This Thursday, August 12th, the gates to the Presentation Podium re-open to celebrate the release of the upcoming PlayStation Move motion-sensor controller. And we are inviting you all to take part in this exclusive community event, only available in PlayStation Home.

Kicking off first thing tomorrow morning, visitors to the PlayStation Move event space will automatically be granted a unique PlayStation Move controller outfit that will serve as your key to access the full event experience. Don your outfit, grab three of your friends, and commence the team challenge: Coordinate with your team to earn new versions of the controller outfit (denoted by the color variants) until you unlock the ultimate prize, a PlayStation Move outfit complete with the iconic fully animated multi-colored orb. Also available within the space is a limited-edition multi-color PlayStation Move controller outfit that is packed with all-new emotes for your avatar!

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Week two of the Empire Strikes Back 30th anniversary celebration continues with more Star Wars costumes – including the Boba Fett Mandalorian outfit (along with Han Solo and Luke Skywalker costumes). While you are in-world eating up all that special Star Wars content, be sure to visit the Central Plaza kiosk and pick up the Yoda Ears (available for free for one week only) and, of course, head to the recently-released Star Wars Cantina and experience one of the franchise’s most famous scenes PlayStation Home-style.

And for those of you who are lucky enough to be attending Star Wars Celebration V this weekend in Orlando, FL, be sure to say “hi” to our friend GlassWalls, who will be hanging out at the PlayStation Home booth (he’s easy to identify – just look for the bright pink hair!)

Paramount Digital Entertainment has just announced that Top Gun – the video game based on the 80’s iconic hypersonic film – will be making its debut on PlayStation Network on Tuesday, August 17. It’s a free-flying combat shooter featuring Maverick, Iceman & the rest of the Top Gun fliers, scripted with new dialogue and combat scenarios by the film’s screenwriter, Jack Epps, Jr., and features two single player & five multiplayer modes (Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Top Gun, Bombing Run & Capture the Flag).

Those of you who purchase Top Gun before August 24 will receive a free limited-edition flight suit for your PlayStation Home avatar. And that’s not all – on Monday, August 16th, at 5:00pm PDT (8:00pm EST), Top Gun screenwriter Jack Epps Jr. will be on-hand in Central Plaza to celebrate and chat with you, the PlayStation Home community! To participate, simply wear your new Top Gun avatar t-shirt, available when you watch the exciting new game trailer in the PlayStation Home Theater this Thursday, August 12th.

Also releasing this week into the wide world of PlayStation Home is a brand-new game for your personal space (Solitaire), a host of art (Patient Zero, Vlad the Impaler, and Blackbeard artwork from our friends at LOOT! and Sideshow Collectibles), clothing and furniture items from the soon-to-be-released Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (download the demo now from the PlayStation Network), the new Ocean Bubble aquarium, clocks (courtesy of Mass Media), and the hilarious new “Sneak Attack” items (free “traps” that you can place in your personal space that can be used to trick your friends – upgrade these with sound banks that change the gags and also come with special virtual items).

See you in Home!

This year marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most critically acclaimed installments of one of the most popular films of all time — Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. And this Thursday, August 5th, we kick off the celebration with the release of a slew of exclusive Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back content, available only in PlayStation Home.

Plucked straight from the iconic planet of Tatooine, the Cantina — situated in the spaceport town of Mos Eisley — is a rough-and-tumble intergalactic watering hole that welcomes only the toughest and bravest of souls (no Droids allowed!) From the Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes house band to Wuher, the resident bartender, the Mos Eisley Cantina is an immersive environment that faithfully recreates one of the most memorable scenes from The Empire Strikes Back Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Releasing alongside a score of items — including Chewbacca, C-3PO, and Leia Organa costumes — the Mos Eisley Cantina is available this Thursday via the PlayStation Home navigator.

While you are expanding your Star Wars experience by visiting the Mos Eisley Cantina in PlayStation Home and picking up the special Star Wars items (available from the LucasArts store in the PlayStation Home Mall), be sure to keep an eye on the posters throughout PlayStation Home’s Central Plaza during the next few weeks for portions of a secret voucher code. The first 10,000 users that assemble and redeem this voucher will receive a highly limited The Empire Strikes Back furniture item for their personal space. This item will only be available to those of you that participate in this ongoing scavenger hunt and will never be made for sale. So be sure to get in-world this Thursday to collect the first portion of this secret code and stay glued to this blog as well as the official PlayStation Facebook and Twitter accounts for more details surrounding future Empire Strikes Back events and content!

We wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate the winners of the ModNation Racers “Snap a Trick” contest, which we announced on this blog a few months back. We were inundated with entries, but have finally whittled it down to the top contestants. So, without further adieu, I ask that you join us in congratulating the following racers: ADRSKYLINE14, DTC_2010, FerrariThugs, kidd94, Mangus_Lorcan, ManiK, QCVic, silentkillerrei, and tbt924. Visit the ModNation Racers space in PlayStation Home this Thursday and check out pics of these guys and gals’ awesome kart tricks (here’s two of our favorite shots, just to whet your appetites)!

Finally, we wanted to draw your attention to a site ran by one of our hardcore PlayStation Home community members, Bandit731, who hosts a truly gorgeous gallery of photos taken in-world at the following site: http://photographyhome.tumblr.com/. Give the link a click when you get a moment and check it out for yourself — this user is very talented.

See you in Home!

With every passing week more and more awesome games arrive into the ever-expanding world on PlayStation Home. And this week promises to continue in this rich tradition of compelling content and exclusive gaming experiences, as we release three highly-anticipated games for use in your clubhouses and personal spaces.

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By popular demand, our friends at VEEMEE are delivering special versions of Darts and Pool that you can share with your friends in the personal location(s) of your choice. To sweeten the deal, those of you that have already added VEEMEE’s London Pub personal space to your collection will receive a discount on each of these games ($1.99 for Darts, $2.49 for the English and American Pool package), which will be available from the Exclusives store beginning this Thursday, July 15th. So take this as your “cue” to “dart” on over to the PlayStation Home Mall and prove once and for all that you are the King (or Queen) of two of PlayStation Home’s most popular games.

Fans of the recently-released Midway space will finally be able to add the Trigger Happy-in-a-Box game to their collection of personal games. This game will be available at a discounted price of $0.49 for players that have purchased the Midway Bar Key (similarly, if you purchase the Trigger Happy-in-the-Box game at its full price of $2.99 you will receive a discount on the Midway Bar Key). Be sure to add this game to your collection by visiting the Midway space or the Exclusives store in the PlayStation Home Mall starting this Thursday.

Last but not least, the long-awaited Killzone 2 Radec costume will be made available this week along with additional Monkey Island 2 items. You can pick up the former from the Threads store in the PlayStation Home Mall while the latter can be found in the LucasArts store come this Thursday.

See you in Home!

Attn: Gunslingers, desperados, mercenaries, buckaroos, and assorted other colorful characters that make up the landscape of Rockstar’s new tour de force Red Dead Redemption! As you make your way through the game’s dusty terrain, pumping lead into lawmen, lawless men, and even a few not-so-cuddly members of the wildlife community, while grabbing Trophies left and right, keep your eye out for a few mile marker accomplishments that will grant you the kind of highly sought-after PlayStation Home rewards that will make you the envy of your entire posse. To give you leg up this week, here are the instructions to unlock two of the many PlayStation Home rewards that can be found in the killing fields of Red Dead Redemption: Complete the Rockstar Games Social Club “Skin it to Win It Challenge”, and unlock the “Gentlemen’s Attire” and “Lady’s Finest” virtual items.

In other news, the PlayStation Home Mall will be updated this week with new items for your avatars and personal spaces, including additional Red Dead Redemption items (such as the John Marston outfit), new Irem cowboy and cowgirl items (are you sensing a loose theme to this week yet?), LucasArts items (including Mola Ram items from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom — how sweet is that?!), and even this Minotaur head, for all of you that are participating in the ongoing Top Avatar competition, which is focusing on the Fantasy genre this week (details can be found here).

See you in Home!

Early in the history of PlayStation Home, leading developers embraced the platform as a means to expand players’ gaming experiences via content that unlocked in-world after certain performance milestones were reached in-game. The PlayStation 3 community reacted very positively to this type of game integration, rushing into PlayStation Home to gather rewards from games such as Batman: Arkham Asylum, Street Fighter IV, Mega Man 10, White Knight Chronicles, Tekken 6, Resident Evil 5, PixelJunk Shooter, and many more.

Tomorrow, April 15th, we take the next step in the evolution of the platform with the release of the SOCOM OPFOR game space, which will allow fans of the franchise to assemble an assault weapon in a PlayStation Home mini-game and then load out into SOCOM: Confrontation with a fully-playable Golden AK-47 – an exclusive weapon only available to the most skilled players who can successfully complete the aforementioned mini-game in 12 seconds or less. Associate Producer KC Coleman had this to say about this landmark event in PlayStation Home history:

The ability [for PlayStation Home users] to unlock the Golden AK-47 in SOCOM: Confrontation is a huge step forward for Home as a platform and for the fans of the PS3 in general. We’ve long prided ourselves on being able to expand the experience of favorite PS3 titles by creating complementary content in Home, but this is the first time we’ve brought that experience back around to the disc game.

It’s truly a win-win-win situation. It’s a win for Home because we have opened up a huge door that will allow developers to continue to blur the line between PlayStation Home and PS3 games. It’s a win for SOCOM: Confrontation as a title because it allows them to continue to offer great content to players. And, of course, it’s a win for the millions of fans of Home and SOCOM: Confrontation because they get exclusive, meaningful, and 100% free content that is unlocked not from merely downloading an expansion pack, but by playing a fun game.

In addition to the Golden AK-47 Assembly game, the SOCOM OPFOR space boasts the highly-addictive 5-Finger Fillet mini-game and leaderboards. Check out this video for a fly-through of this new space and some of the thrilling content that resides within.

Our friends over at LucasArts continue to bring tons of awesome content to their throngs of fans in PlayStation Home. This week will see the introduction of the hugely-popular Monkey Island franchise into the ever-growing world of PlayStation Home. Show your affinity for our hapless hero Guybrush Peepwood…err, I mean Threepwillow…err, I mean, Threepwood, by heading to the PlayStation Home Mall this Thursday and picking up the has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed Ghost Pirate Ship personal space (complete with rewards), the tons of associated furniture items (available in massive bundles at reduced prices), and the array of Monkey Island costumes (LeChuck, Elaine Marley, Stan the Salesman, and, of course, Mr. Fancy Pants himself).

Also releasing (or should I say, re-releasing) this week is the new and improved Gamer’s Lounge. Named by the PlayStation Home community, for the PlayStation Home community, the Gamer’s Lounge has been redesigned completely at the behest and request of our most loyal users. We’ve added music, a Liar’s Dice mini-game, a ticker that pulls directly from the official PlayStation Twitter account (so you can stay up to date with all of the official PlayStation news without having to log out of PlayStation Home), and a survey that rewards participants with a special virtual item.

The Gamer’s Lounge will now host our daily Featured Game parties, which have previously been held at the Listen@Home kiosk in Central Plaza. These daily events serve as a rallying point for the PlayStation Home community to meet up with friends new and old and launch into the latest and greatest PS3 and PSN titles. For the unveiling of the new and improved Gamer’s Lounge, we will be challenging one another to multiplayer matches of UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves. Come out on launch night between the hours of 4:00pm and 8:00pm PT (7:00pm and 11:00pm EST) to take part in some UNCHARTED 2 action, and then come back over the weekend to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, MLB 10: The Show, and Aliens vs. Predator.

See you in Home!

I know the original Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has been out for about a year now, but with the recent addition of PSN Trophies to the title and a new version of the game hitting soon (Ultimate Sith Edition), I figured there’d be plenty of you giving the game a first (or second) look. Also, LucasArts‘ Presidio campus is pretty much the coolest workplace location on the planet, so we had no problem coming back :-)

So after Chris was done taking a look at Star Wars Battlefront Elite Squadron for PSP, Assistant Production Manager Cameron Suey popped the updated Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition into the PS3. This version packs a couple of interesting “What if?” levels onto the original game, as well as some new trophies to boot (eagle eyes will catch our demo dude unlocking one late in the video).

Let the wampa slaughter commence!

The February episode of Qore’s got variety and new technology.

Resident Evil 5 in QoreVision
With all the talk about the co-op game play in Resident Evil 5, the Qore team has developed a sweet new way for you to experience it. Using your PS3 controller, you can switch between character viewpoints in real-time during our walkthrough to better understand the strategies involved.

The Godfather II
Making a game based upon one of the most beloved movies in cinematic history is a huge challenge, but for The Godfather II Veronica Belmont discovered that the developers at Electronic Arts captured the spirit of the film - with sizzling blackhand combat enhancements and the new “Don’s View.”

Pitchers and Catchers Report
With baseball’s spring training getting underway this month, Audrey Cleo reports on the new features and gorgeous visuals of MLB 09 The Show.

Digital Destruction
At LucasArts in San Francisco, the Qore team breaks down the animated magic of Digital Molecular Matter – the unique technology used to create realistic destruction in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

As for downloadable content, we’ve got two new exclusive Killzone 2 themes and a voucher for the PSone classic Syphon Filter.* We’re celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the espionage classic created by Sony’s Bend Studio, whose latest project, Resistance: Retribution, is coming to the PSP in March.

Qore Episode 09 arrives on February 12.

* *E-mail vouchers will be provided to annual subscribers. Single episode purchasers will also receive a Syphon Filter voucher via e-mail, provided that they purchase Qore Episode 09 on or before March 31.

Hello PlayStation Blog readers!

I wanted to take a quick moment to remind everyone about the launch party we’re hosting at Best Buy (1717 Harrison St. in San Francisco) tonight. From 7pm to midnight we’ll have the game available to play early, tons of great photo opportunities, and a chance to meet the cast and crew. Please stop by and say “hi” if you live in or around San Francisco; we’d love to meet you.

I’m so excited that we’re this close to launch. Tonight at midnight the world will finally get a chance to play the game we’ve worked so hard on for the last couple years. I’m extremely proud of what the team here at LucasArts has accomplished and hope that you all will enjoy the game. Here’s a developer interview with a deeper look at the PS2 version of the game:

I’ve also been asked to close with a trivia question … My instructions were: “nothing too obscure, but nothing too easy, either…” In the Internet Age, with sites like StarWars.Com and Wookieepedia out there, I think it might be impossible to come up with something that can’t be answered with a three-second Google search, but I’ll try: What type of music do Ugnaughts listen to? (believe it or not, it’s in the game …)

The first person to submit the correct answer will receive a special prize chosen from the Lucasfilm archives, a “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” novel, “The Art & Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” book, a Lego Rogue Shadow Kit, a Star Wars: The Force Unleashed t-shirt and an Inflatable light saber.

Correct entries 2 through 5 will receive a “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” novel, “The Art & Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” book, a Lego Rogue Shadow Kit, a Star Wars: The Force Unleashed t-shirt and an Inflatable light saber.

And correct entries 6 through 10 will receive a Star Wars: The Force Unleashed t-shirt and an Inflatable light saber.

Email your answers to PlayStationTFUcontest@gmail.com. Don’t bother posting the answer in the comments section - it won’t count!

And now for the required legal jargon:

OFFICIAL RULES – “Star Wars TFU Blog Sweepstakes”

1. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. To enter, visit http://blog.us.playstation.com. Answer the question posed by the Star Wars Producer posted on the blog post and email your answer to PlayStationTFUcontest@gmail.com. Sweepstakes starts September 15, 2008 at 12:00 p.m. (PST) and ends September 15, 2008 at 11:59 p.m. (PST). No other method of entry will be accepted. To be eligible, completed entries, including the correct response to the question posed, must be received no later than September 15, 2008, at 11:59 p.m. (PST). Limit one entry per person and valid e-mail address for the duration of the promotion. Entries will be declared made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at the time of entry. Subsequent entries will be disqualified. Sony Computer Entertainment America (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 entrant’s ability to participate in the contest. Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to cancel or suspend this sweepstakes 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: The first ten (10) correct answers received will receive a Star Wars: The Force Unleashed t-shirt and an Inflatable light saber (approximate retail value $9). The first five (5) of the above 10 correct answers will also receive, in addition to the above prizes, a “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” novel , “The Art & Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” book, and a Lego Rogue Shadow Kit (approximate retail value $119). The first (1) correct answer from the above 10 correct answers will receive all of the above prizes and a special prize chosen from the Lucasfilm archives. (Approximate retail value $319) Sponsor reserves the right to substitute prizes of equal value if prizes are unavailable. Prizes are non-transferable and no substitutions allowed.

3. WINNERS: Winners will be determined based on the first entries received. Winners will be selected among all eligible entries. Winners will be contacted via their emails on September 22, 2008. If winners entered via a mail-in entry, they will be notified by email. Online users, be sure to check your user mail on September 22, 2008 to see if you are a winner. If your name is selected you must respond via email to PlayStationTFUcontest@gmail.com within five (5) days to accept the prize. Failure to respond within five (5) days will result in forfeiture of prize and an alternate winner will be selected among all eligible entries.

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. The prize winner may be required to sign an Affidavit of Eligibility and Release within fourteen (14) days of receipt or forfeit prize. If the prize winner is a minor, then prize will be awarded in the name of the minor’s parent or legal guardian. By acceptance of prize, winners agree that Sponsor, their affiliate companies, subsidiaries, parent companies, advertising and promotion agencies, and their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents will have no liability whatsoever for and will held harmless against any injuries, losses and damages of any kind alleged to or resulting in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from acceptance, possession, misuse or use of any prize or participation in this game. Winner agrees to the use of their name and/or likenesses for purposes of advertising, trade, or promotion without further compensation, unless prohibited by law. Employees of the Sponsor and its parent, subsidiaries and affiliated companies and their immediate families living in their households are not eligible to participate in this sweepstakes. Neither the Sponsors nor its affiliates, subsidiaries, division or related companies are responsible for any damages, taxes (federal, state or local if any), or expenses that winners might incur as result of entering or participating in this sweepstakes or upon receipt or use of prize.

6. WINNER LIST: To obtain names of winners, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Star Wars TFU Blog Sweepstakes, 919 E. Hillsdale Blvd. 2nd Floor Foster City, CA 94404. Prize winners name request will be fulfilled within four weeks after prize has been awarded. Requests for winner list must be received by September 22, 2008.

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

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

I’m really excited for this opportunity to make my first public post about Star Wars: The Force Unleashed here at PlayStation.Blog. I spoke with Jeff from the Blog last Friday, and many of the questions you asked are answered in the video below.

The game is finally done, after several years of hard work by an incredibly talented team, and I can now just enjoy playing the game and begin to reflect on the experience of building it. When I do look back on the development effort, I’m amazed and humbled by the fact that we actually managed to finish the game. As the first internally-developed title from LucasArts in quite some time, we bit off several huge challenges, including: building a brand new game engine and tools from scratch for two new (at the time we started, anyway) platforms (including PlayStation 3); crafting a new story that bridges the gap between the two Star Wars trilogies; assembling a new team that had never worked together before; and integrating new and cutting-edge simulation-based technologies. Along the way, we also formed a new and unique partnership with our sister company Industrial Light & Magic, and worked closely with Krome Studios in Australia on the PS2 and PSP versions of the game.

From the outset of development, we were committed to building games from the ground up for each platform, taking advantage of each platform’s strengths. We really tried to push the visual boundaries on the PS3, with lighting, cinematics, and VFX that I believe are world-class. In order to achieve the scale of destruction necessary to make the Force feel truly “unleashed,” we worked with Pixelux Entertainment to incorporate a simulation-based technology called Digital Molecular Matter (or DMM), which simulates the way that materials behave based on real world physics. If you throw a stormtrooper through a plate glass window, that window will shatter differently every time based on the angle of impact, the velocity of the stormtrooper, and other factors. We also use DMM on things like metal doors, which you can blast your way through using a powerful charged Force Push that causes the doors to bend and warp. To bring our characters to life, we collaborated with Natural Motion to integrate biomechanical AI called euphoria into the game. Euphoria infuses each of our enemies with a central nervous system and full suite of reflexes. Stormtroopers you pick up with the Force will writhe and flail, and will protect their heads or grab onto objects when thrown. The power of the next-gen systems allowed us to bring together these technologies – alongside the Havok physics system – to create authentic environments that are ultimately designed to be just really fun and interactive Force “playgrounds.”

The feel of being “unleashed” has also been brought to life on the PlayStation 2 through robust physics. The physics system allows the player to affect and move around more objects than I’ve personally ever seen in a PS2 game. This allowed us to create highly-interactive and destructible environments. We also added exclusive content to both the PS2 and PSP. You’ll be able to visit the Jedi Temple, for example, a location that’s not found in the PS3 version of the game. On the PSP, we also have the concept of “historic missions,” which allow players to relive some of the key fights from the Star Wars Saga – but with “unleashed” powers. Imagine Luke and Darth Vader battling on Cloud City, but with amped up Force Push, the ability to create violent shockwaves, and more… And the PSP is one of the few platforms to include a multiplayer mode, again because we wanted to ensure that each version of the game has its own unique features.

Everyone at LucasArts, ILM, Krome, n-Space, Skywalker Sound, and Lucasfilm who has touched The Force Unleashed has worked extremely hard to realize the core vision: a game about kicking ass with the Force, wrapped up in a compelling new story that bridges the gap between the two trilogies. Most of us on the team are Star Wars fans, and we tried to make a game that we’d want to play, with a story that we felt remained true to the saga. But ultimately, I’m just hoping that people will find the game fun and addictive, whether you’re tossing stormtroopers into oncoming TIE fighters or punting Jawas into chasms on the junk world of Raxus Prime. I’m really looking forward to meeting fans at our Launch Event on Monday the 15th, and to hearing reaction to the gameplay and story.

We’ll have more on that - and a way for you to win some Star Wars/The Force Unleashed loot - next Monday.