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PlayStation Network

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 24.46.106.122 (talk) at 01:41, 3 December 2007 (Undid revision 175340077 by 75.168.10.250 (talk)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

File:PSN logo.jpg
Official logo for PlayStation Network

PlayStation Network, often abbreviated to PSN in the gaming community, is Sony's free online service provided for use with their PlayStation 3 [1] and PlayStation Portable video game consoles.

User registration

File:Playstationnetwork-1.jpg
Icons of the various features of the PlayStation Network. From left to right: Sign Up, Game Demos, PlayStation Store, Friends and the Internet Browser

Registration is performed via the PlayStation 3 console or a personal computer. There are currently 5.5 million users registered on the network. Two types of accounts can be created, master accounts and sub accounts. The master account, as the name suggests, allows full access to all settings including parental control but the master has to be over the age of 18 to create an account. Sub accounts can subsequently be created with desired restrictions set and monitored by the master account holder.[2]

Since master/sub accounts are not linked with the PS3 serial number, which allows users to buy and sell used consoles, they can be used with different physical consoles as a guest user. Therefore a single PS3 console can have multiple master accounts. A PSN registration is required for the PlayStation Store access and a guest user's account can be used to download PSN Store purchased items to a friend's console, but an account is not required to access the PS3's own web browser. The ability to use PlayStation Store content licenses for re-download is limited to five different PlayStation 3 consoles though.

The PS3 console has been launched in most areas as of March 23, 2007. Some sites speculated that potential PS3 customers from outside of Japan and the US would be able to pre-register their favorite usernames online at the PlayStation Store.[3] This proved to be true, as European gamers were able to register prior to the March 23 release using their PC, giving the added benefit of being able to quickly pre-register their details and more importantly, secure their chosen and world unique username.[4]

Services

On May 15, 2006, at the PlayStation Business Conference, Sony confirmed that they were preparing for an online service tentatively named PlayStation Network Platform with free online play. Sony also announced some new features at their TGS 2006 conference.

The full list of planned services for the PlayStation Network Platform is as follows.[1]

Communication/Community
  • Account created through user registration
  • Lobbies/Matchmaking
  • Scores/Ranking
  • Game data upload/download
  • Presence/Friend List/Avatar (Gamers may also choose to use their own individual friends list)
  • Voice/Video Chat
  • Messaging
  • Free Internet Browser
  • PlayStation Home
Account
  • User Registration
  • Single Login ID/Handlename issue
Commerce

PlayStation Store

Main article: PlayStation Store

PlayStation Store is an online shopping service based service for the PlayStation Network which is available for both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles. The store uses actual currency and PlayStation Network Cards. Some have complained that the store does not have as much content as the Xbox 360 Marketplace, and the content that is avaiable is overpriced for such low quality.

PlayStation Home

Main article: PlayStation Home

PlayStation Home is a community based service for the PlayStation Network which will become freely available when it launches in early 2008. Home allows users to create an avatar character for their PlayStation 3 console. This avatar will get their own house, which can be decorated with items players can receive in several achievements. Also included in the online virtual world is the ability to meet other PS3 users, interact, play games, show friends different types of media saved on the PS3 hard drive, and much more. In the future home will also expand, allowing players to have more items such as clothing, luxury housing, household items, which can be purchased via PlayStation Store.

Features

  • All of the online services, from sign-up right through to voice and video chat, are free, as is normal multiplayer gaming. The only things that are not free are paid-for downloadable content and subscriptions to premium services, such as massively multiplayer online games. It should be noted that for some third-party games, the online service is free on PSN but is paid for on Xbox Live.
  • The PlayStation 3 has a fully functional web browser, developed internally by Sony. Much like the PSP browser, the PS3 browser also supports bookmarks and most other standard features found in modern web browsers. Its support of JavaScript and Flash is limited; while YouTube is fully accessible, Flash content of IGN and GameTrailers, for example, is not. Critics have complained that the browser is almost impossible to use without a keyboard, and that loading times are substantially slower than those on a computer, or on the Nintendo Wii.

References

  1. ^ a b Hirohiko Niizumi, Tor Thorsen (March 15, 2006). "PlayStation Network Platform detailed". GameSpot.
  2. ^ "Sony PLAYSTATION®3 System Software Online User's Guide". Retrieved 2007-07-09.
  3. ^ "Three Speech semi-official Sony PLAYSTATION®3 blog site". Retrieved 2007-07-09.
  4. ^ "Sony European Customer Registration". Retrieved 2007-07-09.
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