The PlayStation Network has recently been criticized for its lack of a unified service when compared to Xbox Live, but Sony is set to turn those words around. Speaking in a recent interview, PSN director Eric Lempel revealed that Sony is working on more than a couple upgrades to the service, including cross-game invites, the ability to access the cross-media bar in-game, and an achievements system.

Whoa… whoa, that does sounds familiar to Xbox Live. Yep, Sony is impressed with Microsoft’s online community:

I like how their marketplace is integrated directly into their user interface….Talking across games is fantastic. That definitely builds momentum for games and actually migrate users to other games and keeps you in touch with your gaming community.

So yes, Sony is borrowing ideas from Xbox Live, which is a good thing – all those features listed above are much needed, especially the ability to access the XMB in-game and the achievements system. Lempel also confirmed once again that integration with PSN and the PSP is on the way. We won’t get all these features in the next firmware update, but rest assured that they are coming.

Sony Sizes Up Xbox Live [Next-Gen]

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