Nil points for PS3 online

PlayStation 3's online gaming service will not feature an Xbox Live-style rolling "gamerscore" for your profile, based on accomplishments you make in games.

In addition, developers will be able to include rewards like those offered by Xbox 360's achievements system, however this will be purely optional and "on a game-by-game basis," according to Sony America's ExecutiveVP Jack Tretton.

Above: The PS3's interface, sadly devoid of gamer scores and rankings.

It had been thought that Sony would offer a system called Entitlements to rival Microsoft's Achievements, but PS3's online setup won't mirror Xbox Live's all-games-under-one-roof approach - so with different games using different ways to link up, it could be difficult to track scores across all PS3 titles. Jack Tretton's comments came during an interview with Game|Life.

However, with the huge success of Live's gamertag community, it's strange that Sony wouldn't want to tap into the proven one-upmanship market. Will the lack of a persistent, online-viewable score to boast about ruin your multiplayer gaming experience? Why nothit the forumand let us know?

October 24, 2006

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.