It's easy to let rumors spiral out of control, which is why we always want to keep things grounded for all you fact-finders out there.

Yesterday, one major rumor regarding PlayStation 3 Home and the upcoming PS3 firmware update 2.30 began to circulate throughout the Internet. The belief was this: the PlayStation Store and Network was receiving a major upgrade (which should be just about complete now), so what better time to drop in Home? However, there were several problems with that theory, and the biggest one centers squarely on Sony: they weren't about to let this happen without an official announcement. Sure, they enjoy teasing consumers every now and then, but they're not the biggest fan of huge surprises, and on top of which, they need to promote this program. Sony executives have hinted at an open Home beta, but not a one has led us to believe that Home will arrive this month...or next month, or the month after that. Here's what Sony's Noel Silvia had to say on the official PlayStation blog:

"Despite what some rumour mongers would like for you to believe, no, Home is NOT a part of this update."

The bottom line is simple- Sony has not confirmed an exact launch date for PlayStation Home, an open beta may be coming to the US soon (but we don't know when), and finally, it most certainly won't be included in firmware update 2.30.