GDC 2007: Playstation Home Confirmed and First Details Released

Playstation fans have found a new Home. The Playstation Home was demoed early yesterday at the Game Developer’s conference and has since sparked much enthusiasm in both developers, and Playstation 3 fans across the globe. Sony’s answer to Xbox Live is finally taking form, and based on what was shown here, it’s going to be one heck of a step up from the current Playstation Network offerings.

The Playstation Home is a three dimensional world in which players can create fully customizable virtual avatars, similar to Nintendo’s Mii system, and walk around the virtual landscape, socializing with other Playstation 3 users and playing casual games. Each player is given their own virtual apartment space they can decorate as they see fit with furniture they acquire within the “game” and virtual trophies earned through your accomplishments in Playstation 3 games, sort of like the Xbox 360’s achievements.

The service itself is free to use and enjoy, but certain things such as special items of clothing for your avatar and special pieces furniture are made available for a small fee. In another effort to subsidize the costs of running the service and making it free for all Playstation 3 users, there will be dynamic advertisements posted at certain points within the world. Exact specifics of what sort of advertisements expected to be displayed are unknown, but we imagine there will be small things such as posters advertising upcoming games or short commercials playing on a virtual screen.

Sony’s worst kept secret as of late (and one worth fighting to keep secret) has turned out to be one of the most promising and potentially huge announcements for the Playstation 3 to date. Keep checking back to GameTime News Network for more updates as we go more in depth with the service later on this week.