PlayStation Home beta goes open at last

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 11 December 2008 01:32

Your IT - Entertainment

You could be forgiven for thinking of PlayStation Home as one big advert.

Game-themed spaces are already present (beginning with Far Cry 2), and Sony is working with Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Midway, Sega, Atari and other publishers to develop this aspect.

And don't forget the shops and branded entertainment: Diesel, Ligne Roset, Red Bull and Paramount Pictures are already onboard, and Audi has been confirmed.

Just because real life seems to be turning into a giant retail experience, do we have to do the same with virtual environments? The idea of paying real money merely to change the appearance of an avatar is simply bizarre, but as they say, there's a sucker born every minute.

One thing that makes more sense is the provision for groups of players to meet in PlayStation Home from where they can enter a game.

Further ahead, there's a mechanism that allows game trophies to unlock Home content.

The big question is exactly what the term 'beta' means in this context.

Is it a Google-style beta, which seems to mean little more than "we're still adding features and don't blame us if something doesn't work," or is it the more traditional "have a play with this and tell us if you find any bugs, but don't expect it to be free for ever"?