PlayStation Store redesign unwrapped, weekly updates suspended

by James Ransom-Wiley { Mar 31st 2008 at 10:45AM }

click to enlarge

SCEE has unveiled its PlayStation Store redesign, which is scheduled to launch in "mid-April." Weekly content updates will cease for the next two weeks until the redesign goes live, but "users can look forward to a special update in mid-April," Sony Europe teased in a press release. In addition, users will continue to have access to the store's back catalog as they await the mid-April relaunch. The redesign will not affect existing PlayStation Network accounts or the virtual wallet.

The store redesign has been previously confirmed for North America and will release sometime in April. ~~SCEA has yet to announce the exact release date, which may or may not coincide with the European update.~~ Update: SCEA has announced the North American "revamp" will arrive via firmware update in "mid-April" (presumably day and date with the European update). Sony clarified that beginning April 3, no new content will be added to the store until the redesign is launched.

Gallery: PLAYSTATION Store redesign

Tags: breakingnews, playstation-store, ps-store, redesign

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Orion_of_Chaos @ Mar 31st 2008 10:51AM

I'm all for the redesign of the store, but do they really have to temporarily stop the flow of Rock Band DLC to make it happen?

Morbo @ Mar 31st 2008 11:12AM

Ha!

Lars @ Mar 31st 2008 6:09PM

That does suck. I hope it's worth it. I can't see how you could make it much better aside from a few organizational tweaks (for example, I don't like Rock Band songs divided up by sections of the alphabet). I thought it was pretty nice to navigate before. It performed just like the browser. The only exception is when you add something to your cart but want to add more, the back button wouldn't work.

copa @ Mar 31st 2008 10:51AM

"Weekly content updates will cease for the next two weeks"

Does that mean no Rock Band DLC?

borland502 (SDF - Macross Ring) @ Mar 31st 2008 10:54AM

At a guess, no. The content is available through the game itself now.

DCBlack @ Mar 31st 2008 2:40PM

You still get sent to the PSN store to buy any songs, so I would say yes.

JJ Rooster @ Mar 31st 2008 3:11PM

BZZZT! WRONG!
No DLC on the PSN for a couple of weeks. That's a shame.
http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40092

James Sheehan @ Mar 31st 2008 10:51AM

Thank jeebus. The store was awful: hard to navigate, slow, and ugly. I'm glad... it needed a make over.

NATO_Duke @ Mar 31st 2008 1:18PM

It sure was. This looks a lot better than the version weuse now.

Tiptup300 @ Mar 31st 2008 3:36PM

It was ran in the web browser, it could not have been any worse!

Tiptup300 @ Mar 31st 2008 10:27PM

To really show how good the new store is, the background design should like move around like the XMB dashboard. It would be both awesome and make it feel like it flows better.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ Mar 31st 2008 10:53AM

I like the iconography, but do they have enough games to warrant it?

xXShadowSlayerXx @ Mar 31st 2008 10:59AM

Well there is a good amount of content for a service which isn't that old (Compared to Xbox Live). But I pity the people only signing onto the PSN now, the store is slow, ugly and is hard to navigate. People find it hard to find the older content.

But this redesign SHOULD help it. It may cost us two weeks worth of content but it's worth it.

xFenixKnightx @ Mar 31st 2008 10:59AM

How dare you question them!!! lol! I'm diggin that redesign +1 Sony

Now...wheres my controller redesign DAMNIT!!!! =P

borland502 (SDF - Macross Ring) @ Mar 31st 2008 10:59AM

They do now, or at least they do in North America and Japan. Content free weeks have been few and even the PSP demo scene has been active of late.

Loki_d20 @ Mar 31st 2008 11:55AM

So, plan on not having enough games or build something that works in the long term, hmm... which should they do?

upz @ Mar 31st 2008 2:01PM

I think we're all overlooking a possible major aspect of this store redesign. SCEA stated that the redesign would arrive via firmware update. If they were just changing the look of the webpage, a firmware update wouldn't be necessary. It's likely that the store has been integrated into the XMB, and now works similar to XBM or the SingStore. To me that's the real big news here, and what we should all be excited about. What will this mean? Faster page access? No more installing content after a download? If they have to take their servers down for two weeks to roll this out, they likely have something major up their sleeve...

Frank @ Mar 31st 2008 10:55AM

Ease of navigation / user friendliness is key. No matter how pretty one can make it if the end user has a hard time getting around it was all for nothing.

Burnt Meatloaf @ Apr 1st 2008 4:39AM

It looks like they are still using the circle button to exit the store, instead of "back".

I'd say there's still a lot of work to do.

DMeisterJ @ Mar 31st 2008 10:58AM

Are they updating the American Store too? All I can see them talking about is SCEE.

Ryan @ Mar 31st 2008 10:59AM

They were doing weekly updates?!!? The PS Store has been crap since day one....hopefully this redesign offers more content, better content and is more intuitive to use.

Intya @ Mar 31st 2008 11:02AM

"TWO WEEKS" /ah-nald

Then again, at least it's TWO WEEKS that we know we'll be disappointed by the EU update, rather then getting hopes up every week like we have been.

andyg8180 @ Mar 31st 2008 11:04AM

wow... it looks really schnazzy... easier to navi...

I hate to say this, but its a little XBL-ish... which isnt a bad thing... But i like it a lot...

i can actually say, yay, i like this change :-)

koehler83 @ Mar 31st 2008 11:05AM

I fail to see the improvement. Everything still seems arbitrary.

Hashbrown_Hunter @ Mar 31st 2008 11:10AM

Anything is better than the way it used to be.

Vidikron (FU) @ Mar 31st 2008 11:16AM

I never really had an issue with the old layout. Using R1/L1 go forward/back and the d-pad to jump between links made navigating pretty easy. And the home page had all the latest releases. But, whatever, I guess that presented a challenge for some people. This looks simple enough as well.

WiiSports Machine...Fernandos in disguise PSN: Killjebus @ Mar 31st 2008 1:41PM

I have no problem navigating as well. If you can read and push buttons, you can find what you are looking for.
I look forward to the redisign on the 17th. If Eurogamer is correct on the Store NOT being browser based, even better.

Vidikron (FU) @ Mar 31st 2008 1:53PM

Yes, not being browser based would be the best change. Sometimes going from page to page was slower than it should have been. I'm all for that.

cc123 @ Mar 31st 2008 1:59PM

Confirmed on the PS blog to not be browser based.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/03/31/new-playstation-store-interface-coming-in-mid-april/comment-page-1/#comment-51836

Sweet.

Burnt Meatloaf @ Apr 1st 2008 4:43AM

Using the D-pad only works well if everything is aligned as a grid. That was not the case when you wanted to read product details. Also, why on earth did they use the D-pad for BOTH navigation and scrolling? You have to browse a 12-page product description just to get to the Back button at the bottom of the screen?

No, the current interface was made by monkeys. Even with a mouse, it still sucks.

deaftly @ Mar 31st 2008 11:17AM

Wow they redesigned a friggin web page, integrate the damn store into the PS3 already.

cc123 @ Mar 31st 2008 1:02PM

According to Eurogamer it's not browser based.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=129471

deaftly @ Mar 31st 2008 4:42PM

ok awesome, thanks for the link.

Brandon @ Mar 31st 2008 11:19AM

I like the new layout, it has a slicker presentation which fits better with the other interfaces the playstation brand uses (like the xmb). It bears a little resemblance to singstore.

Aaron @ Mar 31st 2008 11:24AM

man awesome awesome news! The PS3 just keeps getting better and better!

Steve @ Mar 31st 2008 12:32PM

If you love chewing tin foil.

Brandon @ Mar 31st 2008 11:48AM

I like the new layout, it has a slicker presentation which fits better with the other interfaces the playstation brand uses (like the xmb). It bears a little resemblance to singstore.

Brandon @ Mar 31st 2008 11:49AM

I like the new layout, it has a slicker presentation which fits better with the other interfaces the playstation brand uses (like the xmb). It bears a little resemblance to singstore.

Loki_d20 @ Mar 31st 2008 11:59AM

I just hope they fix the #1 issue: When you add an item to your cart, allow us to use L1 to go back to the last page you were viewing rather than having to go back to the main store page every single time. Pain in the butt to buy all the DLC at once when you have to navigate back to the game specific screen for each item you place in your shopping cart.

Organic_Shadow @ Mar 31st 2008 12:08PM

Notice how the buttons on the left in the main page are the SAME NAVIGATION(with a few added) as the last. They need to change what the categories are and the hierarchy, don't just change the look.

KNEW this would happen.... now I STILL have to hit "all games" and then go through the pain in the ascii digging through everything to find what im looking for. >:(

Hardcore @ Mar 31st 2008 12:47PM

April's Fools joke

Don't believe anything these 2 days

Lars @ Mar 31st 2008 6:06PM

Japan didn't have "nature" worshipers like the western world. Therefore, no April fools celebrating the new year coinciding with the dawn of spring.

Veotax @ Mar 31st 2008 12:54PM

Nice. I just got a PS3 last week and I was really disappointed with the design of the store in comparison to the Xbox Marketplace and the Wii online store. This new design looks leaps and bounds better than the current one.

Colin @ Mar 31st 2008 1:13PM

I don't know... it looks far better suited for game pad navigation that the current store interface, but, other than that, it looks pretty boring, IMHO. I'll wait to use it for final judgment.

anjuna @ Mar 31st 2008 1:13PM

I don't know what Sony were thinking when launching the previous iteration of PSN Store. It was so horrible. I like the new design.

PojoMofo @ Mar 31st 2008 1:17PM

I agree the store needed a makeover. Hopefully you can see more than 3 items on the screen at a time now

Gurei @ Mar 31st 2008 1:33PM

wup da wiiware?

Night Elve @ Mar 31st 2008 2:33PM

As cc123 said.

It is confirmed that the new PSN Store will not be Browser Based.

Link: http://preview.tinyurl.com/27pxn6

Personally I'm pretty excited about this, the current PSN Store is not that bad, but this new store looks pretty good so far.

As a side note, Does anyone from Mexico or other Country (Non US) knows a workaround to buy stuff in the US store?

Urza @ Mar 31st 2008 2:39PM

Finally Sony did something right online.. they bought a 360 and found out who Xbox does it and copied it. :P

hotnutz @ Mar 31st 2008 5:35PM

Yup they are doing everything right where Microsoft dropped the ball/soap. Stable hardware, quiet when in operation, integrated power supply, Blu-Ray, bluetooth compatibility with ANY headset, non-proprietary hard drives, and last but not least... they are not pushing crappy after crappy game onto their online service.

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