The PSN Store, while functional, doesn’t exactly match the PS3’s overall sleek and easy to use interface.
By mid-April, Sony plans to rectify the general lack of intuitiveness, and has released an official statement. Parts of it read as follows:
“This April, PLAYSTATION®Store, the online content store on PLAYSTATION®Network, is getting a whole new look and feel – and it’s in response to feedback from the millions of PSN registrants in the PAL region.”
Nice to see the PAL region get some love and notice. FYI, PAL isn’t you North Americans. You’re NTSC. PAL citizens actually have currency worth spending.
“The revamp comes in response to a survey last year which showed that many PLAYSTATION Store users wanted a better interface and easier navigation. The new design will deliver a hugely improved navigation system, much greater scope for categorisation and a dynamic new user interface.”
Nice to see Sony acknowledge that the PSN Store interface isn’t user friendly. Currently it’s great for accessing new content, but anything more than a week old seems to scatter about at random. PS3 owners know that navigating through the menus, submenus, and backtracking is a test of patience. Hopefully this will all be fixed.
“Content will be suspended for two weeks while the improvements are carried out but users can look forward to a special update in mid-April.
There will be no weekly content updates between now and the re-launch, although users can still download content from the back catalogue, such as Warhawk™ and Gran Turismo™ 5 Prologue.”
Some bad news gets slipped in. Looks like the Thursday updates will be put on hold until the Store relaunches. The content released via PSN is minimal at best. Hopefully a new, easy to use and attractive Store will inspire Sony, and devs, to step up and release more great titles. At least something that can compete with XBLA’s offerings.
Minus the horrific DRM.
Quick Edit:
Looks like there is a pic of the new interface, and some details on functionality already in the forums.
Looks snazzy, but we’ll have to wait and see how it actually performs before passing judgment. Initial impressions are favorable.
I don’t spend too much time on the PSN Store or the Xbox Live Marketplace, but I’ve already said this update can do nothing but good.
I’m looking foward to downloadable movies and how they will be handled. There’s major debates over the DRM issues. However, some think Sony might be willing–with the easily upgradeable hard drive–to let the customers actually own high definition content.
I must say this is a impressive rumor floating about and if it is indeed true, I will be searching for an external Terabyte drive real soon.
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