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US, March 7, 2007 - Phil Harrison likes to speak in public. Sure, he may not admit it -- but every time I see the man, he's standing on top of a stage or blocking a television set with his elongated frame, microphone in hand.

Want proof?

At this very moment (10:30am Pacific Standard Time) the SCE Worldwide honcho is presenting his "Game 3.0" keynote speech as the opener to the 2007 Game Developer's Conference. There are hundreds of industry folk in attendance, and Big Phil is no doubt grabbing their attention with his company's PS3 initiatives for 2007. He's like a sunrise, that one.

Of course, Phil had to prepare for today's big moment in some way or another, and prepare he did on the top floor of a rather trendy club in San Francisco's Embarcadero yesterday evening. As a special favor to the 80+ press members in attendance, Harrison practiced for this morning's presentation by unveiling everything he's elaborating on right now. The creative new project known as "LittleBigPlanet", the company's philosophy behind the current game generation, and 32-player online-only Warhawk were the major topics. But none of them, not even LittleBigPlanet, took up as much time as "Home" -- Sony's forthcoming PS3 community service.

You've no doubt heard of Home thanks to a pre-conference leak out of popular gaming blog Kotaku, and as it turns out, a lot of the early rumors were true. Users do get their own Mii-like avatar to represent themselves in Home's Virtual space, and there is an achievement-type system that awards players with trophies for accomplishing specific tasks (unofficially known as "milestones").

Described as "the first of its kind," Home is an avatar-based virtual neighborhood built on the shoulders of every PS3 owner who participates. Offered as a free download from the PlayStation Store, the new networked feature installs a unique icon to your XMB and then launches just like a game does. Once connected, users are able to join online games, go shopping, talk with other people, and mess around with various media types for as long as they see fit. And to be honest, it's actually pretty cool.

Virtual PSP
"Your Virtual PSP gives you access to all the navigation, features and options of Home."

Our first taste of Home was a brief look at the 3D world that represents it. Bright and colorful, the environments look similar to a bare bones Grand Theft Auto title, only the surroundings were serene and centered on a garden and water motif. But before we could study the architecture any further, Phil keyed up the "Virtual PSP" component and we were on our way.

Used as a quick navigational tool, the Virtual PSP allows users to hop between bookmarked spaces in their Home universe. Over the course of the entire 30-minute presentation, the PSP was only ever used to transition to new areas, so how much functionality this digital portable actually offers is still a mystery.

Character Customization
"Each person can customize their clothes and facial characteristics, with millions of potential combinations."

Next on Phil's agenda was showing off how to customize avatars, and while they're essentially the same thing as a Mii (re: Nintendo's Wii), they're far more advanced. Not only do character models look legitimately "next-gen," they're also highly modifiable. Heads, torsos, legs, feet, and accessories (plus gender swaps) serve as base edit types, while an indeterminate number of options can be selected from there. Harrison also confirmed that items and clothing will be both free and premium depending on the piece, and that playing certain games unlocks even more bonuses. Phil even mentioned that face customization would get better with time.The Central Lounge
"The Central Lounge is the large social meeting space and is your initial starting point in Home. Communication is key in Home, and there are many simple ways to get to know people. Emotes are animations that get your point across fast. You can access short phrases using Quick Write, or if you have something big to say you can type with a Virtual or USB keyboard, or talk with a Bluetooth headset."

Once an avatar has been chosen, it can then move about the world freely and its first stop will likely be "The Central Lounge." Here, patrons will be able to see other people moving about and conversing with one another, and Sony has truly thought of everything when it comes to communicating (Quick Write options, USB keyboard support, and Bluetooth voice chat seem to integrate seamlessly). Clients can also use emotes to convey moods or just be ridiculous with motions like disco dancing, shoulder shrugs, pointing, waving, and plenty more.

One of the more interesting aspects of Home is actually made for businesses as opposed to users. That is, every wall can be used for dynamic content -- or more specifically -- advertising. Posters, HD-quality imbedded video, and eventually even websites can be slapped on the walls like a coat of paint. "Free through advertising' is obviously the model being used here (it's pretty non-invasive too).

Games Space
"The Games Space is where you can meet and relax with your friends with free casual games such as bowling, pool and retro arcade games."

If hanging out and talking to strangers or reading ads isn't your thing, the main lobby comes stocked with a couple of neat little mini-games. "HomePool" and "HomeBowling" were the examples shown off in the demo, but Phil also revealed a mini-arcade where you could play new downloadable titles that would be updated frequently. What's particularly cool about this setup is that you never leave the world when playing since you're free to look around your surroundings and zoom in and out of the arcade screen at any time.

Apartment Space
"Your Apartment Space is your private apartment where you can invite your friends and family. Your free, initial apartment can be decorated and upgraded to the height of luxury with furniture, accessories, pictures and videos from your own collection."

If there's one area where people will spend most of their time, it's definitely going to be "Home Space." Here, users can design their own apartment and modify their living quarters into a quaint little hideaway or a lavish two-story pimp pad. Plus, just like the outside areas are customizable for a paying businesses, your own home can likewise be customized by you.

Pictures, movies, and even websites can be imported from your hard drive or removable memory stick and put onto virtual television sets or picture frames in a matter of seconds. Wallpapers can be customized as well (some selections are even game-themed), and any furniture you buy is entirely physics-based (so there aren't any arbitrary slot restrictions in how many items you can have). Phil showed this off by dropping his virtual Bravia down the stairs a couple of times and made a joke about it being just as sturdy in the game as it is in real life. As an added bit of fun, Harrison even proved that his digital Bravia television set was outputting proximity-based audio, and when he walked too far away from it the sound reacted accordingly.

Sony is hopeful that friends and (more importantly) clans will use these apartments to get together and talk about strategies or setup gaming sessions. Users will be able hang out and listen to MP3s or audio CDs via virtual stereos if they choose, or can launch a group multiplayer game without having to leave their space. Eventually, players will even be able to add personal pool tables and arcade units of their own should they not want to venture out into the Lobbies. It's definitely a cool feature (we just wonder how effective it will be in pulling people in and keeping them there).

Hall of Fame
"The Hall of Fame is the space where your game accomplishments are stored as 3D Trophies and video for public and private display."

As Phil left his apartment, he moved on to my favorite space of the entire presentation -- The Hall of Fame. Sony's answer to the Xbox 360's achievement system, the HOF gives users the ability to view trophies they've earned from playing games in a real 3D way (some trophies even have audio or video aspects to them). What's more, is that patrons can even modify trophy cabinets and pick which trophies they want to show to friends.

Star Wars Episode III fans should also be happy to learn that you can view trophies for games that you haven't even earned yet in another room. Why would they be happy? Because those unearned trophies look like they're sitting in the floating soapboxes from the senate scenes of the last Lucas flick (it's a vast high-tech warehouse). Also of note: among the games scattered throughout the Hall of Fame, titles that have already been released, like Resistance and MotorStorm, had accessible trophies as well. Whether or not that means that you'll get these accomplishments retroactively or through a patch that comes later is unknown.

Sports Lobby
"Both game and non-game brands can strengthen their user communities in Home by custom building their own spaces."

Harrison's next stop was one that we didn't get to see much of, as it was more of a philosophy than it was a currently-existing room. Known as the "Sports Lobby" in this demo, it was an area was where fans of a particular type could congregate for specific games, franchises, characters, or even publishers. The example we saw, while not officially EA, looked a lot like an Electronic Arts room -- with a dedicated sports theme and plenty of mini-games (including a three-point basketball challenge). Obviously, the types of things that companies could do here are limitless, and Harrison plans to have non-gaming content have their own rooms one day as well.

Home Theatre
"The Home Theatre is a shared viewing area for the latest trailers, films and user-created content."

Our last stop was a convincing recreation of a local cinema known appropriately as "The Home Theatre." It's pretty straightforward, though pretty flexible too. Here you can watch DVD or Blu-ray movies you already own, view movies off your hard drive or memory stick, or simply stream content from the PlayStation Store and view it in a room with others while you do so. In the demo, Phil showed a bit of the Casino Royale trailer, a smidgen of Resident Evil Extinction, and then just walked the halls to show off some more navigational stuff.

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Leaving the theatre concluded the Home demo, but not the information about it. We learned that it will appear in beta form sometime next month (April), with a finished version available for everyone ready to go this fall. Personally, I can't wait to see more of it. I can't recall having seen application with this much potential for any videogame system prior -- and after all the questions and criticisms that Sony has been hit with since November, it's good to see that it still has tricks up its sleeves, and finally explained what that "Home" button on your Sixaxis controller really does.