According to the November issue of
Electronic Gaming Monthly (#197), Sony may be
waiting until "right before the Xbox 360 goes on sale this November" to "unveil its grand online plans (including user
transactions, multimedia functions, and a bunch of other fancy-schmancy features)."
If true, the announcement may come later than next week's PS3
entertainment festival, but it would certainly be used as another means to parry the arrival of the 360 in many
parts of the world. Sony has apparently already confirmed a comparable service
back at E3, but further details have been hard to come by.
Sony's been dragging its feet for a while now with an excuse that it wants
a unified online service to cover not only the PS3, but the
PSP (and possibly PS2) as well. We'll have to wait and see whether Sony pulls out its own Gamertags and Live-like
Blades in any new service, however.
Engadget
TUAW