Within the last six months, Microsoft unveiled and released a major revamp of the Xbox 360 dashboard. Yet more than a 18 months after announcing Home—an ambitious (and long-delayed) virtual world for PlayStation users—Sony is still tinkering, although there are signs that Home might finally open its doors before the year is out.

I admit that in the wake of the "New Xbox Experience" hoopla, I'd almost forgotten about PlayStation Home, which was first announced back in March 2007, originally scheduled for full release in fall '07, delayed until spring 2008, pushed back again to fall 2008, and well … here we are, still Home-less.

But despite all the delays, things are indeed brewing in the world of Home. The service just reached an important milestone: Version 1.00, which Sony released to beta testers last Friday. The general feeling seems to be that an open beta (available to everyone) can't be far off now, but the way thing have been going (or not going) with Home, I'll believe it when I see it.

Ars Technica posted a hands-on preview earlier this month and came away impressed, noting that Sony "is on to something here." The Second Life-like open spaces in Home are "nicely detailed" with "admirable" variety, Ars says, while text and voice chat with fellow avatars is "easy to utilize." On the minus side: "Frequent" disconnection issues, a "serious lack" of available clothing and furniture for your Home avatar (get ready to pony up for better duds), and "heavy-handed" in-Home advertising.

And then there's the bigger question: Isn't the whole virtual world thing, like, hopelessly tired? The Second Life craze has already peaked and crashed (Reuters just announced that it closed its Second Life "bureau") and Google shuttered Lively, its own virtual spaces service, last week.

Personally, I'm keeping an open mind—after all, maybe the fact that you'll actually be able to do something in Home (like watch movies and organize groups for gaming) will keep people coming back.

Of course, Sony needs to launch the dang thing, first.