Warming up to PS3 and PSN, not PSP so much

This morning I was trying to decide which game to play. I figured I'd better finish off Crisis Core before I move on to full-fledged games. For those who don't know, Crisis Core is a single-button mashing slot machine game that pretends to be an RPG. But it is FF7-related, so it's almost a mandatory play.

Anyway, the sun was putting some nasty glare on my bedroom television, and the PSP's TV wire was too short for comfort. I thought maybe I could just play it through the PS3 in the basement on the big-screen TV instead.

It doesn't appear I can do that, unless I'm missing something. Sure, I can use remote play to do basic functions on the PS3, but it wouldn't let me play any demos or do anything useful. Figures. I even spent the ridiculous amount of time it takes to update the PS3 and my slim-PSP. Disappointing, but that's what I've come to expect from Sony. Good ideas, but poor execution...if executed at all.

However, this gave me an opportunity to check out the revised Playstation Store. The layout is much more aesthetically pleasing than the last time I checked it out (probably over 8 months ago). It loads faster than before, and the navigation doesn't leave me gritting teeth any more. And I'm about to get blasphemous: I like the presentation better than XBL at this point.

Now before anyone suggests that I'm switching sides, the improvements aren't enough. It's still substantially slower than XBLM. And there is far less content...probably a mere fraction available here. I'm not so sure this layout would work when the content gets excessive. We'll see. Microsoft is already geared up to adjust to high content levels so we'll see if they can return the tables.

And while the in-game XMB is finally here, it's still the XMB, and I hate it. It's not organized well under "Settings". Not to mention the process of changing any settings is highly irritating.

Overall though, I think I can start playing the PS3. I'm going to give Heavenly Sword a go (the demo is too short), and possibly Lair when the prices are $20 used. Although the trophy setup is here, I can't say that I'm going to play any multi-platform games on this system. I just prefer the Xbox when it comes down to the wire of gaming. To me, the gaming portion is a very fluid experience. Hopefully MS can recapture a positive shopping experience with the next update.