PlayStation network: the story so far.

It's been nearly two months since the PS3 came to European shores and although Sony promised UK gamers a 'wealth of game and video content' (so says the official UK PlayStation site), we've failed to see very much appear in the PlayStation store over the past six weeks or so. In terms of video content, all that's currently available are a bunch of adverts and trailers, most of which you'll have probably already caught on TV anyway. Sony's 'This Is Living' ad campaign is available in full but why you'd bother with repeat viewings we're not too sure. A selection of HD trailers for movies like Speed and X-Men 3 are all well and good, but they're all a bit, well, pointless. Why there aren't any current trailers for theatrical releases is a bit of a mystery as it would make perfect sense to make them available for free download on the PlayStation store. A missed opportunity if you ask us.

Then there's the game content, the real meat of the PlayStation store experience. We were told that we'd be able to download loads of free demos, full games including classics from PSone for the PSP and exclusively developed titles for download only, a la Geometry Wars on Xbox Live.
What have we got at the moment? A handful of downloadable games, the only truly essential one being flOw alongside a paltry selection of free demos, the majority of which are racing titles. The Shed doesn't want to sound like a spoilt child, but we want more!! (WAAAAAGH!!) Frankly, we expected more and a cursory glance at the US PlayStation store reveals some great retro games (Mortal Kombat II, Gauntlet II, and, erm, Q*Bert), classic PS one titles and more. It's still not nearly as much as there should be for a facility that's been online for almost the past six months! C'mon Sony! Get your fingers out!

Back on European soil and Genji players are well catered for with a triumvirate costumes and a set of Ridge Racer 7 decals make up the entirety of the available game add-ons. Wow.

It's easy for us, up on high in The Shed's solid gold and ivory citadel to diss Sony for their lack of content, but there is a lot of new stuff around the corner. David Jaffe's (of God Of War fame) Calling All Cars, Nucleus and additional content for Resistance and MotorStorm should fill out the anaemic array of items on display.

Hopefully, there'll be a whole raft of additional new content appearing on the PlayStation store in the near future, but we're not going to hold our breath.

The overiding triumph of the PlayStation network is its ease of use. In comparison to Xbox Live's front end, it's much less fussy and far easier to navigate. Most importantly though, it's free, which is always a plus. Then, wouldn't you prefer to pay if you had access to the depth of content offered by Microsoft's well-established, clearly superior service? It's an unfair comparison since the 360 has had a major head start over the PS3, but it's one that we'll make nevertheless. And when it comes to offering a glut of old skool thrills nothing can match the Wii's Virtual Console, which boasts Mega Drive, NES, SNES, N64, TurboGrafx and Neo Geo titles. Why isn't Sony doing the same thing?! There's easy money in retro games, surely? The Shed would go rabid for downloadable versions of Streets Of Rage II or Samurai Showdown. There's a vast, untapped goldmine of nostalgia just screaming to be exploited and there must be millions of gamers just like us who would pay to play old games, right?

PSN's saviour will obviously be the revolutionary Second Life inspired user hub, home which will offer a new and exciting way to communicate with fellow gamers, arrange online games and more. What's more. the exciting and innovative LittleBigPlanet is built entirely around user created content and along with home, PlayStation network will really come into its own. Until then, we'll have to be satisfied with playing Genji dressed as a pirate or a cowboy. Sigh. For now it looks like we'll have to accept that the PlayStation store will remain a barren wasteland for the time being. Let's just hope that home turns out to be as good as Sony claims because if it's as sparse as its store, expect users to lose interest fast. Don't say we didn't warn you, Sony.