Is your digital wallet burning a hole through your digital pants? It's hard to decide how to spend cash tied up in the PlayStation Store if you aren't privy to what else is available on the storefront, and that's an unconventional issue Sony is hoping to remedy with its next firmware update, which will add a "You May Like" section to the Store.
"You May Like" will work similar to how Amazon or iTunes recommendation engines do. You buy something and then the storefront shows you a list of other purchases owners of the content you purchased have bought as well. It's a simple idea that may help less-in-the-know people find sick games like Elefunk, Gravity Crash, or maybe even Flower.
As always, the firmware update is mandatory if you want to keep connecting to the PlayStation Network, and it's available now. But the recommendation feature, according to a PS blog post, won't be available immediately. Instead, it'll go live a bit later at the end of this month. On a side note, if you plan to play a game this week, you might want to get to updating the firmware now. You and I both know how much of a damper updates put on what could be a good time.
== TEASER ==Guiding people to their next purchase seems to be something of a focus at the moment, with Microsoft rolling out Destination Arcade, a new Xbox Live Arcade browser application, last week. It doesn't toss up recommendations, but it does allow you to sort by customer rankings--provided you care to wait for all the digital boxes to load.
It's weird. These platforms continue to grow and, as recourse, we get bite-sized clutter sorters. You have to figure an end-all UI swap is in the works for everyone. Browsing based on recommendations or even rankings is fine and all, but it's just not enough. There's too much out there already.