Home Beta v.1.01 impressess

As one of the lucky gamers to receive the code to test out PlayStation Home Beta, I really had a wonderful time! Home is a 3D social space for the PS3-similar to SecondLife for the PC. The graphics is top-notch, everything is perfect! Although there were a few glitches, like some squatting gamers were floating mid-air! everything else was fine! 

I was able to check out the 'Central Plaza'-the central hub of Home, my own apartment(it was rather empty) and the Home Theater-a theater where game trailers and stuff are showcased. When I visited the Home Theater-there was a game trailer of SOCOM:Confrontation being played, and since I have a really dead slow connection, it took like 20 mins to load the video! 

At first; you start off in your apartment(known as 'HomeSpace')...customising your character. Afterwards you can explore your HomeSpace...but there isn't much in it at first, so you would rather be wise to head out elsewhere. I decided to immediately visit the Central Plaza, and so I had to download a 30MB odd file which was the Central Plaza scene. Then I just walked right through the door...and I am at Central Plaza! 

Overall the expereince was really fun, and I had a really great time! I was also able to interact with some gamers, listen to some songs, boo some gamers, and dance! It was awesome!

I'm going Home next month! No, wait; Home is coming next month!

Yes, you heard that right my friend- the much awaited Home is coming next month! Well that's how it looks. Posting on the Home beta message boards in response to a bug , Home Manager "TedtheDog" wrote that the bug should get fixed with the next system software update.

 "2.5 is what we're waiting for and 'October' is what I've heard, later October is my guess."  According to the post, Home 1.00 would come bundled with the firmware update, and it sounds like there's a good chance that Home 1.00 will be the first full release.

Home is a next-gen virtual world where gamers from different regions of the world can meet, share media and stuff. It's similar to Second-Life from Linden Labs except for the part that Home hosts next-gen graphics and that it is exclusively for our beloved PlayStation 3!!! I can't wait for it to release! Every user gets his/her own apartment which can spruced up by decorating it with some basic furniture available for free or pay and download new exquisite furniture! Well, I'll go for the stripped down version anyways... So, lets cross our fingers and just hope that it does release in October. Til then, tata!

PlayStation Home to have Adult-only sections?

Speaking to Three Speech at the recent Edinburgh Interactive Festival, Peter Edward, director of the PlayStation Home Platform Group revealed that in the long-term there could be a number of 18 rated areas "cropping up".

Before you get too excited, that probably doesn't mean in-Home topless bars or cyber-brothels, but probably something more like an online casino. Or - and we're really rolling the depravity here - theatres showing mature rated video game trailers.

In an interesting aside, Jamie McDonald, VP of Sony Worldwide Studios, revealed that PlayStation Home had been in production long before Second Life - the closest conceptual equivalent to Home, which has been around for a fair few years now.