While Sony may question the journalistic value of Internet bloggers, it may have little to say against one of the world’s biggest papers. The New York Times has published an article that adds credence to last week’s rumors of PlayStation Home, a new online gaming service, first reported by Kotaku.

According to the paper, PlayStation Home is to become available in the fall and will offer players the ability to create persistent online identities that will track various achievements in games. Garnering achievements will unlock “virtual prizes” that can be shown off to other players.

The Times cites an anonymous Sony executive as the source for this information, with the official word expected from Phil Harrison’s keynote coming this morning. When contacted by the paper, Harrison would not comment on PlayStation home, but he did say that software will be the focus for PS3 this year.

“Last year was a year of hardware,” Harrison said. “It was all about the hardware launch, specifications, hardware technology. This is the year of software, about developing new services and, crucially, the migration from pure packaged goods, which has been the traditional delivery mechanism in our industry over the last 25 years, to something that blends the network and online services into the game experience.”