Sony begins accepting PlayStation Home beta applications

After a long long delay from that March 2007 announcement, Sony Japan just opened its doors to applications for the closed beta testing of PlayStation Home. Sony expects to drop 10,000 gamers (18 years old and up) into the virtual world when it launches in beta sometime in late August. Closed beta tests are due in other markets (er hem, the US) at about the same time with an open beta coming sometime later in the year. Lucky beta testers will be able to explore the 3D world and play games like PacMan in the Namco Museum, both of which are pictured after the break.

[Via Impress]

[Odewale T. Odesanmi @ Jul 31st 2008 4:58AM]

bump it

[neofolklore @ Jul 31st 2008 8:11AM]

lol , the username says "Bandai Namco Games 001" which almost translates perfectly into "english" since these are japanese names.....
the romaji is bandainamukogamusu001

and my translation could be off, it just seemed perfect in my head.

[Tony @ Jul 31st 2008 4:03PM]

It's perfect because it's written in Katakana; which is the alphabet the Japanese use for foreign words.

Likewise, if you wrote something in Romaji, it will be perfectly translated into Japanese since it IS Japanese.

[roomtek @ Jul 31st 2008 4:59AM]

bump it

[jed @ Jul 31st 2008 5:03AM]

am i the only one that thinks that in no way this could be fun? in my opinion, sony's focus as to games is a little off.

[Colin Potter @ Jul 31st 2008 5:18AM]

how is their focus off? even if home is not fun, its one game... not like its a launch title or anything

and i think it could be plenty of fun for networking with your friends for a few hours on the weekend (if you have friends who dont live very close, or if you dont have anything better to do) myself, I have friends who have moved away and we only really get to talk on MSN and the likes, this could bring a little more fun to it.

[jed @ Jul 31st 2008 5:27AM]

@ collin potter

i agree, could be fun for social networking, but correct me if i'm wrong, we have been hearing about it for over a year, its not really a full fledged game, so it should actually take less time to produce, which means they are likely feeling us out or hyping it a bit. who of your friends are hoping for this? which one of your buddies is telling you that when they get home from work or school, they can't wait to pretend to walk around in an art deco home and skype their buddies, as opposed to playing a game and having fun with them? if its a big success, i will just be surprised thats all.

also, i frequently hear that there aren't enough good games for the ps3, though i don't personally know, and the psp really had a lack of good solid games, which i hold to be true first hand. how are they going to get really great, fun games going if they are using over one year to produce their version of 3d flash chat that i can get by clicking a pop up? to me, it seems like the focus is off.

[kludge @ Jul 31st 2008 5:53AM]

am I the only one who is trying to picture that girl ... naked?

[Saad Rabia @ Jul 31st 2008 6:09AM]

@ kludge: Not after you brought up the idea.

[Noshino @ Jul 31st 2008 7:40AM]

jed,

"sony's focus as to games is a little off."

most, if not all, of their studios are developing titles, some are rumored to be developing 2 titles at a time (Level 5 for example), so how is their focus off?

"but correct me if i'm wrong, we have been hearing about it for over a year, its not really a full fledged game, so it should actually take less time to produce,"

No, it is not a game, but it isn't a simple social networking either, correct me if Im wrong, but we have yet to see a 3D virtual world from which you can boot up games...

"which one of your buddies is telling you that when they get home from work or school, they can't wait to pretend to walk around in an art deco home and skype their buddies, as opposed to playing a game and having fun with them?"

You know that you can play games from Home right? just go to your space/apartment and boot up a game from there, thing is, you can gather your party at your space, talk about the upcoming match, and then join the game as a party.....atm Sony is aiming for that

Sire, please inform yourself about the matter at hand before stating things that clearly aren't true

[Eric M. @ Jul 31st 2008 8:38AM]

@kludge

Haha, thanks for the laugh.

[Joel @ Jul 31st 2008 9:23AM]

All I can say is that this sounds a little bit like Second Life(I'm not sure because I don't have all the info off hand... I'm an xbox man). Second Life is insanely popular. I tried it out, but it didn't do it for me. Apparently, it does it for a lot of other people though, so this might be the same thing. You may not want to be so quick to judge

[rickjamess @ Jul 31st 2008 11:13AM]

Is it just me, or does Home seem like a glorified Microsoft Bob?

Don’t get me wrong, but if Home isn’t done right, this could be the case.

[BananaBoat @ Jul 31st 2008 12:41PM]

I agree with you that home isn't going to be anything close to "Fun". The most I'm expecting (though I'm not optimistic) is for it to be functional for starting up games between friends.

I don't need to get into the Beta program of this. Home sounds like someone that wouldn't be decent unless there were a ton of people playing (atleast, a ton of your friends).

[BananaBoat @ Jul 31st 2008 1:34PM]

*something

That'll teach me to comment before I've had my morning coffee

[chris fredette @ Jul 31st 2008 2:20PM]

Sir, I think you are right. I've owed pretty much every system since Pong(I have a Pong system set up in my basement as we speak). I am a fan of game and technology and the PS3 seems to disappoint over and over.
I've bought several PS1's and 3 ps2's so I'm no stranger to Sony but their strength's have always been 3rd party titles and the best horse power. With the PS3 they have lost almost all their 3rd party titles and have been VERY slow to come out with killer apps. Compared to my HD-DVD player I think the PS3 is a poor blu-ray player and the graphics(you could argue the hardware is better than 360 but 3 years later it isn't) are sub par.
I think they messed up with the cell chip. I think it is still hard to program for and I have yet to see a game with something that shows off the tech. I was playing GT prologue last night on a 125" screen and can tell you it's almost as good as Forza2 and PGR4 blows it away. Yes the physics are great and the in-car is awesome but it is now where as good looking as PGR4.
Home has been promised for 2 years and nothing . It looks like a complicated version of the wii. I think they are thinking with the PS2 mindset of everyone owns one and everyone else is a small player. They are just starting to get on-line stuff but Microsoft has a big lead.

[BobTurbo @ Jul 31st 2008 5:07AM]

Your life must be pretty messed up if you prefer to stare at your computer screen pretending that you are in a different world.


wait.. that is what I do at work all day.

[Loun @ Jul 31st 2008 5:22AM]

and the few million players of WoW

[black @ Jul 31st 2008 6:22AM]

Congratulations you do that anytime you read a book, play a game, do drugs or watch a movie.

[BobTurbo @ Jul 31st 2008 7:01AM]

You are so right black. As long as it is not a substitute for life, but an occassional escape from life, I am sure it is a ... still boring.

[Ethan @ Jul 31st 2008 8:50AM]

My problem with Home is not that it is a fake world, but that it is a fake world more mundane than the real one.

[Adam @ Jul 31st 2008 10:59AM]

So if I do drugs while playing this it's sure to become reality, right?

[Bilbo @ Jul 31st 2008 5:12AM]

I want a place to meet with the friends I make online to chat and then possibly launch a game. it might be cool to walk to events with yer buds and chat while an annoucement goes on

dont be so quick to be an idiot and look at that avatars tits

[collegekid13 @ Jul 31st 2008 5:15AM]

if only i were 18

[Michael Nelson @ Jul 31st 2008 7:28AM]

Quite the college kid...

[neofolklore @ Jul 31st 2008 8:08AM]

at least he's thinking about it

[anonymouspimp @ Jul 31st 2008 12:46PM]

I was 17 when I started college.

[phanbouy @ Jul 31st 2008 1:46PM]

@pimp
too bad you couldn't finish

[anonymouspimp @ Jul 31st 2008 3:12PM]

I didn't?

I better not tell my boss...

[collegekid13 @ Aug 1st 2008 1:22AM]

just becuase u fucktards didnt skip grade 2 doesn't mean im not in college

[Ashley Allen @ Jul 31st 2008 5:20AM]

I remember being on the Xbox Live Beta...

... That was a long long long long long time ago.

... Like really long, iPods still had mechanical scroll wheels, I believe it might of been just after the steam engine was invented.

[Colin Potter @ Jul 31st 2008 5:52AM]

woo! steam powered ipod!

http://craphound.com/images/spunkipod.jpg

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Jul 31st 2008 8:04AM]

@ Colin, Nice photoshop job man.

[Deef @ Jul 31st 2008 5:35AM]

Europe gets left behind... again...
(just like we don't have devil dice in the classics department of the store yet)

[HuGo @ Jul 31st 2008 6:08AM]

Try living down here in the Pacific...the pimple on the ass of the world. We barely get anything at the same time America or even the rest of the world gets something.

[Dillon @ Jul 31st 2008 9:24AM]

Just be happy that you Europeans have super fast internet...

[Bazza @ Jul 31st 2008 5:53AM]

Already on the closed beta in the EU.
Can't say anything due to NDA, but, it's no SL.

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Jul 31st 2008 8:05AM]

Can you suggest me for the beta then, psn SOOPERGOOMAN187. PUH LEASE

[Saad Rabia @ Jul 31st 2008 6:12AM]

After seeing such games/whatever, I wonder if humanity will still remember how to produce babies in the coming years!

[Prasand J. @ Jul 31st 2008 7:45AM]

two words:

wifi vibrators

[giuliop @ Jul 31st 2008 6:13AM]

How ironic. 3D environments and killer graphics to play PacMan and Namco Museum.

[neofolklore @ Jul 31st 2008 8:08AM]

irony noted

[Sith Lord 24 @ Jul 31st 2008 9:38AM]

lolol, exactly, and watch this will be released in like 2010 after a 2007 announcement!!!!

sony does not care about videogames anymore they focus on Blu-ray. that is why the games for the ps3 are not as good as the ps2

[CosterMonger @ Jul 31st 2008 10:16AM]

maybe in Home2 for the PS4 we can play NES...
and in Home 5 for the PS7 we can play PS3 playing Home playing PACMAN!
maybe in Home 6 for the PS8 we can play XBOX 360!

[farfisa @ Jul 31st 2008 10:39AM]

I was just thinking they couuuuld have done a little something with Pac Man. Not change the game or update its graphics, but make it more like a virtual arcade--just warp it a bit to make it look like it's on an old arcade tube screen. Maybe even have a little burn in :)

[GhostDoggy @ Jul 31st 2008 6:27AM]

I never knew this was a game. And I always wondered what the heck it really was. Can I have an affair in this world? :)

[vileta2 @ Jul 31st 2008 6:56AM]

now if they could just get the player models to not look so damn stiff....

[gabe @ Jul 31st 2008 7:02AM]

hmm - i sense sony fanboys lingering

[hexhunter @ Jul 31st 2008 7:11AM]

What with all the crap about delays, it's free, and it's going to be part of the XMB, all they need is for it to be good enough at launch so that people decide to use it more than once...

[Woody @ Jul 31st 2008 7:45AM]

I'm not lingering...I'm trying to figure out how to get in the Beta though. It is sad that the world in Home looks so much more appealing than our life.