PSN Store Update: 27/04/11 – The Missing Week

Today sees the most sparse PSN Store Update for years. There aren’t any PS3 demos, the PSP Essentials are unchanged and there isn’t even a premium theme to buy for £1.99. Ordinarily, we’d wail and cry about the US Store Update being so much better but they didn’t get anything new either. Finally, region equality from SCE!

In fact, the only thing we got from Sony this week was an email to let us know they’d left the key under the mat and someone had strolled in and nicked their filing cabinet. I’ll be honest, that’s not as fun to play with as the latest LittleBigPlanet level pack.

So, what are we to do with this downtime when we can’t spend our hard earned cash on new digital distractions? Well, joking aside for a moment, it’s probably best you keep an eye out for someone else spending your hard earned cash with the details Sony may (or may not) have lost. We’re all doing that though, right? Good, then let’s talk about some alternatives.

You can’t connect to the store today and buy the latest pinball table or sticker pack. That’s a shame. You can get it in a few weeks instead. Today, you could start another play through of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves so that you’re all excited and receptive to the info and demonstrations that we’re all expecting at E3. Instead of adding to your rapidly filling hard drive, spend some time getting really excited about what’s on the horizon for PlayStation 3.

You’re missing out on that 20p avatar that would make your online presence roughly 3 percent cooler. Well, how about you press on with Motorstorm: Apocalypse and earn some trophies for when the PSN whirs back into life. An extra cabinet full of trophies is cooler than a new avatar anyway. I’ve heard reports that Motorstorm: Apocalypse is already being quite well discounted by certain retailers so if you don’t already own it, you might consider buying it for the exhilarating single player races.

You won’t be able to save a couple of pounds/dollars/euro/spacebucks on whatever slipped into the Special Offers section. Perhaps, instead, you could get yourself down to your local games store and see what they have in the bargain bin. I’ve seen Vanquish at some very low prices recently, that’s probably worth a punt. There’s even a thread in our forums for spotting great deals, you could trawl that for inspiration.

While you’re in our forums, why not start a high score leaderboard battle with some fellow TSA-ers? Just because the network is down, that’s no reason to stop showing your gaming prowess. Photograph high score boards and post to the forum, encourage others to beat your score and get some rivalry going! Get creative about how you play with others.

There won’t be any new demos or trailer videos to whet your appetite for upcoming games. We’re only just over a month away from E3 though, soon you’ll have more trailer videos than you know what to do with. I suggest you spend the time, not looking forward to the games you might enjoy in a few months time but looking back through your collection at the games you’ve already enjoyed. The release schedule over the past year has been relentless and included a large number of fantastic PlayStation exclusive games which you might not have had the chance to get everything out of before you moved on to the next big blockbuster title. Why not return to them and remind yourself what was fantastic about them.

Today is the first day in a long time that there hasn’t been at least something delivered during the regular Store Update schedule. That’s not ideal and the network being down is quite an inconvenience. But we can still enjoy so much about the platform while we wait for the online functionality to come back on.

I encourage you all to take steps to make sure your data is as safe as it can be. Use different passwords, don’t store credit card details online, keep an eye on card transactions and shred anything with your name and address on it before you put it in the recycling bins. But once that’s all being done, there’s no excuse for wallowing in the current situation: PlayStation is still an amazing way to play and there’s plenty you can do that doesn’t require online connectivity or a Store Update every week. Get creative and let us know how you’re spending the down time!