PSN Store getting a Xbox and Steam-like makeover
According to reports, Sony may be working on a new interface design for the PlayStation Store. The revamp is said to be more image driven similar to the Xbox Marketplace and Steam.
As reported by Reg Hardware, sources claim that Sony is quietly testing a new design change to the PlayStation Store. This has nothing to do with the XMB menu system, but deals with the game and video store fronts.
The PSN game store is currently laid out by categories that are written out in text. Apparently, Sony is looking to change this by using image icons to symbolize each section along with limited text.
The source revealed that Sony will be implementing a rolodex list similar to what is on the iPhone. There will also be a new search method in the store that can be utilized live in real-time, similar to Google’s new search.
The Movie Store will also be revamped that will follow a similar design to IMDB. This will allow users to navigate by highlighted keywords. Selecting the director or actor on the movie page will take you to their portfolio of work done in the past.
According to reports the new interface is currently being tested internally at Sony.
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48 Responses to “PSN Store getting a Xbox and Steam-like makeover”
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July 6th, 2011
The PSN store lay out is a ball ache at times and very slow loading. It needs a good kick in the arse.
July 6th, 2011
At last.
Maybe I’ll be able to find the stuff I’m looking for, because it never seems to be where it should be.
It’s almost like content is randomly sprinkled on the server at the mo. it can only get better.
July 6th, 2011
^
Wow you are special! lol that’s the first and last snack you get from me troll! So which one are you, Kev, Cad, or Con? You sir are pathetic!
July 6th, 2011
If you can’t stand the heat just turn the damn oven off and order a pizza
July 6th, 2011
So go to KFC, Popeyes, Chik-fil-A, or Church’s then.
July 6th, 2011
I like and have no problems with the current store.
If you have trouble finding things the real source of the issue is between the controller and couch.
It couldn’t be laid out more simplistic. Unless reading words is too tough.
Maybe the shiny pictures will make it easier…lol
July 6th, 2011
Hahaha, this PSN_FAIL guy is reminding me of TFOS. I know it’s one of the guys we all know.
Yeah I changed my mind, I will play along mystery troll! Yo PSN_Fail, where are you from?
July 6th, 2011
@Phranc
“I like and have no problems with the current store”
same here, but that might not be the case for Godless… The EU PSN Store is a disaster, idk why they are built differently but is not on par with the US store.
@Kushy
Welcome back pal.
Where have you been?
July 6th, 2011
^
I have been around, read posts but don’t post too often. Scared I might get owned by noobs like PSN_Fail!
July 6th, 2011
Oh I forgot, I already got owned by him! Did you guys so those burns! Oh my god, I have not witnessed such burns since grade 9!
July 6th, 2011
LOL. He’s a clown…
July 6th, 2011
^
yeah my money is that it’s TFOS, just like him. lol
July 6th, 2011
I don’t mind the store the way it is now. The jackasses. It may be slow but nothing compared to the app store.
July 6th, 2011
Next news topic will be about PSN pass.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=436272
July 6th, 2011
This is for RRoD_FAIL:
h**p://www.thesixthaxis.com/2011/07/06/xbox-live-unavailable-experiencing-difficulties/
July 6th, 2011
“Maybe I’ll be able to find the stuff I’m looking for, because it never seems to be where it should be.”
Yeah who would og thought to look under G for God of War. What were those idiots thinking?
July 6th, 2011
“Maybe the shiny pictures will make it easier…lol”
I believe that is there too. And too hard for godless and his retard wife.
July 6th, 2011
I like the store the way it is.
I even miss the first design.
But if they put icons instead of text, it would make things harder to find.
Why dont they have a view changer? You know, switch back and forth.
Ex. Yahoo Mail has the option to go back to Classic view.
Basically, i want more customization on PS3. More theme colors, Dynamic theme tools, layout and view options (Store & XMB), more XMB sounds, Custom Avatars, scrolling comment bar, bigger About Me, More online status (Invisible, etc), Change colors of more things, etc etc.
Everytime they add more features via firmware update, i get as excited as a kid on christmas morning. (no jokes please, just a comparison). Id rather get more added features than get & play a new game.
July 6th, 2011
I bet is pure bullshit the PlayStation Store is beyond perfection it looks crystal clear very nice unlike Xbox 360′s which is a clutter confusing mess.
July 6th, 2011
I’ve no issues with the store the way it is. Maybe speed it up a little, but that could also be due to my internet connection.
July 7th, 2011
^
Naw Rhino, I’m down loading at about 7000kb a second. The store is just slow. It has not been back up for too long, so I imagine they are still working on things.
July 7th, 2011
@ caissie
“Yeah who would og thought to look under G for God of War. What were those idiots thinking?”
Dude, You nailed, it because a lot of the time stuff is not where it should be,
When you look for demos under the start letter of the game, half the time there not bloody there, but they are on the front page and you have to wait for them to cycle and click when the image appears.
ON XBL,Games can be searched for by type, or by alphabet, and will always be where you would expect to find it.
Each game has it’s own page with a description, full size screen shots. Some have movies, every game has links to all available DLC on its page and most have a demo. All on the games own, easy to find page
PSN is a cluttered balls up start to finish. The last update was good and went a long way to improve it but it still a mess.
XBL game store is just way ahead. Anyone trying to argue otherwise doesn’t have a clue what they’re talking about
I look forward to the PSN store update , and hope it completely rips off XBL game store.
July 7th, 2011
Heres whats gonna happen. sony are gonna revamp playstaion store to be more like Xbox Marketplace. sony rent boys will then accuse MS of ripping off sony ideas again. Tools!
July 7th, 2011
Let’s hope it’s not filled with commericals like XBL’x interface. I really don’t need to see MCDonalds adds while looking for games and demo’s online.
July 7th, 2011
“I look forward to the PSN store update , and hope it completely rips off XBL game store.”
Just like the last to NXE updates have been ripoff of the navigation layout from the XMB.
Hopefully the new PSN Store will not be an ad fest like the NXE.
July 7th, 2011
This adds thing on XBL must be outside of the UK
I don’t recall ever seeing any adds, other than for games on XBL
July 7th, 2011
I’ve always loved Psn’s layout. I certainly hope they don’t copy Xbox360′s cluttered layout.
July 7th, 2011
“I don’t recall ever seeing any adds, other than for games on XBL”
oh really? I’ve seen ads about windows 7, HP laptop, movies, tv shows, Coca Cola, NBC, Burger King, and many others.
Just to make things worse MS will bring “interactive ads” with the update.
July 7th, 2011
Godless,
Roca is right. There are plenty of ads on display in the U.S. on Xbox live.
July 7th, 2011
just one more reason not to live in America then
I’m pretty sure we don’t get any adds in the UK
July 7th, 2011
twilight, this is just the store we’re talking about
not the whole user interface. PSN game store is a shambles when compared to XBL game store
July 7th, 2011
I’ll admit that the store could do with a bit of makeover. At present, it’s certainly functional and you’ll find what you’re looking for without ‘too’ much problem.
Saying that it could definately be much, much slicker.
July 7th, 2011
Didn’t realize the UK store was in such shambles. The same problems are not apparent in the US store.
“ON XBL,Games can be searched for by type, or by alphabet, and will always be where you would expect to find it.
Each game has it’s own page with a description, full size screen shots. Some have movies, every game has links to all available DLC on its page and most have a demo. All on the games own, easy to find page”
Yeah. That’s like the US store.
July 7th, 2011
Godless,
I guess I am just one of the few people who doesn’t think Psn store is in shambles. With that being said, I am all for good improvements but I have always preferred Psn’s store and interface over the layout of the Xbox360. For example, if you want to buy a movie on Xbox360, you have to highlight and constantly switch from rental to purchase to standard definition or to high defintion to try to get lined up what version of the movie you want to buy. If you want to buy a movie on Ps3, you just click on the movie and highlight the version you want and you are all done. There is no cycling through trying to get the version of the movie content you want. Also, I hate Microsoft’s stupid point system. If the price of the movie or content is $20, then just list the price in real money.
July 7th, 2011
The point system is pretty stupid.
July 8th, 2011
@ Twilight
I think the US & UK have totally different front ends for XBL
for movies, you just brows to the movie, open the page and you have like 4 options which are normally
Rent low or high def or buy low or high def
any less than that and you wouldn’t be able to choose from the most common choices?
Oh. .and the watch trailer for movie.
Yes I agree the points system is stupid, but I have started seen more and more prices in £ which is good.
They should do away with the points thing, I’m guessing the reason they did it was so XBL could be used in several countries without a need to change costings, as points would be the same no matter where, but I think by the sound of things they use entirely different XBL front end anyway, so what’s the point
July 8th, 2011
Just because Sony is updating and redesigning its store to a more image-driven doesn’t mean they are copying XBL.
The XBL layout and navigation is tile-based with endless layers of slides. Sliding gets pretty annoying after a while.
Sony’s layout and navigation will be different and they are also imprementing other things, like the article said PSN will be similar to IMBD in some ways.
July 8th, 2011
Personally I would rather have things less image driven. They tend to slow things down at times. Just keep things Alphabetized and things will be fine, except for illiterate people like Ivan.
July 8th, 2011
Psn Fail,
What are you talking about? I am discussing why I prefer Psn’s layout slightly more then Xbox360′s with Godless. You are interpretation of my statement amazes me. Let me state this again just for you. I am a Gold member and I own a Xbox360 and tons of Xbox360 games. I have a massive Xbox360 digital library on Xbox360. So do explain…
July 8th, 2011
“They should do away with the points thing, I’m guessing the reason they did it was so XBL could be used in several countries without a need to change costings, as points would be the same no matter where”
@godless
No they wouldn’t. Currency and exchange rates would change the value.
July 8th, 2011
Yeah but then they would need to store information for the cost of each game in each of their territories.
I think points just keeps it a tad more simple for them.
July 8th, 2011
Not as simple as actual money though.
It’s pretty much a ploy to tempt people to buy more things. Instead of just making one small purchase on your CC, say $1 or £1. You have to buy a minimum $5 or £5 worth of MS points.
I’m not just calling MS out on this one btw, all companies are guilty. Well not guilty they’re just trying to make the most amount of money possible.
July 8th, 2011
@Dans
I always thought that too. Although I have to admit that having those left over points in my account have come in handy in many occasions.
Also things have changed, or are changing. Alot of the digital download stuff on XBLA is avaiable for purchase over Amazon and they give you the codes for it. Also MS is adding Paypal access. I think that might be active already but I haven’t been on live in a couple weeks.
July 9th, 2011
“Yeah but then they would need to store information for the cost of each game in each of their territories.
I think points just keeps it a tad more simple for them.”
I can make an Excel Spreadsheet or Access database that factors in exchange rates in five minutes. I’m sure MS can do me one up better.
July 11th, 2011
PSN makes you put a minimum $ if you add funds if you lurches a game it takes exactly what it needs.
July 11th, 2011
@phranc
You probably could.
If I were building a DB, I would rather have a table of games and their point price, and another table that lists available amounts of points for purchase (say, 1000, 1500, 5000), and the rates for various currencies.
It’s a smaller amount of currency fluctuation to keep track of and less places to update if the price changes.
I am making a HUGE assumption here that a game for 500 points costs 500 in the US or England.
Anywhoos, of course they wanna make money, and if points helps them do that then good for them, I’ll be buying games off Steam and the PSN where I get a direct conversion by the payment processor.
July 11th, 2011
Nintendo uses that stupid point system also.
July 11th, 2011
but to sell “points” you still need to factor currency
1,600 points = $20 (also insert price for UK, JP, etc)
800 points = $10 (also insert price for UK, JP, etc)
400 pints = $5 (also insert price for UK, JP, etc)