PlayStation Home To Launch by End of Year

Sony Computer Entertainment has confirmed to gaming site Joystiq that it plans to keep its promise to launch an open beta of its PlayStation Home virtual world for PlayStation 3 owners by the end of the year…but has declined to provide any other details of the launch.

PlayStation Home has been hotly anticipated by PlayStation 3 owners, and will leverage the PlayStation 3’s graphical capabilities to provide a far more immersive and realistic experience than Nintendo’s or Microsoft’s cartoon-ish avatar. Like the virtual world of Second Life, users will be able to configure and dress up their avatars, and even have "homes" where they can entertain friends and show off various gaming achievements. PlayStation Home’s virtual landscape is based on an open-plan city, with stores and mini-games distributed throughout: players can wander around, talk to each other, and (of course) engage in commerce with Sony and its partners. Initial reports have PlayStation Home offering a much more realistic rendering than Second Life, however, unlike Second Life, users will not initially be able to create their own content or "own" their own homes or items. The only places and objects in the world will be what Sony—or its partners—put there.

Sony has not specified a launch date or a delivery method; most industry watchers expect Sony to make PlayStation Home available as a downloadable update, but possibly also offer it on DVD for users who balk at the sure-to-be sizable download.

[Update10-Dec: Sony has now announced it plans to launch the open beta of PlayStation Home Thursday, 11-Dec-2008. PlayStation Home will be available as a free—and massive—download for PS3 owners, with initial availability in eight languages and region-specific partners and content offerings.]