I'm aware this is a... controversial position, but I think I can support it with logic, if not with empirical data.

I think Home will represent a fundamental shift in the platform's philosophy; somethin akin to Blu-Ray, it won't create some giant bump in the system's sales when it is released, but rather effect the system's outcome throughout the lifespan (although obviously some may argue Blu Ray may have hurt the PS3 more than it helped because of the price it added on, you see my point).

Actually, the perfect parallel would be Xbox Live, which is obviously what Home most readily imitates. And the parallel isn't lost on developers, and some have even commented on the comparison, including Mark Rein:  

http://www.qj.net/Mark-Rein-Home-integration-in-UT3/pg/49/aid/108608 

I think we can all agree that Xbox Live has sold some systems; not in the direct, huge-bump-the-month-it-was-released sort of way, in the vein of Halo 3, but in a gradual manner that's difficult to prove or disprove. Let's say, as a simple example, that Xbox Live sells 1000 people a month on the system that wouldn't have otherwise bought it; over the course of the system's lifespan, that's hundreds of thousands of people, amazingly enough. And that's about the sort of effect I expect Home to have as it is gradually implemented.

I'm personally very interested to see what creative possibilities Sony has in mind, because I think it could ultimately far outstrip a simple menu system for competitive achievements and media distribution.  

It probably won't give it a huge boost in sales, but a good dent in sales.
I think home is very under-rated, it needs to be advertised more, I just recently found out about the achievements that your friends can look at (Trophy Room).

I think Sony is trying to make it a MUCH more interactive "xbox live", and best of all, its free !

A lot of people, love achievements, they love seeing those Trophies or medals (I know I do when I see my ranking higher than my buddies in COD4). This would be another one of my reasons to own a PS3 (If I didn't already).

If people can preach about Home to people, and advertise it more, and refer to it as Xbox Live's rival, than it actually could put a bigger dent in sales then you think.

Home is Very Ambitious of sony and I applaud. I believe Home is going to work. i think it can very well eventually compete with live

I just don't see it. It looks kind of boring. I'd also worry about the creepy people that might be attracted to such an environment. I don't think I'd want my kids any where near it.

I just don't see how Home will sell consoles. Will it be a very interesting addition of current and future owners? Definitely. But will people say "OMG, screw MGS4, I'm getting a PS3 for Home!" I think that's doubtful.

I think we need to look at WHY something like Home would appeal to people, and what kind of appeal Sony is pushing for. Are they going for a Myspace/Facebook kind of social network? If they are, it's an extremely flawed idea, since those two thrive on the fact that it's free and easily accessible, as well as being another tool for hooking up/disseminating party info and other social aspects. Home will be predominantly male gamers, so it's not gonna have that kind of appeal. But they seem to be pushing for something more than just a place for gamers to talk. They want people who have friends with PS3's to feel compelled to get one so they too can join the network. I just don't see that as being likely, considering the cost of game systems.

I think MS had the right idea. The vast majority of users of Xbox Live are male gamers in their teens to late 20's. You don't need alot of extraneous shit for that crowd, just an easy way to connect them to play/chat about games.

Live did not sell the Xbox. Compelling games to play on live sold the Xbox. People would rather have free online, but they want to play games that they wanna play, so they would rather pay $50 a year to play the game they want rather than something for free that they dont wanna play. In the end, its all about the games. The mass market is blind to features. Sony is gonna have to spend millions educating people about what HOME is , what blue ray is, and etc. The only thing that can sell it is compelling games that people want to play.

 I disagree, slightly, I beleive that Home like Live will enhance the gaming experience. Live only enhanced so far but also limited developers to one online field. Home brings together different styles of gaming networks and allows for management of a global system versus an internally housed system.  Online gaming should never be a closed box, thats why Live is a compete failure on PC. PC is a global network and with free tools like xfire that world becomes inter-connected. It's the same thing Sony is trying to accomplish. Home will bring that idea closer and enhance areas of it because of the interactivity. You can have a clan meeting while you bowl or play pool. On PC you would have to use skype, xfire, teamspeak, or ventrilo to enable you to chat and then have to go pay yahoo pool or something which isnt close to half as pretty. 

I see with Home Sony pushing ahead of Live for an online game pay due to all above and the fact that you can also interact with other people from around the world. As long as it never becomes as bad as the XBL nubs in game with the shout-feasts Sony definitely has a better overall network and online gaming experience. 

You never know how these things will turn out. Alot of people did not imagine the effect waggle would have on the Wii - and looks where it is now. Not saying it will, but its hard to predict things that become cool or get turned down in society.

The more I think about it, the more I think Home is one of the key pieces of Sony's long-term strategy. So far, they're making all the right moves - keeping the basic service free, designing interaction and user-controls into the space, listening carefully to what people want in the full service. The paradox is that to succeed, Home needs to be (1) a commons, a relatively open, non-commercial space, run mostly by gamers themselves, without too much interference from the corporate suits, and (2) a place where all ages, genders, nationalities can hang out.

Sony is creating the infrastructures for a host of new media markets, and making sure each infrastructure can network with all the others. Video-on-demand is being rolled out in Japan, the PSP is becoming a TV tuner, services which will spread fast. The PSP can output games on a TV - why? New types of games. The PSEye is far more than a webcam, its a video messaging device. Home is one of the first places where all of these services are going to converge, I think.

If that's what they're aiming for, then, yes, this network infrastructure has the potential be a huge permanent boost for sales.

I don't.