We Kinda Want To Play SOE's Casual Virtual World, Free Realms.

Arguably, SOE's online world is a much more focused world than Home's virtual chatroom — though Home has taken strides in that direction over recent months. Still, Sony can't have two competing online worlds accessible from the XMB; so that would mean Free Realms would have to be released as a blu-ray disc (or PSN download) - taking away the game's "free-to-play" ethos.

It's a headache for sure, and its compounded by the news that Free Realms is coming to the Mac before the PS3. But Sony Online Entertainment say the home console version is still coming.

“Free Realms is still definitely coming to PS3,” said SOE's Taina Rodriquez. “We haven’t announced a release date, but Free Realms for PS3 will be coming soon. The development team has been working to optimize play experience on both the Mac and PS3 versions.”

Free Realms has been a smash hit on the PC for SOE, so it makes sense to get the game out on as many platforms as possible (which is looking like PC, Mac and PS3). It certainly seems like getting MMOs running on the PlayStation 3 is proving more of a headache than originally thought. DC Universe Online, Final Fantasy XIV, Free Realms and the Agency were all set to spearhead a home-console MMO charge. None of the games have been released on PS3 yet.