ast night, Sony Computer Entertainment America held a pre-keynote speech event for the press to give a more gamer-centric look at what exactly Sony’s president of Worldwide Studios Phil Harrison will talk about during his keynote today. Titled Game 3.0, Harrison will talk about how video games will evolve with a connected device that has evolving communities. With a demonstration utilizing quite a number of new software and interface elements, Sony showed a variety of ways to create new and unique emerging gameplay elements.

Harrison explained that if Game 1.0 was a disconnected console that only had access to a static game on a cartridge or disc, and Game 2.0 had a connected console or PC that still played game content from a disc, Game 3.0 would change the way games are thought of and played through much more dynamic and user-created content. Game 3.0 comes about by way of a connected console that is part of a community of other connected consoles with users that create, share and expand how traditional games are played.

With the PlayStation 3, this will all start with Home, a new 3D user-created, avatar-based community. This free service will start in beta form this April, and the full version will launch in fall 2007 globally. A mixture of Second Life and Nintendo’s Miis, Home is a completely unique console social networking service.

First off, users will create their avatar by the way of an in-depth character creation system. The usual gender, head, hair, torso, face and the like can be modified. You’ll be able to outfit your avatar with a variety of clothes, but also unlock new clothes with PlayStation 3 software or purchase new clothing packs from the PlayStation store.

Initially you’ll start out in a central lobby, where other PlayStation users can congregate in these public spaces. This lobby will be able to have dynamic advertising, banners, HD-quality video and much more. Throughout Home, you’ll be able to talk to other PlayStation 3 users via text, voice and video chat. You can gesture, wave, salute, perform other quick commands and move your character around with the analog sticks and motion sensitivity of the Sixaxis controller.

A few other public spaces were shown, including a games lounge and the theater. In the games lounge, users will be able to meet up and play a number of casual games such as billiards, bowling or simple casual-arcade games on machines that are lined up around this virtual arcade. Harrison also noted that other arcade games may be made available to purchase, which doesn’t surprise us with their recent dealings with Midway and its classic arcade library.

Also intriguing is the theater, in which you can hang out with your friends at a movie theater and watch trailers and other video content in high definition and comment with each other. User-created content also has the opportunity to be shown here as well. While not disclosed, we’re assuming that this will potentially allow for watching either full-length movies, television shows or music videos. However, this wasn’t officially disclosed, but much hinted at.

The last public space we saw that wasn’t completely fleshed out was a company-themed public area. The one demonstrated was most likely themed for a company much like Electronic Arts that had a number of sports franchises on the PlayStation 3. Entering this area, your avatar could explore various sections of the room and try out different facets of a sports game, such as taking a shot on goal in soccer, hitting a golf ball to a target or shooting a few hoops in basketball. While perfect for a sports title, I could see someone like Konami using this to demo Metal Gear with a few virtual missions, or Capcom with Resident Evil for a quick shooting gallery. What better way to advertise your game to multiple people by having you and your friends avatars play quick facets of your game and be able to chat about it in the virtual world. While wholly not limited to the game space, Sony showed a virtual web of bubbles of different game and product company logos that could have virtual spaces. Much like how companies have Web sites with flash games and demonstrations, if the PlayStation 3 starts garnering a big following and a huge user base, I can see the companies following quickly.

 However, private spaces are what I believe will drive the Home experience the furthest. Avatars will be able to have their own homes or apartments, which be can be decked out however you see fit, and you’ll be able to invite your friends on your buddy list to hang out at your pad. A huge extension of something like a 2K Games crib or your house in Animal Crossing, you’ll be able to place furniture and other included decorations throughout the apartment, including arcade games you’ve purchased. Furnishings can either be unlocked through game purchases, such as wallpapers from a specific game, or purchased at the PlayStation store. Not only that, but picture frames can be outfitted with pictures or video that’s stored on your hard drive or other storage media, including high-definition video. Plus, mp3s can be loaded onto your virtual jukebox or stereo system to keep your virtual party alive and thumping. Multiplayer games can be launched from inside your apartment, so ultimately you could host your Resistance clan’s meeting in your apartment, plan out your strategies over voice or video chat, and then hop into a game together. While the first apartment we were shown only was one big room, another more advanced apartment was shown with multiple levels, rooms and an outdoor deck. We’re guessing users will have the option to purchase new apartments through the PlayStation store, but we’d like to see the potential of unlocking these as well.

The final piece of the home puzzle is the addition of Sony’s version of Achievements, called the Hall of Fame. Here, you’ll have your own virtual trophy room, where you can display the trophies you’ve earned by fulfilling specific objectives in each of the games you own. You can invite your friends into your trophy room to see all of your accomplishments, and you can organize and display your trophy’s however you see fit., Trophies don’t have to be your traditional metallic cup based award, and companies can design these awards to use their own 3D game assets or whatever. From your trophy room, you can then walk your avatar to the edge of the trophy room to look out at all of the trophies available in all of the PlayStation 3, games which looked like how the senate was shown in the Star Wars prequels. While we’re quite excited to see Sony adapt an achievement-based system, there was no mention of a final “Gamer Score,” where players will quickly be able to see how they measure up with their friends.