PlayStation Home delayed once again

By Ed Oswald | Published April 22, 2008, 12:09 PM

Now delayed by almost a full year, Sony has warned that its Home MMO virtual world for the PlayStation 3 is still not finished.

The service was announced in July of last year, and was supposed to release in the fall. However, that never happened and Sony said at the Tokyo Game Show that a release was targeted for the spring.

According to Sony, they won't make that deadline either. The new target is the fall of 2008, almost a year later than initially anticipated. In any case, the company plans to allow more testers into the fold until then.

When the service launches publicly, it will remain in beta. The company has provided no details as to when to expect a final release.

"We have come to the conclusion that we need more time to refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience than what it is today," Sony Computer Entertainment president Kazuo Hirai said in a statement.

Delays in the release of Home are not stalling Sony's work in bringing other entertainment options to the PS3. The company is also reportedly working on bringing videos to the console, according to Associated Press sources.

Sony is not confirming the reports, although an executive has said publicly that the ultimate goal of the service is to bring TV and movie as well as gaming content onto the PlayStation Network, Sony's equivalent of Xbox Live.

A March update to the console allowed users to stream video from the Web, according to release notes.

Comments

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This is why you should pay $50 for online gaming?

Xbox Live up and running, but still having "difficulties"
http://www.engadget.com/...ill-having-difficulties/

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One more thing from the objective tester of both systems (PS3 and 360). Burnout Paradise looks far better on the 360 than the PS3. The "jaggies" on the PS3 make it very annoying.

I noticed it right away. If you have both systems, download the demos and see what I am talking about. Both consoles are set to 1080p out.

Of course the Wii with it's 480i output looks superior to both systems according to douchedingo.

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ive never seen jaggies on ps3, but once i get home today (at work now) I will download the 360 version to see what ur talking about.

Isnt it great owning both?! :-) so what that I went 3 days without eating! haha

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Doesn't surprise me one bit. How typical of Sony.

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Troll.

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Hi Dave

Must have found your way out of the basement and are pissed that the PS3 is trailing the 360 again. TROLL

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that is a good one.

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Wow, real amazing Dave. Troll.

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Yah, its so funny.

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He's still at it. What a pathetic freak.

By the way Dave, now that I am actually using my PS3 as the main player for my theater, and my kids discovered all of thier old PS1 and PS2 games work, this thing is on all the time.

It generates the same or even more heat than my 360 Elite. Didn't you say the PS3 ran really cool compared to the 360?

As you don't own both and I do, I can difinitively say you do nothing but talk out your a** about things you know nothing about.

We all know you didn't even get your PS3 until June of 2007 as your posts on blu-ray.com show.

I hate being right and virtually perfect all the time.

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Dave posting on his own post again.

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So, basically, when i bought a PS3 last may, i was suckered into believing that a PROPER ONLINE SERVICE was coming. It's going to be almost 18 months of this crappy disjointed service before it comes close to Xbox Live ON XBOX 1 in 2002?!?! Well, hey, at least i'm not paying for it and UT3 has mod support and KB/M on PS3.

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I'm not convinced home will bring PSN to the level of xbox live. Its simply like taking a ford escort and giving it a really tricked out flashy paint job and new rims. Everything underneath the hood is still the same.

What PSN lacks and will probably always lack is consistency in online gaming. I like the fact that xbox live has 2 options (player and ranked) and its typically very easy to get in a game. This varies from title to title because of the developers ability to make small changes, but the overall setup is the same.

With my PS3 experience so far, that's not the case and home doesn't look like it will change it.

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Live is way superior to PSN, which is why people don't mind paying for it.

MS generates a half a billion in Live fees alone per year. If each person spend another $50 on live points, that doubles to a cool billion.

I've spent at least $300 on Live points in the last year.

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why do i get a feeling you do NOT own a ps3?

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has anyone noticed they removed yesterdays "ps3 hater" article, about 360 selling more than ps3s!!

LOL..they replaced it with this ps3 hater article

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no cause its already been proven the the pos3 is leagues behind the 360

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bro, do you own a ps3? because I own both and your calling it a pos3 shows you dont own one.

i dont even need home! PSN works fine as is.

dont hate. it makes you people look silly, i'm a gamer fan and that is why I love both xbox,ps3

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Don't worry, they will charge for that service as soon as they can! Enjoy now while you can.

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They wont charge.
They will go the route of ingame advertising as this will accomidate all the fees for this. Same route EA is going which is partially the reason why people are happy their Take2 take over bid was rejected

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I'm sure if they can they will eventually. After all it is Sony.

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i love xbox live on my 360.. but I really cant wait for home for my ps3.. good thing is that without home I still have no issues playing online with my ps3!! FREE!!! I wont use home if they charge (they said they would not), as long as i can still have option to play online on ps3 for free I will take that route.

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Soon......Only Not Yet.

September, October,.....Next Year

Any other good SONY acronyms?

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September, October,.....Next Year

Any other good SONY acronyms?

How about new systems only.

Early adopters know what they are getting into(think Blu-Ray)

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"The next generation doesn't start until we start"; oh wait...

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I think the open beta will still happen before Christmas and the service will still be free as it's a beta. However, I think the continued use of the service once we get into 2009 will command an annual fee. Developing and maintaining this content is too expensive. For comparison's sake take a look at Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. That's certainly a full game and it's probably worth close to $40. It seems like a way to hype the pending GT5, maintain cash flow, and maintain interest. Most importantly, cash to continue development on what is going to be a great-selling game.

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the service will still be free as it's a beta. However, I think the continued use of the service once we get into 2009 will command an annual fee

If i'm not mistaken didn't Sony say the Home service was going to be free?

Sony can make money selling movies music and(i could be wrong on this part)didn't Sony say game developers were free to charge for online play and naturally Sony would receive a percentage of that fee.

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I'm not an xbox live fanboy, but I like the to the point interface, not a "game" MMO interface to do what I want, but I am sure they will add the ability for just a GUI like live instead of the MMO interface/game/social environment.

Either don't matter to me i have 360 and can't afford both 360 and ps3 ;)

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Yeah - don't worry about it. Exclusives aside, you have the better overall system for gaming. I have both and the PS3 only gets used for Blu-ray and an occasional game of warhawk or Motorstorm. Those are the only 2 I own compared to over 50 for my 360.

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It will be released when Duke Nukem Forever is.

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i heard rumors that both games were to be released as a a bundle

....

the vaporware battle chest

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If I see DNF (which has the lovely acronym that also stands for Did Not Finish) before I die I will count myself a luck man.

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Wow, the idea of aping Second Life will be really old by then...

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Tch. They released the statement about 'Home' since they felt they had an inferior service to XBOX Live (which is true.)

Home seems fantastic, and will definitely be great fun, but no one should be surprised about Sony lieing to get press.

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Good postpone the online loitering MMO.
The only benifit is all the mall rats will be hanging out here complementing each other on their hats than in the malls.

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At least it should be ready by the time the PS4 comes out.

I'm still skeptical as to how worthwhile it will really be and how much value it will add to games.

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NO PS4 for a long time there bud. your waiting atleast 3 to 5 years for that.

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Yes...that would be the joke.

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Or is it...?:)

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