Residents of the USA are now able to sign up for an exclusive beta of Sony’s new social media environment. To do so, just download the “Home” theme for the Playstation 3, which can be found at the Playstation Network store. Users will be chosen based on their involvement with the Network, which most likely means those who are online alot will be chosen first. Home allows users to create an avatar for their PS3 console. This avatar will get their own virtual apartment space, which can then be adorned with items users can receive in several different ways. In the future the service will also expand, allowing players to have more sorts of clothing or bigger apartments.

In the world outside of the player houses, players can meet and chat with other community-members. One can invite their friends, hang out and communicate via voice chat, or normal text chat, listen to music, play a game or exchange content. People who enter each other’s “home” (called a “HomeSpace”) can stream the host’s music and videos from their HDD. Videos are viewed via virtual Sony TVs, such as the BRAVIA. Photographs can be viewed via a virtual picture frame. The world of PlayStation Home will not only consist of players’ houses, but there will also be arcade-games that can be played, as well as games like pool billiards and bowling.

Every user has a private apartment space that they can modify and change over time. The basic apartment is free and will offer users lots of options for customization and personalization. In the future, Sony will provide tools that will enable users to have an even greater ability to create their own Home spaces and content. At time of release, the user’s “home” will be streamed from their own PlayStation 3, meaning that if the user logs out of Home, then access to this user’s apartment no longer exists until the user logs on again.

Read more about the Playstation Home service at Wikipedia.