PS Home game-launching this autumn

By Robert Purchese Published 20 August, 2009

Finally. Update brings other toys, too.

Sony has announced that PS3 game-launching within PlayStation Home will be a reality this autumn. This was a feature trumpeted loudly when Sony announced Home in March 2007.

Game-launching arrives as part of update 1.3, and will apparently work across all PS3 titles. Pop the disc in the console and follow the on-screen prompts to begin, says the US PlayStation blog - it's as simple as that. And some games will have "varying degrees of additional multiplayer functionality built in".

The update also brings in-store item previewing - both clothing and furniture - and lets you rent consumable items such as the shrink potion.

Portable objects will be introduced too, such as free cameras that you can snap things with (in first and third-person view) and display in frames in your Home space.

There are a raft of minor additions as well. Avatars will get additional emotes and poses, and there are new categories of clothing. The targeting system has been "optimised", a new queuing system introduced, bugs fixed and a cache-size option added to speed things up.

The SingStar space announced during the Sony gamescom conference will launch around the same time, too.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • X201 #1 3 years ago

    Why the hell is this stuff being announced on the US blog first, when we all know that its being developed in London?

    Suppose we should be thankful for small mercies, at least Kaz has finally realised where Europe is on the map and that we actually develop games over here.

  • f00b_inc #2 3 years ago

    I've still yet to try Home... Wonder if I'm missing anything?!

  • Arwin #3 3 years ago

    The camera photos will also be saved to the XMB under Pictures.

    Now what's really interesting is that this opens the possibility that we may also see something like a videocamera, with youtube upload capability. That could be pretty interesting.

    Good move making all games launchable from Home though. And the 3D preview option in the stores was much needed too.
    Edited by 1 at 20/08/09 @ 10:19

  • NorUraeus #4 3 years ago

    Yeah, well for all the lambasting of Sony around the web for not caring about Europe, it has to be said that Sony was the only of the 3 majors who actually bothered doing some really big announcements at Gamerscom. MS and Nintendo seems to save theirs for US and Japanese tradeshows.

  • Doctor_What #5 3 years ago

    @f00b: Nope, not really yet. Maybe at some point.

  • jack_klugman #6 3 years ago

    If Home wasn't an application you had to launch from the console's front end, but something more readily accessible it'd be a much sexier proposition in my opinion. At the moment its integration and association with the activities I commonly use my PS3 for - watching films, playing games, browsing the internet, downloading demos, etc - is entirely lacking, which removes any incentive to use the service.

    If Home *was the dashboard* (and it'd need a jet propelled performance increase to make that a viable proposition) with the facility to access all the XMB functionality from within, then it'd be more of a talking point.

  • Arwin #7 3 years ago

    @f00b_inc: you may be surprised. Obviously it depends on what you're expecting, but there's a lot of stuff there! The Buzz game is quite fun for instance. The Burn Zombie Burn space is also pretty good, and stuff like 8 player poker in the EA space is nice too. And I liked being able to watch the whole Sony pressconference in the Presentation Podium too. But if you've waited this long, you may as well wait until this update is out, which is probably within a month.

  • GamesConnoisseur #8 3 years ago

    I really detest people coming into threads just to troll, and I have said previously that I m not enamoured of Home however I did pop back in last week after months away.

    Still the biggest factor is the speed of accessing features for me, if you are prepared to put up with that or felt that the pluses outweighs the problems.... Good. For me unfortunately would be just something I ll pop back in once every blue moon just to see the new stuff and what the fusses were about!

    Perhaps a simple question of what you expect to do when you powers on PS3.... Games or Movies? And if other stuff aren't easily available elsewhere ... Say on PC for virtual socialising which doesn't have same drags of loadings of spaces and avatars clothes!!

  • Darren #9 3 years ago

    Is there anyway to remove the Home icon completely? I deleted the (rubbish IMO) beta from my PS3 but the icon is still there, ready and waiting to get confused at some point with the Store icon!

  • jefranklin18 #10 3 years ago

    @X201 - I seem to recall the product manager is US-based. Hence, why it gets coverage there and also the supposed disparity between the EU and US Home (I say supposed because I have not looked at the US one, the EU one is fine for my occasional use).

    @foob_inc: I would recommend giving it a try, just to see what is out there. I find that (so far) there are not too many annoying dweebs on there causing problems, and most people you can have a quick chat with without any problems. Make yourself a female avatar and you are bound to get attention ;)

    @Arwin: obviously the PS3 can already record video for uploading to YouTube or whatever (eg SingStar, FIFA), but it's a pity more games do not take advantage of it. I reckon there is almost merit either in a YouTube channel for Home or a dedicated website, it would certainly help build it's presence if (for example) you could watch people playing the Buzz game while sitting bored in an office.

  • peterfll #11 3 years ago

    Great, this will revolutionise the way I use my PS3.

  • db3 #12 3 years ago

    Wow, are they still developing home!

  • Pedrolot #13 3 years ago

    This will probably make me log back into Home again...