1. Looks easier to use, will be keen to see if it works as well as it looks.

   
   Comment by Mattnz — Mar 31, 2008 @ 2:41 pm

2. looks pretty good. Might be able to pull myself away from GT5P to take a look!

   
   Comment by mrsatansdojo — Mar 31, 2008 @ 2:46 pm

3. Even from that one screenshot it looks easier to navigate. SCEE have obviously been listening. Many people have pointed out that the current store is designed for navigating with a mouse and pointer rather than the six-axis or blu-ray remote. I think the lack of updates for a couple of weeks is a small sacrifice for the store overhaul. Also, it hasn’t been announced on the SCEA blog, which might mean that we get all this before our friends in the states! How good is that?!

   
   Comment by reakt — Mar 31, 2008 @ 2:49 pm

4. oops, i meant 3 screenshots!

   
   Comment by reakt — Mar 31, 2008 @ 2:50 pm

5. I like it, hopefully it will feel a bit more responsive than the current bodge of HTML and javascript.

   
   Comment by lxd — Mar 31, 2008 @ 2:52 pm

6. Very nice and the sort of look a 21st century online store should have, web 2.0 ftw!

   Looks a lot easier to navigate and see all the new stuff in one go rather then clicking through about 3/4 pages. I take it this is from 1st April for two weeks meaning that the new store will be up and running by April 17th?……

   
   Comment by Nathaniel — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:03 pm

7. @reakt

   As it is now the US and EU stores are running different looks. The US store was updated quite a while back to a look that is neither the old EU or the new one.

   So I doubt this has anything to do with SCEA.

   
   Comment by Tiran Kenja — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:06 pm

8. Maybe the theritories where we don’t have a PSN store will get one? Like romania? or at least our credit cqards would be accepted in the UK store … I’m still hopeing …

   
   Comment by CsMisi — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:10 pm

9. Here is some more feedback for Sony. Make it so people who import games for whatever reason can access the DLC for that game. Rather stupid promoting games as region free if you are going to then deny access to the DLC by blocking foreign credit cards, meaning people miss out on the expansion packs.

   Sony, sort it out.

   
   Comment by Matt — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:10 pm

10. At last they are doin something good for a change. The old design is crap, hoping home is not too far away.

    
    Comment by E-ROLE — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:11 pm

11. Looks good, can’t say i ever had trouble with the current design but its always nice to have a change ;D

    
    Comment by I.AM.IRON.MAN — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:17 pm

12. Looks nice enough. I hope the navigation itself is speeded up a bit more though, as the Store can be a bit sluggish at times.

    My main gripe is still that the PAL region seems to always be behind the rest of the world. And to use the “it takes longer because of all the language regionalisation issues” just doesn’t fly. At least release the English language version at the same time as the US region to give us an option!

    Other than that, where are the PSN pre-paid payment cards that were promised? And when will something be done about the Region-lock that exists in a certain “Warhawk” title… you may have heard of it? Anyone who imported the US BluRay such as myself, who happened to be in the States when it was released, finds that they can’t buy the add-on packs because the game will only talk to the store native to the region of the disk. That’s unacceptable in my book.

    But other than that, yeah, the store looks real nice…

    
    Comment by Chappers — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:18 pm

13. This design actually looks somewhat like a design posted on the web nearly a year ago. It was made in PhotoShop by a fan, though.

    
    Comment by amras_telemnar — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:20 pm

14. I hope the launching of the new store doesn’t go the way of terminal 5!

    
    Comment by Geoff — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:21 pm

15. Are you sure this is what millions of European PSN users were asking for, Sony? Are you *really* sure? Because it sounded like something a little different to me. I could have sworn they were asking for updates that offered a quality closer to that offered by other stores. Maybe I just misheard?

    Still, good to hear that the updates will be kept at their regular level through to the new look relaunch.

    
    Comment by iapetus — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:24 pm

16. Looks scrumptious; nice reshuffle. In my opinion, pigeonholing interactive media into genres is an act of Lucifer himself, but I guess it’s what people want, so who am I to argue?

    

    
    Comment by rooee — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:25 pm

17. Action looks like Portal

    OH NO! SONY’S BEEN GLaDOS’D!

    
    Comment by Jetamo — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:26 pm

18. Chappers, considering that under your user agreement you aren’t supposed to import games, I’m not sure why Sony should support them.

    
    Comment by John — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:31 pm

19. Are they the best graphics you could come up with? Seems rather 1970’s “superstars” to me. Hope its better in the real cold light of day.

    Also 2 weeks without an update isn’t really new for us in EU land now is it!!

    Also what “millions” of PSN users did you contact or where these the closed beta trialists as well?

    As long as its not as bad as the current one and has better updates then fine but if it’s still as poor for content as this one then what’s the point.

    And where’s the Resuistance2 demo, sod the trailer!!

    Come on SCEE up and at em.

    
    Comment by GulfWarVet — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:35 pm

20. I would rather that the time and money invested in the store revamp would have gone towards making EU PS Store games come out at the same time as in the US.

    This is certainly much more necessary and urgent for european consumers than a store redesign.

    Right now the situation is unacceptable, with games coming out MONTHS after the US, or even NOT AT ALL.

    For example, when are we going to see Echocrome? 2009?

    (I know it’s not out in the US store yet, only in Japan/Hong Kong, but that makes me even more worried.)

    
    Comment by 9158 — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:37 pm

21. Looks nice…I hope the “special update” is something interesting rather than just trailers.
    Downloadable PS2 games would be nice

    
    Comment by darkwater — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:41 pm

22. Seems like we would get a firmware update also when the new store launches, because I doubt that the new store will be browser-based like the last one. It seems to use the same technology as the singstore.
    So this means they have to change what the playstation store is on every playstation. - Now its only a small application which launches the browser on a hard-coded url and removing any context-menus known from the browser. The new one needs to be a whole new application, and the only way to update that is through a firmware update…

    
    Comment by Shyru — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:45 pm

23. Re: Fan mock-up? (Insert your own Sony ‘c’ jokes here)

    Google for:

    PSN MOCK-UP PS3FANBOY

    BFN,

    fp.

    
    Comment by fanpages — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:49 pm

24. This is brilliant news! I am willing to sacrifice those 2 weeks…

    I have plenty to be getting on with: GT5:p, Oblivion, PAIN, PJ Monsters:) I think the special update will more than likely contain COD4 mapsand Warhawk expansion!

    At least we have the Warhawk patch to look forward to this/next week!

    
    Comment by elephant_stone — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:53 pm

25. “special update”
    that probably means we get a couple of themes a trailer, and a half baked ps1 game.
    but we will see!

    
    Comment by manley — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:56 pm

26. I hope the stores are at least consistently laid out. It’s annoying how they group things differently in the different regions stores… not that I have US and Jap accounts too or anything…

    
    Comment by TheShirts — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:56 pm

27. Yeah… the Japanese site can be so confusing.

    Can we have that in English too?

    Sort it out Sony!

    And don’t get me started on the “colors” on the US site.

    BFN,

    fp.

    
    Comment by fanpages — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:58 pm

28. Any idea when/if EU store will get any sort of discount on downloadable games like flow, Everyday Shooter, Pain etc.? Both Japanese and US store have gotten it at some point in time iirc

    
    Comment by Dinomyte_ — Mar 31, 2008 @ 4:05 pm

29. I feel neither this way nor that way regarding the PSN - I use Xbox Live to download my demos!

    *awaits being knifed whilst he walks back home in the dark park, near the dark street, in the dark night*

    
    Comment by Johnsketch — Mar 31, 2008 @ 4:38 pm

30. haha JS I’d be more worried about the skeletons that live down the dark dark stairs…

    
    Comment by lxd — Mar 31, 2008 @ 4:41 pm

31. I used Xbox live for the very first time last night, and i was knocked for six by how much content there is (but i`m not going to talk about that for fear of being called a dirty, filthy name). The biggest difference is that Virtually every game available for purchase has a demo which is something that the PSN needs, because at the moment they`re asking you to buy something on the basis of a thumbnail logo and a textual description, at least the japanese and american stores have screenshots on the bottom, something to consider adding to the new store?

    
    Comment by jimmy g — Mar 31, 2008 @ 4:58 pm

32. ——————————————————————————–
    Three Speech wrote:

    Store launches mid-April

    There will be no weekly content updates between now and the re-launch, although users can still download content from the back catalogue, such as Warhawkâ„¢ and Gran Turismoâ„¢ 5 Prologue.

    ————————————————————-

    ROFL Epic Fail

    It looks a bit crap TBH, they need a tab for Demos etc.

    
    Comment by sarge mat — Mar 31, 2008 @ 5:00 pm

33. the playstation blog updated with some more bits and bobs about the new look. It is in the firmware which makes me happy.. and as its now british summer time.. XMB? I realized how useful it would be after playing with Everybody’s Golf’s system. Owning a ps3 makes me happier now.

    
    Comment by Liquidcalm — Mar 31, 2008 @ 5:02 pm

34. the funny thing is the last sentence
    “There will be no weekly content updates between now and the re-launch”

    like the future or the past year???

    oh sorry i read no weekly “good updates”

    
    Comment by terrortime — Mar 31, 2008 @ 5:10 pm

35. Looks nice! definately an improvement, one thing i think MS got very right though was building the store into the OS rather than making a webby cludge of a store like the PSN..

    consequently you would not be limited to web standards and could do very sexy cell/gpu stuff with the store.. maybe this will come with Home..?

    
    Comment by Mal — Mar 31, 2008 @ 5:16 pm

36. Ah well. Looks like SCEA is doing the exact same thing over the next two weeks (http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/03/31/new-playstation-store-interface-coming-in-mid-april/).

    Also, apparently, this store is not browser based. So a firmware update will need to be done as well. What I am wondering is why it takes two weeks to migrate to a different store software.

    But I suppose it don’t matter too much with the rate we get new stuff on the store. I suppose we won’t miss those two updates too much.

    
    Comment by Tiran Kenja — Mar 31, 2008 @ 5:42 pm

37. Do sony realise that we want games before we have a snazzy but empty store?

    Seriously, what the hell is wrong with them? We bitched about XMB, they gave us the orange news ticker thing. We ask for content at the same time as the US, and we get a new store?

    WTF?!??!?!

    
    Comment by grrr — Mar 31, 2008 @ 5:51 pm

38. “The revamp comes in response to a survey last year which showed that many PLAYSTATION Store users wanted a better interface and easier navigation. ”

    No, we wanted GAMES TO BUY!
    Are Sony stupid or what?

    
    Comment by bob — Mar 31, 2008 @ 5:52 pm

39. Of course, the biggest crime here is the icon representing a 12-sided die. Surely *someone* at Sony is aware that on a 12-sided die opposite faces ADD UP TO 13? You’ve got the 8 next to the 5 and the 7 next to the 6. That sort of lack of attention to detail is inexcusable. I’m going to sell my PS3 and buy an XBox 360 as a result. At least Microsoft know which numbers go opposite each other on a simple die, and how to differentiate between a 6 and a 9. >:(

    
    Comment by iapetus — Mar 31, 2008 @ 5:53 pm

40. So is this a thin client, or just a better designed webpage?

    Looks good, whatever it is

    
    Comment by Mister_G — Mar 31, 2008 @ 5:57 pm

41. wow it looks rele nice thanks sony

    
    Comment by bignatt — Mar 31, 2008 @ 6:01 pm

42. personally i think it looks rather pants. this sort of design is what you get in tutorials for creating flash based web sites, i’ve seen better PSP portals

    and i’d like to repeat some above comments ‘just who did they ask?’

    i mean, this is the 21st C is it not, we could have had something.. sexier.

    
    Comment by mobiletone — Mar 31, 2008 @ 6:20 pm

43. Looks nice, I’m just glad there is a “back” button now, that was the single most annoying feature of the current store having to move to the corner of the screen to click the “Previous” button!

    Bit naff that they won’t be updating the store for a few weeks, especially as we’re so far behind the US as it is! Does that mean it will be launched with a bumper update to bring us up to date with the US store???

    
    Comment by Apnomis — Mar 31, 2008 @ 6:22 pm

44. I am impressed Sony, good job.

    
    Comment by Eararaldor — Mar 31, 2008 @ 6:59 pm

45. Apparently it isnt a webpage and is integrated into the firmware. They say it will be quicker and will require 2.30

    Its coming out April 17th!!

    I hope there is an option to use the same background as the one currently being used for your home screen. That would make it feel even more integrated!

    
    Comment by whoelse — Mar 31, 2008 @ 7:48 pm

46. We wanted content, like the US has, not a new store.

    Oh, and I hope everyone has noticed threespeech’s new habit of deleting negative posts.

    epic fail.

    
    Comment by dumpster — Mar 31, 2008 @ 7:51 pm

47. @ Aponims

    You can use L1 to go back a page on the current store

    
    Comment by mikeck — Apr 1, 2008 @ 9:05 am

48. An integrated store (rather than an external site) would be great. The fact that there will be no updates for two weeks would suggest that the overhaul is more than a superficial lick of paint. This would bring it in line with the 360… and hopefully surpass it, because I find the Live store to be a bit of an epileptic mess.

    
    Comment by rooee — Apr 1, 2008 @ 9:33 am

49. Apologies to Apnomis for mis-spelling your name earlier…damn my morning groginess

    
    Comment by mikeck — Apr 1, 2008 @ 9:39 am

50. The *bad* news is that there’s speculation Sony might be adding a region lock on the store with this release. Can someone from Threespeech confirm whether or not that’s the case? If it is, then it’s the most pathetic move Sony has pulled to date - it would be a clear acknowledgement that the EU store is hopelessly weak, combined with a decision *not* to address the problem but instead to victimise the customers further.

    
    Comment by iapetus — Apr 1, 2008 @ 9:55 am

51. ___________________________________

    Chappers, considering that under your user agreement you aren’t supposed to import games, I’m not sure why Sony should support them.

    Comment by John — Mar 31, 2008 @ 3:31 pm
    ___________________________________

    The PS3 was touted from the very beginning as being “Region-Free For Gaming”. It’s all over the place. You mean to tell me that that was just a tag-line and that people shouldn’t actually expect to be able to go out into the real world and import games, as is actively encouraged by sites such as ps3fanboy.com , and supported by many international e-tailors ?

    
    Comment by Chappers — Apr 1, 2008 @ 10:36 am

52. isnt it a valuable insight into how poorly the PSN is staffed when they have to have NO UPDATES for 2 weeks when a redesign happens?

    anyone would think it was a couple of guys in a basement with real day jobs. they usually get home from work and upload a couple of trailers…..but now, with this update work to do they just get in and start coding! crikey!

    
    Comment by d33p — Apr 1, 2008 @ 10:38 am

53. I dont like the look of it. II much rather the look of the XBOX 360 dashboard and store layout.

    Dont geyt me wrong Im no Xbot. I dont own an Xbox 360 because the Xbox 360 I had gave me the infamous RROD. I own a PS3 and I love the machine.

    But I still rather the Xbox 360 dashboard layout. And no I wont buy an Xbox 360 because they break too easily.

    
    Comment by steve30x — Apr 1, 2008 @ 11:13 am

54. No weekly updates ’till 4-17??? Where will I go to have my weekly dose of trailers then?

    Special update? That will be a laugh. Didn’t SCEE promised a free game when the PC store was launched too? Seeing how SCEE has treated European gamers the past year I won’t be excited by anything less than 50,- EUR free store credit.

    
    Comment by Geof — Apr 1, 2008 @ 11:27 am

55. @ d33p

    You obviously have no idea how long it takes to produce this redesign, new layout, and restructure across all 29 PAL storefronts the PSN has do you (various European countries, UAE, Saudi, SA, AU and NZ)?

    
    Comment by mikeck — Apr 1, 2008 @ 12:41 pm

56. 50: *You* obviously have no idea how projects like this are run. There should be little to no impact on the ability to deliver new content, and if there is then they’re doing it wrong.

    Of course, two weeks of no content should make for a larger amount of new content when the store launches, which is presumably the intent.

    
    Comment by iapetus — Apr 1, 2008 @ 1:50 pm

57. Agree with iapetus. The content should be completely separate from the code and if done correctly ‘all’ it would take is to change the content.

    Annoying thing for me is that when the new content starts appearing again I have just finished a week’s holiday. Would have been great to get some demos to tie me over during that week. Oh well, at least I have Everybody’s Golf

    
    Comment by KhunMo — Apr 1, 2008 @ 2:13 pm

58. Oops, that should read ‘change the code’ of course.

    
    Comment by KhunMo — Apr 1, 2008 @ 2:14 pm

59. @ 52 If only I could go into the specific reasons why and how I KNOW the reasons behind this freeze!

    
    Comment by mikeck — Apr 1, 2008 @ 2:16 pm

60. @ Dumpster (44) - We don’t delete comments. Yours just ended up in moderation. Not sure why? Did you post from a different email address?

    
    Comment by Three Speech — Apr 1, 2008 @ 3:02 pm

61. hmmm, if the store update is to do with region locking stores, the ‘millions of us’ that wanted the new look is a lie and there are other reasons.

    
    Comment by Obli — Apr 1, 2008 @ 6:33 pm

62. A lot of peoples questions here are answered in the Sony blog post about the store. Seems that SCEA regions are getting the store update too… which makes me suspicious of the region locking thing.

    Anyway, the store looks better. Navigation looks better as it is more like a menu system than a web page with dodgy mouse pointer control by SIXAXIS.

    Some questions asked here, answered there:

    background colours - “can’t be changed… for now…”

    speed of use - it will be A LOT faster as it is no longer web based but an application on the PS3

    firware update - new firmware update required that incorporates new store.

    global store - not logistically possible.

    
    Comment by Obli — Apr 1, 2008 @ 6:45 pm

63. So why has it been in such a state up until this update?

    And by the way, we won’t even notice that the store isn’t updated for the next two weeks. All we will see is less of increase in the amount of dross supplied.
    All I can say is this new store better exceed expectations and be something really special or I will kick my PS3 to death.

    
    Comment by Ton Capone — Apr 1, 2008 @ 7:11 pm

64. 55: Indeed, if only you could. Meanwhile I’ll just point out that I’ve been involved in cases where large companies have switched over business-critical systems with large amounts of data in them before now - it’s kind of my job, you see - and it has never required this kind of downtime.

    There’s [b]always[/b] a way to work around significant downtime if you want to. While I’m sure there are perfectly reasonable explanations for this downtime, the redesign and switchover is not a sufficient reason in and of itself.

    
    Comment by iapetus — Apr 1, 2008 @ 7:28 pm

65. so i guess this means we will have to w8 for atleast 2 weeks for the army of 2 coop demo that whent up on live to day then? if it even comes at all on psn.

    
    Comment by mikkelito — Apr 1, 2008 @ 8:41 pm

66. @60

    I’m not disupting you, really I’m not, I’m just saying I know some of the reasons why it has to happen, but I can’t specify this information. Also, I’d probably do a horrendous job of explaining the technical aspects that impede the process, and as such really make them look like idiots.

    I just didn’t want people to think it’s because the SCEE team are monkeying around, because really they’re not.

    
    Comment by mikeck — Apr 2, 2008 @ 10:18 am

67. For some reason my last post got bumped down a few numbers, so whilst I’m referring to iapetus in my last post, it doesn’t look like that.

    
    Comment by mikeck — Apr 2, 2008 @ 4:20 pm

68. @mikeck

    ..erm…

    What are those reasons?

    (^_^) . o 0 (Dreams of Home)

    
    Comment by JohnSketch — Apr 2, 2008 @ 4:29 pm

69. so there’ll be a couple of weeks without any new content, will we notice? I sincerely hope that some of the feedback that they have responded to is that we are hopelessly behind the other regions for content.

    The O button for back, as with every other thing on the PS is great news though.

    
    Comment by irblinx — Apr 2, 2008 @ 7:12 pm

70. On a related note, I would like to grumble about the speed of downloading anything from the store. Any download seems to be ’stuck on slow’. My PC makes full use of the a 20mb (7mb in reality) line. Can anything be done about the store’s available bandwidth?

    Thanks

    
    Comment by Dom — Apr 2, 2008 @ 8:01 pm

71. it seems like the store finally looks finished. the original version looks like it was slapped together in a bit of a rush. this time, they seem to have taken something from the singstore.

    the problem with both the singstore and playstation store? the content. until that gets sorted, and the brits get things at the same time as americans, it wont challenge XBL unfortunately…

    
    Comment by andy ipswich — Apr 2, 2008 @ 9:12 pm

72. @ JohnSketch

    There’s jam in the system, some coding monkey smeared jam from his sarnie all in the system by mistake, and now they’re got to get some special jam cleaning agent in there.

    Actually was it to do with jam, or was it about the way the new system for all the stores worldwide is frozen for this maintenance work because of the jam?…I can’t quite remember now

    
    Comment by mikeck — Apr 3, 2008 @ 12:49 am

73. I don’t really have a problem with the current site … I am FAR more concerned about this possible region locking. Although I live in Canada (and thereby get exactally the same content as the US) I am not at all interested in buying my stuff off the Canadian site because they charge an extra $1 for everything for no justifiable reason. (A Rock Band song costs $1.99 US and $2.99 CAD… the CAD dollar is trading at 0.98 US right now… that is just dumb)

    
    Comment by shane — Apr 4, 2008 @ 3:35 pm

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