100,000+ Home beta invites sent out for load test tonight [Update]

by Jem Alexander { Nov 21st 2008 at 1:15PM }

By now you've probably heard that PlayStation Home version 1.00 is now live for beta testers. Good for them, maybe, but what about the millions of PS3 owners still Homeless? We know the open beta will be out at some point this year, but we're not sure when, exactly. In the meantime the closed beta is going to get a lot busier, with over 100,000 European beta invites being sent out. Today.

This is in preparation for a load test that will be taking place tonight. Another larger expansion will be taking place next Thursday, as well as another load test. Version 1.00 is definitely an improvement over previous iterations (having the service full of people definitely makes a difference), with Sony firmly stressing that this is the beginning of the journey, with plenty more updates and additions to come.

Update: The beta will expand in the US as well, as a ton of new invites are being sent to American PS3 users. Please join us on Home when you get a chance!

Update 2: Looks like an e-mail snafu has delayed the European beta expansion. Thousands of e-mails that are awaiting eager users are caught somewhere in the interwebs -- which means our European readers won't be able to get new Home invites for at least a few more days. Sorry. Read more here. [Thanks, brampf!]

Tags: europe, home

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

SolidOtacon @ Nov 21st 2008 1:23PM

Already got invite but from SCEJ xP

William @ Nov 21st 2008 1:41PM

I got a Japanese invite as well. It's neat to note that that Invite also got me into the English version as well.

Amish Gramish @ Nov 21st 2008 2:01PM

I received my invite from SCEJ also.
I also received an invite to some Namco Bandai beta for a "Best Of" sort of thing.

Kattleox @ Nov 21st 2008 2:37PM

Me too. Cool beans; glad to be a part.

freeblue @ Nov 21st 2008 4:08PM

same here :) invite from Japan.. but if you go to US account. you can get to English version of Home too woohoo :)

francisco @ Nov 21st 2008 2:52PM

what about the Qore members that were supose to get the beta?

KingMe @ Nov 21st 2008 3:23PM

Got one from SCEJ too....wtf?

borland502 (SDF Macross) @ Nov 21st 2008 4:41PM

Heh, SCEJ invites all around! Got mine that way too.

abyrvalg @ Nov 21st 2008 5:29PM

Which region PS3 do you have? I got a European console, and after downloading Home beta with Japanese invite it doesn't let me in, saying "can't connect to server". Is it region-locked?

morouxshi @ Nov 21st 2008 6:17PM

I think if the JP census uses PSN numbers they'll find their numbers don't match up. See you at 'HOME' ;)

guillemot @ Nov 21st 2008 8:04PM

me too!
But Home are nothing's special... no?

MR SMITH @ Nov 21st 2008 1:25PM

no luck for me yet :(

bigpurps @ Nov 21st 2008 1:24PM

maybe they'll put something in HOME that will make it worthwhile turning on!!!!

tdrules @ Nov 21st 2008 1:36PM

i quite enjoy 1.0, with its club functionality, enabling me to leave bulletins for clan members and also meet up with people and launch games from within home
also the theatre is quite good for trailers and games programmes, on the eu server is eurogamer tv and on the american one there is even more content
what more do you want

freeblue @ Nov 21st 2008 4:08PM

hopefully when it finally comes out.. there will be more stuff. for example, there are asian looking presents on the japan version..yet in the us version, i can't find it. it's difficult to make yourself look like an asian with just european presents. :(

tyler @ Nov 21st 2008 1:26PM

what about Qore annual subscribers??????? will that be next week?

hplcman @ Nov 21st 2008 1:33PM

Yeah!!! What was that all about??? I was so freaking excited at the beginning of the month thinking I'd be checking out Home and seeing what it was all about. And now here it is, almost December and I STILL haven't gotten my code. I'm going to think twice about renewing my subscription to Qore next year, I'll tell you what!

Tim Parsons @ Nov 21st 2008 1:44PM

I received an E-mail weeks ago stating that was a incorrect and that Qore users weren't getting access to Qore at all but merely an inside look in the Nov issue

Lustm0nk3y @ Nov 21st 2008 6:08PM

I am severely disappointed (AGAIN) with QORE. SOCOM, R2 and now this. They've lost me as a customer and SONY should be on their tails about this. Unacceptable.

Playstation @ Nov 23rd 2008 12:03PM

That's weird, I've received my invitation more than a week ago. Check your spam box.

DrunkMiffy @ Nov 21st 2008 1:27PM

Excellent! Woohoo :) Good luck everyone!

DJ Ready Cee @ Nov 21st 2008 1:31PM

I got an invite a few weeks ago and have been on Home since. I got the 1.0 update yesterday. There are definite improvements from the previous version but it seems to lag alot more now and the other avatars are mostly ghosted. In the old version there were a few items you could get in the mall but now nothing is available. After a couple weeks I'll say that Home is definitely a revolutionary thing about to happen... its very social based so if you don't like to approach and meet new people its gonna get real boring real fast. Otherwise there are infinite possibilities.. cant wait til it goes full blown!

brazenheaded @ Nov 21st 2008 3:43PM

Home is little more then Second Life with ads. How is that revolutionary? I'm in the beta and I don't see anything there that was not already done 5+ years ago.

DJ Ready Cee @ Nov 21st 2008 4:42PM

Its BETA dont forget... alot more to come than whats there now. I agree with you though its not anything that hasnt been done at this point but its bringing this type of thing to a very large group of people who never played second life, much less heard of it. I'm sure theres plenty of life long computer GEEKS who've seen this for years and years but for the rest of us its a cool thing...

darkjonny @ Nov 21st 2008 1:31PM

I wonder how they pick Europeon users, US have qore and the Home theme, but weve had nothing like that here.
Someone before said itt could be psn activity, if so i should be in ^_^ fingers crossed

Glen @ Nov 21st 2008 1:31PM

Man, the headline got me all excited, then that pesky "European" part got me all sad.

Maybe next Thursday they'll send out North American invites.

DrunkMiffy @ Nov 21st 2008 1:35PM

Pesky Europeans?

Are you kidding me? You yanks get everything first xD Stop being so damn greedy :(

Glen @ Nov 21st 2008 1:47PM

Haha, I guess I worded that wrong. Wasn't calling Europeans pesky!

But yeah, you guys do get the short end of the stick too often. So I guess I'm happy in that regard.

Tim Parsons @ Nov 21st 2008 1:42PM

Home Version 1.00.17 is by far superiour to the previous version, but still just as pointless , I have no use for Home as is now it's just boring. I don't wanna hang out online with people i dont know anymore then in real life I just wanna game. And the Game launching Feature of home was disabled in 1.00.17 so again it's evne more useless and pointless to boot-up then b4

RolexDPracer @ Nov 21st 2008 1:48PM

Maybe I'll dust my PS3 off.

Popfrogs @ Nov 21st 2008 2:14PM

Why would it be dusty in the middle of super game season? You may want to just do yourself a favor and Ebay that bad boy.

RolexDPracer @ Nov 21st 2008 2:20PM

You're probably right. I'm playing a lot of games, they're just not on the PS3. i just don't want to kick myself later if 2009 ends up having a bunch of PS3 exclusives I'm interested in.

Getting back on topic though, I hope this beta surge means Home is right around the corner for the rest og us,

tmontana213 @ Nov 21st 2008 1:50PM

Nice to know that Sony is doing load tests. Hopefully the servers won't go down when Home is released. Doubtful though.

Sonnyjimba @ Nov 21st 2008 1:55PM

Are these via E-mail or PSN message?

rgoff31 @ Nov 21st 2008 3:21PM

The emails are sent to your real email attached to your psn account.

Bubugalu @ Nov 21st 2008 1:57PM

I dont think its that bad, its not mind blowing either though... its just a place to go and meet up with friends and new people, i've made alot of friends there already. The new Club feature is really cool though! imagine how it would affect clans, be able to just pop in ur clans club and launch games or chit chat bout tounaments n stuff. I'm waitng for the music and tv appliance feature to come in effect, then i'll be hosting movie nights to show off a clan match or a movie... but im pretty sure that wont happen cause of copyright rules... oh well, a gamer can dream...

Jerses @ Nov 21st 2008 2:16PM

Sorry to let you down... video (and music?) streaming are not going to be on the final version. Sony dropped that cool feature, it was the only think that make home a place to visit every day.

Zudeo @ Nov 21st 2008 2:15PM

What about the Canadians!? We haven't received any Qore invites whatsoever, even people I know who are in GAP haven't gotten anything. O well. I hope you guys (and girls) in EU enjoy it :D

PSNID: Zudeo
XBLGT: ZudeoG80

10VD @ Nov 21st 2008 2:36PM

Canadians have received invites. My friend has one and if you look on the playstation forums, you'll see that there are other Canadians that have them. All you really need to do is be a subscriber to Qore and you have a chance to get the invite.

spikeylee @ Nov 21st 2008 9:01PM

fellow Canuck here, and I just got an invite in my email just a few hours ago. funny thing is that i'm neither a qore subscriber nor did i download the Home theme so perhaps the selection process is purely random???

ZudeoG80 @ Nov 22nd 2008 1:56AM

yea, i guess your right. I just got one around 8:30 EST. im in it now but theres not much to do -- i geuss thats why its called a beta huh. but i definately see the potential of it, i just dont know where everyone's getting these damn bubble machines from lol

ZudeoG80 @ Nov 21st 2008 2:16PM

Anyone have any idea of a final release date?

acefondu @ Nov 21st 2008 2:19PM

I'm still not paying for this if they price it. I refuse to have a sims spinoff take up space on my PS3 currently reeling from game installs.

Mo @ Nov 21st 2008 5:01PM

its free

ZudeoG80 @ Nov 21st 2008 2:19PM

and for those who are in, how easy is it to decorate your space?

TuxBobble @ Nov 21st 2008 2:21PM

Europe only? Blast!

DYNOrunsNY @ Nov 21st 2008 2:23PM

I had my invite for while..my home is a mansion by now LOL....addme as friend tho PSN Id:DYNOrunsNY

C-Onor @ Nov 21st 2008 2:35PM

do you have to be registered on any site, or do you have to sign up for the beta? (by the way, how dyou do that?)

elephant_stone @ Nov 21st 2008 2:45PM

I frequent the Official EU Home Beta forum and no one seems to have recieved one of today's emails!!! You would have thought at least some would be posters on the official forum....Ted The Dog said they were having issues with thier ISP's spam filter......load test was at 7pm...just how many people had downloaded it in time????