July 16, 2008July 24, 2008

Link Your PlayStation Underground and PLAYSTATION Network Identities

We wanted to share with you the new ability to add more convenience to your PLAYSTATION Network experience by linking your PlayStation Underground ID with your PLAYSTATION Network ID.

The PlayStation Underground is the community of PlayStation fans you join by creating an account on PlayStation.com or by registering a PlayStation product. As an Underground member, you can participate in community forums and manage your account on PlayStation.com. Underground members are also kept “in the know” about new games, hardware, events and contests—so you can maximize your PlayStation experience.

Linking your IDs is a new feature on PlayStation.com that allows you to make the connection between your Underground ID on PlayStation.com, and your PLAYSTATION Network ID that you use for online gaming. So, for example, the people you play with online (using your PSN ID) will be able to read the forum posts you’ve made on PlayStation.com (using your Underground ID) and see that you are the same person. Once you’re linked up you’ll also receive a PSN ID graphic including your Avatar and “About Me” Message that has been made portable for the Web.

Having an ID that you can post on your favorite social networking sites and gaming communities allows you to amp up your visibility throughout the PlayStation universe. You can use your beloved (or feared) PSN ID wherever you go on the web and everyone from your buddies on your Friend List to newbie gaming challengers will know you by your PSN ID. For complete details, go here and read all about it. From there, it’s pretty easy to get started linking up.

Comments are closed.

156 Comments

6 Author Replies

SnoopYTimes
July 16, 2008 at 12:52 pm PDT

Cool.
But.
Where are PSN Cards?
ruffneckc
July 16, 2008 at 12:53 pm PDT

Nevermind, I figured this out. How is the team planning to provide functionality for this moving forward? Leaving messages for people on our friend’s list is obviously the next step but how are future features decided? How is user requested being gathered?
Demonbear
July 16, 2008 at 12:56 pm PDT

About the video store in canada, I don’t know why you guys are complaining, It was the same story with Xbox360.

I had one before i switched to PS3 and after they launched the video service i took almost a full year before we had it as well. If I remember correctly its long because they have to sign a deal for every studio with every countries to get a permit to sell that or whatever.

Takes a long time Plus we’re not that big of a market, So we’ll have to be patient.

For the PSN cards i think its a great start. Im guessing that this is the core structure and that you guys at sony intent to work on it and add features and stuff.
cywulf21
July 16, 2008 at 12:56 pm PDT

Does it work on this blog?
bbblackflag
July 16, 2008 at 12:59 pm PDT

Ooops did my gravatar phail?
MUGEN02
July 16, 2008 at 1:02 pm PDT

@ Chris
When can we see the ability to receive and send messages to friends from the underground site?
- Chris Hagedorn
  July 16, 2008 at 2:36 pm PDT
  
  See my response to comment 17. Thanks!
whatisdelicious
July 16, 2008 at 1:04 pm PDT

This is a cool feature, but I don’t want my About Me displayed. I’d much rather have some trophies and recent games and my level and stuff. Screw my About Me. All I have written there is “I’m awesome.” Which, I am, but everyone already knows that. So I’d rather have my recent trophies, total number of trophies, my level, recent games, etc.

Make it happen.

(Please and thank you.)
cywulf21
July 16, 2008 at 1:04 pm PDT

I’ve tried to paste the link from the id here twice and it didnt even register. Thats why I ask. (52)
Scodo_Thope
July 16, 2008 at 1:04 pm PDT

Think I will wait for the kinks to be worked out of Linking v2.40. I hear Linking v2.41 will fix all this issues. :)
StalkingSilence
July 16, 2008 at 1:07 pm PDT

I’m curious about your job title.
“PSN Loyalty Programs Manager”

What other programs are currently going on? It sounds pretty cool. That is, can we expect to see an update from you in the future here on the blog?
MrDuran
July 16, 2008 at 1:09 pm PDT

@44

There’s only 2 playstation websites for the US. This one and PSU (aka playstation.com).
stennex
July 16, 2008 at 1:19 pm PDT

As Gamer Advisor Panelist do we still get extra stuff? Also i think the PlayStation website would look better if it was designed like the PSN store. Get rid of the black background and use blue, it’s easier on the eyes. The PSP store has this look and it much easier and prettier to navigate.

Will Home be full accessible from the website. Will i be able to text my friends or they text me from within Home?
rothgar
July 16, 2008 at 1:35 pm PDT

I think this is a great idea but it will only be truly useful if we can have this status veiwable on a instant messenger type program. Is there any way to get status through Jabber (XMPP) so that I can add my PSN account to my pidgin buddy list. Then I can keep up wit who is on when I am at my computer without having to have a whole new web page open.
salc_75
July 16, 2008 at 1:35 pm PDT

Damn it. I linked the wrong account to my PSN! Anyway to UNLINK? But cool feature though.

Thanks!
Jenovah
July 16, 2008 at 1:36 pm PDT

Jaw Dropping Killzone 2 multi player footage:

http://www.gamespot.com/video/928377…=e32008_videos

Jeff you guys gotta get this up here.
GGCAN
July 16, 2008 at 1:38 pm PDT

Thanks for the post Chris.

Actually set mine up yesterday and I’ve copied the code it gives you onto my home webpage.

Works great !
edgefusion
July 16, 2008 at 1:40 pm PDT

*sigh* …and Europe?
TristanMike
July 16, 2008 at 1:43 pm PDT

@ Demonbear (51)

We are angry because the announcement said the video store would be releasing in NORTH AMERICA. Last time I checked, Canada was still a part of North America… let me check again… yep, still a part it.
Tondog
July 16, 2008 at 1:47 pm PDT

Very cool, and a first step to something I would really love to see on PSN: an official gamercard like what tripletags.com offers.

In the future it would be awesome if the portable ID could show what games we played last, the amount of trophies we have, and our level. It would also be great if Sony could set up a userpage that the world can see which displays what games we have played on our PS3 and the trophies earned in each of them, similar to mygamercard.net. Regardless, excellent job! Keep up the great work.
MeltTech
July 16, 2008 at 1:48 pm PDT

Great idea. I although made the mistake of linking the wrong id, now I can’t seem to fix it. Emailed Sony Cust Support over 2 days ago and nothing yet. I hope they can do something to resolve this. I’m at work alot and this is a great idea. I usually get home and everyone’s tied up or already in games and I can’t schedule stuff early enough.

Sony, can you help me link the correct id? I can log into PSN and PS Store no trouble, but can’t link my id. My mistake, I need some help! Please???
lauchlin
July 16, 2008 at 1:48 pm PDT

FYI – I have to refresh the page after logging in for the comment box to appear.

I’d also like to request that you make the browser that comes with PS3 better. It sucks. And if you give us a link to the blog from the front page, shouldn’t we be able to view video content that you put there from the PS3? I mean…REALLLY!!!
SantanaClaus89
July 16, 2008 at 1:57 pm PDT

Until you add trophy information to this “gamercard”, it is irrelevant.
TTP
July 16, 2008 at 2:06 pm PDT

Are you planning a dedicated site where everyone (from everywhere) can simply register with his PSN account data and get to see friends and stuff? I think this linking approach is not in the best interests of intuitiveness and massive adoption. Especially if you are not from USA…

You obviously know how the Xbox Live website works. What’s wrong with something like that?
thingg
July 16, 2008 at 2:06 pm PDT

@54
I think Tretton said later this year.

OT: That is really cool. Another idea would be to allow you to link your PSU account to your PSBlog account. I can’t imagine this would be that difficult: just add another option in your blog member database and provide a page to link the accounts.

You could then put a little PSN logo next to the our BlogID in the header of each comment that links to our PSU account profile. That would save you the trouble of setting up yet another profile page and would allow us here on the blog to more easily pwn the trolls who don’t actually have a PS3.
KazeEternal
July 16, 2008 at 2:06 pm PDT

Ya this is great glad to have it but….

GIVE US BACK BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY

GIVE US RPG’S

GIVE US IGX FOR PS2 AND PS1 TITLES
thingg
July 16, 2008 at 2:07 pm PDT

@70
again, Mr. Tretton said at E3 they will be making a service like that available later this year.
TTP
July 16, 2008 at 2:08 pm PDT

@73
Mr. Tretton says a lot of things :P
thefjk
July 16, 2008 at 2:19 pm PDT

Done this like 2 years ago!
misteroy
July 16, 2008 at 2:20 pm PDT

Thank you very much. I have a question Chris:
Do you think that in the future, we will be able to sign in the Playstation Network from a mobile device, such as a PSP (or a PSP PHONE ?)
Thetruefiziks
July 16, 2008 at 2:23 pm PDT

I vote that when you click

PLAYSTATION®3

* Registered Owner (http://www.us.playstation.com/MyAccount/Hardware)

THAT IT HIDES YOUR SYSTEM’S SERIAL
or at least hides a few characters…

(

Keep track of all your PlayStation Hardware and your SCEA games in one location to make sure you get the latest updates & relevant information.
Hardware

* PLAYSTATION®3 June 2008 CE000637xxx OR CE000637—
)

I understand sony you have the login authentication verification but I don’t like the fact the serial code is publicly accessible, anybody else have comments about this?
Thetruefiziks
July 16, 2008 at 2:24 pm PDT

I vote that when you click

PLAYSTATION®3

* Registered Owner (us.playstation.com/MyAccount/Hardware)

THAT IT HIDES YOUR SYSTEM’S SERIAL
or at least hides a few characters…

(

Keep track of all your PlayStation Hardware and your SCEA games in one location to make sure you get the latest updates & relevant information.
Hardware

* PLAYSTATION®3 June 2008 CE000637xxx OR CE000637—
)

I understand sony you have the login authentication verification but I don’t like the fact the serial code is publicly accessible, anybody else have comments about this?
whoelse
July 16, 2008 at 2:26 pm PDT

I guess i wouldnt be wrong in thinking the PSU handle will get scrapped down the line.
mendezgato
July 16, 2008 at 2:38 pm PDT

hey chris this is great i did mine yesterday and it works great love to check what my friends are playing, while I’m @ work thanks
S-Bizzy
July 16, 2008 at 2:47 pm PDT

@10

I have the same question as you. But more along the lines if we just want to change which ID is linked to accounts.
tretle
July 16, 2008 at 2:55 pm PDT

This is cool.. Good step in the right direction.

Its great having all this stuff being implemented after waiting for what felt like so long.

I could rant about how crappy SCEE is but I wont. Instead I would like to offer some constructive criticism.

SCEE don’t really give Sony a good name. They reinvent anything SCEA creates causing delays for Europeans and in allot of cases an unfinished feel to the final product.

Solution: Something needs to be done, if SCEE aren’t creative enough to offer Europeans original alternatives to SCEA’s work then just dont let them.

I have to wonder why SCEE have been allowed to hold Sony back. There main goal should be to sort out licensing and translations. Thats it, nothing else.

I’m really hoping here that someone at the Playstation Blog can take some initiative and take this issue higher up the ladder, who knows you may get a promotion for telling your boss how it is :)

I cant seem to get an email address for SCEE, I have one for SCEA and I also tried looking for a contact details for Sony global but that doesn’t seem to exist.
You may ask why I couldn’t get an email for SCEE, well the hilarious thing is that the Sony European sites do not render properly on any operating system other than windows and macosx.
I tested it on Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSuse etc. I tested with adobe flash 9 and 10, I also tried open source alternatives.
I also tested it on three browsers Firefox2, Firefox3 and Epiphany.
This kind of thing gives a bad image to Sony, You learn in the first month of any IT related course that allot of the time whats more important then content and even eye candy is testing.

Why do they need a different design and software to host the European Sites?
I would understand if they needed to do so for the Asian sites as the language is read vertically but there should be no need to do so for European languages.
Its a flushing money down the drain for Sony as a corporation too, having to maintain for two sites and two forums and in turn cater for different training for the site staff.

The current method reduces collaboration between SCEE and SCEA which is quite evident even on the console itself(Playstation store layout(not even content the LAYOUT)GAH! They cant even lay the content out as well as SCEA).
And another point is that because of this lack of collaboration in the current work flow you are making it harder for yourselves to develop a stable platform. If Europe and America worked together on site and forum software you could create a much more secure and reliable end product.

Now from this post you can see that I’m more worried about Sony’s current infrastructure than adding new features.
In order to get the full potential of the Playstation Network you must first set the ground work.
I shared this concern pre 2.41 when I suggested that you get the api’s for cross game invites ready for 2.41 so that developers wont waste revenue playing catch up on Sony’s latest core features.
You listened, it wasn’t until the new Warhawk patch came that I was able to deduce it. The fourth tab in the gamer profile, the info – server info… What a beautiful easter egg that was :D :P

So what are my views on Sony right now?
I think there taking some wise steps in the right direction.
There listening more to the community.
They are talking more(no more no comments)
They are reaching a great milestone with Playstation network and the ps3.
Next thing for Sony to work on is collaboration between SCEE and SCEA.
Restructuring should definitely happen in SCEE. Sony needs to figure out what they “need” to do and make sure that SCEA come up with the ideas and implementation.

Oh and to Jeff and all the PS Blog guys, I think I have a new idea for a blog segment. You can call it cold turkey, All the playstation blog guys have to ditch the SCEA store, forums and website for 2 months and use nothing but the SCEE equivalents. You could give updates over twitter and weekly updates on the blog. I think it would be quite interesting and funny.

Well it seems it came close to turning into a rant a couple of times but hopefully you understand what I was trying to convey with this post.
Gunwing
July 16, 2008 at 3:02 pm PDT

I for one would like to be able to see the PSP get the same PSN link up that the PS3, and now the PS website have. We need PSN on the PSP to get developers to make download content for PSP games, and get more PSN games up for the PSP.

Also if there is a way to cut out the PC as the middle man it would help the PSP alot.
SpLinT
July 16, 2008 at 3:03 pm PDT

Suggestions:

I like the PSN ID graphic but it doesnt include enough info. It should have “Last game played” or Trophy Level. Or maybe we can choose what we want to put. Thanks
BigOLBallz
July 16, 2008 at 3:05 pm PDT

Can you send me some free stuff , anything except a bill , from E3 , it would be greatly appreciated
Gunwing
July 16, 2008 at 3:05 pm PDT

Another thing is to lock the PS3s from other contries from getting PSone games, or PSN tittle from the EU/JPN stores. It’s a real problem when a new Japanese PSone game hits that the store gets bogged down with US/EU importers downloading the stuff thats only on the Japanese store for a reason.

Alos more PSone games, and maybe PS2 games for the PS3 should be up for download as well.
BigOLBallz
July 16, 2008 at 3:08 pm PDT

no seriously ,E3 shwag, would be great
erico316
July 16, 2008 at 3:11 pm PDT

good idea .now can we have third party games developer to add this feature into thier sites.I would love for capcom to uses this feature as we are able to link the psn id to the capcom forums. u can skip square enix site no one care about them anymore.

p.s what is its with jeff not answering people anymore?
tretle
July 16, 2008 at 3:12 pm PDT

the ability to have custom avatars, through the ps eye or any image on a flash drive would be sweet. Also more offered for download on the store including limited edition avatars created by game designers and movie studios would be cool.
+1 for the psp psn id and psn friends list. It would be the psp equivalent of in game xmb for me. Merge your skype contacts to the psn friends list would be a much better experience too.
Too people should be able to be logged into psn at once on the ps3, this will be a necessity for unlocking trophies with friends at each others houses instead of having to have a disconnected experience over the net the whole time.
If skype ever comes to ps3 make sure its more transparent then the psp offering, merge the contact list into the psn friends list so that if your friend is not on the ps3 but they are on skype it just has a skype icon in the status for the psn id.
KillerAJD
July 16, 2008 at 3:14 pm PDT

*sigh* I would love to use this, except for the part where my Playstation.com account was “hacked” into, and now I can no longer log in. I hop that doesn’t dilute my chances of getting into betas or something…
Thetruefiziks
July 16, 2008 at 3:23 pm PDT

@93
KillerAJD | July 16th, 2008 at 3:14 pm

*sigh* I would love to use this, except for the part where my Playstation.com account was “hacked” into, and now I can no longer log in. I hop that doesn’t dilute my chances of getting into betas or something…

—see that’s why I want the system serial number info hidden
Thetruefiziks
July 16, 2008 at 3:33 pm PDT

WHY IS FATAL INERTIA NOT IN THE MY GAMES SEARCH. I was adding all the games I own to the registry and no fatal inertia EX?
Filmstalker
July 16, 2008 at 3:34 pm PDT

Okay I’m confused…are UK owners allowed/supposed to use this?

It doesn’t specifically say so anywhere but the country drop down on the sign on doesn’t offer anything outside the US, yet the offer for sign up seems open to all.

Can you clarify please.
tretle
July 16, 2008 at 3:48 pm PDT

@96 you have proven my previous point :D
twooh
July 16, 2008 at 4:01 pm PDT

Done.
tryp
July 16, 2008 at 4:08 pm PDT

pretty cool Beavis
uziari
July 16, 2008 at 4:11 pm PDT

broken, won’t let me link up.

and yes, my information is 100% correct.