Sony's PS3: pre-buy, pre-download games

Unless you have a fast Internet connection, downloading games digitally from the PlayStation Network (PSN) can take forever. Sony is adding a new feature to PSN that'll let gamers pre-download unreleased titles in advance. If you've ever used Steam's pre-purchase and pre-load feature to download titles like Mass Effect 3, you'll be completely at home. In a nutshell, a new PS3 game such as Sorcery can purchased ahead of its release. You can then and start downloading the game to your console's hard drive. Don't think that means you can play the game early, though. The game will stay locked until the game's launch day arrives, in which it'll unlock and you can play it. The benefit to pre-downloading the game title is that you can space out the download to give your Internet connection enough time to grab the entire file, rather than attempt to download it in one go on the game's release day. It should lead to fewer frustrated gamers chucking controllers at the walls. On the other hand, just hitting up GameStop and buying a physical copy would make any downloading moot, but that's just another disc and plastic box hogging up space in your home. Go green and digital, baby! So far, the feature seems to be ready to go Europe's PSN. We imagine that an in-demand feature such as this should make its way to the North American PSN soon.