In a video interview with the Director of PlayStation Network (PSN) Operations, Eric Lempel, gametrailers.com (GT.com) was able to reveal some very interesting details regarding PSN and what the future has in store for PlayStation 3 owners.

When asked about Home and it’s importance, Lempel stated, “It’s a key piece of the bigger network. It’s part of the PlayStation Network, but it doesn’t define the PlayStation Network. It feeds into all the other features we’re working on and all the other services. […] And it’s free.”

GT.com also wondered if Sony will incorporate achievements or trophies into PSN. Lempel replied, “We’re working on an achievement system. Part of that was mentioned earlier this year at GDC as [a] part of Home; there’s a trophy room and that will feed into a bigger achievement system.”

Lempel also went on to mention that he likes the Xbox Live Gamerscore idea and that Sony is working on something like that for PS3 owners.

When asked if PSN will have more 3rd party support for PSN arcade titles, Lempel stated, “There’s a lot more coming. Again, we’ve only scratched the surface here. Third parties are getting up to speed now, we’re meeting with a lot of 3rd parties right now and they’re exciting about the network and they see the opportunities. They wanted to see what was there at launch and just feel comfortable with what was going on from the business side, but they’ll jump on board.”

Lempel was later asked if PS3 gamers would have XMB access in-game, to which he replied, “It’s definitely possible and it’s something we’re working on.”

Finally, as the interview starts to wrap up, GT.com talked about how Microsoft doesn’t have much support for user-generated content and asked if Sony will via PSN and Home. “We know the users want it, they want user-generated content,” said Lempel, “It’s big in the industry, it’s all over the internet, and it’s something we want to add to our offer [PSN]. It’s definitely going to happen.”

It would seem that Sony has a solid plan for PS3 owners as Lempel gave various insights into what the future holds in store for PSN. Here’s to hoping in-game XMB access and achievement scores won’t take too long to go public.