While it’s traditionally Japan, Sony’s home turf, that gets things first, this time around, it’s been the West that’s enjoyed the earlier arrival date. Five months ago, Sony launched SEN (Sony Entertainment Network) and the PlayStation Store in one web portal which encompasses music, movies, and games. The idea is to begin expanding beyond ownership of content for singular devices. Purchased content from the store can then be redownloaded and accesses by different devices like the PS3, PS Vita, and their mobile fleet of tablets and smartphones. The web portal is also designed to make purchasing and discovery of content easier by allowing users to purchase their media of choice when away from say the PS3 and then simply visiting the download center on the game console to start the download process once home. In fact, come PS4 time, Sony will be expanding this web portal to iOS (iPhone, iPad) and Android via a native app which will make discovery of content a breeze. Even better is that the PS4 will automatically begin the downloading of your purchased content, reducing the time between your purchase and enjoyment of the content.

Now, after five months of availability in the US, Japan is finally getting their first taste of the SEN web portal. Functionality of the store will be similar to that of the US website though in Japanese. If you haven’t heard of this service for the West before, don’t be too shocked as despite it being available for some time, Sony has done little to educate consumers about its existence. With the arrival of the PS4, maybe this will change.

Discuss:

Do you find the existence of a web portal which makes discovery and purchase of content easier useful or do you find yourself browsing on the given device anyways?

[Via Sony]