Just as the PlayStation Network was getting off the ground, our internet services (courtesy of Philadelphia's very own Comcast, thanks guys) were shutting down. After spending the better part of the day spent staring at our modem's blinking "Online" light, it finally went solid. We darted to the PlayStation 3 which had been waiting patiently, encouraging us to "Sign up to PlayStation Network." So we did!
We've documented the entire process below, in a series of forty screenshots and a video we're calling "The PlayStation Network sign up (in pictures and video)." Clever, eh?
"Sign Up for PlayStation Network": This is the screen that greets all new accounts when they select the "Friends" option.
You can choose to create a new account or add an existing account to that PS3. New one for us, thanks.
A short breakdown of what's required in the registration process ... nothing too onerous, luckily.
We presume they want to know our date of birth to determine age appropriate content in the Store. Either that, or there are creepy old men from MySpace behind this whole thing.
We need to create a Master Account before we can create a Sub Account ... we're gonna store all our alts as Sub Accounts.
The Terms of Service are lengthy, and you do have to scroll through them, but that's okay. Lawyers need to eat too.
Standard information: email address, password, childhood hero. We totally picked Captain Neo!
Joystiq, natch. Hit us up for a friend request.
That's my name.
Punch in your home address here ... no, I'm not telling you mine. Why? Did you want to send something?
Here's how you know it's free! You can elect to enter billing information to add funds in your "wallet" ... or not! Your choice. Wanna just play games? Skip it. Wanna buy some e-distributed games, punch in your plastic.
They don't take Diner's Club? Why do we even keep this thing around?
Do you want spam from Sony Computer Entertainment, select yes or no.
Everything's in order on page 1 ...
... and page 2. Move out!
Congratulations! But your avatar is in another castle screen.
Want an avatar? Course you do! Here's ten of em on page one of twelve.
Page two of twelve. You get the idea.
Phew! Done! But we still didn't really like any.
A questionnaire? Sure, why not.
Seriously, maybe a Blu-ray Disc player, but CD player? Web browser? We would love to see the data they get on this. Anyone at Sony care to share?
We got 'em all, Sony! We only wish there was room for the rest of our collection.
We might pick up one of those PSPetites we know you're working on but, other than that, I think we're all set.
What about the "Never enough" option?
We picked Children's and Extreme Sports, just to mess with 'em a little.
Again, they're conflating Blu-ray with high-definition gaming. Every time they do it, Peter Moore kills a kitten, so we really wish they'd stop. Regardless, we answered the second one.
Either we blacked out after Peter Moore killed that kitten, or someone at Sony forgot how to count. We're guessing the former, but we can't seem to remember what #7 was. Question 8 wanted to know who informed our decision to get a PS3. We chose Other.
You're welcome!
Remember that "Sign Up for PlayStation Network" icon that we started with? It's been replaced with a "Sign In" icon! It worked!
We confirm our email address, punch in that password, select "Save Password (Auto Sign-In)" and click "Sign In."
Bam! There we are, all signed in to the new PlayStation Network.
