PlayStation Home tied to console region

With the next phase of PlayStation Home construction getting underway, we now have a clear picture of the region restrictions placed on the virtual world, at least those being implemented for the expanded beta. Users are apparently being matched to servers based on their consoles' native regions (which are not configurable), PS3 Fanboy reports. While this peculiar restriction will only affect the small percentage of PlayStation 3 owners whose consoles were imported from other regions, it counters the open access granted to PlayStation Store users, who can shop in any Store region from anywhere by setting up PSN accounts based in different regions. The Home region restrictions also mean that make-believers won't be mingling internationally nor will they be able to sign into their Japanese PSN IDs from an American console, for example, and hop onto a Japanese server.

PS3 Fanboy points out that the obvious explanation for the lockdown is optimized advertising. There's no sense in pushing American products on a UK gamer who is bird watching on a US server. Still, we're holding onto hope for some cross-regional opportunities, like tournaments or maybe exchange programs. Who's up for a semester in the Caribbean Home?