New PLAYSTATION Store interface coming in mid-April

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This morning, SCEA announced that the PLAYSTATION Store will be revamped with a new look in mid-April. We’ve heard your calls for a more fluid Store interface, and we think you’ll be pleased with the results.

As some of the most passionate and knowledgeable PLAYSTATION 3 fans out there, here’s some additional information on the revamped PLAYSTATION Store.

The New PlayStation Store

As you can see in the above screenshot, the new interface allows customers to browse through eight primary categories, rather than four, making it easier to locate games, demos, game add-ons and other content. It also enables us to put up to twice as many items per page, significantly cutting down the time it takes to browse through content.

Customers will be able to access, browse, shop and download content as usual prior to the store’s re-opening. However, no additional downloadable content will be posted prior to then, including this Thursday, April 3rd, and next Thursday, April 10th. Regularly scheduled content updates will resume with the Store’s re-opening, at which time additional games and game-related items will be added, including the downloadable version of the highly-anticipated exclusive PS3 title Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.

When the PLAYSTATION Store is set to re-open with the new interface, PS3 users will be prompted to download a firmware update which will enable entry to the new store.

We’ll continue to update readers of the PlayStation.Blog on the status of the PLAYSTATION Store upgrade – including a video walkthrough – in the coming days.

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358 Comments

  • WoW looks very pretty!

  • Cool, an all new way to browse the same exact content.

  • No updates for two weeks because of a UI change?

    Scary. You probably needed the two weeks to actually find new content. Good luck with that.

  • looks great! about the firmware is there any other details to be known? or is it only about the store? And could someone tell me when the playstation cards will arrive germany? I still dont have a creditcard and want to buy stuff… isnt there any other solutions!!! pls recommened thanks

  • Awesome. Firmware update suggests to me that maybe this won’t be HTML based? That would be awfully nice. The old UI was just too slow and cumbersome.

  • sounds great :)

    hope that the ingame xmb will also arrive soon and a 100+ friendlist… my 50 player friendlist is always full :(

    so please ingame xmb, bigger friendlist and a headset chat that exists in alle online games. just like in xbl.

    and please more better demos… like haze….

    thx

  • Omg, YES! Thank god. This is something I’ve been looking forward to since day one.
    Thanks for the heads up.

  • this is GREAT! Something I have personally been waiting for. ’08 year of the PS3 confirmed!

  • Shut down any new content for two weeks because of an interface redesign? You guys make everything look so hard its really embarrassing. Also of note; Sony owns Sony Pictures, and Sony BMG Music and TO THIS DAY WE CANNOT DOWNLOAD MOVIES OR MUSIC!!!!!! When is that glaring problem going to be fixed or does Sony like to walk around in a permanent embarrassed dolt stupor? Meanwhile competitors (yes even ones who don’t OWN THIER OWN STUDIOS) have been selling movies and music forever. Get with the program Sony and stop making everything look so damn hard :) Don’t even get me started on the In-Game messaging and music that should have came out with the system. Later.

  • I like the new design. Will it actually be a downloadable application versus an actual web interface?

  • It looks slick and intuitive. Nice change. Thanks for the update

    PS: try to throw in the in-game XMB in this upcoming firmware update and I will be super happy :)

  • Out of all the excitement I forgot to ask one very important question. Is the new store still a web page or is it going to be installed somewhere in the PS3’s system?

    • The new Store will no longer be browser based in the same way the current Store is, making things A LOT faster and smoother; hence the required firmware update.

      On the back end, this switch in systems means having to port all of the current code over to the new Store, and, since the new Store is less \”texty\” and more \”visual\”, it also means having to create a whole bunch of new art assets just for this Store.
      We appreciate everyone understanding that these things take time, and appreciate everyone\’s patience. We\’re just as excited about the new Store as you are!
      Hope this helped to answer your question!

  • AWESOME NEWS! XBLM just got P0WND!

  • I think we could all have waited a bit longer for this revamp if it meant In-Game XMB would arrive faster.

    At any rate this looks much nicer hopefully we start to see some On Demand Movies and TV Shows. With all the media content Sony has access to we should have plenty to choose from.

    Thanks for the heads up on the store revamp and updates!

  • does this revamp mean we can use the ps store while listening to music and having an in store xmb, its really annoying listening to music then going on to it so the music turns off

  • Is this store web based or more like Software based??? Are we going to see movie and music downloads any time soon in the future???

  • I don’t like to complain but this time its needed. Every since the Firmware 2.20 update me and a lot of others users PS3s have been misreading our NAT Type. My PS3 is connected directly to my modem and since I’ve had my PS3 (June ’07) I’ve always had a NAT Type 2 connection. Even though I was already sure this was due to a problem with 2.20 I had someone from my ISP come over and test my connection and just as I thought it was NAT Type 2. So its something to do with the firmware. I had NAT Type 2 everyday (I check my NAT Type every time I turn on my PS3) until right after the update.I checked before the update (NAT Type 2) and after (NAT Type 3). I’m not the only one with this problem just go and check the SCEA forums. PLEASE HELP! Go and let the firmware guys know about this problem please. I never complain about anything unless there is nothing I can do. I’m a Sony fan for life so I’ll be patient. Now its all up to you guys Sony. Thanks for listening.

  • Awesome, can’t wait, also since theres no update for the next 2 weeks, can you tell us what to expect other than GT5 Prolouge when it comes back? I mean that update will have to be huge to have 3 weeks of content packed into 1 week

    @11
    In game XMB is coming in Firmwar 2.4, when u see that, you have in game XMB, so stop asking

  • Btw the Photo is set to private, mind fixing that?

  • Nice one! ;) All sounds and looks good ;)

  • Will it look like that with SDTVs?

    • The SD version of the store will look similar and display more items per page than the current 3 item limit.

  • Sweet! Thanks so much for being so upfront with the gaming community.
    April 17 should be huge: http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=psnetwork&thread.id=205031

  • @22 awesome link

  • @22 and Jeff if ur reading, were we suppsoed to get something when we pre ordered MGS4 for the beta? because i pre ordered it at gamestop and got nothing but a receipt, will they mail something? i asked the guy but he said he dunno

    and i know this is off topic

  • Sony suck’s PS3 been out 4 two years now and they still suck.XBL is where u want want 2 be you have chat,game invite,meassage’s and some people say’s it’s not free but you get what u pay 4

  • Although new STORE content won’t be added, is it safe to assume we can still expect new GAME content? More specifically, many gamers are anxiously awaiting the Warhawk v1.3 patch which was scheduled to arrive on or about April 3, 2008. This was prior to news that there will be no new STORE content. Will the Warhawk game patch be delayed as well?
    Thanks for your time.

  • Will there be more Ps1 games to be updated on a regular basis or is this a new look with the same update before? Oh btw. 2 weeks of no update doesn’t mean the day the store is up then that means big store and the following week it’s nothing. just MORE videos.

  • I have a quick question for you, Susan. Why does it appear that the US store will be different than the European store? For instance ‘Featured Items’ corresponds to ‘We Recommend’ and our store seemingly lacks a category for ‘Family Games’.

    Can you please explain why the two stores are different?

    http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/6233/newstore0ij8.jpg

    • The PS Stores are managed and operated on a regional basis, so there may be some slight differences in the way we merchandise or categorize the content. We\’ve selected the categories based on our market needs, and to make it as easy as possible for you to find the content that you want.

  • ps3@hooters.eml.cc

    Hopefully the requirement for the new firmware will fix all of our broken PS3’s!

  • this is cool i really like that it will not be HTML based, can’t wait. How about Playstation cards to go with the new interface

  • New store looks awesome.. but I take it this is why we have to wait 3 weeks for the COD4 map pack?

  • No longer web-based? Woo! Thanks :)

  • @Cerberus_Hunter
    GOOD question. I currently own a 27″ SDTV, and I must say that the current store looks ghastly on it. Will the new store suffer the same fate?

  • Since the new store seems to be accessable by firmware, does this mean that we will now be region locked to our specific stores because of our consoles? I would still very much like to view the US/Jap store and hope this will still be a possibility post-revamp

  • Awesome indeed, I love the new look. Are there any plans on increasing the avatar count that we can have for our PSN ID’s or the ability to have our own custom avatars?

  • this is great the store looks very nice and easy to use, also like the way you can see more adds for released games. i also like the sound of a new firmware update that is going to bring us ever closer to the 2.4 update.
    will the store in-game work? like the warhawk expansion is coming soon will we have to wait for the store to come back up or will it be released through the games store?
    will the store receive 1 huge update the day it launches to make up for the 3 thursdays lost?(or will the scee store just get 3 wallpapers and a trailer)

  • PLEASE, please, please, give us a search box so we can go directly to what we’re looking for without having to browse painfully down through the entire store for one thing.

  • Rockband has In-game XMB.
    but I personally don’t care about in-game XMB.
    Seriously now… why would I interrupt an epic gaming sessions just to send a chat message?

    No Thanks. Good job Sony on the updates and please start giving away CHEESE for all those WHINERS.

  • Looks pretty nice!

    But come on SONY, bring us HOME already.

  • I love the way that looks! I cannot wait. Faster smoother interface and GT5Prologue, that will be an awesome day.

  • Will this store load like the last one. Cos the last one felt like you were loading a website. Be nice to have it load instantly.

  • It looks nice but how does it work? Do you have a video that shows how to move around the new interface?

  • Looks slick. Nice to see that that people asked for a better store and Sony seemed to listen.

    @ 27 StalkingSilence – If I remember correctly the last patch took place all within the game, and you didn’t need to access the store for it.

  • right on, Sony. you guys rock!

  • @ 42

    Scroll up to post 12

  • Excellent job on the design. I really love the way it’s set up and how everything is easily accessible through the additional content categories. I take it the interface is navigated entirely with the controller buttons rather than the faux mouse pointer that the current store design uses?

    It really looks great.

    • Very observant.
      That\’s correct – the new Store will be mouse free, so it\’ll be like clicking through a menu rather than looking at a web page.
      One of the many great advantages of leaving behind an web-based Store.

  • So i guess this will open the door to the Video on demand service also.

  • Since you say that this is not browser-based, how does this affect the PC Store and/or the upcoming PSP store?

  • Will we be seeing an equivalent change to the PC PS Store?

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