With the announcement early this year at the Game Developers Conference that the PlayStation Network's virtual world, Home, would be launching in the fall -- followed up by a presentation conducted in the Home world at this year's E3 -- Sony's demonstrated a strong interest in the virtual worlds space. Now, Sony Europe has set up a new website as a touchstone for its pet Blu-ray hi-def format, and it takes the shape of a 3D environment that showcases Blu-ray films and upcoming PlayStation movies.

There are two interactive areas on the site; the MoLR (Museum of Low Resolution), a minimalist riff on New York's MoMA, features a stylish projection of a woman's face presenting an in-depth FAQ and history of the Blu-Ray format, while the MMG Venue presents the front of an alleyway jazz club with a sports car and projection screen, where users can select upcoming Blu-Ray releases, both PlayStation 3 games and movies, to preview.

It's fairly simple, but another example that seems to indicate that the web format of interacting with 3D objects instead of text and link lists is continuing its trend of prevalence.

[Via HDTV UK]

At Sony's presentation at this year's Edinburgh Interactive Festival, Peter Edward, director of the platform group for PlayStation 3's built-in virtual world PlayStation Home, gave attendees a peek into the ambitious vision for the environment.

"For the user, the value of home is all about being able to share the experience with their friends, both gaming and non-gaming brands," Edwards said. "It's about having a safe, reputable environment run by a trusted brand in which they can feel secure about making online transactions." He added that Home users will be able to use the virtual world to buy real-world items, initially using the PlayStation Store interface which will be itself extended into a fully three-dimensional virtual world "in the long term".

"Community is all about communication with other users," Edwards said. "In the longer term, we'll be implementing a fully featured social networking experience within Home."

Further building on the theme of online socialization around gaming, Edwards continued that Home will allow extensive customization of both the avatar and its virtual apartment. Edward projected, "Users will be able to share other content that they have created -- photos and videos of themselves, and user-generated content tools such as their own t-shirt designs."

He added, "We'll also be giving out tools to allow scripting, java minigames and so on."

Edwards is aware of the importance of community to gamers who play online, noting that it's "crucial" that Home cater to the desire for a competition component, such as that of the competing Xbox 360's Achievements system. "The ability to host tournaments and special events will allow maintaining interest in the game," Edward explained. "By maintaining contact with the users for longer, publishers will be able to learn more about the desires and requirements for the user," he adds, with each IP customizing its community focus.

Highlighting the benefits of the Home experience for non-game brands, Edwards noted that it'll allow access to the highly-coveted demographic that comprises the majority of the connected PlayStation audience with sponsored events, branded spaces, objects, furniture and clothing. "A virtual online experience is something brands have already experienced, but PlayStation Home doesn't contain the same kind of risk as the 'wilder west' online experience," he said.

Publishers will be given their own asset creation toolsets to enable them to offer their own downloadable items in Home, like avatar clothing and furniture, obtainable with the already-established PlayStation Wallet and micropayment systems -- Edwards hinted at the opportunity for revenue-sharing with users, to encourage placement of advertising within their spaces. Edwards adds that in the future, users will be able to buy full games within Home.

"In the longer term, once an engaged audience is there, there are revenue opportunities for all, including end users," Edwards said.

[This exclusive on-site report from Andrew Doull and Leigh Alexander originally appeared on CMP Game Group sister website Gamasutra.com.]

Sony Online Entertainment has released a free stand-alone version of the client for Legends of
Norrath, the online trading card game based on the successful EverQuest MMO game franchise. Oathbound, which charges players with earning their freedom from jail by fighting against the forces of Chaos, is the storyline's first release, featuring more than 375 digital cards sold in 55-card starter decks and 15-card booster packs.

Legends of Norrath provides several modes of gameplay -- both for casual and tournament players, and an AI system for single-player mode. Victory can be achieved by completing quests or defeating your opponent's avatar; there's also more than 30 loot items like potions, clothing and spells that can be used by EverQuest I and II players in that world.

It's an interesting way to unite a new community, comprised both of new card game fans and players of the EverQuest world, and demonstrates that miniature games within larger, more complex MMOs may have broader appeal for a more casual audience. It adds bonus content for EverQuest regulars without alienating new players who might just like a round of cards -- a good idea for allowing users to tailor their own involvement without missing out, and a trend we'll probably see more of as a way to make MMOs more accessible to others beyond their base audience.

"When we showed Legends of Norrath at GenCon last month, it was just as big a hit with hobby and strategy gamers as it has been with our EQ and EQII players," said Scott Martins, director of development for SOE-Denver. "We've had a great run so far with the exclusive access we've provided for our existing fans, and can't wait to bring it to a much wider audience with today's release.

In a statement on the official NCsoft website, CEO Robert Garriott offered details about the company's recently-announced new relationship with Sony, describing the deal as one which "gives us an unprecedented opportunity to bring our online portfolio of games to a suite of highly popular console gaming systems, including the PlayStation 3."

Acknowledging that many in the industry and the press have asked for further articulation on the partnership and for information on the direction of future titles, Garriott issued the statement in an effort to outline NCsoft's vision for their products in the coming years.

"It has been one of our business strategies to bring customers to a catalog of games where the customer has the choice to play a variety of different products. However, we don’t want to limit ourselves to the PC, especially while the console market continues to grow by leaps and bounds with every new generation...and console makers want to get into the online space," he said.

"The ideal system would be an extremely capable, stable platform, with the best Internet connectivity and greatest freedom of web access and interaction available to the user... we felt like Sony fit the bill," he continued, adding that Sony's vision going forward complements NCsoft's strategy. Nonetheless, he also stated that NCsoft is "far from" plans to stop developing on the PC.

Garriott says the relationship with Sony will allow NCsoft to develop across all of Sony's console hardware platforms, though he specified the PS3 is the focus, "and perhaps the PSP." The crux of the statement was the expression of a desire to build NCsoft's catalog beyond PC MMO titles.

While Garriott says future titles to come are still under wraps, he added, "We are hoping, but can’t promise, to have the first of our products available for the holiday season in 2008."

He acknowledged that this is a short time frame, but stressed, "We won’t just be porting our games over to the PS3," stating the aim of making new products from current IPs that will take advantage of the PS3's user interface, connectivity and play styles.

He admitted, though, that this "tends to take a lot longer" than a simple port. Garriott added that NCsoft is also looking at new and original IPs specifically for the console, specifying that that particular process "will take two to three years at a minimum."

The new console games will be developed via the same distributed model of development currently used for NCsoft's PC titles, Garriott said, though he noted that the idea of starting a new console-specific studio outside of Austin is under consideration, even as the company also looks to other existing studios to house specific projects. "This includes our Austin offices or our other currently existing studios. Console game development won’t just be at one single location," he explained.

The anticipated Sony products will continue to utilize a range of NCsoft's current business model. "There will be the traditional subscription models, micropayment systems and free-to-play games with membership options," Garriott said.

Promising more info to come, he concluded, "It's an exhilarating time for NCsoft."

[The preceding article originally ran at Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

We recently discussed how nonprofit GlobalKids is using its recently-awarded MacArthur grant to use virtual worlds for education -- and how a peek inside their new program reveals a concentration on Second Life, which is surprising, when you consider that there are a variety of models for education-focused environments available out there.

Headway Strategies' Lee Wilson concurs; he's been attending the EdNet2007 educators' conference, and had the following impressions of a panel focusing on education in Second Life:

First off, I find it interesting that Second Life is getting most of the visibility in Education when other virtual worlds (Habbo Hotel, Whyville, etc.) are doing far more with K12 age kids and some have more intentionally educational content on them. Chalk it up to Second Life being a media darling and to good outreach from their Education team. If you are interested in this arena some of these other worlds merit a look.

Second Life is a big investment, but not where you think it will be. The software itself is free and content is inexpensive. It is expensive to train teachers how to use the new tools and it requires a high end machines (this alone is enough to give many schools a pause).

Focus on the interactivity aspects - that is where the power lies. It is a great tool for collaborative interactivity, immersion, visualization, and simulation.

Don’t make 3D PowerPoint sites. This isn’t a good environment for virtual lectures, it isn’t great for media delivery (even with high end machines), and chat is better in RL (real life).

Integrate it into existing practice. It isn’t going to replace what works well, so spend the time to figure out how it can compliment the learning ecosystem.

Lee also points out that Brecht raised some useful alternative platforms to consider for developing in this area; Croquet, Sun's Wonderland, Multiverse and private worlds from Sony and Microsoft; Lee also recommended Muzzy Lane and Numedeon's NICE (on which Whyville operates) as potential options, as they have been built with educational uses in mind.

[Via The Education Business Blog]

Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros. have each signed a licensing deal with Gaia Online that will bring films to the teen-and-'tween virtual world. The agreement also gives Sony a minority stake in Gaia -- which in its announcement claims nearly 3 million unique visitors a month, or more than either Second Life or Habbo gets.

The new Gaia Cinemas is open for business, and users can watch free films in-world, beginning with Sony's Gattaca and WB's The Matrix -- both futuristic tech flicks, appropriately enough. The big question -- how's the content getting monetized? Apparently through advertiser skins surrounding the film screen. Said Sony senior executive VP Sean Carey, "I think it has the ability to create an incremental revenue source with more potential than just solo viewing."

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the studios will also have flexibility to alternate between the ad-supported model -- which will also give them a cut of virtual goods revenue -- and ad-free pay-per-view, for which Warner will charge $1.99 per ticket for 24 hours' access to the purchased film inside Gaia.

The agreement provides for 50 library titles each from Sony and Warner to Gaia -- Spider Man, Batman Returns and Ghost Rider, to name a few. Sony will reportedly begin supplying other programming in the future, like the television "minisodes" it has designated for digital platforms. Though there are currently no plans to show current releases in Gaia, it can't be ruled out depending on the success of the format for older titles.

Another interesting tidbit picked up by the Hollywood Reporter --while Sony wouldn't discuss its stake in Gaia in specific terms, "the company is believed to be one of a number of investors participating in a Series B round of funding totaling $15 million."

[Via Hollywood Reporter]

A new article in The Economist runs down the promising business and entertainment developments in the virtual worlds space -- nothing we've not heard before, such as the Serious Games Institute's virtual learning program, Cisco's internal business development work, and the rise of virtual goods as a viable business model.

The article also runs down some of the challenges we know face virtual worlds today -- disputes surrounding the economics of virtual goods sale and trade, and the vulnerability of such commerce to scammers, and conflicts over unwanted content, like sex tools in Second Life. But the article reveals something interesting about how Sony Online Entertainment decided to regulate undesirable user behavior by decriminalizing it:

"That is the approach taken by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), the company that runs “EverQuest II”, a fantasy world of dragons and busty blondes. It found that some 30-50% of customer-service calls concerned scams relating to real-world trade in virtual items. So it divided the game world in two and made trading legal in one part but not the other; players can choose which to play in. As a result, says Greg Short of SOE, the share of calls relating to scams is now less than 10%."

[Via The Economist]

Evergreen Events, organizer of the 2008 ION Game Conference, has announced that Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley will deliver the Wednesday, May 13th keynote address at the conference in Seattle.

Smedley will discuss the past, present and future accomplishments of SOE and the MMO market in general, the organizers say.

Smedley is responsible for SOE's overall vision and growth, and management of its employees. He has previously held positions with ATG, Knight Technologies, 989 Studios, as well as Verant Technologies, where he was co-founder before it became SOE in 2000.

ION Conference director Peter Freese said, “John Smedley and SOE have had an indelible impact in the online game industry. His insight of the past and vision for the future is a message we are excited to share with our attendees.”

Interested parties may find registration and other information at the official event website, http://www.ionconference.com.

Sony has announced that after a structural reshuffle, its Sony Online Entertainment division (Everquest, The Agency) is being moved to the Sony Computer Entertainment wing to better integrate with "the PS3 experience," with CEO John Smedley now reporting directly to SCEI president Kaz Hirai.

Sony says the new structure "is designed to mutually benefit both companies by further accelerating the PlayStation business through SOE's strong online gaming expertise."

The San Diego based division -- formerly part of Sony Pictures Entertainment -- is expected to continue normal operations producing PC and PS3 titles, but Hirai says the move will help online games and services to become "a more integral part of the PS3 entertainment experience."

He added, "This new structure will allow us to take full advantage of the extensive breadth of expertise of the two companies and increase our range of exciting entertainment offerings to our consumers."

Said Smedley, "We are thrilled to become a part of the incredible team that has made PlayStation 3 the premier platform for next generation online gaming. This move is going to broaden our capabilities and expand the development of our products into new and exciting directions."

Officials from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) have announced that the company is to expand the closed beta testing for PlayStation Home this summer, in terms of both length and number of participants.

Home’s ambitious online community service has already been delayed from its originally intended late 2007 launch to spring 2008. At the time the earlier delay was explained by a desire to incorporate more user feedback and the difficulties of preparing a near simultaneous worldwide launch.

Details of the closed beta testing features, registration for the test and the opening of the service are yet to be announced by Sony. Open beta testing is now expected to begin until autumn 2008.

“We understand that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a bit longer, but we have come to the conclusion that we need more time to refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience than what it is today," said Kazuo Hirai, president and group CEO at SCEI.

"Our overarching objective is to provide users with new gaming experiences that are available only on PlayStation Home. Spending more time on the development and on the closed beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation tradition."

[The preceding article by originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

During Sony's PlayStation Day press event in London yesterday, Sony Computer Entertainment president and CEO Kaz Hirai discussed the company plans for its social world, Home, promising to open the service to the public "towards the end of the year," a comprehensive live report of the proceedings from UK-based site Eurogamer.

Home provides PlayStation 3 owners with a full-scale virtual world, allowing gamers to customize avatars and apartments, share gaming achievements, and socialize with others. Sony plans to add advertisements and lobbies with partnering retailers, as well as purchasable content, such as clothes, furniture, or larger apartments.

Previously, the virtual world was scheduled to open in late 2007 before Sony put off its launch to Spring 2008, citing "user feedback" for the delay. Sony later extended the delay again last month to Fall 2008, noting that the company needed to spend more time in development with Home. The service is currently under closed beta testing.

Commenting on Home's unspecified release date for this year, Hirai stated, "As great as it currently is, it needs a little more time."

In an interview at Sony’s recent PlayStation Day even in London, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president David Reeves told consumer website CVG that the company was too ambitious with Home’s non-gaming applications.

After delaying Home twice since announcing the PlayStation 3 virtual world at the Game Developers Conference in March, 2007, Sony predicted at the London event that the service would open to the public by the end of 2008. Reeves was a little more specific, promising that an open beta for Home would debut in autumn.

In order to meet that deadline, though, development has shifted its focus away from non-gaming applications and more more towards the service’s gaming elements, such as trophies and launching games from within Home.

Said Reeves: "We've realised that maybe we were too ambitious with the non-gaming applications within Home, getting sponsors and stuff like that. In that sense we were deserting gamers. So, we're concentrating on the gaming by launching games in Home, and attracting people who are into gaming in first - instead of the Nike people, or Adidas people who are into fashion and not necessarily into gaming."

Sony Online Entertainment and Live Gamer, a publisher-supported secondary trading market for virtual goods, have announced that SOE’s forthcoming MMOG titles, The Agency and Free Realms, will support the same Live Gamer Exchange real money trading service currently operating within EverQuest II.

This agreement follows Live Gamer’s appointment of Kurtis Buckmaster as its new vice president of product marketing and partnership with True Games Interactive to provide real money trading services for the publisher’s upcoming games, both announced yesterday.

In February this year, the two companies announced an agreement to incorporate SOE's Station Exchange technology into Live Gamer’s e-commerce platform, providing a secure transaction platform for real-money purchase and sale of virtual goods in EverQuest II.

The Agency, an online action shooter that mixes action with espionage, allows players to customize their characters’ attire, weaponry, gadgets, vehicles, gear, and aliases. Live Gamer Exchange will facilitate in the player-to-player trading of The Agency's virtual objects. Free Realms, a free-to-play, family-targeted fantasy adventure title, will feature a catalog of user-created goods that can be traded in-game with Live Gamer Exchange.

Said Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley: “We are actively exploring free-to-play and other revenue models, and always looking for new ways to engage and entertain gamers. Live Gamer is a proven partner that protects and supports our gamers who participate in real money trading. We trust them to handle this area of the business for us so that we can focus on creating and growing our games.”

Following CEO Kaz Hirai promise to deliver Sony's PlayStation 3 social world, Home, "towards the end of the year," PlayStation Network senior director Susan Panico clarified that the service will launch as an "open, working beta," according to technology site Wired.

Previously, the virtual world was scheduled to open in late 2007 before Sony put off its launch to Spring 2008, citing "user feedback" for the delay. Sony later extended the delay again last month to Fall 2008, noting that the company needed to spend more time in development with Home. The service is currently under closed beta testing.

Speaking on Home's eventual public launch, Panico described the planned rollout as "similar to Gmail," Google's free webmail service. Presumably, much like Gmail, which has been in beta since its launch in April 2004, Home will receive content updates and additional features years after the virtual world debuts.

As part of today's Sony roundtable Q&A at E3, SCEA president Jack Tretton has been discussing the state of the Home online world for PlayStation 3, suggesting there was "a lot of learning... and a little naivete" in its construction, but that the "worst thing" Sony could do was look at Microsoft's new Xbox 360 avatars and try to react based on them.

According to Tretton's comments at the roundtable, the apparent delays to its Home PS3 application are down to complexities that perhaps the company did not fully understand up front.

The online world application has been delayed multiple times, most notably from late 2007 to Spring 2008, and still doesn't have a formal release date. Tretton explained:

"Home is not [just] a software title. It needed a lot of hardware engineering support. It didn't get built up beyond what you'd expect from a software title until very recently... there was a lot of learning recently and a little naivete about how we'd build it.

It took us a while to figure out what it was and how you'd build it. I'd rather ship it two years from now and have it be filled with a lot of great stuff than open it up as a ghost town - so I think we've got to do a good job of populating it. The shell is there, but we have to get all the good destinations."

Sony Computer Entertainment America announced it's expanding the closed beta for its Home environment on PlayStation 3. Users who download a new Home theme just released on the PlayStation Network automatically apply to join the test community.

Eligibility, Sony says on its PlayStation blog, will be determined by "a variety of criteria," including how active users have been on the PlayStation Network. Users already accepted into the earlier beta are pre-qualified.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is also expanding its closed beta, and will target the PlayStation Network and Store's most active users directly via email, the company says.

"We’re really excited about this milestone and want our most loyal fans to be a part of the evolution of PlayStation Home," writes Home director Jack Buser.

[The preceding article by Leigh Alexander originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Sony Online Entertainment announced two new expansions for its MMORPGs at its Fan Faire event over the weekend, EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction and EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey.

Due October 21st, EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction marks the 15th expansion of the original EverQuest game. With the release, players will have access to 20 new zones, new raid content, new spells, new alternate advancement abilities, and mercenaries, which are player-controlled NPCs designed to assist with PvE encounters. The level cap has also been increased to 85.

EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey, the fifth expansion for the EQII franchise, will be available on November 18th. The Shadow Odyssey will include 20 new zones, dungeon adventures, new deities, an achievement level cap increase to 200, five heritage quests, a shard reward system, and a new mission system for players to replay content with new and different experiences.

The expansions were announced at 2008 SOE Fan Faire, the company’s annual social gathering event at Las Vegas held for fans of its online games. Attendees were given software for both expansions for free as part of SOE's recently-launched Living Legacy initiative.

Said SOE president John Smedley: “It is such a privilege to announce the upcoming expansions for two of our most popular games, EverQuest and EverQuest II, in a venue like Fan Faire where we are joined by thousands of our loyal fans, and it seems more than appropriate to give those fans access to both of the expansions for free."

Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong (SCEH) announced that it will bring Home, its upcoming online 3D avatar-based community for the PlayStation 3, to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan in fall 2008.

The PlayStation Home official website for Asia is already available, and closed beta testing for the service will start from mid-September 2008. SCEH invites Hong Kong and Singapore users to participate in the closed beta phase.

According to SCEH, Home's open beta phase for the region will begin later this fall. Sony began its North American private beta for Home in April 2007, with a similar closed beta launching in Europe in May 2007. A public release date for the title has not yet been confirmed in any territory.

The company also recently announced an expansion of the beta for both the U.S. and European markets, inviting users who downloaded a new Home theme or users who've been active with the PlayStation Network/Store to participate in the test community.

Born in 1968, Jeff Freeman, formerly a senior game designer for Spacetime Studios and Sony Online Entertainment, took his own life on September 24th.

Freeman is best known by gamers for his work on MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies. In addition to his work as a game designer, Freeman also served as a member of the U.S. Army Reserves.

He is survived by his wife, Brenda Freeman; sons, Jeffery Freeman and Jesse Freeman; stepdaughter, Destiny Coffman; parents, Roy and Samantha Clark; sister, SaDonna Moser; and brothers, R.G. Carr and Dwayne Archer.

"I still remember a young kid showing his older brother a program he wrote where a red ball bounced on a screen. He was so excited," Freeman's brother Archer said in a posting on Star Wars Galaxies server emulation forum SWGEmu.

"I thought, 'What's the big deal?' But I knew he was special. He had a mind like no one I knew, he was truly a brilliant man, and I will miss him everyday."

Freeman played a key role in designing SWG's pet system, but is also known for bearing criticism from misinformed players who incorrectly blamed him for the MMO's unpopular "New Game Enhancements" update in 2005.

The game designer took responsibility for implementing features that led bitter players to attack him online for all of the update's changes, including its simplification of game mechanics and professions.

Veteran MMO designer, Raph Koster, who worked with Freeman on SWG and helped him find a job at SOE, said in a eulogy posted on his personal blog, "He spent a huge amount of time talking to the players, talking to people for years afterwards, explaining, apologizing, justifying what he didn’t need to and shouldn’t have had to."

"I want everyone to know that it was not SWG that lead him to take his life," added Archer on the forum. "He has been troubled for sometime. There were [a lot] of personal issues that tore at him. Regardless of how SWG turned out, we must admit that many of the great things we enjoyed about [the pre-combat update game] was because of his work."

[The preceding article by Eric Caoili originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Free Realms was the only of Sony Online Entertainment's upcoming titles which was in a playable form at E3, and we had some time with it and found it interesting enough that we're excited to tell you that registration for the company's first foray into free-to-play is now open.

Free Realms is thematically a mixture of traditional fantasy and real world design, and it includes a variety of play possibilities including everything from playing mini-games to MMORPG-esque adventuring.

The game promises weekly and monthly content updates, regular special events and a great deal of player-led activities and customization.

"Free Realms allows you to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, in a lush, living, 3D world, filled with rich landscapes and fun wildlife," said a Sony representative. "From pet raising to mini-games like soccer and racing, or battling giant spiders and adventuring with friends – there’s always something new to see and do in the world of Free Realms."

Sony Online Entertainment has announced a long-term licensing agreement to allow the Topps Company to create a physical trading card game based on their upcoming free-to-play MMO Free Realms.

The physical trading card game is to "complement the digital trading card game playable within Free Realms".

The digital version of the Free Realms Trading Card Game is to ship with Free Realms at launch, while the Topps products are to be available in Spring 2009. Topps are to offer a "Passport to Free Realms Starter Pack" that includes Free Realms physical and digital items and 11-card booster packs which include a digital item card in every pack.

Over 200 cards are expected to be available by the time the physical game launches in the spring.

“Our online trading card games have been hugely successful, and the chance to take our digital trading cards into the physical world with an industry leader like Topps is a fantastic opportunity for us as a company,” said John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment.

Director of PlayStation Home Jack Buser claims that the release of the frequently delayed, PS3-defining virtual world is now "imminent"—to come before the end of the year—and so Worlds In Motion sat down with him to discuss the future potential of the world and the challenges it will face, and despite third party influence, "community first" are his watchwords.

If we boil PlayStation Home down to its essence, what do you really see it as?

Jack Buser: We really consider Home a "3D social gaming community." A place where our community can go and meet their friends, meet new friends, visit themed public spaces… Create a custom avatar and virtual space, but the crown jewel of our service is the ability to jump from home directly into our online games together.

This is a seamless integration; you can fully set up your online game within the world, wander about and find your friends or find some new people and then jump into the game as you've set it up with them; bypassing all those in-game configuration screens, and once you're done you just jump back into Home.

And this is part of the PlayStation Network, which is free to use. It doesn't cost anything more. For the users who want to stand out there will be microtransactions; you'll be able to buy virtual items or even premium virtual spaces.

Sony has announced that the full open beta of online community PlayStation Home will be available worldwide on December 11. After ongoing closed beta programs, the initial public version of the service will be available as a free download starting tomorrow.

After considerable delays, the launch will allow all PlayStation 3 owners to experience the virtual 3D space by creating their own unique avatars, chatting with other users, playing mini-games and viewing streaming media.

Users will also be able to create their own communities by using the “Club 2” feature to create individual clubs for specific interests. To do so each “Clubhouse owner” will be required to pay an unspecified fee.

The service will launch directly from the PlayStation Home icon of the PlayStation Network column of the XMB (XrossMediaBar). Once in the Home environment, groups of users will be able to launch directly into online games.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe already offer themed environments for specific games, beginning with Ubisoft’s Far Cry 2. Similar spaces for Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Warhawk, MotorStorm and SOCOM are expected in the near future. Third party publishers such as EA, Midway, Sega and Atari have also expressed interest in similar promotions.

Energy drink company Red Bull was announced as the first non-games sponsor earlier in the month, with fashion label Diesel and furniture designer Ligne Roset also set to offer virtual clothing and items for download. Paramount Picture, Hexus TV and Eurogamer will offer video content.

"PlayStation Home is truly a promising network community service on the PlayStation platform, made possible with the powerful combination of PS3's overwhelming computational power and PlayStation Network that covers many countries around the globe," said Sony Computer Entertainment president and group CEO Kaz Hirai.

[The preceding article by David Jenkins originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Pioneering MMO EverQuest reaches its ten-year anniversary today, with publisher Sony Online Entertainment holding a number of upcoming in-game and real-world events in celebration.

The game was released on March 16, 1999, and was developed by the Verant Interactive label of now-effectively-defunct Sony subsidiary 989 Studios. One of the first major graphical massively multiplayer online games, it has had a significant impact on the genre.

Largely because the graphical MMO segment is a relatively young one, few other games have hit the decade milestone. Origin Systems' Ultima Online reached ten years of service in 1997, and the arguable first modern graphical MMO Meridian 59 did so in 2006 (albeit with a period of downtime as it switched from original publisher 3DO to the current Near Death Studios).

Gamasutra recently conducted an interview with SOE president John Smedley about the history of the franchise, revealing that the title is "still very profitable" for the Sony division, even after a decade.

"This year marks a major milestone for SOE and the entire interactive entertainment industry," said SOE president John Smedley, instrumental in the original development of EverQuest and credited as one of its co-creators. "While it was hard work and a dedicated vision that brought EQ to fruition, without our loyal fans, EQ would not be the game that it is today."

The company is hosting a number of in-game events this week in EverQuest and the embedded collectible card game Legends of Norrath, and has planned a number of celebratory activities for this year's SOE Fan Faire, to be held June 25 to 28 in Las Vegas.

[The preceding article by Chris Remo also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]