Phil Harrison Unveils 'Home' for PS3

Sony's central GDC announcement confirms gossip about the promising community world for PS3, called Home.

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Starting this autumn, PS3 owners around the world will be able to recreate themselves virtually in Sony's new Home service, which was introduced by Phil Harrison during his keynote at this week's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Home is all about customisation and community. Taking a page from popular online world Second Life and social networking sites such as MySpace, Home lets you create an avatar and an apartment where you can show off your photos, movies and other digital content to your friends.

There will be private spaces such as your own home, where you're able to decorate yourself and your living space with free items or others you buy from the PlayStation Store. You'll also be able to invite people into your apartment.

But Home is about more than just your personalized sliver of the world. There are also public spaces where you'll be able to chat by text, voice or video, play simple parlour and arcade games, watch movies at a virtual cinema or invite players into a game for a bout of multiplayer.

Also new in Home is Sony's answer to Xbox 360 Achievements. Trophies are 3D rewards earned while playing games that you can display in the Hall Of Fame, though it's not clear how thoroughly integrated they will be in PS3 games.

Best of all, Home won't cost you a thing. If you've got a PS3, you'll be able to download Home for free, and the service will be included right in the front-end of the system. Sony will hold a closed beta test for Home starting this April and the final version will be available worldwide this autumn.

Don't miss the news on Sony's best GDC announcement, LittleBigPlanet, on this page.

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