Open Home as Sony talks to devs:

Denny names social networking as key at London DevStation conference
The latest figures from Sony's PlayStation Network underpinned the bullish attitude at its three-day DevStation developer conference, held in London.

Millions of pieces of content have been downloaded, while Michael Denny, VP of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Europe, also said the number of network registrations since launch was very encouraging.

Next up will be download packs for MotorStorm, which will be available in premium (adding 'significant gameplay' to the title), and lite flavours.
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According to a post at the US PlayStation forums, the Home beta for Europe has started. The post has been backed up with other people claiming it started for Europe also, below are two screenshots showing why people have claimed it.
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"A closed beta phase for around 15,000 users will take place between April and August, with an open beta for 50,000 or so operating between August and October."
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It seems a new PlayStation Home community has been launched at the most obvious destination, PlayStationHome.com

The community includes forums, and a Social Home "MySpace" like Network for Home users to register. Enjoy!
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Grouper enables its members to watch, share and create video on the Web, desktop and connected devices and continues to be the leading innovator in the user-generated video space. Members can browse videos on Grouper.com and post them to a wide variety of third party Web sites directly from Grouper. With one-click, members can add video to their personal pages on MySpace, Facebook, Y!360, Friendster, Blogger, and any other video webpage.

Killzone Unit communicated with Dave Karraker, Sr. Director, Corporate Communications of Sony Computer Entertainment America. When asked about the integration of Grouper to the PlayStation Underground and the PlayStation 3, he mentioned it could be implemented as soon as the launch of HOME.

Dave Karraker: "We haven't announced any changes to the PlayStation Network or PlayStation Store beyond what we have delivered in the latest Firmware 1.6 update. Grouper integration will most likely first be seen with the launch of Home."

Hit jump to learn more.
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A new Q&A has been posted on the semi-official PS3 blog site ThreeSpeech where Harrison gets asked about people uploading porn to PS Home. When asked about some of the animations you can do within the world of PS Home, he replied, "Well, it's absolutely deliberate that there is no physical impact between characters, between avatars. We are going to have animations that will allow you to shake somebody's hand or to have some social touch but in a very, you know, appropriate way. But no, we're ...
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Nintendo legend, Shigeru Miyamoto, played down the originality of Sony's newly-announced Home service for PlayStation 3, saying: "What they're doing already exists in one form on the PC." Miyamoto went on to accentuate Nintendo's focus on originality. "Our focus is always to be different and do something that's different. That's why, even though, technically speaking, the Miis take advantage of the Internet, that isn't our main focus," he said. "We are trying to do something that is different ...
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While attending GDC last week, PSU had the chance to stop by the Linden Lab booth, developers behind Second Life, and talk with Jeff Luan about his thoughts on the Phil Harrison keynote and, more importantly, PlayStation Home.

"Mimicry is the greatest form of flattery for us," said Luan.

Luan believes that "Home" will be great for console gamers, but what Sony is doing really won't have an affect on Second Life due to Second Life being on PC and it being targetted whole different market of users.

Perhaps "Home" won't have an affect on Second Life, but how will it affect Xbox Live and the Wii? Bringing almost unlimited options to PlayStation gamers in creating their character, earning trophys, or decking out their pad. I guess only time will tell.
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From the article "Pro-G: Well yes, that too. But what about the game 'Mr trying to dance around the question'? (laughs). Perhaps it's being integrated into PS3 Home as a Safari Holiday package?

Harrison: (laughs) That's actually a good idea. The game designers on Afrika are being deliberately coy about the game experience. I know what it is; I've seen it and I know it's going to be a very interesting gaming experience. It's not about killing and it's not about running around the environment shooting elephants and hippopotami - that would be awful. That's not what we're all about. What we're about is taking people to places in a virtual world. So Afrika, I think, is a great example of that. But hold on just a little bit more!"
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Discussion and reaction to Sony's recently-announced PlayStation Home has been rampant at the Games Developers Conference, with most excited and dying to dive into Sony's virtual world, while others are skeptical whether the service goes deep enough (mostly Nintendo and Microsoft employees). We roamed the GDC halls to get a quick reaction to the PS3 Second Life-alike, and here's what our victims had to say... Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer, Epic Games: "I think PlayStation Home is very ...
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