Sony's repository of online goodness was given a new set of clothes a few days back, coming as something built into PlayStation 3's firmware 2.30. We're all for the UI change, but is this really just a matter of pure aesthetics plus easier and faster content browsing? Or is Sony taking steps toward the right direction? If so, what possibilities have they opened up with the overhaul?

At one point or another, you might have visited Sony's online store even if you aren't the online shopping kind. You might have trolled the virtual store for things like demos, videos, wallpapers, games, etc. It has been there since the PlayStation 3 hit the shelves and well, as early PS3 adopters would know, it has gone through little tweaks since then (background downloading and PlayStation Network button on the XMB, among others).
 

  

And then came the rumors about a revamp scheduled in April, and the "leaked" screenshot of the revamped PlayStation Store. The first rumor turned out to be true in an announcement made by Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) while the second rumor turned out to be a bucket of hogwash. Screenshots of the new user interface (UI) were released and while some were amazed by sleeker and smoother look, some just griped that there were no PlayStation Store updates for two weeks. You can't please everybody, right?

Fast forward to two weeks later and the PlayStation Network goes offline for a little less than a day to make way for the said update. What are the major differences between the old and new PlayStation Stores? Let's play spot the difference for a bit.

Old versus New

The first thing you'll notice after logging into the new Store is the overhauled interface, sleeker graphics, and more categories. The move from web-based to firmware integrated (read: the Store is lurking somewhere in your PS3) definitely earns Sony a good number of points in the innovation department as it resulted in smoother transition in between menus and noticeably faster loading times. Plus, the speed of the Store is no longer directly proportional to the speed of your internet connection.

  

Additions to the categories make content browsing easier with eight tabs, as opposed to the old PlayStation Store's four. Bet some of you didn't know that the old Store contained content for your PSP like the PC PlayStation Store did - the content just took a bit of time to find. With the new categories, browsing is intuitive and searching is a breeze. You can't go wrong with these:

• New Releases
• Downloadable Games
• View All by Title
• Add-ons
• Demos
• Videos
• Themes & Wallpapers
• Featured

You click on a tab and you're taken to a submenu that further categorizes content into things like genre, or in View All's case, everything's pigeonholed by title. The categories allow for easier access to games, especially the the ones for the PSP and the retro PSOne games. Once you see something that interests you, you can click on the Preview button to check it out if you're not the reading type. A small video player pops out and you can check out a trailer or gameplay video of the game (press square for full screen).

Once you download an item from the Store, the said item won't disappear from the list like they used to in the old Store. Downloaded items now get a red shopping bag icon which serves as a reminder that you already have that particular item. Plus, in the unfortunate event that you format your hard drive, you won't have any trouble finding your stuff for re-downloading via the menus (if you don't like using the Downloads List).

  

Other improvements (if you really want to nitpick) include the additional sound effects and the magic that is the Circle button. Yes, using the Circle button actually lets you go back to the previous page you were viewing, no matter how deep into the categories you happen to be.

Kinks and Bumps

As with any new software release, there were bound to be some kinks and bumps on an otherwise smooth finish. We found some of them, though we should say that most of them are cosmetic.

Take the icons for example. When those little images first went live, they were either broken or took a while to load. They still take a few seconds to load and you're never really sure when a menu filled with icons is done loading since there is no such thing as a loading indicator. You can still check out the content without waiting for the little boxes to fill in completely, but sometimes it's easier to check out the images than read the text - especially if you're getting the second problem.

Yes, resolution. It seems that some people are still having some trouble reading the text on the Store. Those cases might be attributed to wrong video settings, but some internet denizens complain that it's a problem with the Store itself. We encountered some difficulties with some of the Store's text, especially with seemingly blinking "PlayStation Eye required" tag which appear really funky beside the normal text.

Another small kink is caching. While the Store has considerably improved on speed, the icons do take a bit to load and if you leave the Store, you'll have to load them again. It would be nice to cache everything once you view them for easier loading later, right? As of now, the new Store doesn't seem to employ that browsing technology.

   

On the other hand, some people thought that the promised previews didn't make it to live. It did (check out Snakeball and Go! Sports Skydiving), the thing is, only a handful of titles currently have previews up.

Now, all kinks and bumps mentioned above will look even smaller when compared to Europe and the rest of PAL's new PlayStation Store. If you haven't heard of the wailing and gnashing of teeth on that side of the Atlantic, you can check their categories list:

• Latest
• All Games
• Game Add-Ons
• Videos
• PSP Games
• Family Games
• Other Media
• We Recommend

According to reports, searching for certain items can become a pain in the neck. Instead of neatly alphabetical lists, they're stuck with titles categorized by genre - with all the PSOne titles thrown in. We're not entirely sure what Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE)'s thinking, but here's to hoping they find a way to better categorize their Store's content. Another thing that apparently got PAL PS3 users dismayed is the lack of a preview function on their version of the Store.

Conclusion

Sony did good on this one, but since we'll have to wait a bit more for some fixes, it could've done a little better.  We'd like to give the new Store the benefit of the "it just got rolled out and so we should understand that it has bugs" syndrome, but then again, we'll have to factor in the patient wait we all put in during the two weeks before anything new happened on the Store. That being said, there really isn't much to complain about in the new PlayStation Store in North America, though the Europe and PAL versions may need some reconsideration in the categories department.

The Videos category looks wanting, and we know it could use some more content other than the usual game videos and Blu-ray trailers. Is Sony planning to get its own video service? It is plausible, but we're a bit scared to think of how Europe will fare when Sony does roll out a service like that. As it is, SCEE seems to be having trouble getting PSN content to its version of the Store, what would happen to movies and other videos?

This is a step in the right direction for Sony (even if SCEA and SCEE don't seem to agree) and honestly, we're impressed. We've been given easier navigation tools, more intuitive menus, and faster loading. Let's hope Sony keeps moving forward on the same vein and continues to show its customers more love. The new PlayStation Store didn't quite come out of the conveyor belt perfect, but we're certain Sony'll make sure the fixes get done and implemented in the near future.

This article was originally posted on April 18, 2008 at 1:28 p.m.