The PSN Store, while functional, doesn’t exactly match the PS3’s overall sleek and easy to use interface.

By mid-April, Sony plans to rectify the general lack of intuitiveness, and has released an official statement. Parts of it read as follows:

“This April, PLAYSTATION®Store, the online content store on PLAYSTATION®Network, is getting a whole new look and feel – and it’s in response to feedback from the millions of PSN registrants in the PAL region.”

Nice to see the PAL region get some love and notice. FYI, PAL isn’t you North Americans. You’re NTSC. PAL citizens actually have currency worth spending.

“The revamp comes in response to a survey last year which showed that many PLAYSTATION Store users wanted a better interface and easier navigation. The new design will deliver a hugely improved navigation system, much greater scope for categorisation and a dynamic new user interface.”

Nice to see Sony acknowledge that the PSN Store interface isn’t user friendly. Currently it’s great for accessing new content, but anything more than a week old seems to scatter about at random. PS3 owners know that navigating through the menus, submenus, and backtracking is a test of patience. Hopefully this will all be fixed.

“Content will be suspended for two weeks while the improvements are carried out but users can look forward to a special update in 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 Warhawk™ and Gran Turismo™ 5 Prologue.”

Some bad news gets slipped in. Looks like the Thursday updates will be put on hold until the Store relaunches. The content released via PSN is minimal at best. Hopefully a new, easy to use and attractive Store will inspire Sony, and devs, to step up and release more great titles. At least something that can compete with XBLA’s offerings.

Minus the horrific DRM.

Quick Edit:

Looks like there is a pic of the new interface, and some details on functionality already in the forums.

Looks snazzy, but we’ll have to wait and see how it actually performs before passing judgment. Initial impressions are favorable.

Chia and Thrill come back, talk about how great the Wii is, list off some PSP games that new owners should check out, and try to get back into the swing of things. Oh, and we love NPD numbers.

• The Wii we play
• PSP games to look out for
• News: Victory! We win February (groan)
• PC game of the week : Bonesaw

Music is from the Jet Set/Grind Radio franchise.

The Zack and Wiki demo Chia played.

www.freerice.com

Direct download by right clicking

Internet is such a wonderful thing. I love it. When it works.

It could not have picked a worse time to stop working. I’ve been a nervous mess these last couple days, unable to check on my precious Rockets (and their streak of greatness). Seems like they don’t need my attention and are doing just fine — currently 21 without China’s pride Yao. Hopefully Kobe will get arrested and Garnett will get injured, and this streak can continue. My prediction: It’s been fun, but all good things must end.

While catching up on the world’s doings, current exchange rates (ugh), and politics at Usatoday.com, I was surprised that their front page “Quick Question” was actually video game related:

Should shareholders of game publisher Take-Two accept the bid from Electronic Arts? The real question should be “Do you know what these companies are, and do you care if one buys the other?”. Most of “us” gamers, we that check up on industry news, know what they’re asking. The general public though? While videogames are finally starting to become mainstream (thanks in large part to the Wii), assuming people actually care enough to know who Take-Two or EA are, much less the impact of one gobbling up the other, is a bit much.At least it’s nice to see the gaming industry get some front page space that doesn’t pertain to turning kids into murderers, rapists and sexaholics.

Sony was kind enough to update the PS3’s firmware to 2.17. According to internet forums the press release read as follows:
The PLAYSTATION®3 system software version 2.17 update includes the following:

Settings - The XMB™ can still not be accessed in-game

Music - No new patterns were added to the visual player

Video - Video codecs previously supported are still supported, or are they?

Other - [You get nothing] has been added

It wouldn’t be a normal week without some kind of 360 related issue. With no internet this week all my XBLA games reverted to trial mode — no surprise. But now that internet is back and am to sign onto the “premier” (only because it costs money) Xbox Live service, I’m pissed as fuck that some of my games still don’t work. Catan, Golden Axe, and a couple other games I purchased won’t unlock the full versions. At the dashboard, under the XBLA menu My Games, they appear intact…but when accessed they revert to the gimped trial version and prompt me to purchase the full version. I’ve tried redownloading the games, deleting them and then redownloading, but no luck. If anyone knows how to fix this issue send a message my way.

And finally, if you own a Wii, buy Zack and Wiki. I’ve been playing a lot of it this week and love it. It’s an old school point and click adventure game with some Warioware sprinkled in. Amazon has it for 30 bucks. Get it.