Report: PlayStation 3 To Add Facebook Integration

With Xbox 360 Facebook integration already announced, PlayStation 3 support for Facebook seems to be on the way as well, if a series of convincing screenshots of the console's front end is to be believed. Consumer site Scrawl broke the news when it published three small but relatively believable images of the PlayStation 3's cross media bar interface, one of which included a Facebook icon. The shots were provided by an anonymous site reader. Such images might potentially be doctored, but in an update to the story, the site revealed that the files had originally been hosted on Sony's official UK PlayStation site. The images were verified by Gamasutra as existing on PlayStation.com at that time, but were quickly removed from the site after word spread. In addition to Facebook support, the screenshots depict a new photo-browsing interface and the ability for users to change the appearance of their PlayStation Network profile images. The apparently forthcoming news will cause further online functionality overlap between Sony and Microsoft's current home consoles, which are in constantly-elevated competition to provide the farthest-reaching multi-functional online service. Native Xbox 360 support of Facebook was announced earlier this year, and is expected to be released in the coming weeks, and PlayStation 3 just got access to streaming movies through Netflix, a feature Microsoft secured for Xbox 360 in late 2008.