It's been a whirlwind week of PlayStation news. As if a new model of the PS3 wasn't exciting enough, PlayStation Australia followed it up by teasing that a new look was coming to the PlayStation Store. Then, PlayStation promoted its new web portal and got everyone talking about what the humble store might become.
We don't have any definitive answers as to what's happening or when it's happening, but we do have lots of PlayStation Store ideas Sony should listen to. Below are five seemingly simple things the PlayStation Store should be doing.
You know what the kids love? Steam, Valve's PC gaming platform. One of the coolest things about Steam? The ability to preorder a game, download it, and then have it unlock at 12:01 a.m. the day of release so you can get to playing.
PlayStation's getting better about this -- Borderlands 2 launched on the PlayStation Network Tuesday -- but it's still far from perfect. IGN reader Jaime Escalera wrote in to Podcast Beyond this week lamenting that his friends planned on downloading Borderlands 2 at midnight, but were "super disappointed" to see it not go up until the next day. Of course, even if the PlayStation Store had published the game at 12:01 a.m., Jaime's friends would've had to sit there while 5.8 GB downloaded.
Adopting the preorder/preload model solves this problem. Get Borderlands 2 on the PlayStation Store the week before launch, let me download it, and then unlock it the moment mobile people can pick it up at GameStop. The future is now. Interestingly, IGN fan Stephen Roche said that this PSN model exists in Australia, so let's get it together, Sony.
The PlayStation Store's model is a dinosaur.
It sounds simple -- if you want to buy something on the PlayStation Store, use the PlayStation Store -- but it's so archaic. In a world where I can login to Xbox.com, buy a game and have it waiting in my download queue, the PlayStation Store's model is a dinosaur.
If the PlayStation Store is getting redesigned, it's time for PlayStation to embrace a ubiquitous experience -- a store that looks and feels the same on my PC or iPad as it does on my PS3 or Vita. Aside from the simplicity of use, you have to imagine it would increase PSN sales. How many PS3 and Vita games become impulse buys if you can read the review on IGN and then click over to the PlayStation Store to pick the title up in a few seconds? Right now, if a consumer hears about a cool PSN game, he or she has to keep that game at the forefront of his or her mind until they get home, turn on the PS3 and get to the Store.
Now, Automatic Downloads are already a perk of PlayStation Plus, but if we're building a smarter PlayStation Store, let's give everyone the ability to have their PS3 wake up and start downloading. First and foremost, it works well with the idea of a web version of the PlayStation Store. If I download Lumines Supernova at work, I want my PS3 at home to turn on and download it so that I can play as soon as I walk through the front door. Secondly, getting this infrastructure in place would knockout the No. 1 thing people like to bitch about with the PlayStation Network: firmware.
If you're one of the people who uses the PS3 for the occasional exclusive, chances are you're forced to download a new update each time you turn on your PS3. With my revamped PlayStation Store, everyone would have the option for automatic downloads and push downloads -- and I'd make firmware default to this option. Any time PlayStation released an update, your system would boot up and get to installing.
Busses get misses, kids get sick and cars breakdown -- I understand that not everything will be on time all the time. However, there's really no rhyme or reason to when the PlayStation Store updates on Tuesdays. Sometimes it's early in the San Francisco afternoon, other times it's just before Tuesday becomes Wednesday. Each week, it's a game of Russian roulette as to when you can get games.
This has to stop. YouTube has this thing called the Creator's Playbook. Basically, it's this huge document about how to be successful on the platform, and it stresses regularity and timing. "Frequency of uploads and other platform engagement keeps your channel feed active and retains audience interest," the playbook reads. "To build an audience, 'A consistent audience requires consistent content.' "
Let's be frank here -- the PlayStation Network audience isn't that "active." Yes, plenty of people downloaded Journey and have used the PlayStation Store, but the number of people saying "Oh, it's Tuesday! I have to see what's new on the PlayStation Store!" is a tiny one.
If Sony can get it together and say "Every Tuesday, we're publishing the store at 3 p.m. Pacific," it can become an event. It'll have people refreshing the store to the get new COD DLC and talking about what's to come. Tuesdays will become synonymous with the PlayStation Store to the masses. Add first day discounts, exclusives and surprises, and you'll build an audience that wants to be there as the Store update happens. All eyes would be on PlayStation.
This is probably the nerdiest suggestion on the list, but if you've ever tried to use the PSN's Download List, you understand. Basically, the PlayStation Network rocks because it lets you download your content multiple times (there are system activations to worry about) in case you got a new console or whatever. Everything you've ever downloaded is added to the Download List, which is available in the PlayStation Store and Account Management.
The trouble is that there's no way to sort the Download List other than what it defaults to (date downloaded, and sometimes even that gets goofy). When you have DLC and games and more fighting it out on the list, this gets to be a big mess. If we're rebooting the store, let's toss a few options at the Download List. Stuff like sorting alphabetically and grouping content by type.
What do you think? If the PlayStation Store's getting revamped in October, what do you hope it means for the platform? Let us know in the comments below.
Greg is the executive editor of IGN PlayStation, cohost of Podcast Beyond and host of Up at Noon. Follow IGN on Twitter, and keep track of Greg's shenanigans on IGN and Twitter. Beyond!
Source : ign[dot]com
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