Hi PlayStation Home community,

The latest update to the Home client, version 1.35, will go live in tomorrow’s publish and available to the public after the usual downtime. You will find many new features, including a new Home navigator system, an improved login process, and improved organization of Friends list.

See below for the full notes:

1.35 Patch Notes

Global changes

New features

• Home Navigator      
  • The Home Navigator is a new feature that replaces the World Map.
  • The first thing you will see on the Navigator is a message of the day.
  • The main interface of the Home Navigator has a variety of categories containing all of the different spaces you can visit and methods for getting there.
  • Featured spaces
    • This is a regularly changing selection of new and exciting spaces for you to check out.
  • Home spaces
    • All of the well known core Home spaces.
  • Personal spaces
    • All of the Personal Spaces that you currently own and the Clubs that you belong to.
  • Favourites
    • An area to view and manage your favourite spaces.
    • In any other area of the Navigator pressing [SQUARE] adds the currently selected space to your favourites.
    • There is a maximum limit of 20 favourites.
  • Friends
    • A list of your friends who are currently in Home, and where they are located.
      • This also includes a head shot picture of what their avatar looks like so you can easily recognise them.
    • If they are in a public space you can go to them.
    • If they are in their own Personal Space you can “knock on the door” and ask to come in.
  • Explore
    • The place to browse all of the spaces in Home much like the original World Map
    • One thing to remember: when using the Navigator, you can press [SQUARE] to add the space you currently have selected as one of your favourites. When are you inside the Favourites category, however, pressing [SQUARE] will remove the selected space from your favourites list.

• Front end
  • The way you log on to Home through the front end has been changed.
  • Once Home has been launched from the XMB there is no need to press any more buttons to log on.
    • The HDD warning message is displayed but no longer requires a button press to confirm.
    • There is no longer a screen requiring a button press to “log on”.  Connection to the PSN happens automatically.
    • If this is the first time you have logged on to Home then you will still have to initially accept the terms of service.
  • Once Home is running you are taken directly to the Home Navigator without loading into any other space first.
  • From the Home Navigator you can choose exactly where you want to go.
  • A lot of the network communication and validation now happens in the background while you are using the Navigator.

Improvements

• The time it takes to log on has been improved quite a lot. 
• Relocating between spaces has had many improvements and is a lot quicker.
• There is a new section for “Rewards” on the Menu Pad that contains all of the rewards you have been granted in Home.
• We have made several improvements to the loading bar.
• We have increased the frequency of updates about where someone is in Home so that “invite” and “go to” should be more accurate now.
• Targeting in general has been improved so it should be easier to target various objects of interest to you.
• Furniture
  • If you place a new item of furniture into a Personal Space with a lot of other furniture already in place it won’t collide with anything until it is in the clear.
    • This will make it easier to add furniture to intricate furniture layouts without knocking anything over.
    • It should also help when placing large items of furniture in your Personal Space.
  • Reduced the wobble that items of furniture could experience when being placed close together.
  • Generally tweaked the physics on furniture items to make them react to each other in a less violent way.

Changes

• The position in the world that you listen to sounds from has been changed and should now consistently be the avatar rather than the camera.
• It is no longer possible to sit down while playing the standing up animation.  You must wait for your avatar to completely stand up first.
• It is once again possible to enter a store while playing a mini-game.
• If a portable object that takes over the camera is activated while viewing a poster in full screen mode you stop viewing the poster.
• The inventory section of the Menu Pad is no longer available while sitting down to avoid problems with certain portables being activated in that situation.
• Some of the pop-up colours have been changed slightly to improve legibility in all of the different places they are used.  In addition “Yellow” has been replaced with a “Fiery Orange.”
• Changed the phrasing of the legend on the furniture removal menu to make it less ambiguous.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug that would let you join a mini-game while a portable item was out.
• Fixed a bug that would allow you to interact with a portable item while inside the wardrobe.
• Fixed a bug that in some circumstances could stop the sound settings from being saved after you change them.
• Fixed a bug that could cause problems while launching Home if your HDD was completely full.
• Fixed a bug that could cause the furniture in a Clubhouse to vanish for some people when the club leader entered.
• Fixed a bug that could occur when previewing male or female clothes in a store without having set up a male or female avatar.
• Fixed a bug that could cause the download queue to stall when attempting to download certain scenes.
• Fixed a bug that would allow PSN notification messages to be captured in pictures when using the camera.
• Fixed a bug that was causing pictures taken with the camera on standard definition televisions to be the wrong aspect ratio.
• Fixed a bug that would cause a crash when relocating via the Home Safe Screen with a portable item out while in the wardrobe.
• Fixed a bug in the store that would cause the “Add to basket” button to become permanently unavailable if you pressed Cancel before the item fully loaded.
• Fixed a bug that was allowing people to join multiple queues at the same time.
• Fixed a bug that would cause the Menu Pad of one person to become unavailable if two people attempted to sit on the same seat at the same time.
• Fixed a bug that could cause a crash when lots of items of furniture are colliding with one another.
• Fixed a bug that could cause a crash when loading items in a space.
• Fixed various bugs within the Pool and Bowling mini-games.

Event End Date: 2010-03-25

Visit Theatre Auditorium 2 in PlayStation®Home and enjoy the special showing of
Gundam UC!  What’s more, you will get the limited Home reward item after the show!!

The Blu-ray Disc will be sold beginning from March 12, 2010 in Hong Kong (distributed by Medialink
Entertainment Ltd.)

Also, an exclusive premium screening of “Mobile Suit Gundam UC (Unicorn)” is planned on March 20th, 12:00 PM @ BUGIS Cineplex in Singapore. Free admission
tickets are only available by buying “Gundam UC” Gunpla @ BHG Bugis.

For more info. about Gundam UC; please visit http://www.gundam-unicorn.net/en/index.html

Posted by Locust_Star // PlayStation Home Online Community Specialist

 By now you’ve read Jack’s post regarding the exciting new update to PlayStation Home’s core client, which will, among many other things, greatly improve loading times as well as streamline navigation in-between spaces. But we have much more than just the 1.35 update coming at you this week. We’re talking FINAL FANTASY XIII content, new Indiana Jones items, and more personal spaces than you can shake a stick at.

Posted by Jack Buser // Director, PlayStation Home

Hello again Home Community,

I am thrilled to be back on the PlayStation.Blog to share some exciting news. Tomorrow we will be launching PlayStation Home 1.35, a new client update that will include some very significant enhancements that will make your PlayStation Home experience even better.

This update will bring several of the changes that you, the PlayStation Home community, have said are most important to you. Most notably, this update features faster load times, giving you quicker access to PlayStation Home and all the great content within. The new 1.35 update also enhances the login process. Now, once you have launched into PlayStation Home from the XMB, you will be transported directly to a new intuitive navigator, without the need to click through message screens.

 Like much of PlayStation Home, the design of this new navigator is directly based on community feedback on how to improve access to the content used most in PlayStation Home. This streamlined interface features categories to help you quickly move through PlayStation Home and locate friends in just a few clicks.

 Categories will include:

•  Favorites: Personalize your own section to make locating your favorite places quick and simple.

• Personal Spaces: Your clubhouses and personal spaces are now right at your fingertips. The personal spaces you own and the clubhouses you belong to will be viewable in one convenient location.
• Friends: Finding your friends in PlayStation Home has never been easier. View the current location of your friends in PlayStation Home, and then navigate there to enjoy the action together.
• Explore: Browse all the spaces PlayStation Home offers. Finding a space that suites your taste and mood has never been easier.
• Recommend: Keep up with what’s hot in PlayStation Home. This regularly updated category will feature the newest and most exciting additions to PlayStation Home.

Just a reminder that PlayStation Home will not be accessible for a brief period tomorrow as we work the magic on our side to bring you this update. If you have any questions or comments, as always, please drop us a note in the PlayStation Home forums.

 With now 12 million users around the world playing games, attending special events, watching videos, listening to music, and meeting new friends, there has never been a better time to join the PlayStation Home community. For those of you that are already part of the party, with tomorrow’s 1.35 update, I think you’ll agree that everything you love about PlayStation Home just got that much better.

Posted on 10 March by Daniel Hill – Home Business Manager, SCEE

Hi guys,

We have a massive PlayStation Home update for you tomorrow, including the implementation of the Home 1.35 client, release of the Final Fantasy XIII personal space and a brand-new selection of Ratchet & Clank and SOCOM items.

First up, we have the highly anticipated 1.35 client update. We’ve been listening to your concerns on the EU blog and forums and can confirm that this update will bring with it a much slicker (and indeed faster) Home experience for all users. Not only improving performance, 1.35 will also make it easier to find friends as well as provide a quicker / simpler means to explore Home.

Therefore, the World Map has now been replaced by the brand-new Navigator interface (see the screenshots below). Navigator will help you explore Home quickly and simply – allowing you to hook up with your PSN Friends at the touch of a button as well as check out “Featured Spaces” and new releases.

But that’s not all, as announced on the EU Blog yesterday, the Final Fantasy Eden personal space will be available to all users via Home Estates in the Shopping Centre tomorrow. This new personal space is retailing at £3.99 (4.99 euro) and will release with a selection of Final Fantasy XIII furniture to customize your ideal space.

Next up, we have a brand new selection of Ratchet & Clank figurines and ornaments available via both the commerce point in the Gadgetron HQ and Shopping Centre spaces. Check out the screenshot below of these funky new items:

Grab yourself a Dr. Nefarious, Ratchet, Clank, Clunk, Lawrence, Courtney or Gleeman figurine (there are plenty more to choose from too!) or maybe a RYNO V or Groovitron Glove ornament for your Harbour Studio.

If you’re looking for some more threads, why not check out the selection of SOCOM Snow Camo items launching for both male and female avatars tomorrow. These will be available in the Threads section of the Shopping Centre and retailing at 0.99 euros per section.

Finally, Sodium will receive an update tomorrow which brings with it two new weapons including the Long Range Plasma Emitter – which will help to achieve those much needed high scores – and the Multi Shot Grenade Launcher which has a much higher scatter area (and massive fun potential!).

That’s it for now. Be sure to log into Home tomorrow to check out the slicker, faster new interface and brand new content on offer