For all its long delays, Sony's Home virtual world for PlayStation 3 is still eagerly awaited, both by gamers and by the virtual worlds industry. Launching a virtual world on its scale on one standard platform owned by millions of people around the world could have a huge popularising effect on the space. Or it could be a huge flop. Sony is naturally targeting the former, with PlayStation Network director Eric Lempel promising a "high quality service" from day one, and comparing it to Gmail.
Gmail? The comparison is about Home being a beta when it launches, but that not meaning it’s half-finished and buggy.
“Gmail when it launched in beta was a fully functional email service. I personally was using it and it offered everything you’d expect, but was in beta just to say that there’s more to come and maybe it’s not fully polished. The reason we’ve been delaying is so that we can deliver a high quality service that the users will enjoy. Even though it will be in beta, it will be a fair representation of what the service can be and its potential, so it won’t be a 0.5 release, it will be a fully robust service.”
In fact, the delay may actually be beneficial to a successful launch of Home. Sales of PS3 have gathered momentum since it was originally due to go live, meaning there are millions more potential users. That means more people populating Home the day its beta goes live, which in turn will prevent reports of the ‘Home is empty’ variety in the media.
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