During PlayStation’s E3 press conference, company spokespeople presented both in person and as their own personalised avatars within the PlayStation Home 3D community service, transitioning from their virtual-world avatars to reappear live on stage.

Phil Harrison, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, unveiled some key new components of PlayStation Home. The newly introduced features, all available when the free 3D community makes its public debut this fall, include:

• Launch Games Within PlayStation Home: Users will have the ability to launch Blu-ray Disc or Network games from inside PlayStation Home. Since PlayStation Home is designed to be a virtual meeting place for a worldwide community, users who want to play a game together can meet in one location to set options and start the multi-player online game.

• New Home Square: The newly designed Home Square replaces the PlayStation Home lobby concept first introduced at the Game Developers Conference in March. The new open-air space provides internal developers with more flexibility to build upon the community experience.

• New Personal Spaces: Four new apartments including a Beach House, Norwegian Cabin, Manhattan Penthouse and a traditional Japanese House, were introduced today to allow for additional user choice and personalisation.

“After more than three years in development, we’re preparing for a landmark global roll out of PlayStation Home in the fall,” said Phil Harrison. “As an integrated service of the PlayStation Network, PlayStation Home will enable people to build connected communities around all of the entertainment experiences that PS3 has to offer.”