Improving the PlayStation Store 107
This opinion piece takes stock of Sony's PlayStation Store, examining its flaws and the areas Sony needs to improve as their gaming systems come to rely upon it more and more. The problems and suggested solutions involve everything from UI elements to demo availability to pricing inconsistencies.
"Some people may say that the Microsoft Points scheme is a little confusing, but it is consistent. If a game is 800MSP in the US, it's 800MSP everywhere else. What a MSP is worth is up to the store, but for the most part they're close. The PlayStation Store on the other hand can be all over the place. While most games in North America keep to the same price point — such as $9.99 or $14.99, converting that over to Europe is another thing entirely. For example, Flower came out earlier this year for $9.99USD. In Australia a $10USD game gets converted to $12.95AUD. Or does it? Bomberman Ultra just came out, and it's $15.95AUD. Heavy Weapon gets released for $12.95AUD, while Capcom’s previous efforts, like Commando 3, convert to $15.95. The same thing also happens for more expensive titles. Both Battlefield 1943 and Fat Princess were released for $14.99 in the US, but in Australia they're priced at $19.95AUD and $23.95 respectively."
Re:Background downloading (Score:4, Interesting)
Perhaps, with the older PSPs, there isn't any room for multitasking, if certain games expect to have full use of hardware resources; but the fact that they didn't bump the PSP-go's specs just enough to offer background downloading is pure laziness.
Re:Its not just PlayStation Store (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't know what they're smoking at EA Europe but it gotta be good stuff. Too expensive in a recession, though, because after more than a year of the old price they recently reduced it to about $20.