Home was revealed some time ago now, but the vast majority of users haven’t been able to experience the ambitious virtual environment yet. Those eagerly awaiting the opportunity will have to wait a bit longer still, says Sony.

Home has been running in a closed beta environment for some time and now officially the open beta has been scheduled for the fall of 2008.

For those interested in getting involved as soon as possible, the closed beta will be expanding this summer. More PS3 users will be invited to take part, but details on registration and expansion dates will be provided at a later time.

Home is taking its time to materialize and it’s disappointing to hear that optimism for a summer release, at least of a public beta, has been dashed.

Kaz Hirai, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, admitted that they were asking users to wait longer but added this to reassure them, “Our overarching objective is to provide users with new gaming experiences that are available only on Playstation Home. Spending more time on the development and on the Closed Beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation tradition.”

Large-scale online projects like this are certainly major undertakings. Fall 2008 is a firm date at least, and there are many worthwhile games out there right now to make the wait more bearable.

Tags: HOME, Playstation 3

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2 Comments » DMOsbon on April 23, 2008 10:32 am Not really what I wanted to hear, while I am waiting for my PS3 to be delivered. Thanks for the pointer, Geoff. Cenobia on April 24, 2008 1:06 am That picture pretty accurately illustrates the way I felt when I heard the news. :( RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.