PlayStation Home will be offline from 8AM GMT on Wednesday 8th February for routine maintenance. Here is what to expect after the update…

Whether you love or hate Valentine’s day, everyone loves free treats! Head on over to Pier Park and feel pampered with a snug pair of slippers and some lovely cupid wings. Continuing with the loving theme, WIN big this month in the Lockwood Valentine’s update! Find six new rewards hidden in the Lockwood Publishing Showcase. Throw caution to the wind and show us what a romantic soul you are in the ShowOff: First Date photo competition! First Place WINS one of two pre-release Iron Fusion content packs. If you really want that ultimate prize, you’ll be pleased to know that all entrants get submitted into a prize draw for another chance to win! Five picnic packs are up for grabs to runners up, along with one Lockwood Team Choice Award.

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In this latest video in the Inside PS Vita series, we speak to the developers behind such games as Reality Fighters and WipEout 2048 to see how the system’s social features, including Party, Near and LiveArea, will change the way we play together.

We’ll have the next episode of Inside PS Vita, explaining how Cross Play between PS3 and PS Vita works, here on PlayStation.Blog later this week.

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That’s another week done and dusted. What was your favourite blog post? I enjoyed the MotorStorm RC online play video and it’s always great to hear more about Aliens: Colonial Marines. Next week’s schedule is still coming together as I write this but I can say that we’ll have a fair bit of PS Vita news and a new PSN game that even I didn’t see coming…

Here’s your recap.

• Hungry Giraffe Eats Its Way Onto PSN – Live the dream: Help a stretchy-necked giraffe eat burgers floating in the sky.
• LittleBigPlanet Now Has Over 6 MILLION USER-GENERATED GAMES & LEVELS!!! – Check out a fan-created LBP video series that caught our attention, watch the trailer for the new Muppets DLC, and more.
• ‘Heads-Up’ PlayStation Plus Update – 1st February 2012 – The Simpsons Arcade arrives next week for FREE, Far Cry 2 is coming soon after that, and a lot more in this update.
• PlayStation Home: Lose Weight With Novus Prime – This week in PS Home, spacewalk in Novus Prime, try out new period costumes, and more.
• Twisted Metal Multiplayer Beta Coming To PSN Today – This awesome beta includes 8 vehicles, 2 multiplayer modes, and a challenge mode.
• PlayStation Network Scheduled Maintenance – PSN was offline for scheduled maintenance from 2pm Thursday to 7am Friday (GMT).
• ‘Heads-Up’ Game Store Update February 1st 2012 – Betas for Gotham City Imposters and Twisted Metal, plus a Syndicate demo and more.
• Lumines Electronic Symphony: Q Entertainment’s Love Letter To Electronic Music – See the full listing of 33 playable tracks, and read reactions from some of the featured artists.
• Making Of: The Last Of Us Announcement Trailer – See motion capture footage from the making of The Last of Us announcement trailer.
• Welcome To The PS3 Demo Of Syndicate! – This co-op demo with an awesome weapons arsenal showcases how Syndicate is more than your average FPS.
• Touch Controls In Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition – Virtua Tennis 4 takes full advantage of the Vita’s front and rear touch capabilities for some truly innovative gameplay.
• MotorStorm RC: Video Run-Through Of Competitive Online Play – Get a glimpse of MotorStorm RC’s competitive online play, perfect for igniting intense rivalries among gamers.
• Worms Ultimate Mayhem Release Date Confirmed – This “best of” compilation of content from both Worms 3D and Worms 4: Mayhem arrives 15 February.
• Access TV Episode 19 – In this week’s episode, new Uncharted: Golden Abyss footage, Vita tech specs, a real-life WipEout track, and more.
• Randy Pitchford Talks Aliens: Colonial Marines Release Date, Prometheus Possibilities – The CEO of Gearbox Software dishes on the new FPS’ play style and the upcoming film Prometheus.
• The Weekend Debate: Caption This – A twist on this week’s Weekend Debate!

• Weekend Essentials 111 – The FINAL FANTASY and SOUL CALIBUR series return to PS3 this weekend, whilst a brand new edition of our Level Up quiz celebrates the upcoming launch of PS Vita.
• First look: Darksiders II – Find out what it’s like to play as the unlikeliest hero on PlayStation 3.
• Augmented reality on PS Vita – Bring the world into play with PlayStation Vita and dramatically change the world around you using augmented reality…
• The features of PlayStation Vita – Take a look at the revolutionary features of PlayStation Vita that will change the way you play on the go.

• PS Vita pre-order guide: the cheapest prices, best bundles
• Resident Evil 6 characters: who can, and who can’t come back?
• The Last Of Us’ Joel is “a violent thug, a brutal killer and a torturer”
• SoulCalibur 5′s top cheaty tips – tactics to always win.
• Things I wish I’d known before I started playing Final Fantasy XIII-2

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For a bit of a change, this week’s debate is a caption-off. Rather than discuss a topic, I’d like you come up with a funny caption for the image below. Seeing as the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection is out this week, here’s a picture of Snake chilling with a monkey. Get captioning!

I don’t have any spare voucher codes to give away this week so this is just for kicks and the chance for you razor wit to be admired by the PS community. Enjoy!

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PlayStation Network is offline for scheduled maintenance from 14:00 on Thursday 2 February 2012 until 07:00 on Friday 3 February 2012, GMT.

During the maintenance, you will be unable to access the following services:

• PlayStation Store on PS3 and PSP.
• PlayStation Network Account Management.
• PlayStation Network Account Registration.

In addition, you will not be able to sign in to PlayStation Network from eu.playstation.com. If you wish to play online during the maintenance, then you may be able to do so if you sign in to PSN before 14:00 on Thursday 2 February 2012.

During this maintenance, you can continue to collect in-game trophies and these will be updated on your profile once PlayStation Network is back up and running.

If you have any questions about this down time, feel free to visit the official PlayStation Forums at community.eu.playstation.com where you can post your query and a member of the moderation team will get back to you.

For the latest maintenance updates, visit the PlayStation Blog at blog.eu.playstation.com, keep an eye on our Facebook page at facebook.com/SonyPlayStation and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/PlayStationEU.

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