The PlayStation Home Mall receives an update this week with some new, nerdy additions to Mass Media’s hilarious line of Weird Wear, some truly spooky Halloween decorations courtesy of nDreams (also available as a Horror Pack bundle), additional Access All Areas’ Alice Cooper items, new Granzella swimwear for the ladies, and more!

Starting this Thursday, gamers that register through the PlayStation portal at Playstation.Extra-Life.org will receive a voucher for a special PlayStation Home virtual item. Extra Life is an annual 24-hour video game marathon that raises money to help kids at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. It’s never been this much fun to do this much good. Register today to get your own personal page and begin tracking your progress. To learn more about the Extra Life charity event, click HERE.

Novus Prime: Escalation fans take note: Our friends over at Hellfire Games are ready to hook you up with the exclusive Pirate Chainsword weapon. Originally salvaged from the ruins of an old pirate stronghold, the Novus Prime engineers have re-examined and perfected the pirate technology to bring you this fantastic new item. Since no pilot should ever be caught unarmed, the folks at Novus Prime have decided to outfit everyone with this weapon absolutely free. All you’ve got to do is head over to their promo page and join the Hellfire Games mailing list. Not only will you get a voucher for your own Pirate Chainsword but you’ll also be kept in the loop about any cool new stuff coming from the Hellfire Games team.

In other news, nDreams’ Aurora game space is receiving an update with new games and rewards. They’ve uploaded a teaser trailer to the nDreams Facebook fan page – check it out!

Like clockwork, the mega-popular PlayStation Home Community Theater receives an update this week. Log in the Thursday to watch as HomeCast Rewind gives a walkthrough of Granzella’s hit Southern Island Hideaway game space. Next PSX Extreme discusses the eagerly-anticipated PS Vita. That’s not all – players that visit the Community Theater this week will receive special rewards to help you ease into the Fall season. Enjoy the cool weather in style with these fashionable coats, courtesy of your friends on the PlayStation Home Community Management team.

See you in Home!

Ahoy me mateys! Lockwood’s Fool Throttle brand expands this week with four of the scurviest seadogs ever to walk the plank. Choose from the Corsair Cordial and Captain Capricious or the Buccaneer Bubbly and Shipmate Shindig costumes. And if you are looking for new companions then grab Barnacle and Picaroon – Barnacle is a tough old crab happy to give lazy crew members a nip and Picaroon is a wily little monkey who’s pretty handy with a sword too! All these items (and more) arrive this week from the Sodium store in the PlayStation Home Mall.

This week LOOT brings you the fiercest, deadliest (and oh-so-cutest) companions ever to release in PlayStation Home. The Lootosaurus is available in six different colors (brown, blue, green, red, orange and purple) or one fire-breathing genetic mutation, The Dragosaur. Pick yours up this Thursday from the LOOT store in the PlayStation Home Mall.

Who says beautiful girls aren’t down to earth? Look for falling angels in Central Plaza this Thursday to play a game and get a free surprise courtesy of AXE Excite (so good even angels will fall)!

The PlayStation Home Community Theater receives yet another massive update this week. Join us this Thursday, June 23rd as PS Talent presents their second episode of the Spotlight, which focuses on some of the brightest stars of the PlayStation Home community. Afterwards, LittleBigPodcast delivers a new episode of their crowd-favorite video cast, which showcases the finalists from their most recent contest. Finally, the Platinum’d crew airs the third installment of their original, live action comedy series about the trials and tribulations for one player trying to up his Trophy count.

See you in Home!

To commemorate the release of Top Spin 4, 2K releases a collection of tennis-themed clothing items (as well as the 8-Bit Tennis Buddy companion). Show the world that you can swing like the pros with these new Top Spin 4 items, available this Thursday in the PlayStation Home Mall!

Speaking of awesome new games, Konami serves up a slew of clothing and furniture items pulled straight the recently-released Hard Corps: Uprising, now available on the PlayStation Network. Join the Union Tribe by grabbing the Bahamut or Krystal costume sets, UT t-shirt, and furniture items for your apartment.

Lockwood Publishing brings a huge update to the Sodium store this week with two new virtual item ranges – Iron Fusion and Cucumber. Cucumber is a line of home furnishings that range from the bold and modern to more traditional styles. In contrast, Iron Fusion will bring you the latest in cybernetic fashion with the Menace, Fractal and Rosko Full Body Suits.

Drinkbox Studios brings more About a Blob clothing items to PlayStation Home this week. Check ‘em out!

Dragon’s Lair fans rejoice! Finally, you can add Singe, the evil dragon, or even your very own Giddy Goon to your collection of companions. Pick these awesome new items up from the Exclusives store in the PlayStation Home Mall this Thursday.

The one-and-only PlayStation Home Community Theater receives a huge update this week with new episodes of the Gamer Indepth videocast and the Hip Hop Gamer show. Visit the PlayStation Home Theater this Thursday to watch Homeboy79, SoAmped, Meesh and ChronosViper bring you the latest news from the PlayStation Home Community in Gamer Indepth’s ShoutOuts and catch HHG as he takes a look at Brink, the upcoming FPS from Splash Damage and Bethesda Softworks.

In other Theater-related news, one of America’s coolest film festivals is coming to PlayStation Home this Thursday, March 17th. Created in 2007 to celebrate the creative potential of disposable video (short films made on everyday equipment like cell phones and pocket cameras), the Disposable Film Festival hosts regular screenings, competitions, and other events to showcase the best work within the genre. Be sure to visit the PlayStation Home Theater starting this Thursday to watch videos from the finalists of the 2010 Disposable Film Festival and then come back next Thursday, March 24th, to check out the top entries for 2011 – the same evening as the live event held at the world famous Castro Theater in San Francisco!

See you in Home!

Continuing our Halloween celebration in Central Plaza, an updated version of the Lord Pumpkinhead game is being released this week. Be sure to log in to PlayStation Home on Thursday to play the Lord Pumpkinhead game and unlock tons of exclusive rewards.

After you are done playing the Lord Pumpkinhead game, head on over to the Central Plaza kiosk to pick up two special gifts that we are making available to you, the PlayStation Home community, as a sign of thanks for your ongoing support. Guys will be able to pick up the “Moonslayer Sword” while girls will be able to add the “Shadowpiercer Weapon” to their inventories free-of-charge through Halloween night. Take advantage of this special Halloween offer by logging into PlayStation Home and visiting the Central Plaza kiosk before Monday, November 1st.

In other Halloween-related news, Codeglue releases some super spooky clothing items this week (a fantastic Mummy costume and the gruesome “Bone shirt”) along with some truly horrific furniture items for your personal space (like the Skull Throne and Guillotine – pictured below).

The LucasArts store receives a massive update this week with four new costumes from the recently-released Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II – including the dual-lightsaber wielding Starkiller, Rahm Kota, Imperial Jump Trooper, and the all-new Terror Trooper (dual lightsabers are also available separately). Visit the PlayStation Home Mall this Thursday to pick up these items along with the veritable ton of other Star Wars items currently available from LucasArts.

Also releasing this week are the newest addition to the long line of PlayStation Home original costumes (such as the female “Red Dragon” outfit and the male “Mechanical Abomination” suit) along with three amazing new active items – “Johnny the Mysterious Doll”, the “Magic Cauldron” and the “Miniature Dragon” companion for your personal space. Check ‘em out!

You asked for it, so we’re bringing it to you: The mega-popular Hudson Gate and Dolphy Room are being updated this week with more items as well as some changes and optimizations to the Dolphy game!

Speaking of popular games, Lockwood Publishing are excited to announce that over a million gamers have played through Sodium! As a token of appreciation they’re offering a selection of fine gifts and offers to the whole PlayStation Home community. Whether you’re a battle-hardened tank pilot or expert bartender there’s something for you this week. Head to the Sodium Hub this week for a golden “Thank You” reward, additional earnings for Sodium bartenders, extended free-access to the Sodium Salt Shooter, and even discounted Pilots Jackets!

See you in Home!

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!

After you’ve added the Dead Rising 2 items to your collection, be sure to shoot on over the Estates store to pick up the newest addition in our line of luxury personal spaces – the Lake House. This spacious, extravagant, and modern waterfront estate comes complete with awe-inspiring views and is arguably the hottest space on the proverbial block for hosting your next party. Check it out for yourself in this quick fly-through video we made for you.

 
If you want to take your personal space into the 22nd century, our friends over at Lockwood are offering you a full-on teleportation device that you can place at will in the personal space(s) of your choice. With the Sodium Telepad, you can zap yourself hither and thither with ease. Pick up this next generation relocation device come this Thursday from the Sodium store.
 

 
AlphabeTees fans will be stoked to learn that new additions to this wildly-popular social trivia game will be released later this week. The CalculaTees expansion pack includes numbers from 0-9 (plus a decimal point) and will add more options for the ongoing AlphabeTees/CalculaTees contests where PlayStation Home users and their friends answer daily trivia by spelling out the answer with their clothing, taking a group photo, and then uploading directly to the AlphabeTees competition entry portal (located under the Central Plaza Jumbotron). The winning entry is then shown on the Central Plaza Jumbotron screen the following day. You can grab the CalculaTees expansion pack this Thursday, September 23rd from the Threads store (just look under the VeeMee tile).

In other news, the PlayStation Home Theater will be hosting a behind-the-scenes/making-of Heavy Rain video starting this Thursday. Visit this screen to watch this awesome video and unlock a special Heavy Rain reward. When you’re done, head to the Costumes store in the PlayStation Home Mall and load up on our new, all-original costumes (the male and female 8-bit costumes are personal favourites).

See you in Home!

Week three of the Empire Strikes Back 30th anniversary celebration continues with even more Star Wars items releasing into the ever-evolving world of PlayStation Home. We’re talking AT-AT tables, a Probe Droid chandelier, and even a Wompa skin rug. And if you really want to show the world how much of a Star Wars fanboy (or fangirl) you are, you can pick up the “Everything” Empire Strikes Back 30th Anniversary bundle, available (along with a ton of other awesome Star Wars content) from the LucasArts store in the PlayStation Home Mall.

Visit the Costumes store in the PlayStation Home Mall and transform yourself into a bonafide PlayStation Home superhero or supervillain. Choose from the Red Raven and Epsilon Viper costumes (available for the guys) or the Nocturne and Wild Scarlet costumes (for the gals). Grab the bundles at a super-low price and then take to the streets of PlayStation Home where you can wow civilians with your newfound super-gear!

Speaking of rounding out your PlayStation Home collection — be sure to visit the PlayStation Home Mall to pick up Scott Pilgrim t-shirts (available in the Threads store) and the new Lockwood items (pictured below and available from the Sodium store).

While you are at it, head to Central Plaza, where you can get a free Subway Fiery Footlong t-shirt and watch a special video of the Los Angeles Clippers’ own Blake Griffin, airing in the PlayStation Home Theater. Join the Subway Fiery Footlong Frenzy and you could win PlayStation games and hardware before they appear on shelves. You heard me – you can be the first of all your friends to own LittleBigPlanet 2, LBP2 Collector’s Edition, Gran Turismo 5, GT5 Collector’s Edition, PlayStation Move hardware and software bundles, and the Invizimals PSP bundle. Simply collect game codes at Subway restaurants and enter on SubwayFreshBuzz.com. There’s literally a prize every minute!

Top Gun the video game has launched on the PlayStation Network. To celebrate, we’re offering you a chance to win the game, the movie and two exclusive Top Gun t-shirts for your PlayStation Home avatar. Join the Top Gun Scavenger Hunt, being held in Central Plaza starting tomorrow, August 19th. Check out the official Rules and Regulations at the end of this post, and be sure to download the Top Gun game from the PlayStation Store before August 24th in order to receive a free limited edition flight suit for your PlayStation Home avatar!

Before I head out of here, I’d like to bring your attention to a new game that VeeMee (makers of the London Pub personal space, Pool personal games, and other hit pieces of PlayStation Home content) will be releasing in the very near future. Think: Scrabble…but this time you wear your answers.

Here’s how it works: Pick up the AlphabeTees Game Pack (made up of the 26 words of the Alphabet including some punctuation) from the PlayStation Home Mall. Each day a new question will be shown on the Central Plaza Jumbotron. Get together with your friends to form the answer, take a photo, and then upload directly to the AlphabeTees competition entry portal (located under the Central Plaza Jumbotron).The winning entry will then be shown on the Central Plaza Jumbotron screen the following day so that everyone in PlayStation Home knows just how skilled you are!

To get everyone into the swing of things AlphabeTees will be giving away a free sample pack of 5 letters from the AlphabeTees game point in Central Plaza. We’ll update you with more details (including release dates) on this Blog, so keep your eyes peeled.

See you in Home!

PlayStation Home Top Gun Scavenger Hunt Contest

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Void outside the 50 United States, Washington D.C. (“D.C.”) and where prohibited. The following promotion is intended for viewing in the 50 United States and D.C. only and shall only be construed and evaluated according to United States law. Do not proceed in this site if you are not a legal resident of, and located in, the 50 United States or D.C. and are at least 13 years of age at the time of entry. To enter, you must have a PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, a valid PlayStation Network account, a valid PlayStation Network ID (“PSN ID”), internet access, a copy of PlayStation Home installed on your PlayStation 3 system and a valid registered PlayStation Network e-mail address.

1. ELIGIBILITY: The PlayStation Home Top Gun Scavenger Hunt Contest (the “Promotion”) is only open to legal United States residents 13 years of age or older on or prior to August 19, 2010. Prize winners or prize winners’ parent or guardian (if the winner is under the age of 18) may be required to sign a notarized Affidavit of Eligibility and Release of Liability within 14 days of prize notification. By acceptance of prize, winners agree to the use of their name and/or likenesses for purposes of advertising, trade, or promotion without further compensation, unless prohibited by law. Return of any prize/prize notification as undeliverable or failure to return the affidavit within the designated time frame will result in disqualification. Employees of the Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (the “Sponsor”) and its parent, subsidiaries and affiliated companies and their immediate families are not eligible to participate in this Promotion.

2. SPONSOR: Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC, 919 East Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City, CA 94404.

3. TIMING: The Promotion begins August 19, 2010 12:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (“PDT”) and ends August 25, 2010 12:00 p.m. PDT (“Promotion Period”).

4. PRIZES:

• a. First Place Prize: The Sponsor will award the First Place Prize to the entrants who send the first 30 emails, containing the correct answers to the 5 trivia questions that are received by the Sponsor during the Promotion Period. First Place Prize winners will each receive vouchers for a copy of Top Gun the video game, a copy of Top Gun the movie, and 2 PlayStation Home virtual Top Gun t-shirts (1 male blue t-shirt and 1 female grey-shirt) all downloadable from the PlayStation store (ARV $25.97).
• b. Second Place Prize: The Sponsor will award the Second Place Prize to the entrants who send the first 20 emails after the 30 First Place Prize winners containing the correct answers to the 5 trivia questions that are received by the Sponsor during the Promotion Period. Second Place Prize winners will receive vouchers for a copy of Top Gun the movie and 2 PlayStation Home virtual Top Gun t-shirts (1 male blue t-shirt and 1 female grey-shirt) all downloadable from the PlayStation store (ARV $10.98).
• c. Participation Prize: All other qualifying entrants who submit entries during the Promotional Period but have not won the First Place prize or Second Place prize will receive a voucher for 2 PlayStation Home virtual Top Gun t-shirts (1 male blue t-shirt and 1 female grey- t-shirt) downloadable from the PlayStation store (ARV $0.99).

  Vouchers will be delivered to winners 6-8 weeks after the conclusion of the Promotion. Sponsor reserves the right to substitute prize of equal or greater value if prize is unavailable. Prizes are non-transferable and no substitutions allowed.

5. HOW TO ENTER:

• Log into your PlayStation Network account and launch PlayStation Home application.
• During the Promotion Period, make your way through PlayStation Home to view the Top Gun posters. There will be 5 Top Gun posters, each poster containing 1 trivia question.
• Answer the 5 trivia questions.
• Submit your answers to each of the 5 trivia questions by sending an e-mail to HomeContests@playstation.sony.com with “Top Gun” as the Subject line. Include your PSN ID in the body of the e-mail along with your answers to the trivia questions.
• The Sponsor will award the First Place Prize to the entrants who send the first 30 emails, containing the correct answers to the 5 trivia questions, that are received by the Sponsor during the Promotion Period.
• The Sponsor will award the Second Place Prize to the entrants who send the first 20 emails after the 30 First Place Prize winners containing the correct answers to the 5 trivia questions that are received by the Sponsor during the Promotion Period.
• All other qualifying entrants who submit entries during the Promotional Period but have not won the First Place prize or Second Place prize will receive the Participation Prize.
• Limit 1 entry per person and e-mail address. Subsequent entries will be disqualified. All winners will be notified via e-mail. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, mutilated, illegible, incomplete or misdirected entries. Sponsor is not responsible for technical, hardware or software failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections or failed, incomplete, garbled or delayed computer transmissions which may limit an entrant’s ability to participate in the Promotion. Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to cancel or suspend this Promotion should virus, bugs or other causes corrupt the administration, security or proper play of this Promotion. Entries not satisfying these Official Rules will be automatically disqualified.

6. General: By acceptance of prize, winner agrees to release and hold harmless Sponsor and its affiliate companies, subsidiaries, parent companies, advertising and promotion agencies, and their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents from any and all liability, claims or actions of any kind whatsoever for injuries, damages or losses to persons and property which may be sustained in connection with the receipt, ownership or use/misuse of the prize. Winner agrees to the use of his/her name and/or likeness for purposes of advertising, trade, or promotion without further compensation, unless prohibited by law. Neither Sponsor nor its affiliates, subsidiaries, division or related companies are responsible for any damages, taxes (federal, state or local if any), or expenses that winner might incur as a result of entering or participating in this Promotion or upon receipt or use of prize.

7. WINNER LIST: To obtain names of winners, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to PlayStation Home Top Gun Scavenger Hunt Contest, 919 E. Hillsdale Blvd. 4th floor, Foster City, CA 94404. Prize winners’ name request will be fulfilled within four weeks. Requests for winner list must be received by September 8, 2010.

8. RESTRICTIONS: Void where prohibited or restricted by law.

In other news, we’ll be opening the doors of the new Observatory space this Thursday, July 8th, for the PlayStation minis event. Challenge your friends to a battle of wits, memory, and luck over a board consisting of a grid of glowing tiles. Flip the tiles over to reveal a variety of minis images; reveal two matching tiles to score a point. To keep things interesting, we’ve riddled the board with random tiles hiding bonuses and traps (such as a tile that steals points from your opponent). You can even hide traps of your own, weakening your opponent and securing the spoils (which, of course, come in the form of a highly-collectible reward). Elsewhere in the Observatory you will find the pool-esque FreezeBall game, which rounds out the exclusive PlayStation minis event.

In terms of other events to keep you busy over the upcoming weekend, we’ve just received a report of an imminent outbreak of red scorpions in the Sodium Hub:

“Coming heat waves are predicted to cause numbers of red robotic scorpions in the Sodium Hub to swell! Experts predict numbers will reach their peak this weekend. Do your part to keep the Sodium Hub safe by donning your stomp boots and keeping the red scorpion menace at bay over the coming days. Remember, the more red scorpions you stomp the greater level of upgrade you’ll earn for your stomp boots. And that’s not all; each progressive Stomp Boot upgrade will increase the number of points awarded to you for stomping red scorpions when worn!”

As far as updates to the PlayStation Home Mall go, Just Cause 2 clothing and furniture items (including Rico and Tom Sheldon costumes) will be released alongside new Lockwood/Sodium clothing items (new stilettos for the ladies), the mega-popular Trigger Happy-in-the-Box game from the Midway space will be made available for use in your clubhouses and personal spaces (available at a discounted price of $0.49 for those of you who have purchased the Midway Bar Key – likewise, if you purchase the Trigger Happy-in-the-Box game at its full price of $2.99 you will get a discount on the Midway Bar Key), new Monkey Island 2 items will appear in the LucasArts store, and our friends at LOOT will release the new LOOT Mobile Internet Browser item, which allows you to access the Sony Pictures Emporium website from your personal space. Does your avatar have a shirt you want to sport on your next night out? Use the LOOT Mobile Internet Browser to access IRL versions of some of your favorite in-world items.

Last but certainly not least, we want to invite you all out to our nightly Featured Game parties to play the latest and greatest PS3 and PSN games with your friends in PlayStation Home. To participate in a Featured Game party, simply go to the Gamer’s Lounge between 4:00pm and 8:00pm PDT (7:00pm and 11:00pm EDT). Once at the event, insert the Featured Game into your PlayStation 3 and either set up your own game launching session or join someone else’s. (Pro tip: Make sure to add people you meet in PlayStation Home to your friends list so that you can find one another in the game lobby). Over the course of the next week, we’ll be playing some awesome multiplayer games – from ModNation Racers (Friday, July 9th) to the new Fat Princess DLC (Tuesday, July 13th). Come on out and join us!

See you in Home!