Sony Extreme Makeover: PlayStation Home Edition: Home gets social

Sony might want to consider this golden marketing opportunity for its new-and-improved PlayStation Home. The virtual world hub that exists in the PlayStation 3 on the PlayStation Network will soon become a hub for social games, VentureBeat reports.

Since its launch in 2008, the service boasts a healthy 23 million users. But virtual worlds aren't exactly in right now, and director of PlayStation Home Jack Buser thinks it's time to adapt with a heavier focus on--what else--the games.

"We are going to 'up level' games as the heart of PlayStation Home," Buser told VentureBeat. "This means that Home itself is going to become a game. The first things you see when you get into Home are games."

This new version of Home, said to release this fall, will include large-scale group play games in addition to the avatar features it already offers. However, Home will also serve as a meta game, according to VentureBeat, that will track points earned from in-game achievements.

The "social" part--which we imagine won't reach past Home users--seems to come in when Home will ask players to team up for group objectives within games. And while all games will be accessible from the Home hub, the service will also have areas that are thematic with different genres.

For instance, users will find all of the action games in a territory known as the Action District that looks like something out of Grand Theft Auto, while arcade and carnival-style games will be found in a waterfront boardwalk area called Pier Park. While according to VentureBeat, Home already houses 230 games, this update will make those (and new) games the number one emphasis. Sony's certainly playing it smart to keep Home relevant in the age of Facebook games, but Home on the upcoming PS Vita could certainly seal the deal for many on the fence about the handheld--fingers crossed!

[Image Credit: VentureBeat]

Do you think Sony could bring Home to even more users with this new focus? What do you think of the service as it is now? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.