Only those that have previously purchased a $24.99 annual subscription to Sony's downloadable PS3 video magazine Qore will receive an invite to the closed beta for SCE London's PS3 social networking application Home, the company has clarified.

Sony had previously suggested that anyone who spent $2.99 on Episode 6 of Qore, due out in early November, would be able to access the beta. However, the company today sent out the following clarification to PlayStation Underground members:

As an update to the PLAYSTATION(R)3 News email sent on Friday, October 24th, the special invitation to PlayStation(R)Home's closed beta is available only to Qore annual subscribers who purchased subscriptions by 10/29. Qore Episode 06 purchasers will not be eligible for the special PlayStation(R)Home beta invitation at this time. We apologize for the miscommunication.

PlayStation Home has been in an ever-expanding closed public beta test since the summer of 2007, with a general open beta slated to launch by this December.

Various opportunities to gain beta access have been offered since the beta began, though an annual Qore subscription purchased before 10/29 is currently the only surefire way to land a beta invite at this time.

PlayStation Home, the interactive social network and ad space for the PlayStation 3, is about open up to beta participants for the low, low price of $2.99.

That price will buy Episode 6 of Qore, Sony's downloadable video magazine, which will pack access to the Second Life-inspired virtual space for virtual lifestyles, according to PS3 Fanboy. Annual subscribers will also get access to Home.

The Home open beta is the latest promotion to entice users into buying into Qore. In the past, games like Resistance 2 and MotorStorm Pacific Rift have opened up betas and demos early for those who shell out the cash for Sony's video content.

Episode 6 of Qore will land in early November.

Ubisoft has released the first screenshots from the Far Cry 2 area of Home, the PlayStation 3's Second Life-ish virtual space and promotional platform.

A promotion for Ubisoft Montreal's sequel to Crytek's breakout open-world shooter, the space looks like it's taken straight from Far Cry 2's African battlegrounds--but with a few chairs thrown in to help the space's feng shui.

"Among the available activities will be a multiplayer game of Mancala that will use bullets as game pieces, the opportunity to explore in-game environments including a bombed-out train station that has been turned into an ad hoc cafe, as well as the ability to launch the game directly from the PlayStation Home space," reads a press release from Ubisoft.

The real Far Cry 2 lands on October 21 for PC, 360 and PS3, but those with access to the Home closed beta can check out the space now and get a taste of the atmosphere.

Sony announced during the Tokyo Game Show that 24 publishers have signed on to produce content for Home, the Second Life-esque 3D social network for the PS3.

Most of the publishers were big-name Japanese houses like Capcom, SNK Playmore, Q Entertainment, Konami, Koei, Sega, and Tecmo. However, a few larger Western studios--Activision, Ubisoft, and Walt Disney Japan--were also on the list.

Sony provided a few examples of the kinds of content that will be included. IGN highlighted character dolls from Capcom's Street Fighter IV along with content from games like Resident Evil 5 and Hot Shots Golf 5.

The full list of publishers, reproduced from IGN, follows:

• Irem Software Engineering
• Activision
• Acquire... Read more

Sony's oft-delayed, ad-tastic PlayStation 3 3D social network environment Home has suffered another setback: streaming sharing of videos among friends is nowhere to be seen in the game's open beta.

Upon discovering that the promised feature was absent, Wired contacted Sony for comment. PlayStation Home director Jack Buser responded that Sony was "looking into" the feature. He then countered that "Sony's approach to 'user-generated content' was likely to be more of a 'Lego-block' structure, in which Sony gives users the parts and lets them create what they want."

Wired took that answer as a sign that video sharing--a feature that would have been welcomed among friends meeting up online--is all but abandoned. The feature likely would have come with legal complications, but was also one of the program's more highly anticipated.

The latest update to the PlayStation 3's digital storefront sees the debut of the August edition of Sony's digital magazine Qore, along with new details concerning paid access to the upcoming beta program for Insomniac Games' shooter sequel Resistance 2.

Those gamers who buy an annual subscription to the digital magazine will be offered early access to the beta, scheduled to kick off in the near future. Single episode purchasers, meanwhile, will be guaranteed access at an undisclosed later date. Qore is priced at $2.99 per issue, or $24.99 for an annual subscription.

Also on offer is the PlayStation Home theme, which acts as an application into the latest round of beta testing for Sony Studio London's online social networking software when downloaded. As revealed earlier today, the theme is available free of charge.

The entirety of today's PlayStation Store update is viewable below... Read more

As Sony prepares to launch the public Home (PS3) beta this year, the company has revealed plans to ramp up the closed beta test at the end of the month.

To apply for the latest round of testing for Studio London's online social-networking software, North American PlayStation 3 owners simply need to download the free PlayStation Home theme that will be available in the PlayStation Store later today.

"We will be using a variety of criteria including activity on the PlayStation Network to determine eligibility for the Beta community," director Jack Buser wrote on PlayStation.Blog, noting that current beta testers will be included in the rollout, and that SCE Europe will be contacting active PS Network users for beta participation.

The PlayStation 3's free 3D social networking application Home will feature content from Nike, EA, LucasArts, Activision and more when it arrives in open beta this fall.

"I absolutely assure you...your patience will be more than rewarded," SCEA CEO Jack Tretton promised.

Sony Computer Entertainment just sent over some new screenshots and details from PlayStation Home (PS3), revealing a virtual event space and the company's plans for it.

According to Sony, "the online Media & Events Space can be re-dressed and re-branded just like a real-life venue." It was apparently tested last week with a recreation of the PlayStation Day that took place on May 6, complete with streaming video speeches.

Citing the test's success, SCE noted that "Home will now start scheduling more elaborate and exciting productions for the Space, which will be available for use by both first and third parties."

SCE London's oft-delayed social networking software will be a free download for PlayStation 3 owners when it goes into open beta this fall.

The PlayStation 3's online social interaction software Home will not enter the open beta stage until this fall, Sony Computer Entertainment has announced. The free service had previously been delayed until this spring from its expected launch last fall.

In advance of this fall's open beta, the company will be expanding the breadth of the closed beta, which has been underway since last summer. Beta tester feedback is said to be playing a heavy role in the title's continual refinement.

"We have come to the conclusion that we need more time to refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience than what it is today," explained SCE president and CEO Kazuo Hirai.

"Spending more time on the development and on the Closed Beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation tradition."

Several new screenshots of SCE London Studios' Home (PS3) have appeared on the game's official Japanese website, illustrating the changes that have been made to the online social interaction utility since it was first announced and shown.

Slated to arrive as a free download for all PlayStation 3 owners later this spring, the game has been in closed beta testing since last summer. Beta tester feedback, which included demands for a more open environment, is said to have played a heavy role in the title's pre-pubescent transformation.

"They took out a home equity loan to pay for the new improvements, because it's called Home," joked Shacknews founder Steve Gibson. "I was just trying to think of any weird reference you can make to home improvements."

Despite the delay of the PlayStation 3 social networking service PlayStation Home to spring 2008, gamers will still get their chance to create their own virtual avatar and explore the online world before the year's end.

Speaking to GameSpot, SCE Worldwide Studios head Phil Harrison explained the service was still set to enter a wide, and presumably open, beta test later this year.

"We will still be opening in late November/early December for general beta testing," he said. "So, the commercial start of Home will be pushed out later, but you will still get the experience this year."

An ever-expanding closed beta test of Home is currently underway for select members of the PlayStation Network.

During a keynote address at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco today, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios head Phil Harrison outlined Sony's plans to extend the online and social capabilities of PlayStation 3. PlayStation Home, set to launch later in 2007, will offer PS3 users an interactive living space in which they can place furniture and decorations purchased or downloaded freely through the PlayStation Network via a virtual PSP device within the environment. You can see Home in action in this Playstation 3 Home video on FileShack.

Harrison introduced Home as a facet of what Sony calls "Game 3.0," which the company sees as the current era of connecting gaming. "This is not something we want to claim as a copyright," Harrison noted. "We want everyone to add to this." In that vein, the presentation slide illustrating Game 3.0 included photographs of not only the PS3 and Sony's own PSP, but also Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii, though the PlayStation Home initiative does not involve competing consoles.

Home will be a free download to PS3 and is launched from the system's Xross Media Bar. After some brief technical difficulties, Harrison demonstrated the service by creating a realistic human avatar to inhabit the Home environment. Character creation is similar to that of certain MMOs as well as Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, allowing players to specify a variety of facial characteristics and proportions. Like furniture, some character clothing is freely downloadably, while some will be paid premium downloads. Additionally, some items will be unlocked simply by playing particular PS3 games.

The Home environment showcased during the presentation was a fully furnished apartment with a variety of mini-game-like social features. Among other activities, players can go bowling, play arcade games, watch movie trailers or other video content on in-world TVs, invite other PS3 owners to bring their own avatars into the apartment. Interaction with other players is conducted via a predictive text fragment system, a virtual keyboard, or voice chat, along with a variety of expressive character animations. Other players visiting an apartment will have music and video being played on the apartment owner's virtual home theater streamed to their own PS3s, with proximity-based volume.

A separate room houses players' trophy collection. Much like Achievements on Xbox 360, trophies are granted for completing specific in-game goals. Developers will be able to craft actual 3D models for their games' trophies, and players can choose to highlight the most impressive trophies out in full view; the room is open for other players to admire.

PlayStation Home is currently in a closed beta test. A larger scale beta program will begin in April or May, with a full launch this fall.

Nick Breckon contributed to this story.