Celebrating the PS3's second birthday, Sony caused quite a stir last Tuesday when it announced that the PlayStation Network has attained 14 million active users, matching the year-older Xbox Live's 14 million subscriber base.

"Seeing as PlayStation Portable does include PlayStation Network services (i.e. games store natively on PSP), yes those numbers do include all PlayStation Network registrations," said a Sony rep. To prevent dupes, Sony does not deem PS3 and PSP accounts as separate.

As to the exact figure of how many users the've got, Sony refuses to give a specific number, but instead continued to toot the PSN horn, "We've seen an increase in unique [PS3] consoles registered for PSN compared to the sell through rate, which means we are seeing more PlayStation 3 owners who didn't previously register, do so lately, based on the new features we've added to PSN, such as Video Store and Trophies," the rep said.

As for any doubts to the PSN's success, IDC game industry analyst Billy Pidgeon concurs, saying that PS3 PSN registrations have increased 160% since January 2008. However, only 50% of PS3s have logged into the PSN, compared to the Xbox 360 having 60% going live.

Since Sony announced selling 17 million PS3s worldwide, Pidgeon estimates that there are only 8.5 PS3-based PSN users. "Remember, though, they're not claiming that every account is a connected PS3," he pointed out.

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More of the latest for the PS3:

• Bring out the cake: Happy 2nd birthday, PS3!