Fan-Requested Districts in New PlayStation Home

23.08.2011
Although will have genre-themed "Districts" that overlap several games from very different backgrounds, the nature of the new interface will allow Sony to add new areas gradually.

PlayStation Home Director Jack Buser said as much during phone interview with GamePro, where he answered a question about PS3 owners that would ask for RPG-specific content:

"One of the cool things about PlayStation Home is that it's always evolving and always changing. Let's say we have people that are really into horror games. If we have enough critical mass, and if enough people say 'Hey, we really want our own place for it,' we can build that district."

Right now, horror games and RPGs are covered in the Action and Adventure Districts respectively, but things could always change before, during, and after launch. Buser noted that each District would play directly to a genre's fan base, such as the Sportswalk featuring a scores and results ticker from all the major leagues. Certain games are also receiving special promotional space in the new PS Home, such as Lazy 8's Cogs, so perhaps games like Mass Effect 3 and Rage will get the same treatment.

Buser also assured us that the transition would be as seamless as possible for long-time users, and the major goal of the new service was getting people to their games "as fast as possible" -- if the service didn't tickle everyone's fancy, players could always opt to not use the new features at all:

"[PlayStation] Home can now have a real persistence, and it can remember in the past what you do. We are doing this redesign at the heart of [PlayStation] Home. Everyone on the service today is going to be on the service tomorrow. We're taking out the central heart to elevate the content."