Home is where the Virtual heart is

Sony modifies Playstation Home to provide a social gaming experience with free-to-play games. Will “Home” become a destination for online gamers? Articles and analysis from:

VentureBeat ” Home is evolving to become more of a platform for playing social games. The 230 titles available on Home are aimed at Home’s mostly hardcore fans, but they are lighter and more casual experiences than users would find in disk-based PlayStation 3 games. “

Financial Times ” With Sony providing core back-end services, Home is an attractive and easy environment in which publishers can develop, experiment and evolve their titles.  It is pushing a freemium model of free-to-play games with players able to buy virtual items. “

Is PS Vita a New Level of Social Gaming?

Sony PlayStation rolls out the PS Vita which allows achievements, rewards and some interactions with other players on the portable gaming network. Is this the start of a whole new social gaming direction? Or is it just a few tweaks tacked on to make portable gaming seem more social? Either way, Sony has taken notice of social gaming.

Video: PS Vita – A social gaming revolution

Hackers Delight

The Playstation Network data breach is massive and potentially disastrous if credit card information was hacked. How will this effect people’s perceptions of  social games on Facebook and other networks? Articles concerning the implications of the data breach from:

MSNBC  ” With the PlayStation Network, Sony is already admitting that far richer information has probably been stolen: Name, address, date of birth, email address, online ID and password. It doesn’t take a criminal mind to understand what that means, just connect the dots: known locations of expensive gaming hardware, potential logins to banks or Facebook, personal trivia that could be used for identity verification. ”

Los Angeles Times  ” Sony last week shut down its PlayStation Network service, saying it had been the target of an “intrusion,” but did not release details until Tuesday. “

eWeek  ” Sony has also engaged an “outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation” into what happened. Sony has also reported the breach to a San Diego office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The company has steadfastly refused to provide any details as to what caused the breach. “

Los Angeles Games Conference

Technorati has an interesting article about a discussion by Jack Buser, Director of Playstation Home at the LA Games Conference. From the article:

” Accessibility and the idea of “time and fun” is ultra-important. It must be easy and quick for the consumers to get to the content. And, a great amount of attention must be spent in identifying what is enjoyable for the target gamers. “

JediVille

Is “Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures” the next generation of social gaming? Articles and analysis from:

The Examiner ” Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures is obviously meant to be a one-stop extension the show and Sony Online and LucasArts are making sure that the kids are covered in every aspect of social gaming. There’s the obligatory avatar customization, chat, friend list, and interaction within Clone Wars-themed environments.”

GameRant ” We already know how addictive casual games can be (my mother spends an average of 2 hours a night playing flash games), Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures is at its core a collection of mini games spanning a dozen different genres – so it’s possible the game will appeal to casual players and Star Wars fans alike.”

USA Today ” To celebrate its 1 million mark, the game will offer players a limited edition, in-game Golden Mouse Droid pet. Players can bring their new pets to an in-game virtual party, the first in a series of weekly live events”

The Toronto Star ” While it’s free to play, you can choose to pay a $6/month fee to unlock all features and levels, plus you can buy Star Wars goodies via micro-transactions.”

The Trailer for the game

Shaken not Stirred

Mashable reports on Sony Online Entertainment’s wild new social game “The Agency: Covert Ops” ,  a Mission Impossible/James Bond type of game sure to lure in a few of the elusive hardcore gamer types. Video and still shots included in the article.  From the article:

” In the company’s first social media action game, you’ll find yourself running covert missions, building a network of operatives, customizing your character and your agency’s headquarters, mastering highly replayable mini-games, upgrading your agent with gadgets and weapons, and more.”

PR Newswire (Press Release)