After 3 Years Of People Not Caring, Sony Turning Home Into A Game

Castrum - So it would seem Sony is finally going to do something with Home. About damn time:   

The new PlayStation Home, Sony says, represents the social platform's "evolution from a virtual environment to a world of games, with a focus on rapidly connecting players with game content that pertains to their style and mood." Gone will be much of the architecture of the current Home, replaced by a space called the Hub and a series of districts based on themes, a digital Disney World designed with core gamers in mind. 

The Hub of the new Home is a sleek, bright entrance into this redesigned world. The new entrance to Home, the Hub looks like a futuristic airport or mall—clean, populated by virtual shoppers and travelers, and drawing some visual influence from Valve's Portal 2. It has been designed to get Home visitors to destinations and games faster; to pop you into a social space, not an empty apartment; and to immediately have "a huge game staring you in the face as soon as you come in," says Jack Buser, director of PlayStation Home.

...

From the Hub, PS3 owners can also visit Home's new districts, each inspired by the Tomorrowland and Adventureland of Disney World, each loosely themed around video game genres.

Home's Action District is geared toward the Call of Duty, Resistance and Killzone player, with an "urban feel reminiscent of a first-person shooter level" that "provides a direct travel point to action and horror games." Whether we'll actually be able to shoot our fellow Home visitors in the face, or just give them finger guns while dancing with them, remains to be seen.

The Adventure District is more suited for the Tomb Raider and Uncharted fan, an area designed as a "lush island jungle with an air of mystery, hidden treasure and discovery." I got a peek at the Adventure District at this year's E3 and was impressed by its ancient architecture and detailed idols. It's one of the more intriguing areas, as it may be home to the most interesting quests and treasure hunts the new Home has to offer. (It was also previously rolled into the Action District, but Sony split the two after early feedback.)

http://kotaku.com/5833437/sony-gives-playstation-home-a-massive-theme-park-makeover-with-mmo+like-gameplay-this-fall

Kinect: Fun Labs - Air Band Release Date And Price Announced

Pictured: Not your average gamers

MjolnirX - The wacky new "Kinect: Fun Labs - Air Band" has finally had its release date announced. Official date: August 22nd, 2011. The game will turn your beer-bottle-filled, poster-plastered room into a stage where you can play your neon-lighted instruments to your heart's content.

You and one friend can pick one different instrument each, your choice of which includes a guitar, a keyboard, or drums. With your new neon air-peripherals, you can choose from a number of genres of music to play. As with all other Kinect games, it will take embarrassing pictures of you in your boxers playing it like it's the first (or last) game you'll ever play.

The game will be available for 240MP which is a lot for something you can do for free any time, anywhere.

Gears Of War 3 Going 3D

Castrum - Another game jumping on the bandwagon for no particular reason:

Gears of War 3 is the latest game to leverage its numerical modifier by adding 3D support (first pioneered by classic films like Jaws 3-D and SpyKids 3-D), and joins other participants like Killzone 3, Uncharted 3, and Resistance 3. "It felt like something we wanted to have. It was a feature we didn't want to be deficient in," Gears producer Rod Fergusson told Eurogamer. "When you look at Gears 1, it was what people used to demo HD at the time." 

Ironically enough, the tradeoff for 3D support in Gears 3 will be sub-HD resolutions. "Instead of 720p you're at five something," Fergusson said. "It's a little bit jaggier in certain areas." If it sounds weird to hear an Epic employee suggesting that an Epic game is anything less than a technology high-water mark, there's a reason for it: 3D support "was something that came in really late in our process," Fergusson explained. Instead of building in 3D support from the ground up, Epic instead opted for a post-processing effect that "generally works," he said. The technology is most likely TriOviz, which was accepted into Unreal Engine's Integrated Partners Program last year. 

When I first saw this, I honestly thought it was a joke. Sadly, it is indeed true, and yes, you can thank all the tech nerds and gimmick junkies out there for your lower-resolution Gears 3.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/15/gears-of-war-3-adds-3d-support-we-await-gears-of-war-3-d-re-tit/

Microsoft Plans To Release Monthly Kinect Titles

MjolnirX - With Fruit Ninja: Kinect releasing in just a week, Microsoft has announced that they aim to release new Kinect exclusives on a monthly basis, according to an interview between Robin Burrowes and CVG. With a few great titles out already such as Kinect Sports and Child of Eden, plus some amazing games coming out such as (of course) Fruit Ninja: Kinect, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, the reboot of the Steel Battalion franchise titled "Heavy Armor", The Gun Stringer, Minecraft and even Mass Effect 3, there seems to be good reason for the 10 million Kinect owners, such as myself, to be excited.

"Obviously we have Xbox Live Arcade exclusives running through the Summer of Arcade programme, but yes, you can expect far more exclusives coming to the platform in future," Robin Burrowes, Xbox Live product marketing manager for EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa], told CVG."

Though he couldn't divulge the name of the titles he was referring to, he did mention that we should "trust the legacy of titles in the past". He also mentioned that they are working on games that will be released on Xbox Live Arcade, as well traditional core games which include sequels to successful titles already on the platform.