Premium themes to be available for purchase on PS Store

by Alan Tsang on Oct 8th 2008 5:25PM

Do you think those free themes for your PS3 are lacking a little spiffiness? Not to worry, Sony's got your back in the form of premium themes for your PS3's XMB. Beginning tomorrow, you will able to purchase premium themes from the PS Store for $0.99 - $1.99. Theme types range from NCAA College teams (such as the University of North Carolina Tar Heels one above) to "beauties on the beach." Of course, these themes will offer "special backgrounds, XMB icons" and for selected themes, even ... sounds! Sony plans to offer 6-10 premium themes each month -- you can view samples of the themes here. What are your thoughts, readers? Are you going to dish out some dough for special themes for your XMB or are you like us, perfectly content with the complimentary ones?

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Tags: premium-themes, ps-store, ps3, psn

Reader Comments (112)

im perfectly happy with the complamentary ones.... wtf is Sony trying to pull here? they say they are giving out invites to qore subsribers so more people can buy it and now themes wtf are u joking me?

i like the graffiti theme

I don't think anything beats the default theme of the wavy-whatnot! IT'S AWESOME. AWESOME TO THE MAXXX.

I use the heavenly sword theme without the wallpaper but with the white/grey wavy background. Better sounds and cool color combo.

The only one I like was the UNC one!

I wish they'd focus on user icons instead though

I'm fine with my free ones.
If I'm desperate theres always google.. or I can try making my own again.

I can't wait to see people publishing these themes out for free. I mean, even if they disable copying themes onto a USB hard drive, I'm sure there'll be people who will be able to copy these themes with their own little variation to it.

Anyway, it's stupid. Only an idiot would pay for a theme. Premium themes my ass. It sounds like they're overing porno themes lol

I probably won't ever pay for themes and don't really like Sony setting the precedent, but at least there will always be free ones to d/l or create yourself. There are a few really good sites that have some incredible themes. This one consistently has something for everyone:

http://www.ps3-themes.com/

lol.. pay for a theme on my PS3? yeah right... ill stick to creating my own(better than they publish)

Really? premium or not I dont really think paying to customize your XMB is worth anything..

nothankyou.jpg

Seriously, I've never understood paying for themes/backgrounds on XBL, now I have a NEW platform to not understand it on!

well if you own a franchise of nfl nba etc, wouldn't you want to make money off of it, sport themes aren't free, and i'm sure there will still be free gaming themes

"This is so not like paying for themes on Xbox Live!"

Right, fanboys?

1) you dont have to buy them 2) you can get the free ones which most of the time are way better than themes on the store(allps3themes.com or psu.com) and 3) GO AWAY YOU XBOT!!!!!!

Wow, what an idiot. Whoever said that??!! Paying for themes is stupid, whether it's on 360, PS3, or anything. What's next, charging for backgrounds?!

This really bugs me, because I've enjoyed the themes Sony has offered, and I don't want them to start charging for them. But oh well, at least we still have PS3Themes.com and stuff. Or you can always create your own.

Don't feed the troll kiddies.

They do look pretty spiffy, but I'll stick with the free ones.

I'd think about it if these premium themes had animated wallpapers.

Seriously. The lowly PSP can animate the ribbon, why can't the PS3?

*disclaimer: I've had a theme applied for 2 years, maybe I forgot.

Meh, i'm more than happy with the natural XMB to be honest...

Sure i like a change from time to time...but PS3 is for games or DVD's for me so yeah, kinda happy anyway

There are plenty of free themes, and you can always import your own free self-made theme. If you don't want to buy the premiums, then don't. Simple as that.

Even so, this post will go 3 pages of people bitching like it is suddenly required to pay...

I might if there was a nice enough one.

if they had a different layout or if it was somethin cool id buy one but they are the same stuff... you can get some free ones in alot of places.

no thanks

I don't know about this. I download themes and use them for a day or two and then always end back up with the origional...

Maybe if they put up a Notre Dame theme I most likely would buy that.

I should have known this was going to happen. What's next Sony? Paying for wallpapers, paying for PSN avatars, or paying for demos (oh what they already do that with Qore)

i would pay for custome avatar.... 6 of my friends have the same icon as i do.

What do you THINK happened.

Sony offers the ability to upload user created themes (and provides instructions on how)...will continue to provide free and manufacturer themes and now has ADDED a new theme source, the Premium Theme.

There is ZERO reason that you can spin this as negative unless you're just trolling.

will never pay for a theme...even if it few pence.
what a joke!!

Have to agree, charging for themes strikes a little bit of desperation. That said, I can understand why there is a charge if they are of sports teams, as anything to do with a sports team is never free (Image rights etc...)

If there will be new themes with moving background - perhaps. I downloaded some but prefer the original background, but with a cleaner icon pack.

well there goes the neighborhood.

the only way i am paying for a theme is if it is animated. then i'll think about it.

ill wait till someone make those ones for free...install them and not use them. I like the icons from the home theme...but the background always mess up everything...they should make animated themes like when you put a bluray and the background is moving...but that will make in game xmb more slow

Themes have to be FREE, WTF is this? Give me a Mac version of the theme creator and I'll make 1-10 quality themes every week...

Ok, a bit exaggerated but meh! You get ma point!

Do they have trophies?

Hah!!! Good one, I liked that. lol.

If it something that looks truly amazing, I'll pay a buck for it... is it possible to use the PSEYE as your background?

I think so...if you can take pictures with it in the XMB or somewhere else, and store it on the hard drive, then you can go into your photos and make it a background.

I've never tried this, good question.

I actually mean background as the live video... that would be cool.

This is a slippery slope.

No it's not. There are still plenty of free themes and you can still make and share your own - unlike the situation on the 360 where every theme has to be monetized. And the free themes will keep coming over the PSN as well - developers like using them as promotional materials.

I would like to know whats going to guarantee that you dont happen to stumble on the same theme for free on the internet???

As long as they're nice and not plastered with a name of a game in the corners and such. Free ones are ok, but I hope the premium ones are way better. I may get a few later, but not the ones I see so far.

I agree, premium themes should feature grafitti, abstract art, 3D rendered art, (NFL, NBA, etc themes are okay as premium content) or something of the likes.. these game-oriented themes should be free...

If they have good anime themes i'll consider it

this is a bad desicion on sony to charge thy are supposed to release free themes which already support this (and there are) but if ur gonna charge me any thing sony im willing to buy NEW avatars at this point!

me too

I'll pay for themes with animated backgrounds but not for a theme I can create in photoshop.

I still have the God of War theme on my ps3 since it came out. Best theme in my opinion hands down so far.
Plus 100% free.

whats so different about the custom backgrounds/icons/sounds? i already have that in my ratchet and clank quest for booty theme, plus the background cycles

It'd have to be an exceptional theme for me to pay for it. There's alot of talented people out there making themes for free. Does the text in the theme have to be white? Most backgrounds cancel out the text.

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Premium themes to be available for purchase on PS Store

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