Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue

X
News

Sony's Home Gets Remodeled

by Matthew Kato on Aug 23, 2011 at 05:00 AM

Sony's Home social space has grown and thrived (over 23 million users according to Sony) since it first switched on in 2008. This fall, Home is getting a makeover to make its games and events more accessible.

All of Home's content (and certainly your personal space items) will remain the same, but the entire Home world – including the old plaza – is being reimagined into a hub world complete with four additional game genre-themed districts. There will also be a new teleporter system to get you into these districts faster.

Apart from geographical changes to make game content easier to access, Home is also becoming a game in and of itself. The Activity Board in the main hub will offer quests (with rewards) for users to partake in throughout Home. These will range from simple daily tasks to larger, multi-event quests with branching paths. While these are optional, success or failure could change your Home experience.

This activity board will also have Home events, and with this redesign, users will be able to create and promote their own events complete with user-generated content.

Home's new look happens sometime this fall, and Sony is also preparing a separate client update that streamlines the login and gets players into spaces faster.

 

Home's New Districts:

The Hub: Apart from being a communal space with shops, etc., this is where you'll find the Activity Board for Home quests and the teleporter

Action District: This district has a more urban feel, and will feature the service's action and horror games

Sportswalk: This area is designed to feel like the outside of a stadium on game day, and it will show streams of highlights, live sports scores, and headlines, as well as sports games

Adventure District: It's appropriately jungle themed, and apart from adventure games, you can also access Home's RPGs here

Pier Park: This is where you'll find more of the service's casual, puzzle, and arcade games. The district also features a large Ferris wheel you can ride

(Click on any of the images in this story for enlargements)

 

The new Home hub

The Action District

Pier Park