Some more information has come in regarding Sony's upcoming online community for the PS3, Home.

As mentioned before the service will be a free downloadable. According to sources at Sony the total size of the download will be in the range of 500 MB. Current plans have October as the official launch.

There will be 2 beta tests before it launches, one starting in April and another in August. The April beta will be a "closed" beta of about 15,000 users while the August beta will be more widespread with 50,000 users.

Some features will eventually be made accessible on the PSP and on mobile phones as well as various paid- for events. Currently Home is not a persistent world- when you shut down your PS3 your area is cut off from those that are online. Going by a developers FAQ they do plan on making Home a persistent world in the long term.

It's looking like there is a lot more to be told about Home as we get closer to the launch- as more details come in we will report them as soon as possible.