The FevaArena’s doors will open this Thursday, June 3rd for North American soccer fanatics, but a “Global Lounge” will be introduced on Thursday, June 10th, allowing over 14 million users from 32 countries around the globe to converge in one space to play games together and attend special events. PlayStation Home historians will recognize the FevaArena’s Global Lounge as another first in the platform’s ongoing evolution, informed directly by community feedback gathered from users across all regions of PlayStation Home.

BioShock 2 fans will have yet another reason to log in to PlayStation Home come this Thursday, when 2K Games releases their BioShock 2 Rapture Apartment. This visually dazzling personal space transports its inhabitants to the dystopian city of Rapture, in all its waterlogged, creepy glory. And, in true BioShock 2 fashion, it has plenty of Easter Eggs that only the most ravenous players will unearth (hint: try to figure out how to get to the second floor!) We’ve grabbed a few screenshots to whet your appetite, but trust me when I say these preview shots do not do this space justice. Pick one up later this week (or ask a friend for a tour), because you absolutely have to see this space up close for the full experience.

Anime fans will be treated to a full episode of Kekkaishi for one week, starting this Thursday. Watch the first episode for free in the PlayStation Home Theater, and then download it from the PlayStation Network by going to the PlayStation Store > TV Shows > Anime > Viz Media. Follow the journey of the legitimate heirs of the Hazama clan, Yoshimori Sumimura and Tokine Yukimura, carry out their family tradition of the Kekkaishi and set out to exterminate the Ayakashi demons that appear within the Karasumori site. And while you are in the Theater, be sure to check out the Killzone 3 video, courtesy of our friends here at the PlayStation.Blog.

From our daily Featured Game parties (we’ll be playing everything from LittleBigPlanet to multiplayer DLC from Dante’s Inferno this week – check out the posters in the Gamer’s Lounge or www.us.playstation.com/PSN/Home for more details) to our ongoing Top Avatar competition (this week is “Horror Week” – scary, eh? – check out the thread here), we have a new event waiting for you every day of this week (and every day that follows). If you haven’t been to one of our community events lately, we highly recommend that you log in this week and reacquaint yourself with the large and diverse group of gamers that make up the PlayStation Home community. You’ll quickly find that there is something for every PS3 fanatic going on at all hours of the day and night.

I also want to give all you guys and gals a quick reminder that PlayStation Home v1.36 is now live (we deployed this patch early Tuesday morning instead of during our regular Thursday content/maintenance windows, so it bears repeating). If you’ve not yet installed this patch, we recommend that you log in and download it today, as it will result in a more optimized in-world experience (specifically, you should notice that the loading times have been reduced even more). Helpful hint: If you notice that the yellow HDD activity light on your PS3 is flashing when you are greeted with the 1.36 patch notification, please wait for it to stop and then press X to start the installation process (Note: If you press any buttons while the yellow HDD activity light is flashing you will automatically restart your PS3, which is not necessary to apply this patch.)

See you in Home!

The Trials of St. Lucia is a unique DLC package. First off, we are introducing an entirely new playable character: St. Lucia. She has her own set of moves and features much more aerial style combat that Dante. Our character team did an amazing job with her. She looks amazing and adds new depth — also, I think her wings look amazing!

Second, we have added online cooperative play. The ability to be able to go online and fight hordes of creatures with a friend is really fun. I think the co-op feature is something that fans of this game genre will appreciate.

Also, with this new DLC, we’re shipping an entire Trial creation editor! This is a cool and easy-to-use tool that will let you create your own Trials, play them, and even upload them to the community so other people can rate them and attempt to beat your master creation.

That’s a lot of content for $10! But that’s not all: In addition to those big features, we are also shipping 40 Trials that were created and tuned here at EA. If you beat them all, you will be rewarded with Trophies. Lastly, the co-op mode includes Leaderboards so you can check to see the points you’ve earned as a player, and as a Trials creator, and track them against other Trials of St. Lucia players.

There’s literally hundreds of hours of gameplay here. Make sure you pick it up and get online to play. I’ll see you on the Leaderboards!

Hell is the last place you want to be—unless you’re impatient for the mythical adventure of redemption found in Dante’s Inferno. Veronica Belmont circles around EA to experience how the developer plans to bring the epic 14th century poem to life. There’s also an interactive quiz built into this episode that will determine your degree of sinfulness.

We’ve been keeping an eye on Heavy Rain since the Qore team’s first visit back in 2008. And, as promised, Quantic Dream has crafted a film-noir world that is both graphically impressive and psychologically disturbing. As you play the part of four different characters whose lives intertwine on the trail of a serial killer, your every decision has an effect on the story around you. This extensive preview also includes an interactive cinema demonstration of the consequences of a few of the choices you can make.

BioShock is one of the most critically-acclaimed games of the past few years, putting pressure on the developer to outdo itself for the sequel. We head back to Rapture, ten years after the events of the original game, to find out if life under the sea is really better as a Big Daddy in BioShock 2.

With Tina Fey-esque librarian glasses and holsters in her killer heels, Bayonetta is no soft-spoken angel. In fact, she’s a shape-shifting witch who battles angels and other assorted creatures with style. There’s a lot of video out there about this game, but we’ve got a full HD preview of this fascinating title and nine reasons you’ve got to love Bayonetta.

Audrey’s also got a look at the latest and greatest Blu-ray movie releases coming your way in early 2010, and we’ve got exclusive Dante’s Inferno and Heavy Rain PS3 themes to go along with this month’s video features for both subscribers and single-episode purchasers.

Episode 20 debuts tomorrow.

Join Christina Lee for a look at the exclusive Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker PSP demo as well as the first Dante’s Inferno demo that’s hitting the PS3. The staff also put together 10 Gotta See Movies from 2009 that are still available from PlayStation Store and the list has some surprises. Remember, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, right?

You also don’t want to miss the Top 10 Game Downloads for 2009. Actually, no surprises, except for the order in the list.

We’ve had a terrific year bringing you this biweekly program. Hard to believe a year has gone by since PULSE made it’s premiere on PlayStation Network. I mean, it feels like we just recovered from our E3 coverage! Thanks for supporting the show and we look forward to an exciting 2010.