Since the PlayStation 3 was announced, Sony has used two of its products in particular to define the next-gen PlayStation experience: Little Big Planet and Home. Home is a persistent online community that can be accessed through the PS3 Dashboard. While not replacing the XMB, Home actually includes features not available on the standard PS3 menu system, and Sony hopes that it will become the first thing that users launch every time they turn on their console. Soon, Qore subscribers will be able to test-drive this service through a private beta being distributed through Sony’s online video mag, and the general public will all get to go Home sometime this holiday season. After going hands-on with the beta, I decided to offer my experiences as a primer for those of you who will soon be venturing into Home for the first time.

Home is a virtual community that exists to link PS3 gamers in a way that has never been tried before on consoles. As soon as you load the game, you are taken to your spacious new apartment. You are then tasked with creating your Home avatar, which is what will represent you among the other players in the community. The character creation engine is very thorough … almost dauntingly so. Those expecting to have their mini-me ready in a few minutes might want to pull up a comfortable chair and prepare to be there a while. Each section of the body has multiple parts, all of which can be stretched and molded in a large amount of ways. I tried for about 15 minutes to make my dude look somewhat like me, but failed miserably at this task, inexplicably settling on a cowboy as my default Home character. Thankfully there are presets to get you started, so it’s easy to find a base to build upon.

All of this customization seems a bit overwhelming until you get to the clothing options which, as of right now, include 9 shirts and 8 pants. While this service is still in beta, the fact that there is a Home store, where you will be able to purchase clothing and other in-game items with real money, speaks volumes as to why these options are so sparse. I decided to go venture out into the world, which lead me to encounter one of the biggest problems with the current state of Home: loading times.

Every area that you leave and enter in Home requires a load, which is actually connecting you to the server for that particular area and pulling up all the data. While a connection-related load is expected, the first time you enter a Home space there is an extra load that you might not be prepared for. When you initially download the Home client, it includes limited content. Every time you enter an area for the first time, you have to download the data that makes up that area to your PS3’s hard drive before you can enter. While these downloads don’t take too long, as most areas are about 30mb, it is bewildering that Sony decided to have each area download independently instead of just including all of the base areas in the initial Home client download. This would be fine for new expansion areas, like Game Spaces for upcoming titles, but the fact that you have to download Home’s base locations such as the Central Plaza and the Mall makes for a strange and slow first sojourn into the world of Home.

Upon leaving my fancy new apartment (and waiting for the load to finish) I was dropped into the Home Central Plaza, a large open area with a park, a large speaker that lets a user choose which song is playing, a large screen playing a trailer for Socom, and some walkways that link your character to the Theater, Game Space, and Mall. I discovered about 35 people loitering around these parts, some talking using the in-game text and voice chat, and others dancing, laughing, and making use of the game’s numerous animated commands. It was Central Plaza that truly represented the Home experience for me, as people were using the world as a virtual chat room and entertaining each other using all of the in-game functions and expressions.

When you approach another user, a menu pops up that quickly lets you view their profile, add them to your friends list, or send them a message. I strolled over to the Home Mall, which is a beautifully designed 2 floor shopping extravaganza that includes stores for clothing, furniture, real estate, several stores that aren’t yet defined, and even a few tables to play Chess on. I went into the furniture store and bought 1 of everything, all of which are currently free. The "Threads" store had nothing available to increase my wardrobe, so I decided to instead pick up a new summer house, which I was able to set as my default Home Space from the PSP, a multi-use in-game device which essentially acts as the game’s menu.

Of course, there is no point in having an ocean-front bachelor pad without tricking it out with all kinds of sweet furniture, so I started looking for ways to customize my place. I pressed start to bring up the PSP, and went to the Decorate menu to choose furniture I could decorate my apartment with. The beta options are limited, but you do get several tables, chairs, and random items from the store to give your place some semblance of personality and style. Once I had placed an inordinate amount of chairs in my Living Room, I headed back into the Plaza, threw on my virtual trench coat, and slyly strolled into the Theater.