Sony Computer Entertainment Japan has announced plans to gradually phase out services for registered users of its PlayStation.com website. The operation will begin this December with an end to the site's e-commerce services. Its mail news service will come to a halt in February 2008.
Don't take this to be doom and gloom for the PlayStation brand. The PlayStation.com service was originally started with the goal of providing downloadable content for the PS2. This mission has since been transferred to the PlayStation Network, which you can access from your PS3 and, now, PC.
Those who amassed "PlayStation Points" at the site will be able to transfer these to either the PlayStation Network, where they'll be charged to your wallet, or switch them to Sony Points, which are used by Sony as a whole.
The Japanese PlayStation.com site will continue to exist as Sony's official source for Japanese PlayStation news and information.