Sony intends to bring features of its new online service to handheld devices.
by Nix

Will PSP Come Home? Sony intends to bring features of its new online service to handheld devices. The shockwaves felt from the announcement of Sony Computer Entertainment's impending online community Home are still rippling through the industry. So far, of course, that impact has put all the focus on PlayStation 3, but in the future, SCE may be able to use re-direct some of the Home movement towards its other "Game 3.0' system, the PlayStation Portable.

In a Home technical FAQ on Sony Computer Entertainment's DevNet service, the company addressed the question of whether Home will be accessible outside of your PlayStation 3. The company confirmed that aspects of Home are being considered for use on PlayStation Portable and possibly cellphones. Sony did not answer directly what its intentions might be with a mobile version of Home or give a timeline of when to expect further answers on these possibilities. The full quote about how Home relates to PSP is as follows:

Q: Is Home a PS3 specific service? Will users be able to access Home through other devices?Initially Home will only be accessible via that PLAYSTATION®3, although over time our intention is to enable users to interface certain Home features and services via other networked devices such as PlayStation®Portable (PSP®) and mobile phones.

However it might be that Sony could Home to PSP would be welcome -- this system is dying for a community network service of some type. However, PSP owners might want to temper expectations of a portable Home until we see what Sony actually does with it. It could well be that while the communication aspects of Home might come to PSP, it would be in the form of a more standard communication service -- text chat, VOIP exchanges, AIM-style Friend Lists, etc. -- than a full-fledged 3D version of home on the portable. Although Home is an amazing application capable of 3D gaming and other forms of interactivity, its underlying principle technology is simply standard communication methods (in fact, users can skip Home's virtual world entirely and just message or chat with each other on the standard PS3 XMB menu.) So, while your friends are exploring a 3D world of people and conversations, PSP home users might simply see a chat log and a Lobby List.

Even that, however, would be a huge service for the PlayStation Portable, which currently has no means of communicating with the PlayStation Network and its userbase. Whether the PSP does or does not have a virtual world version of Home (and we're not saying it won't -- we're just saying that Home services might be quite different from what we're all excited about on PS3), that still means you would have Friend Lists and email access and the ability to challenging gamers before booting your favorite PSP game to see if anybody is online to play it. Plus, this would give PlayStation gamers a portable means of checking out what's going on at Home when they're not at home to check in on PS3.

Home is a major part of the future of PlayStation, and we'll be following its developments to see how Home expands and (hopefully) where else gamers can call Home. Will Cellphones Be Invited Into Sony's Home? PlayStation intends to bring features of its new online service to handheld devices. The shockwaves felt from the announcement of Sony Computer Entertainment's impending online community Home are still rippling through the industry. So far, of course, that impact has put all the focus on PlayStation 3, but in the future, SCE may be able to use re-direct some of the Home movement towards its other "Game 3.0' system, the PlayStation Portable. Cellphone users might also be invited Home in due time.

In a Home technical FAQ on Sony Computer Entertainment's DevNet service, the company addressed the question of whether Home will be accessible outside of your PlayStation 3. The company confirmed that aspects of Home are being considered for use on PlayStation Portable and possibly cellphones. Sony did not answer directly what its intentions might be with a mobile version of Home or give a timeline of when to expect further answers on these possibilities. The full quote about how Home relates to PSP and cellphones is as follows:

Q: Is Home a PS3 specific service? Will users be able to access Home through other devices?Initially Home will only be accessible via that PLAYSTATION®3, although over time our intention is to enable users to interface certain Home features and services via other networked devices such as PlayStation®Portable (PSP®) and mobile phones.

Sony did not elaborate on what it would mean to "enable users to interface certain Home features" with a cellphone. It seems likely that what Sony is referring to is more that the communication aspects of Home might be accessible with a compatible cellphone, but the actual 3D (or even a 2D representation) virtual Home world may or may not make the translation. PlayStation Home's underlying principle technology is simply standard communication methods (in fact, users can skip Home's virtual world entirely and just message or chat with each other on the standard PS3 XMB menu.) So, while your friends are exploring a 3D world of people and conversations, cellphone users might simply see a string of text messages and a Lobby List of who's on and where your friends are.

Even that, however, would enhance the Home service -- it would give PlayStation gamers a portable means of checking out what's going on at Home when they're not at home to check in on PS3. And it would give cellphone users a communication method outside of their own Address Book. Seeing as how no major mobile networking service has emerged as the must-join community, a portable Home might be one of the main community services to develop due to its cross-platform community (provided Sony doesn't choose an exclusive carrier, although let's not put too much faith in that just yet.) And this being PlayStation, it may be that our meager expectations of a text-based Home on cellphones are underestimating what Sony thinks it could do with modern handsets.

We'll be following its developments to see how Home expands and (hopefully) where else gamers can call Home.


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