Play Magazine has posted its initial impressions of Sony’s "Home" service for the PlayStation 3, and so far it seems that there is not a lot of hope for the PlayStation’s online community. Here’s a thorough sampling of what Play had to say.

You begin in your empty apartment, with a door leading to the outside world and a seaside view from the windows in your room.

"Upon walking through the door, we were greeted with a sight that is unfortunately indicative of the Home experience: a download screen.

"For every new building that we entered, a 30-50mb additional update was needed, which was a little bit frustrating- why not condense everything into one 500mb download, and cut out the middleman?

"Once we’d overcome this process, we were in Home Square. Eerily, this hub of Home activity was 100% deserted ... In all honesty, it was like walking into some kind of nightmarish, Sony-generated Dystopia. Home seemed a bit...Orwellian. Hardly an image you want to provide, when users are discovering it for the first time."

Play did admit however, that a lot of their problems may just stem from the fact that no one has access to Home yet. Later in the article, they admitted that there was some life at a Sony organized event to show off Killzone 2 and inFamous, so all may not be lost after all. They strike a cautious tone of optimism, claiming that once Home is fully inhabited it may end up being a hotbed of activity, but for now at least it’s just an incredibly boring experience.

I heartily believe that once Home is launched and a good number of users get signed on then it will be a truly unique experience. However, I’m worried about all those load times stacking up and turning the flow of the whole thing into molasses. I’m still not quite sold on the concept either, wondering why I need a console version of Second Life when I don’t even participate in the worldwide version. I guess I’ll get my chance to have my opinion swayed when Home finally launches.