ocial gaming is truly taking off in this generation, with games such as Resistance 2 featuring an eight-player co-op mode and clans of hundreds of people battling on Killzone 2. You really need friends to get full enjoyment of your games. While Microsoft has focused its effort on improving interaction between people you already know, Playstation decided to create Home to help gamers find new people to play their favorite games with.

Home is a free, virtual world that comes on every Playstation 3. Users create their avatars, with enough customizable options that their online persona can look exactly like them in real life, and venture around the spaces of Home. These spaces include areas for conversation, playing minigames, and themed spaces such as the Guitar Hero space, which lets you hang out back stage.

Each user has his or her own virtual apartment, which he or she decorates using the free furniture, or purchase more from the shops and invite friends over to talk before launching into a game.

While Home is currently in beta, it has come a long way since its launch in December and is beginning to show its amazing potential.

Bryce Mills is a local gamer who writes an Internet blog on gaming and Internet culture. If you'd like him to review a game, send an e-mail to bmills@aberdeennews.com or go to www.lastgeek.com.