I think the differences may be that HOME will be integrated into the movie watching experience.
There is a theater location in HOME and I bet, when you create your "virtual living space" you can set up a home theater. Then, when you purchase movies, you can invite friends over to your "virtual home theater" and they can watch the movie too (probably some kind of admission fee that goes straight to Sony/content owner). That would be one way to bring people together "virtually".
I feel sorry for people who can't get fast internet connections.
