yeah.....no i think Home is anything BUT too early

Too early? Not at all, in fact, I think it's too late.

I think you're putting too much faith in home. At best it's gonna be a cool service for PS3 owners. It's not going to push a lot of consoles. Sony's gonna put it out when it's ready, not to push sales up.

HOME isnt going to improve HW sales im pretty sure all the Fanboys know that already (whoever thinks otherwise needs a reality check). HOME is going to make Sony money through marketing. So IMO Home is a good idea and during these troubled times that Sony are facing the more money coming in the better.

Seems you all agree that Home is late, but I think beta or no beta, Home is STILL late. Whenever the non-beta comes out, it will still be late. I still think that making this a public beta is just a preemptive excuse for things that don't work or are unsatisfactory.

Yes, I do think it will be cool to watch it go from beta to official and beyond, but how long is it going to take things to really progress? And Sony is already placing a lot of the onus on the advertisers to create content, so I'm imagining the "full" Home release to be very ad heavy. I mean, I see a lot of people actually EXCITED that Red Bull and other companies are supposedly so involved in Home and that so much relies on those companies to make Home reach its potential--shouldn't you be careful what you wish for on that?

I think Sony should be prepared for lots of complaining about things that don't work (for which they will have the "this is only a beta" excuse at the ready) and lots of complaining about the unending advertising that I'm almost sure is going to flood Home. I'm not trying to be a hater here at all. Again, I didn't mind the new NXE for 360 and could have taken or left it. The existing PS3 interface seems fine too. I personally preferred the blades over NXE, but in the end, I don't spend much time oggling at the interface, I want to play my games!! But take a look at the financial straits Sony is in, look at all the emphasis they're already putting on corporations to make or break Home, and look at the track record of untimely releases and unfulfilled promises this gen that Sony has been famous for. After taking all that into consideration, can you honestly say that Home is going to be that great? Or is it going to be a living breathing commercial with mini games? The more advertising that comes into Home, the more Sony will recover in ad revenue for all their losses this gen.

Just think about it guys. I'm not asking you to do anything but think about it.

Eh? No

At toastmaster. GDC 07 was two years ago? Almost, but you're off by 3 months.

Based on the current sales pattern...ps3 needs a catalyst...bigtime.

@Domicinator

The whole purpose for HOME is to make Sony money through ads. HOME is the internet in 3D like others have said. Can you browse the internet without seeing Ads? the answer to that is no. Look at VGC its got ads on every page. Why? because its the only way to make money and yet it doesnt stop people from browsing the content.

The ads will be in form of billboards and places to go in HOME so i dont see that as being much different then browsing the internet. If you want to watch the ad then you stand there and look at it. If you dont then you keep moving. No big deal really.

At the end of the day its about making money and this is Sony's chance to do that. All the other gaming companies are making Profits. Sony is the one behind and now have their way of making money. Regardless of it being a beta and it will have issues (all betas do) its going to bring in some revenue for Sony more so now that its an open beta rather then a closed beta.

Also im pretty sure what you said is obvious to all people that will be going into HOME to expect it being buggy and what not but that doesn't stop them from trying it out and helping Sony improve it through feedback (good or bad feedback).

They've been working on home for maybe 3 years, it has been delayed a lot to perfect it.

You do realise that gmail is still in open beta, right? and yet it kicks the arse out of any other way to receive email

no? just needs to get some adverts i guess