No. The PlayStation 3's online service is similar in some ways, but Sony has and is still working on making its online aspect a much more feature-packed and cohesive experience. It features a friends list, text and video messaging, content downloads and more. It's a constantly evolving surface, and features and content changes from month to month and even week to week.

The PlayStation Network is, just as was the case with the PlayStation 2, an open and free network, meaning that companies are able to connect their own servers and run their own hosted games. It also means that the service is free for any and all to use, though certain downloads do cost money.