Every PlayStation 3 game released in 2009 must have Trophy support built into the game to ship, according to Videogamer.com. While trophy support has been optional for developers and publishers since Trophies first started popping up in the news, when the new year comes, every game on the system will have shiny rewards for players.

Trophies were introduced back in July with the 2.40 firmware. They’re an obvious counter to the Xbox 360’s Achievement system, though they work slightly differently (different colors of trophy contribute to a higher "level" for PS3 gamers). The first games to support the feature had it added in via a patch (like Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune).

Trophies weren’t even a part of the PlayStation Network/PS3 system at launch, so when the 2.40 firmware patch came into effect, few titles were equipped right off the bat to handle the new rewards (much the same way the screenshot-taking feature in a later firmware was hyped and then it turned out that no games supported it—and still don’t).

While Achievements on the 360 don’t have a set limit, all the achievements in a retail game must add up to 1000 Gamerscore points (Xbox Live Arcade titles are limited to 200 points with 12 achievements). Trophies on the PS3 have no such limit, but there is some uniformity since each game has a platinum trophy unlocked once all other trophies have been earned.

Will Trophies have the same impact as the 360’s Achievements, since all games will offer them to players that can meet the requirements? Time will tell, although the colors and levels of trophies offer a little more nuance than the simply numerical achievements. And then there are gamers who couldn’t care less about either...