PlayStation Home

Not available in this beta build, sadly, were the electronic gadgets and multimedia features that most people will want to play with first. No TV, no music player, no picture frames. This means I can't offer any more illumination as to how Home will integrate with the media files on your hard drive, or how you'll be able to plaster your own photo files over your cyber-walls.

The release notes for this build suggest that the current wardrobe and furniture options will be the default when Home is released, which seems rather stingy. The clothing options are generic and limited, while furniture is restricted to a couple of chairs, a sofa, a few tables and some lamps and knick-knacks. There's a slightly larger selection available from a shop in Home's Marketplace, but it's unclear if these will still be free on release, or if new residents really all be forced to decorate their luxurious living quarters with the same small handful of items. It doesn't quite match up to the aspirational atmosphere Home promotes, and if you need to start forking out micropayments just to make your place even a little bit different to everyone else, I predict loud grumbles.

Your apartment is only part of the Home experience though, so walk over to the door and you're transported to Home Square - the central area where you can mingle with strangers and access the various entertainment options. Your PSP can be used to automatically jump to a particular area, and you can also warp to the location of people on your Friends List. Certain areas can be added to a favourites list, much like bookmarking a website, making the act of getting around even easier.

As with the apartment, the Home Square is all very lovely. Twittering birdsong soundtracks your strolls, while waterfalls and fountains continue the ambient water theme. You can see other people wandering about as well - beta testers and fellow journalists in my case - and communication is varied and simple. If you have a headset, just hold down R2 and talk and anyone within earshot will hear you. If you have a USB keyboard, just type what you want to say and it appears in a speech bubble over your head. With around twenty people clustered in one spot, these speech balloons soon became a bit of a muddle, while the on-screen chat log struggled to keep up. Move to a more secluded spot, however, and it's a fine system.

If you don't have either of those options, you can use the R1 button to open up a menu of preset animations to express everything from approval to anger. It's no way to hold a conversation, but at least you'll be able to join in as a mute commentator. There's even a generous selection of dance moves, and for those who witnessed the awesome sight of the IGN UK, Official PlayStation Magazine and Eurogamer three-way formation robot dance routine, I can only apologise for any feelings of social or sexual inadequacy caused.

There are posters dotted around Home Square, any of which can be viewed in more detail by pressing X while nearby, and large video screens automatically buffer content as you enter. Soundtracks only kick in when you approach, so ambient noise won't drown out conversations, and as with the posters you can press a button to shift the view to something approaching full-screen. Of course, it's really just a fancy way of delivering advertising, but it's hard to deny there's something cool about spotting the Killzone 2 trailer from across the square, and wandering across for a closer look.