The PlayStation Home elite will get an opportunity to expand their territory when the newest addition to the mega-popular Mansion personal space releases this Thursday. Available from the Estates store in the PlayStation Home Mall, this expansion pack includes an infinity pool, a million dollar view, and six exclusive clothing and furniture rewards for owners and visitors alike. Check out this video for a guided tour courtesy of our resident business guru, Magnus Keynes.

What’s in that box? Who knows – but one thing is for sure: it has some truly unique moves. The “Thing in a Box” is amongst the coolest companions to be released in PlayStation Home. Watch the video and let us know what you think lives in the box in the comments section. Then be sure to pick yours up from the Exclusives store in the PlayStation Home Mall when it releases this Thursday.

The courageous and the mighty can add the Silver Warrior and Claudia costume sets to their collection come this Thursday when the latest batch of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow items release in PlayStation Home. That’s not all – this week Konami also releases a line of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow furniture items including Lycan, Vampire and Pan figurines. Check ‘em out!

The PlayStation Home Community Theater receives yet another update this week with the latest edition of GamerIndepth’s “ShoutOuts” videocast, which features an interview with Jet Set Games (the developers behind the PlayStation Home-exclusive action/espionage game Conspiracy). To celebrate the premier of this episode, the Jet Set Games team will be on-hand in the Community Theater for a live Q&A session. The party starts at 6:00pm PST (9:00pm EST) and will last until 8:00pm PST (11:00pm EST) so mark your calendars and set your alarms, because this is one event you won’t want to miss.

Speaking of the Community Theater, we’d like to take this moment to welcome our newest addition to the line of regular contributors – the one and only LittleBigPodcast!

Also releasing this week are a slew of Valentine’s Day items for the Lockwood Gift Machine (including jewelry and furniture items), male and female versions of the Dead Space 2 Advanced Prototype Protective Suit, a slew of new active items (everything from indoor waterfalls to Tesla coils), tons of new furniture items for the Loot Amaterasu yacht, new costumes, and enormous chess pieces to decorate your personal space.

See you in Home!

To start, our friends over at Konami are releasing a rooftop penthouse space filled to the brim with games, new items from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (including a Laura costume as well as an upgraded Gabriel Belmont suit), DanceDance Revolution, and some secret goodies that you’ll have to log in and uncover yourself. Peep the below screens for a sneak peek at what to expect when this huge shipment of Konami content hits your PS3 later this week.

Attn: Film fanatics and budding Hollywood directors. This week LOOT releases their brand new Ultimate Machinima bundle. This bundle – which includes the Modular Stage Set 3 personal space, the LOOT Active Camera, and the LOOT Active Light items – is the ultimate tool for shooting your own movies and TV shows in PlayStation Home.

The Modular Stage Set 3 lets players control over three enormous retractable backdrops, which can be set to different chroma key colors with motion track markers. The stage light system now offers two additional flood lights for defining the right mood of each take and the floor can also be set to different materials and colors. And on top of all the tools included in this hot new personal space, there is plenty of open room for furniture and large props, which gives you the ability to build virtually any kind of environment/set for your next Home-made film. Pick up the Ultimate Machinima bundle (along with the new Talk Show bundle – a collection of props that allow you to dress your personal space like your very own talk show) from the LOOT Store in the PlayStation Home Mall this Thursday.

To celebrate the launch of Irem’s Spelunker HD on the PlayStation Network we are releasing the new “Gathering Place for Cave Explorers” game space. A true must-visit for any Spelunker fan, this new space comes complete with Spelunker-themed mini-games, rewards, and plenty of clothing and furniture items to add to your collection. Check out the pics below for a taste of this awesome new game space!

The always-popular PlayStation Home Community Theater receives yet another update this week with a brand new episode of the Hip Hop Gamer videocast. In Episode 2, HHG discusses Call of Duty: Black Ops with a hardcore fan. Also airing in the PlayStation Home Theater this week is a full-on Tester 2 Mid-Season Marathon (Episodes 1-3, along with special t-shirt rewards) as well as a collection of Episode 3 cut scenes and the newest installment of the hit reality show (Episode 4), complete with a brand new reward!

Finally, the PlayStation Home Mall gets an update this week with stylish new clothing items for the ladies courtesy of our friends over at Lockwood Publishing along with two essential additions to your collection – nDreams’ new Zombie Pets, Nipper and Benji. Visit the PlayStation Home Mall this Thursday to pick up these loyal creatures, which can accompany you both in your personal space(s) and also out in public (just be careful not to leave them unattended around any of your friends’ brains…)

See you in Home!

As an offering to your pumpkin overlord, you and your friends must toss coins into his mouth as it rotates past. Make a proper offering, and the exalted one will reward you as one of his followers. Fail in your tithing efforts, and you will anger the ever-powerful Lord Pumpkinhead, hindering your chances of entering the Demon Gourd’s fold.

Legend has it that Lord Pumpkinhead has additional rewards for his most loyal subjects. Can you ascend to the ranks of his chosen few?

Speaking of Halloween festivities, this week our friends over at Heavy Water release their first pieces in the “Heavy Pets” line of items for your personal space. Celebrate Halloween properly by visiting the Furniture store (or the Central Plaza kiosk) in the PlayStation Home Mall, where you can purchase a ghostly tombstone, an eerie bell tower, or a flaming brazier. Place one in your personal space of choice and watch as a trio of Halloween creatures comes out to play – ghosts will rise from the tombstone, vampire bats will fly from the belfry, and flaming skulls will stream out of the brazier. These spooky new items are available for single purchase and are also offered together as a bundle at a special low price.

Also available this week from Heavy Water is the new Heavy Strike game. Place the Heavy Strike cannon in the personal space of your choice and then strap on your helmet, grab your walkie talkie, and order in an artillery strike. Simply place your sights over your intended target and tap X to fire away. You can even drop two cannons across from one another and exchange fire with a friend! Pick yours up from the Furniture store (or the Central Plaza kiosk) this Thursday.

“Want to play a game?” Join Konami this Halloween by sporting the infamous mascot Billy the Puppet’s costume from the horrifying hit film and game franchise Saw, available from the Costumes store in the PlayStation Home Mall. Konami also passes along the friendly reminder to make sure you check out the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow demo. After you’ve completed the demo, check your PlayStation Home wardrobe and you’ll find a special Castlevania: Lords of Shadow t-shirt!

The newest additions to our long line of Costumes are being released this week in the PlayStation Home Mall. Choose from a new Ninja costume (male), Midnight Rogue costume (female), or the Aqua Suit costume (female). Check out the picture below for a sneak peek at these brand new costumes.

Finally, Lockwood has updated the Sodium store with a literal ton of creepy contact lenses, perfect additions to your Halloween costumes. And our friends over at VIZ Media have given us a full episode of Bleach to put up in the Theater for a week starting this Thursday. Watch episode 168, where a new captain joins Squad Three, taking the place of the rebel Gin Ichimaru.

See you in Home!

These qualities are on display in spades in the latest Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Developer Insights video, which Konami has kindly passed along for your viewing pleasure. Not only will you learn about the combat benefit of fairies (no, really), you’ll catch a glimpse of several new boss battles, culminating with a series of Titan encounters that will make any Shadow of the Colossus fan quiver in anticipation.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow arrives today on the PS3 in North America, on Blu-ray. If you picked it up already, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments below. Later today, I can confirm that the playable demo will hit PSN — stay tuned to the PlayStation.Blog for the full PlayStation Store update later today. Happy vampire slaying!

Another huge title is also featured in this episode: EA’s Medal of Honor, which advances the timeframe from WWII to the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. Veronica Belmont spoke with MoH Executive Producer Greg Goodrich about the extensive research that went into the title to pay tribute to the US military Tier One Operators.

Konami’s rebootin’ Castlevania, providing a fresh start to one of gaming’s most storied franchises. With input from the legendary Hideo Kojima, a new whip-wielding Belmont is introduced along with a huge array of supernatural creatures and sweet moves that maintain the game’s action/platformer legacy.

Our ‘On the Road with Qore’ series continues from Tokyo, home of GT5 creators Polyphony Digital. From Akihabara to a kitty café, Veronica experiences a very different side of one of the coolest cities in the world.

In the Episode 29 download center, it’s Audrey’s turn! She is featured in our latest Qore exclusive PS3 system theme. And on October 19th, for our Qore annual subscribers; the warped minds at Qore Labs bring you the Qore Ultimate Arqade! All of your favorite quirky Qore mini-games are now in one convenient package.

Look for Episode 29 tomorrow.

Konami dives into PlayStation Home this week with both Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Contra gear for your avatar. Dress up as Lance Bean and Bill Rizer of Contra fame as well as Gabriel Belmont from the upcoming Castlevania: Lords of Shadow PS3 game. Be sure to check out these new items, available from the PlayStation Home Mall this Thursday, September 30th.

The Sodium store receives an update this week specifically for the ladies of PlayStation Home. Check out some the hot items that will be on the shelves come Thursday morning.

Attn: LocoRoco fanatics. We have Yokke hats (pictured below) and other furniture items, available from the Threads and Furniture stores in the PlayStation Home Mall!

Also available this week from the Furniture store in the PlayStation Home Mall is Shandor, the all-knowing, the all-seeing. This fortune telling-mini game is the newest addition to our line of personal games. Toss coins into the mouth of Shandor and, if you are successful, he will peer into his crystal ball (or maybe it’s just a magic 8-ball?) and tell you the future.

The mega-popular PlayStation Home Community Theater receives yet another update this week, with a new episode of the legendary GamerIndepth videocast. Narde15 – Executive Editor of GamerIndepth – had this to say about their newest addition to the PlayStation Home Community Theater.

“Hey everybody – be sure to log into PlayStation Home this Thursday to check out our second episode of GamerIndepth’s ‘ShoutOuts.’ The week we have a short, informative conversation on Mass Media (and all of the hot items and spaces they are responsible for) as well as an interview with Director_On_Duty from PSTalent, who tells us about how he got started and what his future plans are as far as PlayStation Home is concerned. Plus everyone that catches this week’s episode will be rewarded with an awesome GamerIndepth t-shirt!”

See you in Home!

For me, Castlevania was always about lone warrior battling supernatural creatures with a whip. This was the core idea that when you strip away all the layers, is what remains true for the series even now. Of course, back then, games were far simpler and story lines, characters, and the rest were often secondary to the all-important gameplay.

Over the years, games have become more sophisticated and players have wanted deeper experiences and more far-reaching gameplay mechanics. Expectations for memorable characters and realistic environments often mean it’s much more difficult to find the core of a game and truly understand where something is coming from.

We decided early on that we would boil down that core idea and add layers on top but this time, we would add new layers along with some of the old. We knew we wanted Castlevania: Lords of Shadow to be about the Belmonts. We knew the main hero had to have a whip and not just any whip but a chain whip, just like the Belmonts of old. We knew series staples like daggers and holy water had to be in, too.

We knew that we had to have brooding and dark environments. Underground caves, dank swamps, sewers, catacombs and not just be set in a castle. Just like the old games! We knew we would need a forbidding castle with clock towers, dining halls, libraries and the like to explore but we also wanted to give players cunning puzzles and items to find to make exploring much more interesting.

We wanted old characters to be in our universe, but somehow different. Somehow not what you would expect, but enough for you to see and feel the character anew. So when people say to me, this game doesn’t look like Castlevania… I simply reply, you need to look harder and deeper, because inside this game is the Castlevania you know and love. And yet it is new, reborn. You just have to look with better eyes!

Gabriel Belmont is a lone warrior battling supernatural creatures with a whip. He is trying to bring back his dead wife to the world of the living. We have candles for you to whip, we have vampires, bats, zombies, werewolves, wargs. In fact, over 45 different enemies populate the game.

We have secondary weapons such as daggers and holy water. We have characters who some of you will recognize. We have a wonderful score that includes memorable Castlevania themes here and there that will give fans chills. But most of all, we have an open invitation to those of you who have never sampled the delights of Castlevania before.

The door is open and we want to welcome you in. Its going to be 20 hours of challenges, but you will be rewarded handsomely with a story that will deliver an epic re-imagining of the series for everyone to enjoy, not just fans.

Won’t you come in? The fire is raging and the master and his servants are home, waiting to give you a welcome you won’t soon forget!

Until next time…