Anyone who has booted up their PS3 and had a look at the redesigned Playstation Store will no doubt be impressed with how slick the new design looks. However, take a closer look, and you will realise that the EU Playstation Store has been given a bit of a raw deal.
Taking a peek at the categorisation system reveals a rather large flaw – there is no category for demos. That means that if you want to see what demos are available, you must actually browse through every game individually. Needless to say, that’s a lot of hassle.
To add insult to injury, the EU version of the store has no preview button, which was one of the hotly anticipated updates to the US store. That means that whilst our American brethren from across the pond are happily watching videos to see if something is worth downloading, those within the EU will simply have to settle for a text description of the game.
The final blow comes in the all too familiar form of release dates. We are all well aware that there are often delays between the US and EU versions of a retail game, but should that delay really happen with regards to games and content on the Playstation Store?
Take Pain for example. A game which took over 3 months to come to the EU store after its US debut. If Xbox Live Arcade games can be released simultaneously in the US and EU, then why can’t Playstation Store games?
However, not all is bad, as the latest update to the Playstation Store brought us Europeans an open version of the Metal Gear Solid Online beta programme, whereas in the US, the only way to get into the beta was to preorder the limited edition version of the game, or be granted a rare beta code from competitions.
If you feel the need to rant to Sony about the above problems, you can do so by visiting their forums here.
How do you feel about this issue? Do you feel it is time for Sony to sort out their act? Let us know by leaving your comments below.