Sony's PlayStation 3 virtual world, Home, has experienced record levels of active users since the PlayStation Network was restored.

Speaking to Gamasutra at E3, Home director Jack Buser said: "We're having record traffic in Home. The week we restored the service, we hit a new record in terms of weekly unique users.

"We were watching the numbers and we were just so excited. We were just dancing in the streets," he added. "I think it speaks to the loyalty of our userbase, and to the power of these kinds of platforms."

Customer loyalty appears to be high on Sony's agenda this E3 - during its press conference on Monday, both Jack Tretton and Kaz Hirai followed their apologies for the recent PSN outage with thanks for users' support and patience, Tretton also praising thirdparties and retailers.

An equally likely factor in these record levels of traffic is Sony's renewed committment to Home - the release of version 1.5 in April added new developer tools for graphics, physics and multiplayer gaming, and the 100 free virtual items offered as part of the Welcome Back programme no doubt boosted interest in the service as well.

Sony has made good use of Home during E3 this week too, live-streaming Monday's press conference and replicating its show floor booth within the virtual world. It is the only part of PlayStation Network to see higher footfall than before the outage: Tretton confirmed on Monday that user activity across PSN was at 90 per cent of its previous level.

Source: Gamasutra