Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) today officially introduced a new, faster PLAYSTATION Store for PS3.

As part of the revamp, PLAYSTATION Store, previously a Web-based storefront, now lives natively as an application on the PS3 system, improving navigation speed. PS3 users can now more quickly shop, purchase and download PLAYSTATION Network games, demos, game videos, Blu-ray Disc (BD) movie trailers and other game-related content for PS3 system.

The revamped PLAYSTATION Store is available to users after they update their PS3 with the latest system software (Ver. 2.30), released today. It features twice as many primary shopping categories. These categories include "New Releases", "Downloadable Games", "View All By Title", "Add-Ons", "Demos", "Videos", "Themes & Wallpapers", and "Featured Items". Other improvements include a new "Preview" feature that enables customers to stream trailers and view screenshots of PLAYSTATION Network games before they buy, and the addition of a "shopping bag" icon next to purchased items to assist customers in tracking their purchases.

Through PLAYSTATION Store, accessible via the XMB (XrossMediaBar), PS3 owners can choose from nearly 900 pieces of content, including more than 70 downloadable games for PS3 and classic PS one titles, as well as game demos and videos, BD movie trailers, game themes, wallpapers, and more. Sony claims that in North America, there are more than 3.6 million registered PLAYSTATION Network accounts, and more than 66 million pieces of content have been downloaded from PLAYSTATION Store.