PlayStation 3 users have been waiting for Sony to launch “Home” second-life service for just over a year, but now the console giant is asking for a little more time. The proposed service is an expansion of Sony’s existing PlayStation Network, where users can interact over an ISP. “Home” will allow users to create an avatar with its own apartment and selected furnishings which will be acquired through various gaming-related achievements. Sony sites quality improvement as the reason for the second delay of the service’s release.

I’m a little disappointed to hear Sony hasn’t been able to make this happen sooner. I understand that they don’t want to rush out an inferior product, but in this area, the PlayStation falls behind the Xbox and Wii. If Nintendo has taught the gaming industry anything, it’s that players want something that they can get more personal enjoyment out of rather than a product that may be technically superior. Maybe Sony’s hoping that the allure of a cheap BluRay player will make up the difference now that the format wars have ended, but if they’re going to continue to compete, they need to launch “Home” soon, and they need it to be good, not great.

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