The community service beta gets pushed back to 3rd Qtr.

SCEA reports that the participants looking forward to beta testing their virtual community service known as HOME will have to wait till this Fall.  "We understand that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a bit longer, but we have come to the conclusion that we need more time to refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience than what it is today," said Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

"Our overarching objective is to provide users with new gaming experiences that are available only on PLAYSTATION Home. Spending more time on the development and on the Closed Beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation(R) tradition."

The HOME project has been a very ambitious project created to give the PS3 some added appeal that's been lacking since the console's debut. Once available, gamers can look forward to a rich, fun interactive community environment that will incorporate social networking, gamer achievements, leaderboards and more. Details of the Closed Beta testing features, registration for the test and the service will be announced as they become available.