PlayStation Home

Five years ago, PlayStation Network was hacked and the personal details of 77m users accessed.

Oh, hello there. I hope you're having a... good Friday (haha Easter joke).

This morning, a couple of minutes later than expected, PlayStation Home was taken offline - for good. Time of death: 8.02am BST.

PlayStation Home is closing for good on 31st March 2015, Sony has announced.

Sony has released a gesture pack for virtual life experience PlayStation Home that lets avatars hug like lovers, among other things.

UPDATE: The full list of Trophies for PlayStation Home has now been revealed.

Awards include Trophies for purchasing clothing, taking photos and visiting friends. There's a shiny gold Trophy for you if you log in to PlayStation Home on 50 different days.

Welcome Home - Log in to PlayStation Home (B)

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For many PlayStation 3 owners, their relationship with Home has been brief. They fired up the virtual world platform around the time of its public launch in late 2008, noticed a general lack of things to do, and went back to playing LittleBigPlanet.

There's no end in sight for PlayStation Home in the UK, despite an announcement today that Sony will discontinue updates for the service in Japan.

The PlayStation 3 virtual gaming hub will receive its final drop of Japanese content in September 2013. Other Asian regions will see support for new content withdrawn in March 2014.

However, Sony made no mention of retiring PlayStation Home altogether.

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Sony's PlayStation Plus service could offer new releases free of charge, or access to Call of Duty Elite.

UPDATE 2: Microsoft has stressed that Phil Harrison hasn't replaced former Microsoft Studios Europe executive Peter Molyneux, who left to join Guildford start-up 22 Cans last week.

Sony has improved the display speed of the PlayStation 3 web browser with a new system update.

Firmware v4.10, which is now available to download, optimises the display of web content and increases the accuracy when viewing page layouts. The PS3 now supports some websites it struggled with before, displaying them correctly.

4.10 also implements the already announced account name change into the Terms of Service. Your PlayStation Network account will now be known as your Sony Entertainment Network account.

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A number of PlayStation 3 games will be unavailable to play online next Tuesday due to a fresh round of scheduled maintenance, Sony has announced.

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PlayStation Home relaunches tomorrow, 3rd November.

The European PlayStation blog says maintenance will begin at 7am BST. Presumably it means GMT. There's no word on how long PlayStation Home will go down for.

In PlayStation Home, the new one, Home Square has been revamped and districts related to game genres added. The whole focus of the beast is now more squarely on games - a social gaming network.

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How you've changed.

The PlayStation Network will be offline tonight, Thursday 29th September, from 5pm to 7pm UK time, Sony has announced.

A new start-up system and updates to the Wardrobe and Furniture browser headline a hefty PlayStation Home update going live tomorrow.

As detailed on the PlayStation Blog, update 1.55 introduces the following new features to PlayStation 3's social networking hub:

Start-Up

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Sony video promoting new PS Home?

Bootleggers - a completely free, use-your-own-avatar multiplayer FPS - has been revealed for PlayStation Home.

Around a dozen PlayStation 3 and PSP games will be unavailable online in Europe this Sunday between 5am and midday, Sony has warned.

Sony plans to redesign free PlayStation 3 virtual world Home.

PlayStation 3 owners will be able to watch Sony's Gamescom conference live through PlayStation Home.

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The populace of PlayStation Home are "the most hardcore gamers on PS3", reckons service director Jack Buser.

Cute Home stuff shown off.

Half-a-million people flocked to PlayStation Home during E3 2011, according to VentureBeat.

Sony employees are reportedly "dancing in the streets" following a new influx of visitors to virtual world PlayStation Home.

The Game Developers Conference is perhaps where PlayStation Home's heart is. After all it was there, in 2007, that Phil Harrison unveiled Sony's vision of a networked virtual world for PlayStation 3.

Jack Tretton, Kaz Hirai chat at E3 2007.

Sony has cancelled a number of games in development at its UK first-party developers and made an undisclosed number of people redundant.

Projects at Sony London, Sony Liverpool and Evolution Studios have been axed.

"It has been decided that production on a small number of projects within London Studio, Studio Liverpool, and Evolution Studios will be streamlined or closed due to a portfolio review and project prioritisation," Sony said in a statement issued this afternoon.

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Sony has announced that the PlayStation Home client has been downloaded 19 million times since launch.

Sony will release new tools which will allow developers to create real-time multiplayer games for PlayStation Home.

Sony has urged PlayStation 3 gamers to give its virtual world Home another chance.

Why is PlayStation 3's virtual world Home free? Because you lot keep buying virtual items.

Home, which enjoys 17 million registered users and contains 236 games, has suffered criticism from the press and gamers since its 2008 launch, but Sony has maintained its profitability through the sale of 7000 high-margin virtual items.

That, according to PlayStation Home director Jack Buser, is big business for Sony.

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A whopping 17 million people have walked the virtual streets of PlayStation Home, Sony has announced.

Sony's free virtual world PlayStation Home has come in for more stick – this time from console rival Microsoft.

Those of you who like spending time in the PlayStation 3's virtual world Home will have another reason to do so this week when Sony launches a new party venue.

The catch? It's only open to PlayStation Plus subscribers. Perhaps that's why it's called the PlayStation Plus Members Club.

Set to open its doors today, the club will greet players with "discrete" doorman who will check your credentials. Inside there's a "stylish" bar area decked out in black and gold décor.

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Novus Prime and more.

UPDATE: Sony's just got in touch to say the stores have not been opened yet and will not be available until after the regular Thursday weekly update maintenance that will commence at 8am GMT tomorrow.

Today, PlayStation Home is transformed - big patch 1.4 has arrived. We knew that was coming, but we had no idea multiplayer LittleBigPlanet paintball was on its way.

PlayStation Home isn't boring - no way! Not any more, not now there are cool lizard pets for sale.

There's a number of new features and tweaks on the way for PlayStation Home, Sony has announced.

Independent games label Codename has been drafted in by Sony to create new experiences for PlayStation Home.

PlayStation Home has been "a huge success" for Sony despite scepticism among press and consumers, the service's director Jack Buser has said.

PlayStation Home has been updated to version 1.35.

The download is a brief 49MB, although the Home live servers are currently down.

The most noticeable change, a new Navigator interface, adopts an XMB layout to organise and speed up the Home space.

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LucasArts is to open a store in PlayStation Home's mall, selling costumes and trinkets relating to the worlds of Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

Kotaku has pics: there are Storm Trooper outfits, Indiana Jones outfits, an Imperial officer's uniform, lightsabers and T-shirts. Apparently you'll also be able to buy accessories for your personal space.

We're not entirely sure if the LucasArts store is coming to the European version Home, since it's mentioned in the US PlayStation Blog post on future Home updates but not in the European blog's equivalent.

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Sony's PlayStation Home trumpet is blowing as the company announces that 10 million users inhabit the virtual world.

This revelation coincides with the release of two new Home spaces, one for Uncharted 2 and one for Ratchet & Clank 2. Sony no doubt hopes developers other than first-party flock appreciate the value of displaying their game in PlayStation Home.

Despite still being in open beta, PlayStation Home is starting to gain traction, as Red Bull, Resistance 2, Buzz!, MotorStorm and SingStar areas attract attention. Plus, many of those key features promised when Home was announced are beginning to seep into the final build, such as game launching and media streaming.

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PlayStation Home will open a Winter Wonderland on 10th December; a fantasy land of snow and elves and Santa's Grotto.

Red Bull is adding a couple of new spaces to PlayStation Home today in the shape of a Flugtag mini-game and a boardwalk art gallery.

PlayStation Home is updated to version 1.3 today, with the headline change being the addition of universal game launching to the PS3's virtual social space.

That's according to the US PlayStation blog. As yet there has been no similar announcement from Sony regarding Europe, but at time of writing, European Home servers are down for an extended maintenance, so we remain hopeful that the update is being applied here too.

Universal game launching means you can jump straight to the start menu of any PS3 game without logging out of Home, simply by slipping the disc in. Titles that already fully support game launching with additional multiplayer functionality - such as Street Fighter IV or Resistance 2 - are identified by icons over avatars' heads.

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Sony has unveiled a new online community service for PSP called Room, which will be free and available to all Japanese PSP and PSPgo owners before the end of the year.

Sony plans to add the SingStar Rooms to PlayStation Home on 24th September.

Sony has said to expect "the biggest ever virtual items content release in PlayStation Home" today, headlined by the Killzone 2 Visari Throne Room and the new Post-Apocalyptic Apartment.

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.

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Andrew House, president of SCEE Europe, has been announcing new doodads for PlayStation Home left, right and centre during his keynote speech at gamescom.

The US PlayStation blog reports that the PS3 version of Batman: Arkham Asylum will unlock a Batcave personal space - i.e. apartment for your avatar - in PlayStation Home.

PlayStation Home has been updated with a new MotorStorm Pacific Rift game launching option.

PlayStation Home's current legal guardian, Peter Edward, has said the online social service thing will be in beta until it hits "a kind of final quality".

Asked how long the beta label would remain in an interview with Eurogamer, Edward said, "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.

"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."

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In December last year, following a series of delays, PlayStation Home launched - or the beta version did, anyway. At the Develop conference last week, platform director Peter Edward delivered a speech titled Home: First Term Report. In it he discussed how the last seven months have gone and the lessons Sony's learned.

Two new spaces are set to launch in PlayStation Home today.

According to the PlayStation Blog that'll include Buzz! HQ, where you can take part in 64-player quiz games. Points, prizes and special events are promised.

Meanwhile, EA is opening a new Fight Night space in the form of a boxing-themed nightclub. Expect an interactive DJ game, rewards and "plenty of places to chill" (here on the deck?) "with your nearest and dearest Home-boys and Home-girls". Marvellous.

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Sony's Peter Edward has said the percentage of PSN account holders who have downloaded Home is between 25 and 30 per cent.

Sony's Peter Edward has revealed 7 million people have now signed up for PlayStation Home.

Sony is testing the water on various ideas for PlayStation Home, in a survey that asks, among other things, whether you would like to see stand-up comedy as a type of streaming media for the theatre area.

PlayStation Home adds a new Everybody's Golf space today. Hooray.

Sony begins to realise the grand vision of PlayStation Home today as photo-sharing is added to the virtual world.

The US PlayStation blog describes this as "the most exciting news since open beta", as photos become the first user-created content within Home.

Photos can be uploaded from PS3 hard-drives and displayed in apartments to friends and visitors. Frames can be bought from the Mall area, plus there are stock photos on offer if you have none.

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Sony has revealed that PlayStation Home has been downloaded 6.5m times and that profit, for the moment, is not the "driving priority".

PlayStation Home community manager "TedTheDog" has admitted that Europe trails other regions in the number of themed areas PS3 Avatars can explore.

PlayStation Home users are being offered the chance to move house for free this week.

Paramount Pictures and Sony are bringing the new Star Trek movie into PlayStation Home.

EA takes its first steps into PlayStation Home today, with the American launch of a Godfather II space, according to the US PlayStation Blog.

Activision launches the Backstage with Guitar Hero space for PlayStation Home today.

In a talk at the Game Developers Conference today, Jack Buser, director of PlayStation Home in the US, revealed that the social network will be launching three promotional spaces a month from here on in.

In a shocking display of timeliness, Capcom's Resident Evil 5 game space has been added to PlayStation Home today.

PlayStation Home's community manager "Ted the Dog" has listed the short-term update plans for the PS3 virtual world. It seems there's a lot of content imminent, but he can't be specific about most of it.

According to Mr. the Dog, "spaces" for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and SOCOM: Confrontation are "nearly ready" and "due within a few weeks", as are the purchasable Street Fighter IV outfits.

Content relating to Siren: Blood Curse, Resident Evil 5 and Warhawk (which we were expecting to see last week) is "being prepared". "We will bring you more information on these as it becomes available," says our canine friend.

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At yesterday's Destination PlayStation event, Sony confirmed that the long-promised Warhawk Command Centre will be released for PlayStation Home this week, according to Joystiq.

Sony has announced that over 20 million people have registered a PlayStation Network account, and that 4 million of those use PlayStation Home.

A Sony Japan presentation has revealed a list of 24 publishers and developers that have been given licences to create content for PlayStation Home.

Capcom Japan has announced plans to support PlayStation Home with Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5 content, including costumes and a themed game space.

Some images have emerged of the new Café area in PlayStation Home.

EA Sports captain Peter Moore reckons World of Goo creator 2D Boy can teach his team a thing or two about creating approachable yet unique games on a budget.

Sony has revealed that website and PSP sign-ups to PlayStation Network were counted to bring the overall user-count to 17 million - the same number Microsoft announced for Xbox Live.

Sony Computer Entertainment chief Kaz Hirai said that 3.4 million PS3 users had downloaded PlayStation Home in his Consumer Electronics Show address yesterday.

In an interview with Develop, the team behind PlayStation Home has admitted that they think the virtual world was announced too early.

Good news for PlayStation Home from the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas - EA has announced its support for the virtual world, starting with a an EA Sports zone this spring.

According to a post on the PlayStation blog, PlayStation Home is to be updated this week with a new space: Red Bull Island.

The Telegraph is reporting that Sony's PS3 virtual world, Home, has already been hacked.

Sony will patch PlayStation Home this Thursday, according to Home Community Manager "TedTheDog", whose real name we did know once but now can't remember.

"We'll be patching Home this Thursday and part of this change will be the first step in tackling the connection issues that you'll know as C-931 errors," he wrote on the official forum (thanks vg247).

According to a post elsewhere, C-931 "is related to very high levels of traffic", and in theory if you keep hammering away the game will let you in at some point anyway.

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One of the stranger things about PlayStation Home - and there are a great many strange things about PlayStation Home - is the experience of being in a virtual world without the slightest hint of fantasy about it.

It's official - Sony's new network service, PlayStation Home, is finally up and running.

Microsoft bigwig Aaron Greenberg has questioned whether PlayStation Home isn't a bit outdated nowadays.

Sony will open PlayStation Home to the world tomorrow as the open beta finally gets into gear.

The game client will be free. Once downloaded, a Home icon will pop up in the PlayStation Network column of the XMB. While the service will be free there will be some paid-for content, such as extra clothes and accessories.

Europeans will be able to explore a Far Cry 2-themed environment, and Sony hopes to make areas for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Warhawk, Motorstorm and SOCOM available soon.

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EA founder Trip Hawkins has questioned the goals of PlayStation Home - suggesting that going after a Second Life- or World of Warcraft-sized audience would be a bit silly and probably result in custard pie on face.

Atari president and former Sony studio boss Phil Harrison has heaped praise on PlayStation Home, telling Eurogamer that his former company has "brilliantly realised their ambitions".

PlayStation Home director Jack Buser has reassured gamers that the PS3 virtual world will be open to everybody this year.

Sony will be sending out hundreds of thousands PlayStation Home beta invites today.

Sony has already picked "loyal" European community members to join the PlayStation Home beta, and will send them invites when version 1.0 of the virtual world goes live.

"Your next question is, 'How do you decide who gets picked?' and we had a couple of plans on how that was going to be done and my boss is away so I cant ask him which one he chose (yes, we've picked the names already and no, I'm not going to reveal the list)," said TedTheDog, Home community manager, on the European PlayStation forum.

"I'll let you know what I can, once I find out, but both were broadly based on the concept of loyalty. That's very vague I know, I'll firm up what I can, but don't expect too much detail, it was really complicated last time."

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Sony has updated the PlayStation Network sign-up process with a graphic advertising PlayStation Home, but a Sony spokesperson had no comment to make on that, or the online world's release date, when we rang up to ask.

Sony's much-delayed PS3 Home project could finally be set to launch at the end of next month, according to a report on PS3 Fanboy.

A forum post on the Home beta message board by Home Manager 'TedTheDog' said that current PS3 freezes and Network issues currently being experienced by Home beta users would be fixed with the release of PS3 fimware revision 2.50.

"2.5 is what we're waiting for and 'October' is what I've heard, later October is my guess," he said.

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Sony has scrapped the video streaming feature from the public beta build of PlayStation Home.

Sony has confirmed that new PS3 service Life with PlayStation was briefly up, running and available to the public earlier today.

Sony has announced that European gamers who have been "most active" will be invited to join the PlayStation Home beta shortly.

Yesterday the platform holder announced that US gamers could signal their desire to get involved by downloading a free PlayStation Home theme from the Store, which would act as their beta sign-up.

It then added: "In Europe, SCEE is also beginning their expanded closed beta, directly targeting consumers who have been most active on PlayStation Network and PlayStation Store. SCEE will be in email contact with their PSN audience very shortly."

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Sony Computer Entertainment boss Kaz Hirai has promised new PS3 service Home will be worth the wait.

Charity may begin at Home, but if you listen to certain vocal sections of the PS3 community the promise of Sony's shared virtual space is starting to sound a lot like an old collection tin with a few coins rattling around inside. Release dates shift, functions and features remain vague, and there's a persistent assumption from the conspiracy-minded that the whole enterprise may yet prove to be nothing but vapourware. Across the wild frontier of the internet, the same question rings out from doubters and wide-eyed hopefuls alike: Does PlayStation Home even exist in a workable form?

PlayStation Home will launch into open beta at the same time in Europe as it does in the USA.

That's according to SCEE boss David Reeves, who told hacks at the company's Santa Monica gathering this week that it will arrive "with the same specs, same support and at the same time in autumn 2008".

According to Reeves, "The precise date will be announced by SCEI very shortly."

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Microsoft has told us we "we shouldn't hold our breath" for PlayStation Home because it would be a "dangerous thing to do".

Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida has revealed more about why The Getaway PS3 and Eight Days were cancelled - stating that both titles were only in the pre-production phase.

Old habits die hard in gaming it seems, as former Xbox boss Peter Moore couldn't resist taking a swipe at one old sparring partner this week, expressing dismay at the ongoing delay of Sony's Home service for PlayStation 3.

Speaking at the SCEE PlayStation Day in London, Kaz Hirai has revealed LittleBigPlanet will be released in October.

Sony has stretched its closed beta for PlayStation Home so it will continue throughout the summer, nudging the open testing back to autumn and final release sometime after that.

The creative director and lead artist of Home want to push user-generated content as a feature, but recognise that moderation and the quality bar are big issues.

Creative director Ron Festejo believes PlayStation Home is the "best-looking" and most "user-friendly" multiplayer world he has seen.

Warhawk game director Dylan Jobe has announced some PlayStation Home functionality for Incog's online war-game, and promises much more to come. Handy for those of you on the beta.

Shooters and sports games. RPGs and racers. Strategy and simulation, action and adventure. The lines may blur but for the most part you know where you are with these. If a game's got guns, cars, football or wizards, it's easy to see where it fits.

Sony's forthcoming PlayStation Home platform has undergone key changes in the last few months as a result of feedback from users currently engaged in its beta test, GamesIndustry.biz reports. [Isn't that how betas are supposed to work? - Ed]

PlayStation big cheese Kaz Hirai has said he is personally not satisfied with the current version of Home.

NCsoft's director of product development believes Home's fortunes are dependent on PlayStation 3's installed base, and not the other way around.

Microsoft bigwig Neil Thompson has told GamesIndustry.biz that he thinks the PlayStation Home delay is down to Sony underestimating the challenges of the platform.

PlayStation Home, PS3's online social networking "thing", will not release this year as planned, Sony Computer Entertainment president Kaz Hirai has confirmed in his Tokyo Game Show keynote this morning.

Home boss Peter Edward has told an audience at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival that users consistently abusing the upcoming Home service face having their machines banned and disabled from being used online, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting.

Sony America marketing boss John Koller has said PlayStation Home will be heading to the PSP.

Microsoft Game Studios' Shane Kim has attacked the ambitious PlayStation Home service, stating that he doubts Sony can create a top-notch virtual world, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting.

Sony has confirmed to Eurogamer this morning that internal testing for PS3 Home has begun.

An official date for the open beta is yet to be announced, but we expect it to get under way in summer. Keep an eye on the official Home website to get involved.

PlayStation Home is a customisable network community for PS3. It lets you create an avatar that can walk around a digital space and interact with other players. You'll also be given a personal "Home" to furnish with achievements earned from games, as well as the ability to display photos and play media uploaded from your hard drive.

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Sony's Phil Harrison has denied that PlayStation Home and Second Life are basically the same thing, claiming it's "way oversimplifying" to make the suggestion.

There won't be anything to stop you uploading porn to your private space in PlayStation Home, according to Sony, but you obviously won't be able to wave it around in public.

With everyone talking about PlayStation 3 Home this week, it's interesting to learn that the Second-Life-style online universe began life on Sony's previous console.

Sony plans to launch its ambitious PlayStation 3 Home environment - announced at GDC last week - this October, and expects the initial free download to weigh in at "under 500MB", with subsequent patches "hopefully" integrated via a streaming solution "that makes them negligible".

A closed beta phase for around 15,000 users will take place between April and August, with an open beta for 50,000 or so operating between August and October.

That's all according to a "third party relations" question-and-answer PDF uncovered on Sony's developer website, which sheds further light on the service unveiled during Phil Harrison's GDC keynote.

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Sony has announced official details of PS3 Home, a customisable, networked community for PlayStation 3.

Phil Harrison unveiled the service in his GDC 2007 keynote, as a free download from the PlayStation Store.

It will let you create and customise a character from a wide range of body types, skin tones, ages, clothes and accessories. It's similar to Nintendo's Mii avatars, but apparently with much more choice and depth.

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E3 screens for your viewing pleasure.

Sony has refused to comment this morning on speculation that Phil Harrison will unveil PS3 "Home" in his GDC keynote speech.