GDC 2007: Playstation Home announced in Phil Harrison’s keynote speech

Just about a week ago, the internet practically imploded when Sony decided to blackball the folks from Kotaku. For those who may not have been aware of what happened, it was basically a case of a bad reaction from Sony when Kotaku decided to post a rumor about this little thing called the “Playstation Home“. Well, over at the ongoing Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2007 at San Francisco, it turns out that the the rumors were actually true, and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.’s (SCEI) Phil Harrison himself said so. And he had screenshots to boot.

In his keynote speech titled “Game 3.0: Developing and Creating for the 3rd Age of Videogames”, Phil Harrison noted that PlayStation Home prides itself in being the first of its kind. The free Playstation service will be available by fall of this year, and will serve as the 3D online user community service for PS3 owners everywhere.

In this environment, users will be able to create their own fully-customizable-from-head-to-toe avatar, as well as settle in a virtual “apartment”. Users will be able to invite other users into this virtual living space, where they can then proceed to show off their abode’s furniture, decorations, and other items. Meanwhile, the virtual apartment can also be used to share music, videos and images that you have stored in your PlayStation 3’s drive with your online guests. Lastly, there’s also each user’s “Hall of Fame” where you will be able to display the 3D trophies that can be unlocked by achieving in-game milestones in PS3 games. Besides being a place to show off your achievements though, Home also promises to be a place where people can interact and communicate with each other. This is achieved via the use of built-in text, audio and video chat, as well as a wide range of expressive avatar emotes.

PlayStation Home will be going into its closed beta phase by spring, which will hopefully help in taking out the bugs and thus hasten the process for its expected full launch later this year. Judging from the looks of the screenshots that the 1UP crew acquired, we wonder why in the world Sony was so adamant about covering it up in the first place when the whole thing looks so very, very good.

More details to follow as they come!

Check out the full article after the jump!

Just about a week ago, the internet practically imploded when Sony decided to blackball the folks from Kotaku. For those who may not have been aware of what happened, it was basically a case of a bad reaction from Sony when Kotaku decided to post a rumor about this little thing called the “Playstation Home“. Well, over at the ongoing Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2007 at San Francisco, it turns out that the the rumors were actually true, and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.’s (SCEI) Phil Harrison himself said so. And he had screenshots to boot.

In his keynote speech titled “Game 3.0: Developing and Creating for the 3rd Age of Videogames”, Phil Harrison noted that PlayStation Home prides itself in being the first of its kind. The free Playstation service will be available by fall of this year, and will serve as the 3D online user community service for PS3 owners everywhere.

In this environment, users will be able to create their own fully-customizable-from-head-to-toe avatar, as well as settle in a virtual “apartment”. Users will be able to invite other users into this virtual living space, where they can then proceed to show off their abode’s furniture, decorations, and other items. Meanwhile, the virtual apartment can also be used to share music, videos and images that you have stored in your PlayStation 3’s drive with your online guests. Lastly, there’s also each user’s “Hall of Fame” where you will be able to display the 3D trophies that can be unlocked by achieving in-game milestones in PS3 games. Besides being a place to show off your achievements though, Home also promises to be a place where people can interact and communicate with each other. This is achieved via the use of built-in text, audio and video chat, as well as a wide range of expressive avatar emotes.

PlayStation Home will be going into its closed beta phase by spring, which will hopefully help in taking out the bugs and thus hasten the process for its expected full launch later this year. Judging from the looks of the screenshots that the 1UP crew acquired, we wonder why in the world Sony was so adamant about covering it up in the first place when the whole thing looks so very, very good.

More details to follow as they come!