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.
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.
This new store refresh looks awesome. But I fear that the UK won’t be half as good :( Will all PS stores look the same, even if the content differs? Please say yes lol
Noel, if you’re still reading this and passing on comments, can you please ask the UK Sony teams, dunno what their acronym is, to setup their own blog. I love reading about the updates for the PS3 but it’s frustrating that what I’m reading isn’t relevant to me, and it’s got to be annoying for the yank users to see all the brits etc swamping their blog looking for answers/info.
Also can you push that store downloads be reduced in price? GT5:P is £25 to download from the store but £17.99 delivered from most retailers. That’s just stupid and a slap in the face to the users that have already shelled out a big chuck of cash for the console. There’s no packaging, disks, retailer margins etc with the store so why is that saving not being fed back to the end users? :(
Thanks
Sy
One thing I’m wondering about…
I’ve started to hear a bit of a rumour floating around that the new store will be region locked so that you can only access the store that’s aligned with your hardware. Being that I own an imported PS3, this would be a nightmare situation. No truth to this rumour is there?
Will the store be regionlocked? A lot of people are wondering about this.
How about a Gift Option like Steam?
I have a few friends without a credit card (and no psn cards around), they want to buy stuff but can´t. Would be nice if I could buy stuff for them.
I also wonder about Warhawk. As Warhawk has an in-game download area, will it not be affected by this, or will it?
SWEET!! A small price to pay for such an awesome update
I’d just like to say i’m excited about this new store overhaul but as a few others have mentioned would it be too difficult to allow a drop-down menu to change the view from icons to list view. That way people that aren’t into all the fancy icons and just want to view the bulk of the downloads in a category on one screen can? If not i’m sure i’ll manage but it sure would be a plus. Thanks!
WHO the F is rating this less than five squares?! [DELETED] man!!!!!!
I think i looked through the comments, and am pretty sure that no one has mentioned the PSN PREPAID CARDS!! What’s going on with them… I read one article and then they disappeared, prbabl into another dimension or something. Maybe that dimension is where the new SOCOM and Home went to, but they made it back. Will the Cards make it back too?
@257
lolll so true
Get in-game XMB and Home out Sony and your network will be a real heavy weight.
Will we be able to set filters? So I can stop seeing updates for music games, for example?
I don’t want the “featured items” list crowded with song updates for games I don’t have nor do I want.
Also, I can stop seeing people on here whine about the movie previews they don’t like being featured.
Thanks so much for all the great responses and info to our questions Noel! This new storefront will really add to the already great arsenal that the PS3 has. One little request though….
Could you give us maybe a tiny little hint at what the “mid-April surprise” is??
Just a small little teensy hint?
Pleeeeeeeaaaaassssseeeeeee???
There have been a lot of comments, but I cannot see where pricing has been addressed, though I could be wrong…
Why are Canadians continually overcharged for downloads? The average download is 12% more, the average game anywhere from 10-20% more than the equivalent in US funds.
Why? If there’s a valid reason for this, please let us know what it is. Otherwise, please adjust pricing so that Canadians aren’t gouged.
Dunno how systems are selling here, but ostracizing 30+ million potential customers can’t help the ol’ business model.
I give, again, the example of Warhawk: I can buy the Bluray game, new and without headset, at EB Games here for $39.99, but the PS Store has the regular price at $42.99… for a download!
Again, why?
re #262,and I have one of EBGames customer loyalty cards, which gives me an extra 10% off, so make that more like $35.99 or so for that old standby Warhawk. Makes the download even more striking in it’s apparent greed.
@251
the store will look similar in Europe as well. Some of the wording on the tabs will be different, but other than that, it’s the same interface.
http://vgchartz.com/news/news.php?id=955
Nice!
Is there going to be some sort of a preview box for trailers and demo’s? That would be a pretty cool feature to have. It should work well if/when movie downloads become available.
Excellent! My money hard at work.
So will the Store be integrated with HOME (I can think of endless possibilities)?
Nice job on the design, Has a Tivo or Cable On-Demand feel to it. Fluidity is very important and hopefully this will trancend to all the other groups working on Home, In-Game XMB and regular XMB. This stuff needs to tie in together seemlessly and I’m sure you guys already know this. If you guys could work on some dynamic backgrounds that would be cool. Dynamic themes as well. Everyone always creates these themes with a static background. I always wanted to see the snowflakes falling in that winter theme. Also I hope the way people can communicate in and out of game is addressed. I have an xbox and when I log into xboxlive i always feel apart of a community, when Im on the PSN It feel rather lonely, especially playing MLB 08 The Show. Cant even talk to the guy im playing.
Store is currently DOWN!
the new store is gunna be sick.. sucks that its down now tho.. i didnt get to see any of last weeks content..
Do you think you could post some new screens for the store please?
Will the new PS store allow for a more simplistic approach to downloading multiple items at a time? Current limitations mandate the access of each item individually. A better approach would be to provide check boxes to items and a “download all” at the end of the browsing session. I understand that some default assumptions would need to be made regarding the placement of content (HDD vs MS), but I think the payoff is well worth it.
Ok, where’s the April Fool’s post about In Game XMB coming this thursday?
WOW!! NICE!..u_U
..We will see a new design on the PSP Store?(not PC Store)
I have to say that the store looks fantastic. Good show!!!. Now that the store wont be web-based, the overall performance should please everyone. I do have 1 question: Susan (Panico), will the video store be included with the re-launch of the PS Store? If not, when should we expect this addition to the store, itself?
Beautiful!
While you at it fix the media server thing. Its a shame we will have to wait 3 weeks to stream video without shuttering again.
Sweet! Any possibility of having Last.fm scrobbling (including when in F@H) in the next firmware update?
yessssss finally!!!! hope to gawd that it’s not freakin web based. i’m pretty anti xbox but i have to admit one thing, the live marketplace is done well.
Looks good but………………. PLAYSTATIONS CARDS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m glad the structure is better, but the that theme is so bad. I mean, you’re closing it down for 2 weeks, you’d think that means a new awesome design but no, just this re-arranged version of the old one. Stop playing with lego.
You have so many options, a SONY theme, a PS LOGO theme. Red, black, silver… all those colours… yet you stick to this horrid, cold blue. Is it to kiss Blu-Ray on the back side and hope you’re impressing it?
Come on Sony, this stuff is starting to annoy me, you can do better than this.
Nice Design, though it lacks of two things IMO:
– 16:9 image, but why don’t make use of all the space? Left and Right Borders on the image are empty :/
– I miss the list of the last added items (of ALL categories and sorted by date), currently visible (if you view it in HD) in many PS-Stores on Startup.
Hi Noel. I don’t know if this was mentioned but will the store still receive it’s usual Thursday updates or will it change to allow more developer friendly days to have their content up quicker for us gamer rather than have to wait until Thursday?
Thanks.
Will you be able to play your music while browsing? Or you can’t answer that at this time??
awesome job guys….the ps3 just keeps getting better and better
No. 96 “Aaron | March 31st, 2008 at 11:20 am
I have one question. Maybe someone from Sony can answer it. Will we be able to listen to music from our PS3’s hard drive while browsing/downloading from the new PS Store?”
Good question!!! I’d like this to happen, nothing worse than getting into a song playing on your PS3 and then entering the store kills it, leaving you in an eerie silence…. Will the new store allow music to be played whilst browsing??
Look good..:)
As it stands now, the Remote Play version of the store viewed on PSP only displayed 3 items at a time (similar to PS3 store on SD television). Since the PS3 store will have a new HD and SD version – is it safe to assume the new, upgraded SD version will display on our PSP?
PS: I can’t believe you are taking so much time to answer the fans when I’m sure you’re bogged down creating new art. We do appreciate it though!
NICE. NAAAIICe.
Well, all this talk about Gran Tourismo Prologue. I just saw it available for DL on the Australian PSN.
test
This is a long overdue deal and a good one. However i do have to agree with those that said that PSN store revamp could have waited for some more functional stuff such as in-game XMB. Have in mind that this is a functionality that is much more needed for those that play a lot of online games, vs. more or less an aesthetic upgrade. Of course i am sure that there are many new cool things to come thru this upgrade, but just stating a point of prioritizing here.
Are you going to finally fix the fact that after downloading a DEMO, ADD-ON’s, etc.. you have to INSTALL it?
I really hate how you have to do this on the PS3, but not the “other” console.
I like how the store is getting a new interface and all… but I’m kind of dissapointed that we have to wait two weeks for ANY new content!!!! But, the day that this new look arrives, I’ll be pretty happy! : )
Things that will make PSN leaps and bounds better than XBL:
-Home (Confirmed)
-Better Design (Confirmed)
-Downloadable movies
-Downloadable Music
-Daily Updates
-In-game XMB
-Improved News Ticker thing (Like including game reviews!)
I already prefer PSN over XBL, but when all of the above finally comes true the Playstation 3 will be the WAY more successful than the X-Box 360!
The best thing though… ACCESS IS AND (hopefully) ALWAYS WILL BE FREE!!!! : )
Lets hope this isn’t an early april fools..
i’m sure the store remodel will debut with a really cool store update so i’m all for taking two thursdays off.
see you april 17th!
Everyone asking about in-game XMB:
Wait til 2.40!!! (well in-game messaging anyway)
Everyone that upset because there wont be any updates for two weeks:
Chillax! We’re probably going to get spoiled on the 17th.
I’m really hoping that in the “Add-on” you make it so I don’t have to see all the rock band and GH stuff as I don’t play ether. It would be cool to sort it by game or by owned games maybe.
@ everyone worried about the new design … I THINK that with the fact that its firmware based id say that due to that it will be updated to our specs later, there has to be a base to build on so IMO not too long after the revamp well start to see some really great improvements. Now with that in mind @ SONY will it be possible to change the color scheme ourselves among other things at a later date (possibly from a firmware update).And could you possibly add a coming soon feature it would make alot of people including myself happy…thanx