Sony unleashes ‘My PlayStation Network’ on eu.playstation.com

Those of you who visit the European PlayStation site from your home country (in my case, the UK PlayStation site) regularly may have noticed another section of the site that has quietly sneaked its way onto the menu: ‘PSN’.  Quite innocuous you might think, but this new section is quite a significant addition to the site, containing such pages as ‘About’, ‘News’, ‘Events Calendar’, ‘Store’, ‘Community’, ‘Registration’ and ‘My PlayStation Network’.

Whilst some of the above pages I’ve listed had already been tucked away elsewhere on the site, ‘My PlayStation Network’ is a totally new addition.  Let’s take a look, shall we?

My PlayStation Network page
'My PlayStation Network' page

The most exciting feature is the ‘Portable ID‘, a feature that Xbox 360 users have had for a good number of years now in the form of a GamerCard.  This is how Sony describe it:

The Portable ID is your public face in the PlayStation Network community. It contains your PSN avatar, Online ID, current mood, favourite console and more.

Once you have created your Portable ID, you can easily embed the image into forum signatures and websites. We provide you with the code for you to do this.

Over time, the Portable ID will evolve to include Trophies and achievements, so keep an eye on eu.playstation.com for updates.

This is what a Portable ID looks like (you can get your own at http://secure.eu.playstation.com/psn/):

Currently, you can select your favourite game, your preferred console of choice (between PSP, PS2 and PS3), and your current mood.  For now, the list of favourite games to choose from is quite limited for the moment, but it will obviously expand in the coming weeks and months.

Many of you will be disappointed that with the Portable ID you can’t share your trophies and achievements like you can with an Xbox 360 GamerCard, but it is quite exciting that we’ve even got this far.  PS3 gamers have come to expect far less from the PSN than Xbox users might expect from Xbox Live.  However, seen as the PSN is a free service, most PS3 gamers don’t seem to mind.

What is reassuring though, is seeing Sony’s commitment to expanding the features and functionality of the PlayStation Network to rival that of Xbox Live.  We’re getting there, bit by bit.  Gradually, with connectivity such as this, the introduction of Trophies, and the future release of PlayStation Home, the PlayStation Network will take its place amongst the others as being a trully first class online network for gaming.

The Portable ID can be embedded in forum signatures, or any websites and blogs you may have.  I’d love to see what you are doing with your Portable ID- leave a comment with where you’ve put your Portable ID and I’ll take a look!