Sony has announced that, as of February, PSN account holders will instead be "Sony Entertainment Network account" holders.
Other than the name though, PSN users needn't worry about any further alterations to the service. "For general purposes, this account change is a change in name only. Your username or password will not change, nor are we asking you to change them," stresses Sony.
"This transition is based on Sony's goal to enhance its unique digital entertainment offering. As a series of these activities Sony started last September, PlayStation Network will be aligned with Sony Entertainment Network. This helps us get closer to our goal of establishing a global comprehensive network platform of services across games, movies, music and more, all accessible from one convenient account."
It also isn't a complete rebrand - the PSN name will remain, it seems. No alarm bells needed.
Comments
27 comments so far...
Billybob21 on 4 Feb '12 said:
What the f**k is the point?
Lady Gagagged on 4 Feb '12 said:
Since the last lot of work has made it unusable maybe they should call a refund.
spaceman_DOUG on 4 Feb '12 said:
SENID
An anagram of... Denis?
A conspiracy!
RoKuShaKuBoJutSu on 4 Feb '12 said:
The point is Sony are blending their PSN, music, movies and photo services into one account so you can access and pay for it from one wallet.
El Mag on 4 Feb '12 said:
Doug's idea seems more likely.
Lady Gagagged on 4 Feb '12 said:
I think I am ahead of the game, google is f**ked, my paid for PSN extras are f**ked, when they introduce any new services I'll be f**ked.
TheLastDodo on 4 Feb '12 said:
There are people around the world (myself included) that are spending their money on the PS Store right now and they can't download what they've bought because of yet another Sony cock up.
http://community.eu.playstation.com/t5/ ... TSO_EN_103
Honestly, new PS3's should come with an ACME logo stuck on the top at this point in time.
El Mag on 4 Feb '12 said:
Blimey, that thread was only on 3 pages when I last looked yesterday.
billysastard on 5 Feb '12 said:
lol only sony could think calling their network "Special Educational Needs" was a good idea.
billysastard on 5 Feb '12 said:
by the way, it isnt just a name change.
firstly they are changing their terms of service (which is always bad for customers) on the 7th
then on the 8th we get the name change
and finally on the 10th it seems we are getting a new firmware (at least on ps3, dunno about psp + vita)
at least according to maxconsole who have also posted the new terms of service with all the changes highlighted (and there are a lot, but mostly about name changes) http://www.maxconsole.com/maxcon_forums/showthread.php?185980-PSN-to-be-renamed-to-Sony-Entertainment-Network-(SEN)&p=1356260#post1356260
Dimpee on 5 Feb '12 said:
Although there are no real changes, it seems sad to loose the name PlayStation Network, I shall miss it!
steve_2003 on 5 Feb '12 said:
If it's the same as every other large company I've worked for, that name change has cost millions in re-printing costs alone.
Not sure if Sony can afford it.
timewarp1 on 5 Feb '12 said:
SENID
An anagram of... Denis?
A conspiracy!
Or an anagram of SNIDE
lonewolf2002 on 5 Feb '12 said:
SEN and the art of account maintenance.
SuperMike861 on 5 Feb '12 said:
SEN Account? Now that Kaz Hirai is away from Playstation and someone else is now there, I'm hoping for the PSN to be changed up a bit, getting rid of the XMB would be a fantastic start in my book. Also, catching up with the ease of use of XBL would be great too, make my PS3 and PSN more user friendly, please! I always feel it's unnecessarily awkward doing things on PS3, I won't go into details as anyone who has used one will know how awkward the thing is.
Don't get me wrong, for a free service PSN is pretty good, it's just free for 99% of users and unfortunately, that's probably what's standing in the way of a full revamp.
gobbybobby on 5 Feb '12 said:
they should have done it after the PSN hack, that would have made more sense.
dwhlufc on 5 Feb '12 said:
I have no problems navigating or finding anything through psn or the xmb.
Fair enough xbl could be better for all I know ( haven't used it since the revamp) but psn/xmb is hardly the maze people describe it as.
Marlonjb on 5 Feb '12 said:
I'm actually glad you posted this because I was jipped out of some Soul Calibre 5 DLC yesterday! Glad to know it's not just me.
Toasted_PSP on 5 Feb '12 said:
PSN and XMB are totally unrelated.
PSN is a network.
XMB is the OS GUI.
If Sony do look at the PSN and change it up a bit I hope they take inspiration from Steam rather than LIVE. Valve have shown you can create a brilliant online experience with a strong community and a good service without taxing your users for the privilege of playing online.
SuperMike861 on 5 Feb '12 said:
They are VERY closely related actually. The face of PSN is the XMB, it's how you interact with the PSN so how are they "totally unrelated"? It's arguably one of the most important aspects of the PSN.
PSN and XBL are different to Steam though. Steam is primarily a digital distribution platform, whereas PSN and XBL are entire entertainment networks, so while there are certainly things both can take from Steam, they're not directly comparable.
MD1500 on 5 Feb '12 said:
SEN...
NES backwards.
Sony copying Nintendo again...
The E even stands for the same thing!!!1111
Toasted_PSP on 5 Feb '12 said:
Vita doesn't have an XMB and connects to the PSN, I can also connect to the PSN via a web browser so the GUI the OS uses on the PS3 to view the PSN content is unrelated IMHO if it wasn't I would be unable to connect to the PSN without an XMB.
As for Steam, I would say that Steam, LIVE and PSN are all digital distribution platforms. The difference as far as I can tell is that PSN and LIVE are walled garden services whereas Steam is a lot more open. They all allow you to play games, play online, buy digital content, communicate with friends ect. PSN and LIVE have expanded outside of the realms of games though and also offer movies and music services.
spaceman_DOUG on 6 Feb '12 said:
http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/qq112/amarodolceamore/Other%20gifs/StarTrek-mindblown.gif
kirankara on 6 Feb '12 said:
Prefer xmb to new 360 interface. Don't care whether its called psn or PMS tbh. Shame this whole issue with purchases online is happening though, poor , hopefully theyrefund people
ricflair on 6 Feb '12 said:
It makes sense to have an account that covers everything Sony do. Similar to the Windows Live, Xbox Live etc.
Regarding the interface, I generally prefer the 360, as much as MS are trying to make that not the case, but there's not much in it. But it's really the Xbox Guide that I find much better; I have no idea why Sony don't bring in a more compact, quicker in game XMB though - the only thing the XMB needs in game is PSN stuff, friends, trophies, maybe the store; there's no need to have all XMB features, that are a bit laggy for me, available in game when you have to quit your game to use most of them.
Press the PS button to take me to this mini XMB and I don't want to have to keep cycling back with 'O' from messages etc, just press the PS button and go straight back to my game again, no matter where I am in the XMB. It's hardly a deal breaker though but messaging while in game is a bit of a chore.
All comes down to MS=software, Sony=hardware for me.
Barca Azul on 6 Feb '12 said:
Had the same issue last night. You can't download anything, it thinks you have bought even if its a free download, and doesn't allow any downloads.
I bought something, and now its cattle trucked! Fortunately it was only 4 Euros.
On the change, so what if I've got both SEN (TV) and PSN already?
I wonder if they will put the TV apps on the PS3/4 too?
silent moose on 6 Feb '12 said:
February 8th 2012 Sony Entertainment Network accounts were hacked this morning because Sony failed to properly test there security framework people affected by this event have been robbed of all there money leading to new financial crisis