Anyway, I explained at every forum I posted at as to why PSN Cards are late, and there's kind of a good reason for it. The reasoning is (I'm going to try to keep this as simple as possible):
-MS, Nintendo, and Sony all designed their next gen consoles seperately. MS had plans for an XBL Marketpalce, Nintendo had plans to download old Nintendo games, but Sony didn't have plans for a downloadable store (other than the SingStar store, but that wasn't thought of until the game was in development and revealed at E3 06). This is kind of like how Sega, Sony, and Nintendo worked on their 32/64 bit consoles seperately, where Sega was planning on an ultimate 2D graphic console, Sony wanted to push 3D graphics with a CD format, while Nintendo wanted 3D graphics using a cartridge (companies don't exactly talk to one another during design phase).
-After seeing XBL Marketplace do well, and VC getting a lot of interests, Sony decides they should create a PS Store, but it wasn't thought of until shortly before PS3 launch. It's easy to know the PS Store was thought of at the last minute since it was web-based (looked rushed), way too few games coming early on and the ones that did were ports of PSP games, old Arcade games, and so on (Blast Factor was new, but developed in a short time). There were no third party demos and such since third parties were not setup to get their stuff on the store, due to putting it together at the last minute.
-MS and Nintendo, due to having their stores in mind at least 2-3 years ahead of Sony, there were able to setup a pre-paid card system back then and have it ready for launch. Sony just came up with the PS Store JUST before launch, and to create a pre-paid card system (with redeeming codes and so on) is NOT an overnight thing and SCEA had no such setup before. Creating a successfully pre-paid setup with redeeming cards take over a year to implement. SCEJ previously had a setup for some PSP service in 2005 or so. However, SCEJ, SCEA, SCEE do not work together on various things, where all regions have to come up with a pre-paid card setup, separately.
-Now that SCEA has it ready (never listen to a rep, they know no more than we do. Unless the person is actually issuing the cards to retailers, no one else would know), do you think they are going to test them at EVERY single major retailer early on? I don't think so. Why did MGO have a beta? To assure their servers could handle the people, which they couldn't, so they fixed it (there have been way too many games these days not properly tested, where people cannot play online or too many freezing issues). So SCEA basically decided to release a beta at a retailer in a few states (one that has people who aren't too technical, which is good, and Meijer does really good PS3 console sales due to their discounts at times). Since the cards needed to be activated at the register by swiping and so on, there may be an occassional employee that did not get the word to do that, causing a card to not be activated correctly, which is why it's important for SCEA to see if employees are using it right.
-So I heard Meijer got the PSN Card in, so I bought it (I was already buying PSN Content, but since I knew I'd be the first one to buy one, that's why I did). Did the first card I get work? Nope. I had to call PSN Support (they didn't even know PSN Cards were out really), and they told me my card must not have been activated right (In reality it was, but since I found out Meijer sold the cards too early, no cards were in SCEA system). I had to go back to Meijer, get another PSN Card (thankfully they let me get one, since Meijer told me most people, they would NOT allow them to return the card because it's easy to scam people out of them, but they KNOW who I was). The 2nd card did not work either, so I called PSN support, finally got up to someone towards the top of PSN, he investigated the problem, and we finally got it solved (the problem with my 2nd card is I had to remove cookies/cache on my PS3 and/or PC).
-Let's just say SCEA decided to release their cards at a larger scale retailer (like Best Buy, Target, etc.). Some retailers might have sold early, causing there to be several useless cards because SCEA's setup wasn't ready to activate cards before a street date. Stores won't let you return the cards (there is no way to return them since they are like giftcards/pre-paid phone cards), and SCEA won't do anything because stores sold before they were suppose to, so there could have been several people out of $20 and $50. Some might have had issues where their retailer did not activate the card correctly. Or even, let's say people got a new card, or tried another later on, and got an invalid card entry like I did. PSN Support would be flooded with calls. Instead of Brian (who I talked to, very nice guy too) dealing with just a few people, he'd have to deal with hundreds of people. Thankfully I got my cards working, but there seems to be a problem right now if the cache/cookies aren't cleared (saves previous information). It's good SCEA is finding this problem out now, so they can do a server upgrade or so on to avoid this problem. Or even, let's say if the PIN numbers were messed up on the cards, it would have been easier to recall them at a retailer in 5 states, compared to a retailer in 50 states and Canada. If people had to deal with what I did, there would be complete chaos all over the net, and thankfully I'm one of the few who did (since I'm one of the most patient people). Also, SCEA can see what problems people have (many of the problems I had, they weren't even sure how to handle, since I was one of the first ones testing them, but now they know possible issues).
-Right now, I do not know when PSN Cards will have more retailers, but all I can say is, they won't hit other retailers for at least another month, for a good reason. Despite getting mine to finally work. I'm not really sure I'll buy another one and whether I'll buy one for someone else, because you have to hope the retailer activates it right (I now understand if it is, since the receipt says "A" next to the price), hope the card doesn't come up as invalid, and hope PSN doesn't have an error (errors happen all the time on PSN regardless). I want them to at least get everything solved first, so I can buy multiple cards without worrying, and hope they revise their instructions (The PSN Cards don't even have any phone number to call about problems, only a URL that shows an agreement) and other possible important troubleshooting (like clearing cache/cookies). At least they can now see, whether they need to revise the PSN Cards (like put more information on them and maybe what to do if you run into problems), PSN support will be more familar what to do (by being told of the possible problems people had and what to do), assure retailers understand activating right, and get any network issues associated with the cards resolved. That is why PSN Cards are not at more retailers right now. I know many are upset and want them now, but would you rather take the chance on them losing $20 or $50 now, or would you rather wait for SCEA to at least get them working right so no one loses money. And like I tell people, if they so badly want pre-paid cards, they don't have to support PS3 (they can support 360 or Wii, I could careless since I'm a supporter of all platforms).
I apologize for the long message and whether there might have been a typos, confusing grammar errors (I make them all the time, lol), but I just wanted to give you (along with what I told many others) a reason as to why there are no PSN Cards yet on a more national scale. I was afraid I was going to be scammed out of $20 (not as bad as $60 someone scammed me out of by telling me to ship games to him and never paying me back, and his feedback was much higher than mine), but thankfully Meijer knows my family and I.
up everything they do and make their customers wait an eternity for things that should already be out.
