Ever since the PlayStation Store got its “overhaul” of a makeover last October, I have had PlayStation Store trouble. Browsing the games, movies or music is a nightmare, the layout doesn’t show you everything half the time, and worst of all it takes FOREVER to load. This past week the PSN update took a full 24 hours longer than usual, and the the negative attention now surrounding how PlayStation handled the long delay (by not really dealing with it at all) has reminded me how much time I actually waste waiting around for the store to load, especially every Tuesday.
Today I timed how long it actually took for the store to load, from hitting “X” on the store button to when images appeared on the screen. It was a pretty long time.
Well, I don’t want to waste my time, and I know you don’t want to waste yours, so I’ve complied a helpful list of things you can do while waiting 1:04 for the store to let you look at it. You might even be able to get a couple of these done if you’re swift/ have crappy internet.
1. Make a cup of coffee.
2. Plug your controllers in to charge.
3. Fiddle with your headset and TV settings.
4. Go to the bathroom.
5. Call a friend and invite him over to play a game you will eventually purchase from the Playstation Store.
6. Check Twitter/ Facebook/ Tumblr/ Reddit.
7. Check Sonyrumors.net
8. Make a sandwich.
9. Make someone else a sandwich.
10. Set up your Twitch stream.
11. Clean your room.
12. Make up a dance move.
13. Order something off the internet.
14. Argue with someone on the internet.
15. Change into more comfortable pants.
16. Check on that game you have on your phone you play when you’re bored that’s pretty much Diner Dash (or IS Diner Dash).
17. Pay some bills.
18. Add things to your Netflix instant queue (obviously not on your PlayStation).
19. Watch a YouTube video.
20. Throw out all the garbage in your wallet/ purse/ backpack.
21. Research next-gen PlayStation 4/ XBox 720 rumors.
22. Make a game preorder list.
23. Lysol those dirty, dirty controllers.
24. Alphabetize your game collection.
25. Check out thegeekmates.com for cool things. (: D)
you might have to wait to try them out though.
This is one aspect of the PlayStation system I really hope gets addressed in the upcoming PlayStation 4. With the heavy focus on connectivity, the cloud and the digital medium of the future, Sony needs to get its act together so the store is something people want to access, and don’t consistently have issues with. The wait time is insane, not to mention the extended maintenance times, lack of day 1 digital games being available at midnight when physical copies are, and the utter confusion you face trying to find out what DLC came out last month for the games you play.
Discuss:
What do you think about the current state of the PlayStation Store? Does it deter you from purchasing digital copies and send you to the stores? What would you change? Let me know in the comments below!