Sony files trademark for 'BigFest,' a new online gaming community

Sony has trademarked a service called "BigFest," sparking speculation that the company is working on another social network akin to PlayStation Home. The trademark references Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), which developed the original PlayStation Home.

IGN reports that the trademark was filed almost a year ago, on February 6, 2012, but wasn't published until January 1 of this year. The trademark says it includes "hosting on-line web facilities for interactive game play" and "hosting web sites of others for video and computer games or parts of video and computer games created by others on a computer server for a global computer network." It also mentions "introducing video game players to each other for the purposes of playing multiplayer games online, participating in online games communities and competitions, and online player networking and social interaction."

Some of those features sound very much like PlayStation Home, and the name itself implies a giant PlayStation party. SCEE has also registered BigFest.com, which currently forwards to the PlayStation UK site.