I was away when the long overdue upgrade to the PlayStation Store went live.

I’ve long lamented on just how rubbish the SCEE version of the PlayStation Store looked compared to its contemporaries. Even the US version looked better (but not by much). As soon as I got in last night I went straight to the PS Store to check it out.

After a surprisingly small download (for Sony, anyway), the new PlayStation Store was unveiled to me. My first impression was that it looked very nice. The store front was dominated by huge picture of that grinning footballer from the cover of FIFA 13 elegantly drifting across the screen in a faux parallaxed 3D.

So far so good.

From a usability point-of-view, much like the way Microsoft is taking the Xbox 360 dashboard, Sony’s logic isn’t in synch with mine. Perhaps I am showing my age and I’m just not down with the kids. There still seems to be too much faffing around to get stuff. Why do all user interfaces have to look like they belong on a mobile phone?

Thankfully, PlayStation Plus saved the day giving me Resident Evil 5 Gold for free, so I can try shooting up zombies with move support. I see that PlayStation Plus subscribers can also get The Unfinished Swan a week early. Tempting, but I need another gaming distraction like I need a hole in the head at the moment.

You can find out more about the new PS Store here.