Christmas comes to PlayStation Home from this Thursday. Check out the Christmas tree in Central Plaza which comes with riddles that reveal some “surprising developments”.

Look out for a MotorStorm: Pacific Rift home-space that will be available from the Estates store in the mall.

And don’t forget the Winter Wonderland space will be opening on Thursday as well. Be sure to check out Santa and his elves…they may need some help decorating the space so you can do them a favour and pitch in. (When last can you say that you’ve ever helped Santa Claus? The kids are counting on you!)

On Friday December 11th, there will be a scavenger hunt in Home in which the first 50 players to piece together certain codes will get themselves a free download of the PSN game, Diner Dash.

Get into the Christmas spirit with PlayStation Home starting this Thursday!

[Via PlayStation.Blog, Kotaku]

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• Universal Game Launching with any PS3 game without the need to sign out of Home!
• In-Store Item Previewing that allows even combinations of clothing to be previewed on your avatar in 3-D (something I’ve wanted for a long time). You can even view furniture in full 3-D
• Free Cameras to capture that memorable moment with friends (in either 1st or 3rd person view) and instantly save the pictures to the PS3′s HDD
• More Portable Objects like the Bubble Machine. However, the developers have seen what problems portable objects can cause (e.g. trouble accessing mini-games with a Bubble Machine nearby) and so have devised a solution. Now you can ‘hide’ someone’s object(s) and make targeting easy
• Determine Your Cache Size from 3GB to 12 GB to allow a smoother Home experience
• a SingStar Home Space will be released around the same time as the v1.3 update. Reactive dance-floor, SingStar Quiz and a Video-Voting Jukebox are enough to have a party with friends anytime
• and…Limited Use Items like a Shrinking Potion can be purchased, and yes it really does shrink your avatar!

Tom Thumb comes Home

There will also be fixes, additions and optimisations in the update, and judging by the major features above, there certainly will be lots for everyone to enjoy in Home come September October.

Read more via: [PlayStation.Blog, PlayStation.Blog(update)]

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Although there weren’t many major surprises at Sony’s E3 press conference this year (thanks to several pre-E3 leaks), the company managed to impress the audience with its future line-up of quality titles for both the PS3 and PSP. While Sony was proud to showcase trailers and live demos of its superior exclusives, the PSP Go! (aka ‘the worst kept secret of E3‘) was the highlight of the show.

Kaz Hirai, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., officially announced that the PSP Go! will not replace the current PSP-3000 model but will stand alongside it when it is released on Oct. 1st 2009. This new model is 15% lighter and 43% smaller than the PSP-3000 and utilises a sliding screen that covers the face buttons. Although the UMD drive has been removed, it promotes the feature of direct downloads from the PSStore and the new Media Go! which will replace the  previous Media Manager. Kaz stated that this does not mean the UMD format will become obsolete as it will still be sold.

Sony also presented live demos including:

• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• Massive Action Game (MAG) – actual 256 players live
• Assassin’s Creed II
• Mod Nation Racers
• God of War III

Exclusive games that were revealed were:

• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• MAG
• Gran Turismo PSP
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PSP) – a true sequel to MGS3
  
• Agent – from Rockstar Games
• Final Fantasy XIV (online)
• Mod Nation Racers – the LittleBigPlanet of racing
• The Last Guardian – Team Ico’s masterpiece
• Gran Turismo 5
• God of War III – March 2010 release date

The day before, Microsoft was proud to show a tech demo of their Project Natal motion-sensing and voice-recognition camera. Sony made it known that they are also working on motion-sensing by use of a new prototype controller and the PS Eye. It wasn’t as impressive as Project Natal, but unique and interesting nonetheless. This motion controller is due for release in Spring 2010.

For those of you who wish to watch the entire E3 press conferences, here are the links to the rebroadcasting videos below:

• Microsoft’s  Press Conference
• Nintendo’s Press Conference
• Sony’s Press Conference

[Via CNet (1), CNet (2), Mirror, DigitalSomething]

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It may not be PlayStation-related, but this is some seriously advanced technology being showcased by Microsoft in their press conference at E3 today. Code-named Project Natal, it uses a motion-sensitive camera to capture motion and relay it real-time in the games that they showcased. Not to mention some really advanced voice recognition. Microsoft merely showcased the feature and have not stated a release date.

Steven Spielberg spoke on this topic on stage as well as Peter Molyneux (who showcased the tech interacting with a virtual boy named Milo).

For those of you who are interested in the latest tech in gaming, you should take a look at Project Natal.

Now, the question is….can Sony and Nintendo surpass this surprise attack in gaming technology from Microsoft.

[Via Kotaku, Shacknews]

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