Princess event and features four different statues, two video screens, and seating. The Gallery is also decorated for the Fat Princess event and features the "Quest for Cake" event game and different statues of characters and weapons from the game. An interesting fact of this event is that it was done by nDreams, the developers of Xi. During this event, the space is being used by Europe and North America.

Another event began on August 13, 2009, coinciding with the "Fat Princess: Quest for Cake" event. This event is for Gamescom and is being held in the Presentation Podium. There will be bits of SCE's press conference shown on the jumbo screen and there is a mini-game called "Shape Blast" where users take control of eight cannons and blast rings with shapes to win a special Shape Blast Trophy for their apartment. During this event, the space is being used by Europe.

Game Spaces

The Texas Hold'em table in the The Godfather II Game Space.

Sony Computer Entertainment and various third parties can create dedicated "Game Spaces" for specific games. These spaces generally depict a level of the game itself and have mini-games or interactions related to the game. There are currently twenty Game Spaces that have been released for Home. These Game Spaces vary depending on the region the user is in. The first five Game Spaces released for the Home Open Beta were Uncharted: Drake's Fortune "Sully's Bar", Far Cry 2 "Reuben's Office", Far Cry 2 "Train Station", Minna no Golf Lounge, and Siren: New Translation Lounge. The first three were released in the North American Home and the last two for the Japanese Home at the launch of the Open Beta. The Resident Evil 5 "Studio Lot" (or Biohazard 5 "Film Studio") is the first space to offer an in-lounge shop. The inFamous space is the first space to broadcast exclusive media from the games developer, which in this case is Sucker Punch Productions.

Some games, such as Namco Museum.comm/Essentials, Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 5/Biohazard 5, SingStar (Europe), and Makai Senki Disgaea 3 (Japan) support Home rewards. The users receive the rewards by earning certain trophies in the game itself except with one of the RE5/BH5 rewards. If users have RE5/BH5 in their PS3 and log into Home, they receive a reward.

The PSP has support for Home rewards as well. In Japan, the first and currently only game with Home rewards support is The Idolmaster SP.

In a discussion at GDC 2009 on March 25, 2009, Jack Buser stated, "You'll see about three new spaces launched a month...I'll be shocked if we ever go under that number, we have so much in the pipeline."

Game Developer Spaces

The "EA Sports Complex Upstairs" before it was updated to the Green Poker Room.

Video game developers are able to create "Developer Spaces" for their developing company to showcase their products in Home. These spaces act similarly to Game Spaces except they are not for a specific game like the Game Spaces are. These spaces generally have mini-games related to their company or games and offer a wide range of content for purchase based on their company.

Namco Bandai was the first to do this with their "Namco Bandai" space. There is two rooms of the space, the Namco Bandai Game Arena (Asia and Japan) or Namco Arcade Center (North America), and the Community Arena (Asia and Japan) or the Namco Theatre (North America). This space features all of the Namco Museum.comm/Essentials arcade games as well as a mini-museum, show casing Soul Calibur IV, Ridge Racer 7, and Tekken 6. In order to play the arcade games, users must have Namco Museum.comm/Essentials saved to their PS3s HDD or the demo that doesn't include two of the games in the full version. Also in the first room is a 'Money Exchange Machine', a 'Vending Machine', and a 'Love Seat' that each, have a reward; the Love Seat lets users tests their compatibility and has three different rewards depending on their compatibility. The first room also features The Idolmaster SP Wandering Star, Perfect Sun, and Missing Moon Vending Machines and the second room features The Idolmaster SP 961 Production Vending Machine, all four of which user play roulette to get various cans with idols on them and a Haruka Amami costume. The space was released on December 11, 2008 for Japan, March 26, 2009 for Asia, and July 16, 2009 for North America. It is unconfirmed if it will be released to Europe.

Irem released a promotional space called the "Square of Irem" for Japan. This space features various 'Night Stalls' with free items such as a yukata and was released on February 26, 2009 for Japan. Users can also access the game space for Minna de Spelunker from this space. On April 1, 2009, Irem gave away free "Combatant of the Black Irem Brigade" suits in the space that were only available for that day. There is also a store in the space that users can purchase items from Irem. This space was released in the Asian Home on July 16, 2009 as the "Irem Square", but the only way users could access the space, at the time, was by riding in the space ship that was accessed at the "Bus Stop" in the Home Square. The ship departed every fifteen minutes and after landing, users got a hat that is modeled after the ship. The space was added to Asia's world map on July 23, 2009 and the Bus Stop in the Home Square was removed. Irem released another promotional space called the "Seaside of Memories" (Asia), or "Coast of Memories" (Japan), on August 13, 2009. This space is a beach resort with three accessible huts. One hut has a shop that sells swimsuit apparel for users avatars and the others two huts are just a place for users to sit and chat. This is also the first space to let users go in and under the water and if they stay under the water too long, they get reset back at the entrance of the space. Users can also get a prize for finding flashing stars under the water.

EA Sports released the long awaited "EA Sports Complex" on April 23, 2009 for Europe and North America. EA Sports updates the Complex frequently and it now features five rooms; the EA Sports Racing Complex, the EA Sports Golf Complex, the EA Sports Complex Green Poker Room, the EA Sports Complex Red Poker Room, and Club Fight Night, which is the game space for Fight Night Round 4. Each room features a mini-game each with different rewards. The Racing Complex features Racing with a total of eight karts; four on each side of the Complex. The Racing Complex now features the EA Sports Pro Shop with full boxing outfits and furniture from Fight Night Round 4. The Golf Complex features two Practice Ranges for golfing; one range on each side of the Complex. A Golf Pro-shop is coming soon for the Golf Complex. The Green Poker Room features four green poker tables that users can play at anytime and one red poker table. The Red Poker Room features four red poker tables that requires 2,000 points for users to play at them. The Red Poker Room now includes a black poker table for the higher level players and requires 10,000 points for users to play at it. In time, there will be a room dedicated to the black poker table. Club Fight Night features a mini-game called Club DJ and will soon feature robot boxing.

SCEJ have also announced that Sony have given licenses to 24 companies to produce content for Home. As well as independent Japanese developers (such as Irem and Koei) the list also includes international companies such as Activision, Capcom, Tecmo, Disney Interactive, Electronic Arts, Konami, Namco Bandai, Sega, and Ubisoft.

Non-gaming Company Spaces

Non-gaming-related companies can also create sponsored "Company Spaces" for Home.  These also act similarly to Game Spaces but are specifically made to sponsor the companies products.

The first company to do this, and currently only, is Red Bull with their "Red Bull Space" released on January 8, 2009 for Europe and North America. This space features the Red Bull Air Race mini-game with two leaderboards (one for the user's friends and the other for all users of Home in that region, reset daily). Red Bull will soon be releasing a space for "Flugtag" which will feature the Red Bull Flugtag. It can be seen starting at the 2:53 mark in this video: PlayStation Home EU Trailer - August 2009 GamesCom.

At Gamescom 2009, SCEE president Andrew House announced that Audi would be supporting Home starting off with content in Home's theatre and then later, a dedicated Home space. It is unconfirmed of when Audi will start putting content into the theatre and when the space will be released.

Phil Harrison stated that locations built around famous coffee, drinks, clothing, and record companies; along with major retailers and other such companies could feature content depending on the company's desire to create Home content.

Game Launching

Game Launching is a feature in Home which allows users to organize and start multiplayer games with other Home users, who may or may not be on their friends lists. Users can set up a game launching session by going into their Menu Pads, selecting "Game Launching", and setting up a session for the game they want to launch. They can also join an existing session. When users have set up a game that is ready to launch, the name of the game and how many players have joined the session is shown under the users' names above their heads. By using the Game Launching feature, users are entered directly into the game, bypassing the normal title screen. After the match ends, users can either quit the game and be returned to their XMB, or they can quit the game and be returned back to Home.

Currently, games that support game launching are Warhawk, Resident Evil 5/Biohazard 5, Everybody's Golf 5/Minna no Golf 5 (Asia, Europe, & Japan), Namco Museum.comm/Essentials (Asia, Japan, & North America), Minna de Spelunker (Japan), Catan (Japan), Street Fighter IV, Resistance 2, Crash Commando, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, and Far Cry 2.

After the version 1.3 patch is implemented, all PS3 games will be able to be launched from Home.

User-generated content

In time, users may be able to make user-generated content for Home, but under strict moderation. Picture frames are the first feature to support user-generated content with photo sharing. The inFamous Game Space also supports user-generated content by allowing users to create their own unique graffiti designs in the graffiti mini-game and save it to their PS3s HDD to display for their friends.

Xi

The Xi logo.

Xi (pronounced /ˈsaɪ/ (UK) or /ˈzaɪ/ (US) in English.) was the world's first console-based Alternate Reality Game. The game was an adventure to help find "Jess" and the meaning of Xi by collecting fragments and butterflies that took place in a series of secret areas in Home that changed frequently. The game also involved the users to search for clues in the real world. This game was created by nDreams who released several spaces for Xi including, "The Hub" and another space called "Home Maintenance" as well as "Alpha Zones 1", "2", and "3" within The Hub and "Party at Jess's Apartment" within Home Maintenance. When users completed Xi, they were no longer able to access The Hub, but could access the "Xi Alumni Hub" in its place. Xi was advertised via clues and hints during the month prior to its release on March 23, 2009. The clues were hidden in the Menu Pad and videos in the central meeting point. Xi and all of the corresponding spaces were exclusive to Europe and North America. The only spaces users can access now that Xi is over, are the Xi Alumni Hub and Alpha Zone 1 - Game Test Area, Maximum-Tilt Lobby, & Adventure Lobby; the Alpha Zone 1 spaces are accessed through the teleport in the Xi Alumni Hub. The Xi Alumni Hub was added to the world map on July 2, 2009 under the chip with the Xi logo.

Events

Home plays host to many types of events, such as developer interviews. They are organised by Home and its affiliated content providers. Live events such as sports and concerts may also be broadcast within Home. Premium events may well use the PlayStation Network Wallet. Special events are held at the 'PlayStation Events Space', the 'Home Café' and 'The Gamer's Lounge'.

Some events are used to promote upcoming films. In Europe, there was a treasure hunt occurring in Home to promote the film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. In this event, the users had to go to a poster in one of the Home spaces that was advertising the film and click the link option to open the Web Browser which took them to a web page where the users played a game. If they beat the game, they were rewarded a Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen themed t-shirt for their avatar and then could proceed to the next game when it was released. When the next game was released, it was in a different Home space from the previous game. There were a total of six games over the course of June 6, 2009 to June 24, 2009; the last game required the users to solve the previous five games again and rewarded a Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen trophy for users personal spaces.

In the European and North American Home, the Home management team have set up days for game launching events for some games that support game launching. For example, in the North American Home, there is a "Resistance 2: SRPA Seige Night" which is every Friday from 6 pm PT to 10 pm PT.

Several events that have taken place in Home require the users to either answer questions or suggest ideas on the Official PlayStation Home Forums for a chance to win a prize. A couple of these events are the "12 Games of Christmas" (annual event in North America), a question and answer event, and "Name the New Home Space" which determined the name of the North American Home Space known as the 'Home Café' in Asia and Japan. The prize is generally a $10 USD product voucher for virtual items in the shopping complex. These events are organised by the PlayStation Home Managers.

Security

Sony says that they are strict on the behavior of users in Home. A variety of potentially offensive words and word combinations are automatically censored in messages that users write to each other, and administrators are able to block a users' console and IP address from accessing the service if a user behaves illegally, inappropriately or against the terms of use of the service.

Users are able to report the inappropriate or offensive behaviour of other users to moderators by accessing the PlayStation Home Safe Screen. Users are also able to change their communication settings to block messages from users who are not on their friends list.

Updates

PlayStation Home undergoes a weekly maintenance, which comes with updates every two weeks from the previous update. These updates provide bug fixes and expand the social and gameplay aspects of Home. The beta has received several updates such as giving the users the ability to access the patio of their Harbour Studio, to access the 'Menu Pad'; and to access the shopping complex. Other features such as Home Trophies, pets, weather, and seasons have yet to be released. After location-affecting updates, the location must be re-downloaded. Content updates do not affect the version number; only the core client updates affect the version number.

Version 1.0 was released on November 21, 2008. This version was available to beta testers as a 77 MB download from the PlayStation Store by redeeming a code sent to their email. Upon installation, 3077 MB of hard disk space is reserved for the application. Additional downloads are needed to access the different locations such as Home Square and the Bowling Alley. Those locations' download sizes vary from 16–45 MB each.

Version 1.03 was the first open beta version and was released on December 11, 2008. The Home icon automatically appeared under the PlayStation Network category on the XMB when players turned on their PlayStation 3 on that day. The current version is version 1.23 released on August 20, 2009 and requires PS3 firmware 2.80 or higher to install and was a 25 MB download.

Version 1.30 will be released in September 2009, and includes key features such as Universal Game Launching (users can launch into any PS3 game from Home), 3D item previews in the shopping complex, more portable objects for the "Inventory" section, a camera that let's users take in-Home pictures and save it to their PS3's HDD, and users can now determine their cache size (3, 5, 8, or 12 GB) to make navigating Home a smoother experience. Complete v1.3 patch notes will be posted before the patch goes live.