It's confusing and lacks consistency.  For example, I own eight titles through PSN, seven of which only work on ps3 and one of which only works on PSP, yet they all show up under the same section.  Then there's the lack of distinction between what PC games we've bought via retail or download, which is odd considering there's separate sections for PSN/WW/XBL.

There's got to be a way to make this work better.

At first I thought we should simply add all titles under whatever platform they're designed for, thus PSN titles would be reorganized under either PS3 or PSP, XBL titles under 360, and so on, much like the way we organize PC games at the moment.  However, this brings to light the issue of titles like PS1 Classics, which work on both PS3 and PSP, and will presumably work on all devices supporting the PSN in the future.  They're truly PSN titles, as that is the base platform for which they are designed.

So I came up with something else.  In the case of PSN/VC//WW/XBL titles, I was thinking we could include a checkbox when adding/editing a game in the database, specifying which hardware platforms a game is designed for.  For a game like Flower, we'd select PS3.  For a game like Patchwork Heroes, we'd select PSP.  For a game like Metal Gear Solid, we'd select both.  More checkboxes could be added as new hardware is released.

Then we could change the organizational structure of a person's game collection so that all downloadable titles appear under whatever hardware they're compatible with, and only actual hardware platforms would be selectable via the left hand menu.    For example, only PS3 and PSP would appear as selectable options in your collection, as opposed to PS3, PSP, and PSN, and when you'd select either PS3 or PSP, games would appear in two sections as follows:

PS3 games:

*insert retail PS3 games here*

PSN games:

*insert PS3 compatible PSN games here*

And the same for PSP.  We could then keep PC titles organized as they are.

So far this seems to be an issue primarily with PSN titles, as that is the only downloadable service that currently spans two distinct hardware platforms, but this will also become an issue with the other services as new hardware is released.   A system such as this would solve any issues with PSN titles and preempt any issues with future hardware releases.

Thoughts?

Sounds like a good idea, but I think the overall display of the collection needs more work. I really don't like the way they are displayed now, so I think there are higher priorities than the display of downloadable games (like the return of customisable boxarts!)

I'm not sure I get you.  My downloaded PSP titles are in a PSP section.  My downloaded PS3 titles are in the PSN section.  My XBL games are in an Xbox Live section.  The only thing that I've seen wrong was that I logged the PSN version of some games as the PS1 version (but I think I've already fixed this).  Give me an example of which games you're talking about.

*looks at collection*

Okay.  NOW I see what you're talking about.  It's pretty jacked up.  And I didn't correct my PSN/PS1 downloads, either.

*looks at piles of games which he hasn't added yet*

...I'm to lazy for that! don't make me do extra stuff!

*shakes fist*