We have a ton of cool stuff coming at you for this week’s publish in PlayStation Home. This week is particularly heavy on free video content – from exclusive video pulled from some of the most highly anticipated game titles, to brand-spanking new TV shows being aired in-world before they find their way to cable, to full-length episodes of some of your favorite programs. What they say is true – there is no place like PlayStation Home!

Anime fans will be stoked to find the first full episode of Fullmetal Alchemist’s second season playing in the 10-Screen Theater (courtesy of FUNimation). This free episode will only air from November 12th to the 19th. If you like what you see, be sure to head to the PlayStation Store, where you can follow Edward and Alphonse Elric’s quest for the Philosopher’s Stone by downloading additional episodes from season one and season two from this award-winning series.

Speaking of hits – few video games can match the level of anticipation that a FINAL FANTASY title brings to the table, and the newest addition to Square Enix’s celebrated franchise, FINAL FANTASY XIII, promises to be no exception. Assuming you haven’t been living under a rock for the past year, you’ve probably caught a glimpse of the sheer awesomeness of FINAL FANTASY XIII via one of the many trailers. The intriguing characters, the enigmatic Eidolons, the beautifully rendered environments, and the awe-inspiring cut scenes have spurred many impassioned conversations. And while it seems that everybody is waiting with bated breath for the next installment in the FINAL FANTASY saga, it is well understood that it takes time to achieve the level of “wow” hinted at in these trailers. To whet your appetite, Square Enix has given us a special, never-before-seen FINAL FANTASY XIII video to air in the PlayStation Home 10-Screen Theater this Friday, November 13th – so be sure to stop by and check it out.

A&E’s new Real Life Series “Steven Seagal Lawman” is sure to be the “can’t miss” premiere of late 2009. In fact, after viewing the trailers, we begged A&E to give us an exclusive sneak peek to show to you, the PlayStation Home community. Needless to say, they came through in a bigger way than we expected, offering up an advance screening in PlayStation Home. And on top of that, they’re even giving away a free virtual item – a Lawman Vest – to everyone that comes into the 10-Screen Theater. So come out and watch as Steven Seagal takes to the mean streets of New Orleans with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, enforcing the law and serving the best interests of the community with the help of a hand-selected band of elite deputies, and then be sure to watch all the new episodes on A&E, starting with the series premiere on Wednesday December 2nd at 10:00pm PT (9:00pm Central).

Those of you who “Live by the Creed” are wringing your hands in anticipation for the next installments of the Assassin’s Creed franchise – Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines (PSP) and Assassin’s Creed II (PS3). To celebrate the release of these stellar third-person action-adventure titles, Ubisoft has decided to release a line of special Assassin’s Creed virtual items in PlayStation Home. From hats and shirts to hoodies and wristbands, never has it been easier to display your enthusiasm for Ezio and all his stealthy ways. Find these items in the PlayStation Home Mall this week, and be sure to check back in next week for another installment of AC-themed virtual goods.

PlayStation Blog: You recently talked at E3 about how the game closely relates to Final Fantasy XI. How have the monsters and races changed from FF XI to XIV.

Hiromichi Tanaka: Because we’re using a new graphic engine, the graphics are really different from FFXI and you can see more details on both monsters and races. Regarding the races, to encourage people to shift smoothly from FFXI, you will see very similar types of classes. But if you actually make your own character, you’ll be able to select your own colour of hair, skin, eye color, shape of your face, etc. There will be a wide range of variety to customize.

PSB: After E3, you mentioned there might be a way to transfer your name over from FFXI. Is that still planned – are you still working on that? Is there a plan on how you’re going to do it?

Tanaka: It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but we would like to give incentives to the players. First of all, FFXI has 32 worlds, and they may have the same name across different worlds, as I’m sure you know. Each name in each world has to be a unique; there can’t be conflicts with other players. However, when we have FFXIV, we still don’t know how many worlds there’s going to be yet, but players might have the same name if they all move to the same world, so there may be conflicts. So, to avoid that, what we’re trying to do is add a surname to their name, so players can keep their main name, but they can add something else to their surname – that way players with overlapping names can keep their names from FFXI, but they can add something on to it to make it unique.

PSB: You mentioned that the combat system will have less of a team play aspect. Can you elaborate on that, and how it’s different, and how much progress you’ve made in the past few months since it was announced?

Tanaka: For FFXI, the system was job based, so that’s why they had a party to make the most out of each job. This time it’s not going to be a job based system, it’s going to be an Armoury system, so it depends on which weapon you use and you can switch your class. That allows the player to use a different ability or skills. You can also join a party, that doesn’t mean you have to play solo, but it will allow you to play solo as well, because you can fight against monsters and you can change to a healer to heal yourself. So there will be more variety and it depends on what you plan on doing for that day.

PSB: The leveling system was described as not being experienced based. Can you explain exactly what kind of system you’re working on, and if it’s been completely defined?

Tanaka: This time it really depends on the Armoury system. It’s going to depend on how much you use your own equipment and weapons. The more you use it, the more the skill will go up of your class, so that’s the way you will get to higher levels for the class – the skills. You’ll also get abilities. It’s not going to be like if you fight more monsters, you’ll get more level ups, like similar to the experience system. Of course, if you fight against monsters, you will get some skill points, but it will help more if you attend to Guildleves. So that will be a more efficient way to hone your skills and ‘level up’ your character.

PSB: Are they any games that you have been influenced by that have done the online experience particularly well, even if outside of MMOs?

Tanaka: We don’t have any specific title that we’ve been influence by or have done research on, but if we should say one title it would be Final Fantasy XI as we are trying to achieve something different from FFXI. Even though the game worlds may seem and look similar, the game and how we are going to expand it will provide a totally different game experience.

On the other other hand, we listen to the community, and of course they have much experience in MMOs. In that sense, we receive from and keep up with the MMO-based community.

PSB: Are you still planning a spring 2010 beta?

Tanaka: We can’t really say any certain timing, because the launch is planned to release is 2010. So that means in springtime there will probably be something at that point. We are trying to work as soon as possible, so as soon as preparation is done, there could be something earlier than 2010.

The entertainment pack includes:

• “Mystic Silver” PSP-3000 system
• DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY game
• “FINAL FANTASY VII Advent Children,” on UMD™
• 2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo™

Available for $199.99 (MSRP) starting August 25 at GameStop locations in the U.S, this incredible value is only available for a limited time so get them quick! From Rock Band to Hannah Montana, there are PSP entertainment packs that cater to everyone in the family.

I caught up to Media Molecule’s Alex Evans minutes before the announcement was made, and he talked about this dream collaboration:

It all started with the Helghast thing. It was really funny because we were aware of a lot of possibilities of who we could work with. I remember the first time that Final Fantasy was mentioned, and there was a bet over whether it would be happened since it’s such a precious franchise.

And with Metal Gear, I bought my PS1 for Metal Gear Solid, and I didn’t have a memory card – so I left the game on when I went to work and came home and played some more.

To be involved with MGS is… slightly bizarre. When we were looking at what options as a studio we’d have to work with, they were under the “yeah, right!” category of games.

LittleBigPlanet and Sackboy have a strong identity and flavor. So then you try to find the translation to Metal Gear and Sephiroth, and the guys that made the characters really brought the flavors of LittleBigPlanet and Metal Gear together and kept the flavor of both of them

[On Final Fantasy collaboration:] It’s a whole universe, and they’ve built up this ethos. And we’re honored to be let into that universe.

We’l have more details on LittleBigPlanet’s newest residents soon. In the meantime, click here for more hi-res pics.