PlayStation Home beta launching Dec. 11 [update]
At last, the future has arrived. Threatening to thrust our flabby, pitifully organic bodies into a virtual playground and significantly dull the allure of boring ol' reality, PlayStation Home is set to deliver the online utopia we thought we wanted after reading Snow Crash all those years ago. Sony has confirmed that Home's public online beta -- sans samurai haxorz -- will launch tomorrow, December 11th. (Update: Announced by SCEA, too.) With some minor caveats.
As the press release dutifully notes, the service will become available for "all PS3 users around the world," except for those who find themselves in "some regions." You'll find the service nestled under the PlayStation Network bar of the XMB. The beta will include all the basic services and features, save for some content (like designer pants) which will, in fact, be charged for. Partially among those is the "Club," a social umbrella you can set up for your like-minded friends. Of course, it's bad luck to open an umbrella inside the Home, so you'll be asked to buy an "entitlement" if you want also want a "clubhouse."
According to SCEE, several activities in Home will hinge on the content provided by Diesel (clothes!), Ligne Roset (furniture!), Red Bull (wings!), Hexus TV (video!), Eurogamer (witticisms!) and Paramount Pictures (trailers and movie merchandise!). Perhaps we should plan our day around all this stuff -- we should totally hang out tomorrow (virtually!).
