We’re excited and immensely proud to announce that PlayStation Universe has re-launched today into a beta phase with a brand-new look and a responsive design, making PSU easier to read, enjoy, and navigate via mobile, tablet and PC.
What you see today is a far cry from the old site which has existed with a design that has barely changed since 2006. With this new look we want to ensure readers can access content easily, move smoothly around the site and have more articles and media to choose from on the homepage without overcrowding the screen. Gone is the bug-filled site of old to be replaced with a fresh new look that we hope will propel us forward as we enter a new and exciting era of PlayStation gaming.
Wave goodbye to the old PlayStation Universe
We’ve listened to community feedback: a focus group has directed our efforts over many hours working toward this portal for all things PlayStation, a hub for passionate gamers that’s both pleasing on the eye and gives the core PlayStation audience everything they need. But this is just the beginning. We plan to raise PSU to even greater heights with the launch of new forum software and the continued development of engaging features to keep you, our loyal readers and PlayStation devotees, entertained and informed for many years to come.
Say hello to the new PlayStation Universe
I’d like to personally thank everyone at PSU who has made this possible. From Chris and Aaron in IT and Matt in Design to Glenn and the entire editorial team for their inspiration throughout the project, the new PSU would not have been possible without a talented group of gamers ready and willing to reach higher.
The biggest thanks however is reserved for our fantastic community. Without you, the world we’ve built at PlayStation Universe is meaningless. Your hunger for all things PlayStation drives us to do better.
With so many changes made, we’d like to walk you through some of the new features and changes in order to make the transition to the new PlayStation Universe as smooth as possible.
Steven Williamson – General Manager
THE NEW PSU
Login
The login system has been overhauled so that users only need to log in once, either via the homepage or the community forums. Moving between any page on PSU will keep you logged in. Longtime visitors will remember we had an issue with the previous site where moving between pages would log you out and you’d need to sign back in. That is no longer the case. Registering and logging into PSU ensures that you can fully take part in our community section, though commenting on articles is handled via the popular Disqus commenting system.
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The Menu Bar
If you want a quick glance at the latest content without searching around, simply click on the WHAT’S NEW dropdown. Here, you’ll see our very latest headlines alongside the most recent reviews, previews, features, videos and podcasts.
You can also filter the site by type of editorial content. Click on the ARTICLES dropdown and select either news, reviews, features and previews.
You can filter by media (themes, videos, wallpapers and screenshots) by hovering over the MEDIA dropdown.
Finally, you can access our busy community forums via the COMMUNITY link.
The Carousel
The previous site’s outdated flash console has been replaced by a much larger Carousel, which delivers our biggest stories with more impact and high-resolution images of our hottest content. The Carousel rotates between four different articles; however, you can click on the smaller images down the right-hand side to access the content more quickly.
Below the Carousel
You will now see three buttons.
The PSN/SEN button allows you to filter articles on the homepage that directly relate to PSN, like stories about digital releases, sales, and PlayStation Plus weekly updates.
The Trophy button allows you to access our brand new Trophy hub where you can see the latest PSN trophies for PS4, PS3 and PS Vita games. We’re delighted to announce that PSU has teamed up with TrueTrophies to bring you better Trophy lists than we were ever able to accomplish on our own. Whenever a Trophy list is available, we’ll have it, and our PlayStation Universe is more complete for it.
The Podcast button will take you to our podcast page. PSU hosts two weekly shows, PlayStation Unchained and RDGH. Please continue to support our efforts with feedback aimed at helping us do better! We love to hear from listeners.
How We Display Editorial Content
The new look and theme is exciting for us. Now, you can see and access more content on the homepage, giving you more choice over what you want to read. Articles are colour-coded so you can differentiate between news, reviews, previews, and more, and you can filter by your favourite platform to display only PS4, PS4 or PS Vita news. We’ve used icons of the DualShock 4, DualShock 3 and PS Vita to represent the platforms relevant to each story. You’ll also see a comment speech bubble–a quick link to commenting on the article via DISQUS.
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Latest Videos
On the right-hand side of our news feed, you can watch the latest videos that are taken directly from our PSUtube channel. When you click the video, you will be able to view the video directly on the site in our video player. We’ll have every PlayStation-related trailer and exclusive content that you’ll only find on PSUtube.
Hot Articles
Want to see what’s popular in the world of PlayStation right now? Check out the hottest articles. This is a new feature that makes it easier for you to access the most-read articles on PSU over the last seven days.
Latest Reviews
You can see the scores for our five latest reviews and click on each to read the full review.
Social Media Links
PSU has thriving social media channels. Our PSUtube channel has recently relaunched and is already gaining popularity with all the latest videos from the world of PlayStation. We have 15.5K Twitter followers, over 10K Likes on Facebook, and a Twitch channel (PSULive) where we regularly stream the latest games.
Upcoming Games, At a Glance
Want to know what’s coming up on PS4, PS3 and PS Vita? This feature gives you a quick glimpse at the next three months ahead so you can prepare your PlayStation journey in advance.
Community Portal
This is an improved feature. We wanted to bring our community to the forefront by giving them a space on the homepage that displays some of the engaging discussions that happen in our forums. From here, you can simply click on anything that takes your fancy and join in the debates.
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OTHER ITEMS TO NOTE
Upcoming Games
We now have an UPCOMING GAMES portal. This is your one-stop shop for every PlayStation game that has a confirmed release date. We’ll be updating this section on a daily basis to ensure it’s as accurate as possible, so it’s well-worth bookmarking. We now have a brand new database manager assigned to making sure that you won’t miss an important PlayStation game launch day.
Reviews
The layout for reviews has changed. We aren’t displaying the score at the top, but if you just want to know the score immediately, you can click on the ‘Review Score’ graphic which will reveal it. You’ll also notice a GAME FACTS box. This actually appears on every article and allows you to access the GAME PAGE for that particular title, or games by that particular developer or publisher. You’ll also see the release date, so you know exactly when the game will land. The aim is to give you all the information you need about your favourite games.
Game Pages
Each game has its own hub where you can find everything you need to know, from the latest news and features to the screenshot gallery and latest videos.
Search Functionality
This has been completely overhauled. You’ll notice using the main search bar is now more responsive and accurate, allowing you to find the content you want–back through years and years of PlayStation Universe coverage–faster than ever.
Author Info and Filters
If you have a favourite writer on PSU, you can now view everything that person has written or posted by clicking on the name. New bios will tell you a bit more about that person, if you’re curious.
Thanks for continuing on this journey with PSU. Thanks to you we’re now bigger and better than ever. However, there’s still work ahead of us. We’ll be tweaking, adding features and improving on every aspect of the site as we march forward into this exciting generation for PlayStation.
It’s been a tough, but incredibly fun, journey getting here. We really hope the new PSU gives you what you need to enjoy the PlayStation content our team works tirelessly to produce. Please do test out the site and report back to us with any errors or feedback you may have via our dedicated support email . We’ll continue to improve and listen to your feedback. The site is currently in beta. We still have some cosmetic tweaks to make, but we’re confident it should function smoothly.