A new Resistance space opens in PlayStation Home today. The new area features a recreation of the Chicago Railway Station level from Resistance 2, and players are tasked with fending off the Chimeran aerial forces with a four barreled, quick repeating turret gun.

Find your way to the new Resistance Space via the PlayStation Home World Map, bearing in mind the space is a gated area only open to users over the age of 18. But hurry because the first 3000 users to redeem the promotional code on a poster in the space will receive a free Resistance T-shirt for their avatar.

Watch this video for more information about the new space:

Post continues, click to read more…

It seems Capcom have some pretty cool plans for Resident Evil 5’s appearance in PlayStation Home, as this Japanese TV commercial for the game shows.

The first half is dedicated to Resident Evil 5 proper, and then leads into a tense build-up as we walk through a series of dark halls and rooms to reach the ‘Biohazard Lounge,’ where all our friends from Biohazard 5 (Resident Evil 5) are waiting. Pretty cool:

Sony have announced that, as of February 20th this year, 20 million users have signed up to the PlayStation Network (PSN).

The number of registered users non the service reached 5 million in one year and two months, ten million in one year and eight months, and has now exceeded the 20 million mark after two years and three months since the service launched on November 11th in 2006.

Sony further reminds us that the PlayStation Network is available in 55 countries and regions around the world, with users connecting from one of the 70 million PSP and PS3 consoles out in the wild, with over 600 online enabled games to keep them occupied.

In and amongst these 20 million users are 4 million PlayStation Home users and 2.6 million Life with PlayStation users, while, to date, 380 million pieces of content have been download via PSN, contributing to overall sales of $180 million.

Now those are some impressive numbers.

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan is showing off a couple of interesting additions to Home, Sony’s online social interaction experience.

If you’re a fan of either Resident Evil 5 or Street Fighter, you’ll get a kick out of this, as not only are Sony releasing costumes for characters from the two games, there’s going to be an entire space dedicated to Resident Evil 5, made in the likeness of the Kijuju village we’ve seen so much of.

Although there’s no telling if this will make it to Western PS3’s any time soon, if ever, you can have a look at some more screenshots below to tide you over:

Post continues, click to read more…

On the official US PlayStation blog, they’ve announced an opportunity to get into the Home Closed Beta Test, simply by downloading a new theme.

From the blog: “…the PLAYSTATION Store will be updated with a PlayStation Home theme. By downloading the theme, users are submitting an application to join the PlayStation Home Beta test community. We will be using a variety of criteria including activity on the PLAYSTATION Network to determine eligibility for the Beta community. Existing beta testers have automatically qualified to be part of the expanded beta.”

SCEE (Sony’s European arm) is also said to be conducting this expanded closed beta, targeting those users that have been most active on the PlayStation Network and Playstation Store, with e-mails being sent out shortly. Check the PlayStation Network today!

SCEI today announced that it will expand the Closed Beta testing for PlayStation Home in summer 2008 and invite more PS3 users to register. Once the Expanded Closed Beta test is completed, it will begin the PlayStation Home Open Beta service in fall 2008.

“We understand that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a bit longer, but we have come to the conclusion that we need more time to refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience than what it is today,” said Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

“Our overarching objective is to provide users with new gaming experiences that are available only on PlayStation Home. Spending more time on the development and on the Closed Beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation tradition.”

PS3 users who are part of the PlayStation Home Open Beta service beginning this fall can expect “new and fun community gaming experiences, such as connecting PlayStation games with Home and providing places and items from the games.”

SCEI will release details of the Closed Beta testing features, how to register for the test and when the service will be opened once they become available.

It has been a busy week for Sony. The redesigned PlayStation Store was launched earlier in the week via system software update 2.30, complaints soon began to circulate that the PS Store’s thumbnails icons were taking too long to download and Sony of Europe assured PS3 owners that they were aware of the problem, that it was a “temporary consequence of a new system implementation and high global traffic levels” and that “it would be resolved within the next few days.”

Meanwhile in a post on SCEA’s PlayStation blog, Senior Vice President of Marketing and PlayStation Network Peter Dille confirmed that the long-awaited PlayStation cards will be available across the US in denominations of $20 and $50 this spring.

Video DLC details soon

Dille went on to detail the video service that will allow PS3 owners to download full-length TV shows and movies via the PlayStation Network for North America. “While I don’t have any new announcements here for the PlayStation Nation, it’s already been confirmed that we’ll be offering a video service for PS3 in a way that separates the service from others you’ve seen or used.”

“Ultimately the goal of the PLAYSTATION Network service will be to break through the overwhelming clutter of digital media to give you the TV, movies and gaming content you want,” he continued before promising more details soon.

In-game XMB, Home

Dille also promised in-game access to XMB features, along with other community related services this year. “They will be designed to allow more community development and collaborative game play, as well as recognize and reward you for your game play accomplishments across a broad portfolio of PS3 games.”

Last but not least, Dille commented “Of course, 2008 will also see the launch of PlayStation Home.” Of course.