Sony's System Software Update 2.40, released Wednesday, adds to the PlayStation 3 several features originally popularized by the Xbox 360, including long-awaited “trophies,” which function much like Microsoft's achievements, and in-game access to PlayStation 3's XrossMediaBar (XMB) via the PS button, which can be roughly equated to the functionality made available when Xbox 360 players press the Xbox Guide button.

PlayStation 3 trophies are awarded as players accomplish various feats in certain games. They're added to a user's profile, which can be viewed and evaluated by other players. Ten first-party PlayStation games will support the new trophies functionality this year, including the upcoming MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation, as well as some currently available PlayStation Network games, such as Pixeljunk Monsters: Eden. In a press release, Sony stated that many third-party game developers plan to include trophy support as well, which is only to be expected, given that cross-platform games are already designed with Xbox 360 achievements in mind.

Meanwhile, in-game access to the PlayStation's XMB lets players scroll through and open any item on the bar, including music, videos, and games, as well as view their friends lists and check out other player's profiles, all without exiting from their current game.

After downloading and installing the new firmware, I booted up the PlayStation Network game Pain—one of the existing games Sony noted would support trophies—to see how things worked.

Following a quick software update that added trophy functionality, I pressed the PS button to call up the XMB. I was able to check out my trophy collection and view my friends' profiles, though I was disappointed that I still couldn't see what games they were playing or request to join them, as Xbox 360 players can when they bring up the Xbox Guide.

However, I was able to select and open videos, view photo slideshows, and start other games stored on the PlayStation 3 hard drive without first going back to the desktop, which is something Xbox 360 owners can't do.

I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that I didn't have to begin playing through Pain again from scratch in order to earn trophies awarded for such basic achievements as finishing the tutorial. If I had accomplished a trophy-worthy feat before installing the new firmware, it was already registered.

To be sure, most of the new functionality feels largely derivative of features that have been available for the Xbox 360 for nearly three years, but it is nonetheless welcome on the PlayStation 3. I somewhat shamefully admit that whenever I've had the opportunity to play a game on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 I've gone with the Xbox 360 version simply because it offered the opportunity to earn achievement points for my gamertag profile (don't ask me why achievement points are important—all I know is that I, like many other Xbox 360 owners, get some strange satisfaction out of watching my GamerScore rise). Now that Sony's console provides similar functionality, the choice will be much more difficult.

Other new features added in 2.40 include an increased friend list limit (the previous maximum of 50 has doubled to 100) and a Google search toolbar, which now resides in the system's web browser.