But, as I mentioned in my last post, the release of Starhawk is really just the beginning of our ongoing support for our international community. And to support our online multiplayer community we have some really great announcements for you all today. First, we’re honored that Major League Gaming has taken a strong interest in Starhawk with its blend of shooter and strategy gameplay, and they’re kicking things off right with a tournament worth $20,000 in prizes so get over to http://www.majorleaguegaming.com/starhawk and sign-up! And if you missed it last night, be sure to check-out the live stream that we did for the MLG Starhawk exhibition with pro gamers Tsquared, Hastr0, and GoldenBoyFTW! We cover single-player, co-op, and of course hot multiplayer action. Witty commentary supplied by me, of course ;-).

Secondly, and this is the announcement that you guys probably were *NOT* expecting…there was a lot of discussion here at LightBox Interactive and Sony Santa Monica on how best to support the community and keep our player base all together as one cohesive group. We really didn’t like how in Warhawk when we released a new map pack, it forced these divisions on our players. And after we released three expansions, our player community was pretty fractured. With Starhawk that ends! We are incredibly excited to announce that all map packs for Starhawk will be free. Yeah, you read that right…FREE. Whenever we release a map pack you won’t have to pay a friggin’ dime! And we’ve already started the early stages of our next map pack for you guys. Check out these very early sketches from the new planet of Cypress! A lush, swampy world that’s home to an abandoned research facility that many years ago was responsible for researching the mysteries of Rift Energy.

Now certainly we’ll have some paid DLC content in the future as well as our free map packs, but we’re still playing around with what that will be. We’re going to be looking to see what the player feedback is on Starhawk in the coming weeks to help steer the DLC that we develop for you all. This is our commitment to all of you, the players. I hope you all get a chance to enjoy Starhawk – not only with today’s retail release but for the months and years to come!

*Voucher can be used to extend your current service or to create a new one.

This tournament is short, so be ready to go!

And for those of you that don’t already have Fallen Star, we’ve dropped the price 75%! From June 22nd to July 6th you can pick up this explosive expansion pack for $1.99.

*You must have the full game Warhawk to play Fallen Star.

When: 5:00am Pacific, July 1 to 5:00am Pacific, July 5
Where: Warhawk Fallen Star: Collection Tourny servers (look for the blue Tourny-FallenStar # servers)
Modes: 32-player Fallen Star, Collection Mode, Team Game only
What You Need To Win: Be a part of your match’s “Winning Team” and you will get one point. You get 0 points for losses and ties.
Where To Find Your Rank: Just like last time, your stats will be posted on www.warhawk.com in the Leaderboard area. Look for the “Tourny” tab.
What You’ll Win: The top 10 players from North America and Europe will all win the fabled “Champion’s Blade.” Also, they’ll win a three-month subscription to the new PlayStation Plus subscription service.

“Collection” Rules
This gameplay mode is like multi-flag CTF. There are four energy cores scattered around the map, generally positioned in the center or between the two teams’ main bases. Each team has a Reactor where Energy Cores are taken to score points.

In the screen shot above you can see two Energy Cores positioned on a Eucadian bridge. Bringing these Cores back to your team’s reactor will score points for your team…and you can carry more than one Core at a time.

The scoring system is progressive, so if you score just one Core, your team gets just one point. Two Cores will score three points. Three Cores are good for six points…and if you manage to work as a team and bring all four Cores back to the Reactor at once, then your team scores a whopping 10 points!

As you can see in the screenshot below, the Cores are displayed on your character and the more you are carrying, the more you see whirling and orbiting around you. You’ll also see them on the mini-map as pulsing energy symbols. The score is displayed in the upper right corner as usual, but there is a new display there for Collection mode. It’s the little yellow number that shows you how many Cores your team currently is currently carrying. This ends up being critical for knowing where your focus should be — offense or defense.

…and you can press the Triangle button to throw the Cores you are carrying! Passing Cores among your team is “super-effective.”

To help get you into the game, you can purchase Warhawk Fallen Star on the PlayStation Store for $1.99 from June 22 to July 6. That’s 75% off the original price!

Stay tuned for prize and tourney details here on the PlayStation.Blog.

This week brings more of what you’ve come to expect from our weekly updates over at PlayStation Home. And by “more of what you’ve come to expect” I mean “awesome game content, compelling community events, and free media, all served up in a dynamic social environment that is only possible on the PS3.” To start, we are celebrating the arrival of spring in the only way we know how – by throwing a huge event smattered with the irreverent humor you’ve come to know and love. This Friday, April 2, all of you action movie fans will want to log into PlayStation Home to partake in our Easter City Huntdown event. Pictures are worth a thousand words, and movies are worth a million pictures, so I’ll let the clip below speak for itself. Needless to say, you won’t want to miss out on this one.

The PlayStation Home Mall will also be seeing quite an update this week, with a host of Anime-themed virtual items (to complement the Anime personal space we released last week) and MAG costumes being released. And if you head to the updated UNCHARTED 2 space or the Irem Carnival you can pick up new costumes (a Sark costume and a host of Western-themed items, respectively). Check the pics below for a sample of what is coming into PlayStation Home tomorrow, April 1.

Be sure to visit the PlayStation Home Theater this week for tons of Tester-related goodness. Tonight at 6:00pm – 7:30pm PT (9:00pm – 10:30pm EST) we will be hosting yet another meet-and-greet with the cast of the PlayStation Network exclusive reality series The Tester (this week we will be bringing in two of the strongest contestants from this season – Amped and Cyrus).

Come tomorrow, we will air the newest episode, Killer Memory, as well as release two new commemorative The Tester items (including the Blue Surgical Scrubs, pictured below). And if that’s not enough for you, we’ll even be airing The Tester Marathon (episodes 1-6) throughout the weekend, so you can catch up on any of the episodes you may have missed in preparation for the season finale, which will screen on April 8 in PlayStation Home!

Just a reminder for you valiant souls who, like me, can never get enough Warhawk: LightBox Interactive will be hosting a month-long Capture the Flag tournament starting Friday, April 2. Winners will be awarded the super-rare Champions Blade in-game weapon as well as exclusive Warhawk t-shirts to sport in PlayStation Home as a sign of your general radness and badness.

See you in Home!

Many of us here in the States have been spending way too much time staring at our brackets so we’re opting not to do a traditional “bracketed” tournament based on teams or clans. Instead, we’re going to make this competition more accommodating of the individual player by hosting special Capture the Flag Servers that players can join and play on. These servers will have their stats tracked separately for the duration of the competition, specifically Points earned, and these stats will be displayed on a new Tab labeled “TOURNY” that we are adding to the Warhawk website and this new tab will process and update all the player data periodically — so if you get a kill or flag capture and then *immediately* go check the “TOURNY” Tab, just be aware that the server churns all the data every 6 hours and your fine, fine combat skills may take a bit of time to be displayed :-)

So here are the ground rules:

• Competition starts on April 2nd at 5am Pacific Time and will run through May 3rd at 5am Pacific Time.
• Players must play on Official SONY Servers named “Tournament-CTF-1,2,3, etc.”
• Competition is open to North American *AND* European players.
• The top 50 players that have earned the most Points on these designated servers will win the competition.

Winners will receive the very rare Champions Blade! It’s an in-game weapon like a trophy that you can bash people with. You’ll also get a special edition Warhawk shirt for your avatar in HOME — only available to the winners of this competition!

So…

Start sharpening your skills and get ready for the competition — an who knows, you may even run into a dev or two ;-)

Rock on,
-Dylan

You asked for more lightsabers – you got ‘em! You wanted more costumes, like the Dark Lord’s armor Star Wars: The Force Unleashed? Or maybe you want to dress up like a Clone Trooper? As a hardcore Indiana Jones fan, you might want Mutt Williams’ gear or a Crystal Skull for your personal space. That’s why our friends over at LucasArts are stocking the shelves with tons of hot new items this week (as well as dropping a Yoda Fountain in Central that answers all of your pressing questions). Here’s a taste of what to expect come Thursday morning.

We’re pleased to announce that the highly-requested Irem Seaside of Memories public space – with its resort-like atmosphere, complete with three huts (including one swimwear storefront), white sand beaches, and some totally rad rewards for all you guys and the gals – is launching this week. This serene oceanfront locale is the perfect place to catch some sun, take a swim, and just chill out with your friends. Check out the pics below for a sneak peek of what is in store for you this week.

In these short winter days it oftentimes feels like you can never have too much sun…or too much fun. And that’s precisely why we have decided to release two new additions to our luxury personal space line. These two spaces – a beautiful Santorini-based seaside mansion and a wave-faring Yacht – are the textbook definition of opulence and affluence. Since these dazzling new spaces complement one another perfectly, we’ll be bundling them together at a reduced price of $7.99 (they will also be available for $4.99 separately). Look at the pics to get a better look at these fantastic new personal spaces.

In terms of what is going down this week in the PlayStation Home Theater, you’ll find the newest episode of The Tester – the PlayStation Network exclusive reality series – playing come this Thursday (the previous week’s episode will be screening in the lobby for those of you who need to catch up). We’re also releasing a new The Tester commemorative item, pictured below. In addition to The Tester footage, you’ll find new footage from this here Blog, including videos relating to BioShock 2 and Final Fantasy XIII.

Finally, we’ll be offering you a chance to enter a raffle for a chance to win one of 50 free Warhawk personal spaces. All you’ll have to do is follow the instructions on the Warhawk posters plastered around PlayStation Home this week to enter. Oh, and you’ll also need to read the official Rules and Regulations, which are posted below for your convenience.

See you in Home!

Warhawk Personal Space Sweepstakes

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Void outside the 50 United States and 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, internet access and a copy of PlayStation HOME installed on your system. All communications concerning the Warhawk Personal Space Sweepstakes (“Sweepstakes”) will be sent to your authorized PSN email address. The Sweepstakes begins March 4 at 12:00pm (noon) PST and ends March 10, 2010 at 11:59pm PST.

• To enter, send an e-mail to HomeContests@playstation.sony.com. Enter “WARHAWK” in the subject line and in the body of the email include your PSN ID.
• Sponsor will randomly select 50 eligible entries on or about March 17, 2010. These 50 eligible entries will be deemed winners.

To be valid, entries must be received no later than March 10, 2010 at 11:59 PST. Limit one entry per person and e-mail address. Subsequent entries will be disqualified. Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc (the “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 entrants 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 sweepstakes. Entries not satisfying these Official Rules will be automatically disqualified.

2. PRIZES: Each prize winner will receive a voucher via email that entitles them to download the Warhawk Personal Space (ARV $4.99). Sponsor reserves the right to substitute prize of equal value if prize is unavailable. Prizes are non-transferable and no substitutions allowed.

3. WINNERS: Winners will be determined by a single random drawing of all valid entries received by Sponsor. Selection will be held on or about March 17, 2010. Winners will be notified via their registered PSN e-mail address. If any winners do not respond to Sponsor’s notification email within 14 days of the date that it is sent by Sponsor, they will be disqualified and new winners will be selected based on the original selection criteria. Please allow two to three weeks for receipt of prizes.

4. ODDS OF WINNING: The odds of winning depend on number of valid entries received.

5. ELIGIBILITY: Open to legal U.S. residents only aged 13 or older. Return of any prize/prize notification as undeliverable will result in disqualification and an alternate winner will be selected. Prize winners may be required to sign an Affidavit of Eligibility and Release within fourteen (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. Additionally, by acceptance of prize, prize winners agree to release Sponsor, its parents, subsidiaries and affiliates 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 of the prize or while preparing for, participating, and /or traveling to any prize-related activity. Employees of the Sponsor and its parent, subsidiaries and affiliated companies and their immediate families are not eligible to participate in this contest. Neither the Sponsors nor its affiliates, subsidiaries, division or related companies are responsible for any damages, taxes, or expenses that winners might incur as result of this sweepstakes or receipt of prize.

6. WINNER LIST: To obtain names of winners, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Warhawk Personal Space Sweepstakes, 919 E. Hillsdale Blvd. 2nd Floor Foster City, CA 94404. Prize winners’ name request will be fulfilled within four weeks. Requests for winner list must be received by April 1, 2010.

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

8. SPONSOR: Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc, Foster City, CA 94404.

OK, maybe not a bazillion but… its more than two years after our initial release and tons of players around the world are still having a blast playing Warhawk. We in the industry call that “sticky” and I assure you it’s not as gross as it sounds ;-)

But we want even more players to enjoy the fun of Warhawk’s fast-paced warfare, So…

I’m posting here today is to announce a sale of inflatable gorilla proportions! Starting today here in the United States, you’ll be able to download Warhawk for $14.99!

BWHAAAA?!?!

And…the Booster Packs are just $4.99 each (or you can get all three expansions for $9.99)

Omega Dawn Booster Pack

Operation: Broken Mirror

Operation: Fallen Star

Now of course it’s for a LIMITED TIME as all great offers are, so you’ve got only two weeks to get your hands on one of the best multiplayer games on the PS3 for only $14.99.

We can’t wait to have a bunch of new players join our community and if you’re a Warhawk player that just hasn’t picked up all the Boosters — Now’s the perfect time!

A lot has changed for us over the last year — we started our new studio LightBox Interactive, moved to Austin, and we’ve been cranking on the development of our new game that both our Warhawk fans *and* new players are going to love! The team and I are wicked excited about how it’s shaping up and we can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Be sure to stay tuned to the blog for more info on our upcoming game!

…and our next Warhawk Tournament :-)

Rock on,

-dylan

If you’re like me and your closets are overflowing with all the awesome new virtual items we release each and every week in PlayStation Home, then this Thursday’s content update is truly a cause for celebration. Not only are we dropping a bunch of new virtual items inspired by some of your favorite PS3 and PSP games, but we’re putting hundreds of items on sale in our brand new Exclusives store at a mere fraction of their original price. You can thank our new resident business guru Mr. Magnus Keynes – he of the iconic (and snazzy) gold suit – who is committed to bringing you, the loyal PlayStation Home community, the best deals he possible can. And when we say “best deals”, we mean that Magnus is straight up slashing prices like a certified maniac at a lakeside summer camp!

If you’re an UNCHARTED fan (which you are – everybody is!) then you’ll need to drop in to the PlayStation Home Mall and pick up the new UNCHARTED costumes and furniture items we are releasing this week. I’m talking Nathan Drake, Sully, Chloe Frazier, Elena Fisher, and Tetram costumes along with some serious treasures for your personal space, pulled straight from the UNCHARTED franchise. See the pics below for a few choice samples.

On a similar note, we’re also releasing some special SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo costumes along with some exclusive Warhawk costumes (for the Eucadian and/or Chernovan in all of us). Don’t believe me? Here’s the evidence.

We will be continuing to air full episodes of the PlayStation Network exclusive reality series, The Tester, in the PlayStation Home Theater this week, with Episode 2 going live tomorrow, February 25th. Come out and watch as a group of hardcore gamers all compete for their dream job as a member of the SCEA QA team and pick up a free commemorative item from the Theater (additional The Tester items are also available for sale, like this goat chair, shown below as proof that we are slowly, but surely, going off the deep end).

Remember to come back to the PlayStation Home Theater every week to watch new episodes of the Tester (updated every Thursday) for the rest of the season.

But before we dig deep into the details surrounding these incredible events, let’s first look at a new personal space crafted specifically for all of you loyal Eucadian and Chernovan troopers that gather with your clans in clubhouses throughout PlayStation Home. We heard you loud and clear when you told us that you wanted private Sand Tables from which to strategize and formulate a plan of attack when launching into the world of endless battles known as Warhawk. A testament to our mission to expand your favorite PS3 games by offering unique supplementary content in PlayStation Home, the Warhawk personal space delivers a dedicated environment that hosts not only the aforementioned Sand Table but also a full-on Warhawk-themed multiplayer mini-game, all while offering the perfect launch point for your next mission. See the video below for a fly-through of this excellent new personal space.

It isn’t easy playing matchmaker, which is why we here on the PlayStation Home team don’t envy our friend Jerry. See, Jerry currently holds the position of Associate Cherub at Global Holiday Industries, Cupid Division…and he isn’t exactly what you would call an overachiever when it comes to his occupation. Jerry is in an especially tight situation given that the top brass at GHI has been looking to cut back on its workforce due to the poor state of the global economy. To determine who stays and who goes, upper management has put all employees under review, which means Jerry could lose his gig at any time. That’s why we’re calling on you, the PlayStation Home community, to play matchmaker this Valentine’s Day and help our buddy Jerry out. First, find the letters written to Jerry from lonely hearts all across PlayStation Home (these will be posted in the PlayStation Home Mall). Then, recruit a partner to help match the pairs described in the letters, adorning your avatar with virtual items from your inventory so that you closely resemble the matches these lovelorn people are so desperately searching for. Finally, snap a picture of the two of you in the Photo Booth (coming this Thursday to the PlayStation Home Mall), and you’ll not only save Jerry’s job but you and your partner will earn honorary Cupid status yourselves (in the form of some super exclusive rewards). Check out the video below and then visit www.cupidonnotice.com for more info. And be sure to head into PlayStation Home this Thursday to start playing matchmaker. Jerry’s livelihood (and the livelihood of his wonderful girlfriend, Sandy, and his adorable pooch) depends on you!

In further celebration of the impending holiday, we’re inviting you all out to the main SingStar Room to partake in some uniquely PlayStation Home festivities. We’ll be rolling out a limited time only mini-game in the re-skinned SingStar space, (in) appropriately titled Stupid Cupid. Pick a partner, hit the animated dance floor, and try to sync up your moves so as to unlock a special Valentine’s Day-themed animated virtual item. We’re not allowed to show you too much this early, but we did manage to sneak a quick shot of the special SingStar V-Day room. Check it out!

As mentioned before, we’ll be giving out free SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo 3 shirts to all community members that come out to the PlayStation Home Theater to view the trailer for SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo 3 trailer, available Feb 16th for your PSP. In fact, we’ll be giving 6 SOCOM shirts away in the Theater over the next two weeks (3 male/ 3 female), with batch #1 being available from February 12th – 15th, batch #2 being available from February 16th – 18th, and batch #3 being available from February 19th – 23rd. So be sure to visit the PlayStation Home Theater often in the coming weeks and watch the SOCOM footage. It’s the only way you can collect them all, and once these items are gone they are gone forever.

Special Mardi Gras virtual items will be available this week in the PlayStation Home Mall, so all of you party animals can celebrate this world-famous festival of excess properly. I’m betting that Listen@Home will be giving Bourbon St. a run for its money this weekend, so I fully expect each and every one of you to come out. Peep these pics for a taste of what is soon to be unleashed in terms of Mardi Gras-appropriate threads.

You’ll see some glowing spheres floating in Central Plaza come Thursday, February 11th. Approach these spheres, and then follow the instructions you receive to embark on a quest the likes of which is completely unique to the world of PlayStation Home. Who knows where the clues will lead you, but one thing is for sure: Believe that anything you can imagine, you can make real.

See you in Home!

And that’s the key word there is… “Community”

We’ve always been driven to support our community and at the same time, we’re not afraid to try out new experimental stuff. The latest result of this is our collaboration with one of our own players named Sugaboo — that’s his PSN handle, *not* his name IRL :-)

Sugaboo’s website MyHawk.org has been operational for quite some time now and he’s just rolled-out a massive update! Clan Matches & Tournaments, Daily Leader Boards, New graphs, Per-weapon stats, Stats on individual games, Game Calendar and more!

Here’s just one example of a player stats page with game calendar:

Based on feedback from our player community, there was always a set of very highly requested community features that Warhawk didn’t support “out-of-the-box”. These requests weren’t forgotten!!! We were just thinking of the best and most extensible way to roll them out. And since they’re community features, it was *critical* for us to develop a solution that would allow all of you guys, our players from around the world, to customize and enhance the Warhawk community for years to come.

We think of it as the democratization of our player community – and yes, it’s global so it’s not just for American players!

So…I’m not going to puke too much technical schwag at all of you but suffice to say, we now provide you guys with the full, and raw data stream from our stats database – not just awards and medals! Every game, every clan, every player, every kill. All of this data is delivered via XML so it’s very easy to Web 2.0-ify a community website. Yeah, Yeah, I know I just said “web 2.0” don’t hate me for using one of the most overused terms on the internet — It just happens to be true in this case so cut me some slack :-)

Here’s a just a wee-little bit of the XML that the Warhawk Server Cluster generates:

Here’s a pic of the game summary page from a recent game. Just click a player’s name to access his stats page. Then, you’ll see a calendar that shows the days he (or she) played Warhawk. Click on specific day and you will see a link to the results of every game he played:

Here’s a pic of the Clan challenge screen. This is where teams can schedule games and, via the new XML feed, MyHawk.org reports the official results of the match!

MyHawk.org now provides our Warhawk Community with some great new features; features that are built upon the global Warhawk XML feed that was developed by the fantastic engineers in our Online Technology Group in San Diego. They do soooo much work behind the scenes (and not just on Warhawk), that I thought it would be a good idea for you to see who they really are. And, just in case any of them show up on America’s Most-Wanted… here’s a pic of this motley crew during one of the play sessions!

Lastly, I want to thank Sugaboo for all of his hard work! He has been beta testing our global XML
feed for quite sometime and I’m so happy to see a member of our player community work to
extend the very community he’s a part of!!

Thanks Sugaboo!

The team and I really think that what you’ve done with our new XML streams is a great addition to
our Warhawk community and we hope that XML game streams of this magnitude are adopted by
other multiplayer games in the future!

So that’s it for now everyone – If there are any other community sites that would like to access
the Warhawk global XML feed, please hit the Warhawk forums and post your info. We have a
team in San Diego that can give you the proper server access.

Rock on!
-dylan