Inside Social Games

In light of Xbox Live’s launch of Facebook and Twitter integration yesterday, Sony is nipping at its heels, with firmware update 3.10. Today, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. announced that it has integrated Facebook into the PlayStation 3 network as part of the “first phase of a variety of new features to further connect and enhance the online social [experience].”

From the looks of things, the new social integration does not seem to be quite the same as the Microsoft counterpart. Xbox Live allows players to view and comment on feeds, check out your Facebook friend’s pictures, and basically everything you can do on the web version’s homepage. According to the Sony announcement, however, the focus seems to be more closely knit into gaming itself.

The PS3 network could previously access the Facebook browser, but now players can tie together their PlayStation Network and Facebook accounts. Once bound, players will be able to share three different types of information: trophies, purchases, and game events.

Sharing each of these is exceedingly simple. For example, users need only sync their Trophies and they can publish their gamer prowess directly to their Facebook newsfeed.

The update also has PlayStation 3 developers getting a greater taste of the social graph. Any time a user makes a purchase from the PlayStation Store, they are granted the option to publish that to Facebook. This taste is further flavored by the Game Event Information section that allows developers to set up “trigger points” in games that allow users the option to publish something they did in-game to their feed as well.

While not dealing directly with Facebook, the new firmware update also includes a simplified Photos section for better accessibility and viewing, and a more customizable Friends List (though the customization only really deals with the background color of their PlayStation Network Profile).

As it stands, this is the first of many social updates slated for release on the PS3. As the console wars delve deeper in to social realms to compete, it will be curious to see just who does what, next.