Sony drop PS3 'Home' bombshell on pimpled fanboys : Shiny Shiny

You might've heard that San Francisco has been hosting this year's Game Developers Conference the past week, similar to January's CES event which we attended in Vegas, but dedicated solely to games. Yes, I did weep tears of envy the day it started, but due to excessive DS Lite-ing, I believe I'm over my issues. *Sobs*. Anyway, this week most of the focus has been on Sony, especially around their head honcho Phil Harrison's keynotes speech which took place on Wednesday. The big announcement concerned 'Home', their capitalisation on popular social networks and online worlds such as Second Life, which has been rumoured for some time now. Read on about Sony's gnarled, bony finger which has just been shoved into the web 2.0 phenomenon pie, and to see a video of 'Home' in action. Or, like me, cover your eyes and ears and scream out "THE PS3 DOESN'T REALLY EXIST, THE PS3 DOESN'T REALLY EXIST!"

The idea behind it is that PS3 users can meet up in a virtual environment, similar to the popular PC game Second Life, and talk to one another, explore different areas of the environment, and even play multiplayer games together. Each PS3 user will make an avatar, similar to Nintendo Wii's Mii feature, but much more realistic. Each avatar will be given a room, which you can adorn with all the accomplishments you receive when succeeding in various PS3 games, plus clothe your avatar in various garb. Any personal videos, photos or files stored on your PS3 will be transferable to any online friends you meet, however MP3s have not been discussed as yet.

Don't get too excited just yet though kids, as beta testing is due to be carried out this April, with the full service going live in Autumn of 2007. (via Kotaku).