Sony launches MyPSN on PlayStation.com

By Tom Bramwell Published 29 November, 2008

Track friends now, Trophy stuff soon.

Sony has updated PlayStation.com with new MyPSN features that allow you to track your friends' online status, create a portable ID and take part in various events.

Your portable ID "contains your PSN avatar, Online ID, current mood, favourite console and more", and can be embedded in forum signatures and elsewhere.

"Over time, the portable ID will evolve to include Trophies and achievements," the MyPSN website adds.

To take advantage of MyPSN, just head to eu.playstation.com/psn to sign up, after which you can register your PS3, PS2 or PSP and set up preferences.

Overall it looks similar to Xbox.com's Live integration, which is no bad thing. The Microsoft site offers online friends list management and Achievement comparisons, and now allows you to begin downloads from Xbox Live Marketplace remotely, even on premium content.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (41) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Ultra238a #1 3 years ago

    It's the future!

  • krudd #2 3 years ago

    Basic as feck!! ... But sure most stuff will be coming!!! ... as always! :D

  • sanduixe #3 3 years ago

    I want to see the trophy.

  • Pedrolot #4 3 years ago

    Do you want to see my trophy Sanduixe?

  • neilka #5 3 years ago

    Well, at least that's a small fraction of the functionality Microsoft had three years ago. Good work Sony!

  • themorganator #6 3 years ago

    I wonder where they got that idea from?

    "The next generation starts when we......er, copy Microsoft."

    ha ha ha

  • NotSoSlim #7 3 years ago

    Postive news gets negative feedback...suprise suprise.

  • wewillselfdestruct #8 3 years ago

    NorSoSlim you're forgetting that Microsoft have never copied anything. Ever.

  • Tweakmonkey #9 3 years ago

    Did this just launch in Europe? It's been on the US site for a while.

  • michaelius #10 3 years ago

    Nice but i want to have trophy support from there.

  • andijames #11 3 years ago

    @Thermoganator

    "The next generation starts when we......er, copy Microsoft."

    Yep because avatars were ALL Microsofts idea weren't they. Oo little versions of youself on screen no one has done that lets be the first :) haha

    Lets face it this gen everyone's copying the best ideas off each other which is by no means a bad thing.

  • makeamazing #12 3 years ago

    Glad to hear Sony are doing this, though I would have preferred them to spend time and money on this than perhaps all the time and effort on Home. ;)

  • wanderingkid #13 3 years ago

    Not only that but people usually forget the PSN is free,
    sony is doing a lot of similar services without charging us unlike microsoft.

  • jlaakso #14 3 years ago

    About time, but sure this is welcome. Live has really changed the way I view my gaming and Sony has been feeling left behind. This is a step towards evening the experience.

  • makeamazing #15 3 years ago

    @jonnyelsby go to the Euro website and then I think the Link is My Sony Network, login with your PSN account info and then you can create a card... works perfectly fine for me.

  • Retroid #16 3 years ago

    "What Sony has done in the space of 2 years is nothing short of amazing."

    They've had to run *very* fast to catch up as much as they have, yes. Still, competition is good, and I wouldn't want either corporation to become the overly dominant one. While they're fighting over features we stand to benefit, especially those of us with both formats.

  • metalnut #17 3 years ago

    Good stuff, but you can't expect people not to poke fun when both Steam and XBL have had a superset of this functionality for years. Sure Sony have had less time, but who's fault is that? They should have been working on this sort of thing *before* the PS3 was released, not playing catch-up 2 years later.

    It's so obvious that Sony is a hardware company and Microsoft a software company. Microsoft messed up the hardware, trying to patch it later and failing. Sony got the hardware sorted but their software & online services were clearly not planned well, being 'assembled on the fly', leading to inconsistencies and holes in the feature set, retrospective additions like trophies etc. Why couldn't these guys just get together and do what they each do best? A Sony designed box with Microsoft designed online software would have been killer. Tsk.

    Edit: well, ok Sony make hardware mistakes too, like the Cell, which turned out to be a bit of a white elephant that had to be supplemented with an underpowered GPU when it turned out not to be as awesome as they thought. But they sure now how to design sleek, quiet boxes.
    Edited by 1 at 29/11/08 @ 15:09

  • callum9999 #18 3 years ago

    I'm fed up of people moaning about companies copying eachother, without it the industry would be pretty much dead. If no-one copied the idea from the company who made the first games console, imagine what it would be like today.

  • metalnut #19 3 years ago

    "While they're fighting over features we stand to benefit, especially those of us with both formats"

    I agree with that, except that Sony isn't really in the fight yet. PSN's major selling point right now is "it's free", which isn't what I would call competing. But yeah, if they finally catch up and can start pushing things we haven't seen before (like user created content maybe - they've started with that although it's been a little rough PR wise so far with the moderation) then maybe there would start being a reason to challenge the XBL Gold subscription fee, which can only be a good thing.

  • technofranki #20 3 years ago

    I think Microsoft planned the Xbox Live for Xbox 360 very well when it was released three years ago. Sony has added many of Lives features, which is not a bad idea. It only shows that Sony hadn't thought that much of its services as Microsoft.

  • morriss #21 3 years ago

    2011

  • NotSoSlim #22 3 years ago

    Its pretty simple both Ninty and Sony didnt realise how big online would be. At least Sony are trying and doing something different with Home.

    This integration with the official site is long overdue but its in the process now.

  • Dogs-in-Hats #23 3 years ago

    @"What Sony has done in the space of 2 years is nothing short of amazing."
    I'm still waiting for my PS3 to amaze me :|

  • Ryze #24 3 years ago

    Microsoft have basically marketed and pushed online console gaming with Xbox live. They've added value to home broadband connections in the same manner as Youtube Hotmail and Facebook have.

    At the same time, broadband penetration and affordability has skyrocketed. M$ has created this space, and is now broadening it. As Sony develops their online strategy (very late and reluctantly, it seems), they're just adtding to this market.

    Sony have been slow and silly in respect to online up to this point, as they've been happier selling electronic boxes and optical discs so far. It worked well for two generations and since the change, they haven't adaped very well.

    Their progress is welcome, but they still look like dinosaurs right now.

    They can rescue some dignity by getting the video store out in the UK and Europe sometime soon... but this doesn't improve gaming in any way either...

    pssst... reintroduce PS2 BC and sell the games online ala Xbox Originals...

    /is damn near impossible due to the emulation nightmare that is the PS2.

  • andijames #25 3 years ago

    PS2 emulation will always be hard due to the bandwidth of the GFX chip on the board (it was fantastically high) so if they don't put the EE back in then it won't happen. In all fairness a new console provides new games and new experiences so PS2 games may be a thing of the past but there's a fair few that want it still.

    PS3 are predominantly a hardware company so kudos for catching up in the online world where Microsoft has ruled the roost for years (and quite right their net code is awesome).

    But there's plenty of room in this world for Microsoft and Sony to co-exist with the same online infrastructure. They will both innovate and imitate in there own ways but end of the day it only does us (the consumer) a better way of gaming.

  • tnt_2008smum #26 3 years ago

    @Zero_Cool

    be a saint and fuck off!

  • deathdealer619 #27 3 years ago

    All this stuff about playstation have stolen ideas from ms, Lol has anyone played the new nintendsoft experience with the new mii's I mean avatars?

  • NotSoSlim #28 3 years ago

    Sony will sell PS2 games over PSN once support for PS2 stops and PS2 stops selling. They may also do it once the PS3 is mass market price. Seriously how many people actually buy xbox originals?

  • BartonFink #29 3 years ago

    @deathdealer if you want to be that pedantic then Sony have done the exact same thing with their new miis I mean avatars in Home.

    Avatars were around long before miis.

  • callum9999 #30 3 years ago

    @metalnut

    What do you mean Sony aren't competing because the PSN's only selling point is that its "free". I can guarantee that for the vast majority of people, PSN is adequate for their needs. It may not have as many features, but all most people want to do is play a game online, something the PSN does fine. I was happy enough with the PS2 version...

  • michaelius #31 3 years ago

    And many people don't want to pay 50$ to play online game once every two weeks :)

  • miiiguel #32 3 years ago

    ^did you just say 50$/week?!
    Tha'ts crazy!


    I'm glad Live is 50$/year!

  • Dizzy #33 3 years ago

    Wow... 1995 called!

  • 3william56 #34 3 years ago

    Jeez. Software company makes borky console but excellent online software.
    Consumer electronics company makes reliable console, but has to catch up with online software.

    Who'd a thunk it. :/

    Personally, I don't give a monkeys about a website with my pathetic gamer stats on or a geeky forum signature, but if it's free and works, no harm.

    Is EG going to integrate it into Eurogamers like Live?

  • Moz #35 3 years ago

    nice

    now can we please the option to sign in multiple accounts at once, so that when your playing split screen both people playing can rack up trophies and in game xp

  • Xerx3s #36 3 years ago

    "Yep because avatars were ALL Microsofts idea weren't they. Oo little versions of youself on screen no one has done that lets be the first"

    Well, they did it before nintendo - if you are implying that nintendo invented such a concept - but you are correct, those concepts come from the pc.

  • Xerx3s #37 3 years ago

    Along with just about any 'original' idea to appear on consoles I might add. Without the pc, consoles would be dead in the water.

  • Dizzy #38 3 years ago

    "Along with just about any 'original' idea to appear on consoles I might add. Without the pc, consoles would be dead in the water. "

    Obviously all stuff comes from PCs. It is an open platform and has been for 20 years. people can experiment like crazy on it. Avatars where big in the 80s during the "VR"-bubble ;)

  • mingster #39 3 years ago

    ZERO_COOL What Sony has done in the space of 2 years is nothing short of amazing.

    Umm thats a very positive way of looking at it.
    Basically Sony have had the whole of the PS3's development time plus 3 years while LIVE had been out to look at and crib ideas then 2 years to actually only match (not exceed) the basic functionality that LIVE has always had.

    Its only a frontend upgrade they can do them easily within a few months.

  • Toothball #40 3 years ago

    Well, it seems to deny that my PSP exists. I guess I'll try again later.

  • tnt_2008smum #41 3 years ago

    {
    tnt_2008smum
    30-Nov-08 08:40:36

    @Zero_Cool

    be a saint and fuck off!
    }

    I hate kids in the pub!!

    @Zero_Cool

    Oh the irony! How about you do us all a favour and stop acting like one!