Lots of announcements are coming out of Sony’s corporate strategy meeting in Japan today. They’ve unveiled the new PlayStation video store service and promised access to the PLAYSTATION Store via the PSP sometime down the line. All this is an effort to boost the PS3’s profitability as they have yet to make a dime off their shiny black box. Part of that strategy is outlined as “Introducing more new and exciting titles.” There are some high profile games coming out this year for the PlayStation 3 including Resistance 2, LittleBigPlanet, and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift that should collectively help move some hardware. Sony sees no reason to stop there with just games, so they’ve introduced a new program called Life with PlayStation that keeps you in touch with the world outside your window.

Life with PlayStation is an interactive service that acts as your hub for real-time news stories and weather conditions from around the globe. The service may contain it’s own form of somber background music, but you can also listen to songs right off your hard drive through the XMB.

As you tour around the globe, the weather conditions in that area will be simulated on your screen. You can then choose to read the news from that same area. Your PS3’s browser window will then open to display the stories from whatever place you choose.

I applaud Sony’s efforts to expand their install base. I doubt this feature alone will be a system seller, but when it’s packaged together with the video service and god knows what else, it stands a fighting chance to become the console war undisputed champion. There’s no exact date for when Life with PlayStation will launch or whether it will remain in one territory before it moves on to another. I’d say roll everything out together. We don’t want to see another HOME situation.