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Home » PS3, Playstation Network, Sony

Is Sony quietly closing out PSN data slurpers?

Submitted by Joe Fourhman on July 4, 2009 – 1:35 pmComments

sadpsnclownPS3TrophyCard.com is down for maintenance and they’re pointing the finger directly at Sony. From their site:

We apologize for the issues our service has experienced over the last few weeks. Sony has invested resources to actively work against sites like PS3TrophyCard.com which has made it impossible to update newer games with our current system.

PS3TrophyCard.com is one of a handful of third party sites that grab PSN data (using your PSN login name) and turn it into banners and forum sigs for users to post all over the internet. You know, like what Xbox users have had for years? Sony of America has never quite figured out how to do this sort of thing. And while Sony may not be maliciously targeting PS3TrophyCard.com (the failure may just be the result of Sony tweaking and PS3TrophyCard simply being reliant on now-obsolete code), this certainly seems like another case of Sony taking the ball and going home. Remember when that LittleBigPlanet fansite was shutdown?

All this does is underline Sony’s Web 2.0 isolation. Sure, it’s great that some PS3 games push to YouTube, but being able to show off Trophies to the world outside our PS3 seems so basic that Sony’s half-assed efforts to date are an embarrassment. Clearly the technology is there if random third party fansites can get to it… then why is Sony’s own Portable ID only able to display a username and icon? Further confounding the matter is that Sony Europe DOES have a Trophy sig service.

For their part, PS3TrophyCard says they are working on ways to crack the code and get back up and running.

  • Vic Rattledeth
    Does this guy not even realize that you can do this through the Sony EU trophy sig service? I live in the US and I don't have a problem with it. I really don't understand the usefulness of this article at all. Did the author not check the EU service to see that everything that he says doesn't work actually does? Better luck on your next topic dude.
  • Some Guy
    Apparently he didn't check,just because we can't download from other regions (unless we have a credit card or other payment method from that region doesn't mean we can't use that regions services)
  • Yes, I'm aware that other regions can sign up for the European service, but that's hardly an efficient solution, is it? When I'm trying to figure out what mythical services Sony America does not provide, I do not routinely check Sony Europe and Sony Asia to see what they have. It's not like Sony America has a big sign up on the American .com encouraging people to go visit the European branch for additional cool services.

    The question stands: why does Europe have it and America does not? Sony is perfectly within their rights to shutdown sites like PS3TrophyCard, but it would be nice if they had an official replacement across all regions. And I'm sure they're working on it, but they've never said anything about it to my knowledge. Maybe the PS Blog did at one point: "amazing upgrades coming to that lame Portable ID, US fans!"

    I like how you guys talk about me like I'm not in the room.
  • If it's any consolation, I now wish to own a PS3 even LESS than I did before reading all of these comments. Because, then, I'd be in league with the jaggoffs flaming you for making a simple observation.

    I might go buy a second Wii. And play through Wii Sports, again. Just to spite them.

    "omg, lol, i bet he doesn't even reelize the wee has no hd!11 waggle and dust! wat a ghey konsoul!'
  • Jordan_Snyder
    Fourhman... I just want to give you a virtual hug. You have received so much trash talk for absolutely no reason. The Internet really is a scary place.
  • It's good to know that I am not the one catching the wrath of the reader this time around. I had to double clutch to see if I wrote something I was not aware would cause such anger and vitrol.
  • ps2fanboy
    exactly why i have not yet and at this point, might not even be getting a ps3 at all...

    when it first launched, i was SO ready to buy a ps3, just didnt have the funds. so i stuck to my 360. i couldnt wait to play the more advanced games with blu ray, cell processor, free online gaming, and such.

    but it seems the more time goes on, the more i see that 360 was the right choice.
  • Some Guy
    So let me get this right you haven't bought a ps3 because you can't get a silly little banner?
    If you really care so much about it get it from the eu playstation site, you can login with a north american/whatever territory account you have anyway I do it all the time.
  • TX Anthony
    Sony America can utilize the Sony EU trophy sig service. I use it and I live in TX.
  • LOOK AT ME
    who cares, "hey want to take a look at the trophies I earned on a video game" sounds pretty lame. I also don't go showing around my gamer score from xbox live so why would I want to share what level I'm up to on Psn.
  • Yam
    Wow...all I have to say is WOW!

    "Sony of America has never quite figured out how to do this sort of thing."

    So they can manage to design one of the most (if not THE most) technically advanced pieces of hardware but you have the gall to make such a claim. That's a butt-hurt statement if ever I heard one. Sony has every right to protect their intellectual properties and sites like PS3TrophyCard.net are leeching income off of something SONY designed as an integral part of their online experience.

    Services like this should be free (if they're allowed to remain).
  • Ricardo Garcia
    Well lets put it this way...You spend millions on a service for your console which you created and then some cheap little site grabs that service and turns it into something they wish while your service gets forgotten in time while you lose users and invested money.
    And as cherry on the top, they say they will HACK the service to be able to use it...I really wish they get eaten by lawyers!
  • Cube
    This is stupid, probably a minor change in HTML that they didn't write a good parser for.
    It's simple:
    Sony haven't produced an open API yet, so 3rd party website should *not* be doing this. It is complicated and uses a lot of Sony bandwidth as it fake authenticates and mass loads data intensive pages and strips them down.
    If there is a way around it, Sony did NOT try and block them. Otherwise they would find their site IP had been completely blocked from accessing the Sony servers.
  • richard
    Maybe SONY are too busy working on things that actually matter?

    who cares If there are kids out there crying themselves to sleep becuase forum users don't know that they got the platinum trophy for completing burnout!

    Also, I think SONY also have right to stop thirdparties accessing their servers if they want to...
  • krakdol
    Except what you said is completely wrong since Sony portable ID displays your trophies too. It has been working for at least several weeks... Are you calling yourself a 'journalist' ? You're more like a moronic MS fanboy to me...
  • I don't know where you are located, but I double-checked the Portable ID before posting this article and it still only shows the icon and username (oh, and your "message"). You can view your Trophies online via the PSN website, but that's only for you when you are logged in, and it is not on the vaunted Portable ID. As I said, Sony Europe does have a service that puts Trophies etc into a portable format, so why Sony America still does not - with no outward promises to do so - is a mystery.

    Incidentally, there are some folks around here who have called me a Sony fanboy, so I am very pleased to now be known as a Microsoft fanboy.
  • Jordan_Snyder
    Yeah, Fourhman! Why don't you go kiss more of Microsoft's ass, Fourhman! You always hate on Nintendo and Sony! Microsoft fanboy!
  • The European Sony website also has a feature similar to PS3trophycard. I've seen people with USA accounts that have them linked using the SCEE trophy card. If anything Sony is tweaking it so you can only get the trophy cards from their own website.
  • psh
    dumb article, srry
  • It is just amazing that Sony is so against this kind of thing. You would think they would be actively promoting it. How is it that Sony lost so much information on pleasing gamers from one generation to the next?
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