Rumor: PSN to receive store redesign in April?

by Jem Alexander { Feb 27th 2008 at 10:00AM }

Almost all of the news coming out of the recent Destination PlayStation retailer conference has been regarding various release dates. Kotaku, however, is reporting that a small extra rumor might have snuck out of the conference concerning the PSN store and a (much needed) redesign. Nothing's official or confirmed as of yet, but the rumor is out there and that's enough to get us to cross our fingers.

We've often lambasted Sony for the state of the PSN Store and its horrific design, so we would love to see a redesign. The rumor goes that this store overhaul will come in April, around the same time Gran Turismo 5: Prologue hits and will resemble the Singstar SingStore. Sounds good to us, the Singstore is much flashier, easier to use and more practical than the current PSN store. Of all the rumors we've heard so far this year, this is the one we'd most like to see come to fruition.

Tags: PS-store, redesign, rumor

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Rye21 @ Feb 27th 2008 11:20AM

I cudnt care less about this rumour being true the only rumor i want to happen is this bloody xmb in game i have a hunch by various bits of info that it cud b released in march since a call of duty update in march is rumoured to have xmb in it. Though i wont hold my breath. BTW FIRST LOL

Rye21 @ Feb 27th 2008 2:28PM

To reiterate and improve upon my aformentioned comment 'I could not care less about this rumour becoming true. The only rumor I want to happen is for this bloody 'XMB in-game' to be released. I have a hunch by collating various sources of information, that it could (XMB) be released in March, since a Call of Duty 4 update is due to be released and is rumoured to enable XMB. Though i wont hold my breath for its immienent relase.'

Neither could I care less for your inoffensive comment that is unlikey to happen. As you so poignantly put it "I pray someone breaks your fingers". Since the fact that is you do not know where I live and that it appears you would not have the strength to do it.

While yes, I admit my spelling was atrocious there is no need for the insult you make. In actual fact I wanted to cause a bit of stir since these forums are dead these days. I should of added I am a major XBOX 360 fan. Also so I should state this is not my first post, I just wanted to wind people up.

Well I hope you go out of your way to 'break a leg' to reply to this comment.

Bryan jones @ Feb 27th 2008 10:13AM

i dont have a problem with the current PSN, although i dont have singstar, so i guess i dont know what im missing

Steve Childs @ Feb 28th 2008 4:15AM

I don't have a problem with the store either, I'd rather they spent the time and effort getting game releases better sync'd up.

*cough* PAIN *cough*

Although that said, its probably not down to Sony, that's down to the developers concerned.

I wonder if the redesign has anything to do with Home?

n3rd @ Feb 27th 2008 10:14AM

good.. that store is soooooo poorly put togther, it took me about 15 mins to download and install the GoW demo nothing is categorized so i hope thats one issue they redesign

collum1987 @ Feb 27th 2008 1:29PM

You said it straight, I had a PS3 for the first three months in SD and the Store looked complete ass! Only three items available for show and it looked poo, in HD theres ten items available on the screen which is much better but its fucking slow though!!

This could mean some super mega fucking awesome update during March and April which would be amazing! New PLAYSTATION STORE, XMB accessed within game, custom soundtracks! It would be teh awesome update!

XanthouS @ Feb 27th 2008 2:17PM

@collum

Just in time for GTA/MGS =]

Organic_Shadow @ Feb 27th 2008 10:13AM

It's fine and dandy if they redesign it, but will it still be a website? They need the singstore code/app/whatever integrated into the XMB as an applet that accesses the store database from the store servers, not just accessing some PS3-exclusive website and calling it a store.

It's horribly slow, and I think it's the main reason why. I tried looking up videos of the singstore to see it in action, but I couldn't really get a clear look at how it's organized and laid out. So if this is just going to be making it prettier, and doesn't even address the speed concerns and the horrible organization, then it's a lost cause.

kentuckyfried @ Feb 27th 2008 9:56PM

The navigation on the PSN store is horrible...coupled with the slowness, it's excruciating to use. A total overhaul is welcome.

ck @ Feb 27th 2008 7:08PM

I think you've got it backward.

We demand in-store XMB.

Neon @ Feb 27th 2008 10:38AM

About time. The whole interface is SO poorly designed it is not funny. As a software developer (some of it web based) I dread using their interface. It is not designed with the PS3 controller in mind for navigation.

Dan Davis @ Feb 27th 2008 11:01AM

I found yesterday exactly how bad it is: I purchased the PS Eye, and I wanted to download the games for it. It took forever to get all 6 of them in my cart, as you have to follow the links back from the main storefront every time you add something to your cart.

Popfrogs @ Feb 27th 2008 11:07AM

You were lucky to find them to begin with. The organization is so bad. However, the Japanese store seems to be more logically organized and it's much easier to find things there.

Dehshizknight @ Feb 27th 2008 4:22PM

It's not the organization that sucks as much as how they grouped all the stuff. When you go into the 'Games' section, they weren't there; you'd have to surf through the 'Featured' section. Another thing was when they had the E3 videos: they weren't in the 'Videos' section.

mcdermr @ Feb 27th 2008 10:53AM

Interesting. Isn't Sony's Connect Music store being shutdown on March 31? Singstar's Singstore layout is geared towards music, so perhaps they are integrating the old Connect Music store's content with the PSN Store? The timing is right: shutdown the music store, redesign the PSN store and add in all the music and music videos from the now defunct music store.

sibbor @ Feb 27th 2008 12:16PM

Agreed with the comments above. The store is slow and bad looking! I could have made a better looking design myself. I like Organic_Shadow hope they'll integreate the store more into the XBM... it's kinda sad we've to use the built in browser, which makes the browsing slow (together with the bad structure and categorizing - differs between the EU, US and Jap stores as well...).

Haven't tested out the Singstar Store, since I don't own the frigging game :P!

Btw, former PS3faboy members, head over to http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/23058 and install my Greasemonkey script if you're using the Firefox webrowser. I updated for a couple of minuntes ago - and it's now includes totally pimped out backgrounds images etc. ^^

What more does my GM script do? Quoting from the userscript website above:

"General:
* NEW background images
* WIDER content area for viewing news or images and commenting articles etc.
* SLICK & CLEAN look with new fonts, headers/titles & changed colors for many elements
* The SEARCH BOX is moved into the header/site logotype
* ADVERTISMENT is hidden
* Other UNNECESSARY elements HIDDEN

Commenting:
* Larger user AVATARS
* Larger comment numbers
* A bit BETTER STRUCTURE
* Commented with NEGATIVE VOTING is colored red w/ some opacity"

Popfrogs @ Feb 27th 2008 11:05AM

Are you ever going to stop whoring your greasemonkey script? Blogsmith has bigger problems than rendering and colors.

Stef Geiger @ Feb 27th 2008 11:34AM

Larger Avatars! Thank GOD! I've always been concerned that people in the videogame community won't be able to express themselves fully until we can all have 200x200 pixel images of Link or Solid Snake for our Avatars. How ELSE will we be able to tell everyone who doesn't care that we play Metal Gear Solid???

sibbor @ Feb 27th 2008 1:35PM

Popfrogs, don't be such an jackass. Go find out what my Greasemonkey script is about instead.

Stef Geiger, the avatar is resized to 46px*46px. Go cry somewhere else.

Popfrogs @ Feb 27th 2008 2:29PM

A jackass is posting your macro every time you reply. I think I'll let your post's opacity speak for us all.

Phoenix8387 @ Feb 27th 2008 10:55AM

I personally don't have a problem with the current store. Though everything may not be categorized the best, its still simple enough to find what you are looking for.

Christian @ Feb 27th 2008 11:00AM

I think organization wise the current store worked out well enough as the amount of content has been limited. Now that we started to reach a quite sizeable amount of content however I agree that a redesign wouldn't be bad.

The main weakness of the store though is the fact that it doesn't really take into consideration that your interface device is a sixaxis controller and not mouse and keyboard. Hopefully the new shop will be designed around the sixaxis instead of being mouse/keyboard centric.

I also think that what seems to be Sony's approach of moving DLC into game specific shops is a good one to avoid clutter going forward. While the Singstar store is the only one I know which you don't even see in the normal store it seems to be the path under development as seen in games like Warhawk.

Hopefully Guitar Hero and Rockband get their own integrated stores soon too.

James @ Feb 27th 2008 11:12AM

Agree, the store is terrible. It's not immediately obvious because there's so little content, but once the flood starts later this year (or I guess already if you own SingStar?), people will start breaking down the doors. OK, Games -- Demos... page one of five? And I have to navigate over to an arrow and click it, then wait for a whole new page to load to view the next 10 or whatever items? Fail.

Preload *everything*, and show me the first items as soon as possible. Apply category filters with Ajax (PS3 browser handles that pretty well, right?) but leave all the items resident in memory so I can view them instantly. Minimize postbacks because even on broadband things can take a while, and I don't feel like waiting around for your store to load so I can give you money.

Rye21 @ Feb 28th 2008 8:47PM

Sorry FIRST *POST*

deaftly @ Feb 27th 2008 1:00PM

/facepalm

Stef Geiger @ Feb 27th 2008 11:29AM

A complete redesign would make a lot of sense, as it would explain why they've done just about nothing to improve the current store over the past year and a half. And no, background downloading doesn't count, because that's at the OS level.

eugene @ Feb 27th 2008 11:59AM

Finally, the current format feels like they just slapped something together the night before it went live. It works but it's neither pretty nor functional.

Phil @ Feb 27th 2008 12:34PM

Can we use the PS3 store on a PC with this redesign?

I'd love to download the demos at work and bring them home to install...

spyyder @ Feb 27th 2008 12:50PM

You can do that already...sorta. I download demos on my PC and then transfer them to my PS3.

See: http://www.ps3news.com/forums/ps3-online-chat/all-new-ps3-store-links-thread-64977.html

Cool Paul @ Feb 27th 2008 12:38PM

hmmm... I work in advertising let me give my two cents:

yeah I think it's slow and a little hard to navigate but ultimately this is a tool to sell product.

Currently they seem to be doing a good job at promoting new additions. there are giant banners on every page. And as ugly as people think it is. Stuff like that works, it generates more impulse buys. There are billboards on the sides of the highway for a reason....they work.

Sure they could change to a XMB store but then I wonder how much sales would drop. sure it would be a success as far as design but it would it be a failure as a store? would they lose the impulse buys?

In the world of advertising it doesn't matter how pretty something is. If it doesn't generate sales it's a failure.

Popfrogs @ Feb 27th 2008 12:51PM

I think you missed the point. It's not the paint job we're complaining about, it's the unusable structure. As a marketer you should know that if people find it difficult to purchase things, they won't. The store has got to change from the ground up.

John @ Feb 27th 2008 9:57PM

Agreeing with Popfrogs, this design is okay in the beginning, to get easy sales from those less involved or educated, but now that PSN has been out a while, the users are more savvy, it is time to turn it from "spontaneous sales" to an environment where experienced users can find what they need, and quickly. Ideally, it would also be intuitive for noobs. Fingers crossed.

Lars @ Feb 27th 2008 1:41PM

Man, I like the current store. It's well organized and works great, plus it uses the same control scheme as the internet browser. The fact that they use standard web coding is brilliant. I hope they instead go towards a single store accessible via PS3, PSP, and PC (regardless of OS).

All I gotta say is I HOPE THEY DON'T SCREW IT UP... Especially if they're looking at Xbox for inspiration. Gods, the Xbox Marketplace is such crap it's painful to use.

Adam @ Feb 27th 2008 2:10PM

Yeah i wish it was more like the 360's.You know the one they have had since launch.The one with the nice features and xmb.But thats ok with sony we have all learned to "just wait" while the 360 boys get to "Jump In"

enigma137 @ Feb 27th 2008 3:35PM

@adam

What the hell is up with your PS3 hating. Are you this anal about say .....Ferrari vs Porchse ?

I dont own a 360, I dont care about the 360, I dont read 360 websites. I am secure in the purchase I made. I dont feel the need too.

Go back to 360land and enjoy it . I and many others here really don't care .

PSN: KillaKornbread (the shirt is a lie!) @ Feb 27th 2008 6:03PM

why do people keep saying that the 360 has a XMB? that really bugs me. XMB stands for Cross Media Bar. the 360 has the Blades on the Dashboard. damn, if ur gonna rag on something at least know the console u support.

Bucket @ Feb 27th 2008 2:34PM

Will it have an option where I only have to click on something ONCE to select it? (As opposed to "click once to align the cursor with the button, then click for real".)

JAH75157 @ Feb 27th 2008 3:52PM

good, form does not follow function at all

never$$hort @ Feb 27th 2008 4:01PM

Damn nothing but a bunch of complaining bitches commenting on here... ON TOPIC: the current PSN store doesnt particularly bother me as is and has only been slow a handful of times for me since the PS3s launch... but for a bunch of noobs such as yourselves that have nothing better to do than bitch and moan, a store update would be nice so you all can shut the fuck up!!

George Arauz @ Feb 27th 2008 4:00PM

Thank god.. it desperately needs it

Igor @ Feb 27th 2008 4:58PM

well this defintely goes in my top 3 rumors as of recently. the other 2 being in-game XMB, and the Home release (or at least the open beta), being just around the corner (read: in next few weeks)!

Francis @ Feb 27th 2008 6:08PM

Man a bunch of complainers yes the store was not that well but it did its job TO BRING YOU GAMES! But now they are going to make it even better!

PSN: KillaKornbread (the shirt is a lie!) @ Feb 27th 2008 6:17PM

the only thing i have a problem with on the PSN Store is that the downloads are slow. other than that it works fine for me. i dont have any trouble trying to find what im looking for. the Singstar one is more sleek from the videos ive seen of it but the one now gets the job done fine.