At last, the future has arrived. Threatening to thrust our flabby, pitifully organic bodies into a virtual playground and significantly dull the allure of boring ol' reality, PlayStation Home is set to deliver the online utopia we thought we wanted after reading Snow Crash all those years ago. Sony has confirmed that Home's public online beta -- sans samurai haxorz -- will launch tomorrow, December 11th. (Update: Announced by SCEA, too.) With some minor caveats.
As the press release dutifully notes, the service will become available for "all PS3 users around the world," except for those who find themselves in "some regions." You'll find the service nestled under the PlayStation Network bar of the XMB. The beta will include all the basic services and features, save for some content (like designer pants) which will, in fact, be charged for. Partially among those is the "Club," a social umbrella you can set up for your like-minded friends. Of course, it's bad luck to open an umbrella inside the Home, so you'll be asked to buy an "entitlement" if you want also want a "clubhouse."
According to SCEE, several activities in Home will hinge on the content provided by Diesel (clothes!), Ligne Roset (furniture!), Red Bull (wings!), Hexus TV (video!), Eurogamer (witticisms!) and Paramount Pictures (trailers and movie merchandise!). Perhaps we should plan our day around all this stuff -- we should totally hang out tomorrow (virtually!).
Reader Comments (62)
Posted: Dec 10th 2008 11:23AM Negatron said
Thank Satan!
I was tired of seeing the pic of this emo gangsta prep, in his salmon colored Polo, plaid knickers and all American du-rag.
Who ARE you?
:P
I was tired of seeing the pic of this emo gangsta prep, in his salmon colored Polo, plaid knickers and all American du-rag.
Who ARE you?
:P
Posted: Dec 10th 2008 12:04PM jhowlett said
i just hope with this next step we get better facial hair options
Posted: Dec 10th 2008 12:17PM (Unverified) said
Finally! And it looks 1000000000x better than the goofy 'New Xbox Experience'
Posted: Dec 10th 2008 2:06PM (Unverified) said
So as anyone with have a brain expected Home sucks, not surprising.
Posted: Dec 10th 2008 2:33PM Squid7085 said
Damnit Sony, on Finals Week. Really? You are out to get me, I know you are. UGH!
Posted: Dec 10th 2008 2:57PM The Kong said
I have given up 360 fanboyism and bought a PS3 because i felt like i was missing out on some good games, so i bought it with hopes that Home and Little Big Planet will be worth the money i spent on it, now LBP wasn't really waht i expected, so im looking forward to Killzone 2 instead, but I hope Home will be something truly unique, giving the PS3 an identity...and me something fun to do
Posted: Dec 10th 2008 2:59PM The Kong said
hey hey, let's not go down the fanboyism route, theyre totally 2 different things, and they're both excellent and fully functional, so dont be like that =D
Posted: Dec 10th 2008 3:02PM Nugent said
I'm not too excited about Home, but it'll be interesting to see where it goes. Once more game spaces open up it should at least provide temporary distractions, and if they make good use of the public events space it could be very interesting. I'd love to see a virtual version of CES or TGS presented, even if its just streaming video of Sony's presentations and trailers.
I don't see hanging out in it just for the heck of it though. I tried Second Life for all of ten minutes before deleting it from my PC, so the virtual socialization portion doesn't seem that appealing.
I don't see hanging out in it just for the heck of it though. I tried Second Life for all of ten minutes before deleting it from my PC, so the virtual socialization portion doesn't seem that appealing.
Posted: Dec 10th 2008 3:20PM Booxatron said
"NESTLED under the PlayStation Network BAR"
I think Ludwig just made a pun without even realizing it!
That's the power of The Punisher.
I think Ludwig just made a pun without even realizing it!
That's the power of The Punisher.
Posted: Dec 10th 2008 11:06PM (Unverified) said
I was just talking to my friend about this. I just bought a PS3 2 weeks ago. I couldn't ignore it any longer. Home is a beautiful topping to the LBP cake I've been enjoying.
Posted: Dec 11th 2008 11:45AM (Unverified) said
So... where is it?





