New freebie for PlayStation 3 owners - an online, 3D virtual world in which gamers can hang out and communicate with each other. The announcement almost created a public relations disaster for the games console market leader, which went to enormous lengths last week to keep it under wraps. Demonstrating the service - dubbed PlayStation Home - at the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, Sony worldwide studios president Phil Harrison said he expected the free download for the PS3 to be available from August. The virtual world, which is uncannily similar to Second Life, will help take the sting out of the PS3’s $1200 price and delayed March 23 release date.

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