Ben-DutkaAnother piece of big news has dropped today, and it's the unveiling of firmware update 3.00 for the PlayStation 3.
This is a large update, peeps: the Information Board will be replaced with a "What's New" section, which will feature "interactive PlayStation news in a sleek new format." In the top right corner of the XMB you will soon find an indicator bar, which "displays your user icon, friend icon, the number of friends you have online and a small message icon to let you know if you have any new messages." This also comes with a scrolling ticker that lets you in on any recent updates from the Network. The Friends List will be "slightly redesigned," we can expect some handy-dandy PlayStation Store shortcuts, and there will be more customization options for your PS3 in the form of "dynamic custom themes and avatars." Lastly, there will be a significant alteration to the Trophies, and we'll just use the PlayStation Blog description to better assist you:
"Showcasing your hard earned trophies just got better. Update 3.00 gives game developers the ability to modify how they display trophies for add-on content. Base and add-on game trophies will continue to be combined into a single list so you can see where you stand in a game as a whole. Within that list, trophies will be broken out into subcategories—base trophies and add-on trophies—that way, you can easily view the percentage of your base game trophy collection, and separately track your trophy progress in add-on packs. Look for this enhancement to be included in upcoming games."
Along with the PS3 Slim, price cut, and various PSP Go announcements, this has been one hell of a day for the PlayStation brand. At this point, we figure they've got a ton of momentum heading into the crucial holiday season! Expect update 3.00 to be available "soon."
No backwards compatibility? Bummer.
TGS?
off topic but sunspider Altered Beast is my favorite game.
Ten why reply to this comment? im confused.
Custom avatars? :O
That would rock
Or at least more avatars
watched the video and they only said they were adding more, some for free and some you have to pay for
You can also take photos and use those as avatars as well, no?
@flutter:
no, because people like me would put a camera down their pants and have a disturbing avatar.
Yes the Trophies, Yes! I never gave a damn about that stuff, now am a trophies fan.
Maybe BC will come later…..
But yeah all that stuff is going to be amazing
Last edited by EddPm6 on 8/18/2009 2:48:26 PM
It could be something they're waiting to announce on the day of release for 3.0. Kinda like, Surprise! It could be hidden and the only way to find out is to insert a PS2 disc in. But who knows what's going on.
I think someone put too much faith in the rumors.
I just hope 3.0 fixes the effing browser. I had to reboot my PS3 4 times last night because of browser lock-up.
dynamic custom themes and avatars- can't wait for it.
The animated themes look good!
Its a great update! but it lacks the two things people always want.
Seriously.
Nice and slick, will be good to see how the dev's use the new features and the clock looks to be fixed 😀 yipee!!
badass
Maybe they are "saving" the BC update for TGS.
I mean if it is not ready now, but maybe around TGS will be. So better to release it then right?
The Sony higher-ups are still talking like it's not in their plans, despite the evidence of the patent. They need to learn the value of a coy answer, rather than trying to spin the current situation.
Sony must be on happy pills or something. They have announced so many things in the past 24 hours that will keep excited for ages. Is there any release date for this HUGE update.
One small step for games, one HUGE step for Playstation kind.
My guess is sometime September
When Eric Lempel says "We'll be getting this to you soon" (not a direct quote), they usually produce it within 24 hours.
Same time as the slim is my guess, but maybe sooner.
'soon' is too long to wait.
Actually, if I remember right … The PSBlog has said "soon" before and it has released that same night. So it will 'probably' be sooner than later.
Correction: Just read that it's planned for Sept 1st. Dunno how reliable it is, pretty sure it was on Joystiq so it's probably true.
No cross game voice chat… or party system.
Those are without a doubt the two most wanted features, but at least Sony is continuing to make strides with getting the feature set on par with Xbox Live. I'm sure those two features will come in time, but too much all at once and there could be issues like Live usually has with giant updates.
It looks great to me. I've heard some complaints about how the Store is now under a few more categories (Games and Video) but I buy so many PSN games that this might actually be easier (if they do it right) to just jump to the game section on the Store immediately. No video store in Canada though so I hope there isn't an icon there for me 😛 Love the rest of the new features too.
Could use some more PSN friends. Zemus101 add me if you're online often enough.
Animated themes FTW! I've actually wanted this since I first turned on my PS3 and saw the default theme with the wave thingy moving in the background. Question is how do people make a custom theme with animations? Is there going to be a new theme creator that can handle and do both standard and animated themes? This is quite interesting. … S3t3mb3r 1st… Play Slim. lol
No BC but damn is this a nice update! Is it live yet?
Agree. This is a really nice update. There are a lot of worth while things here.
Can't wait to download the dynamic LBP theme .
The LBP Theme is pretty cool, i looks forward to see foring what other ones are made.
One thing that does slightly bug me is the PS Store icon on all the XMB sections, like Video, it sort of gets in the way
Now all we need is the Video Store!
(Canada)
Looks like Sony is bringin' the heat with a new system, price drop, and a new firmware update.
Beauty sacrificed for a 45nm Cell Processor. It's like they intentionally tried to mimic the PS2 design from 2000. I'm disappointed. It was arguably the best looking console in the history of gaming.
I only wish for a firmware to download my cd ps1 games to the psp. I know u can do that, but can I trust an unknown software? If hackers can do it why sony refuses?
The PS3 just keeps getting better. Sony's good at making the saying " if it ain't broke don't fix it " not apply to them.
We're getting MORE avatars? Well the update sounds good and Sony delivers for the fans once again.
i wish sony would let us make our own avatars…:(
where is the b/c for the ps3 slim? all is great so far except this one last piece request for gamers. (not for me cuz i have the 80G MGS4 bundle with bc )
Last edited by BigBoss4ever on 8/18/2009 6:08:59 PM
Sony rep has flat out said "NO" to backwards compatibility:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/08/sony-answers-our-questions-about-the-new-playstation-3.ars
I'm guessing they'd rather have you buy ps2 titles on PSN. Again. This is why they're all gung-ho on user-upgradable hard drives…
Plus, PS2s are fully PS2 compatible 😉 and only $100 for a brand new one!
I just wish someone came out with an upscaler, that would plug between the PS2 and your television. This would benefit those that would like to still keep playing with the PS2 on an HDTV. Someone's gotta be working on that, I would think.
One problem with your theory, Nick: if the PS3 doesn't have emulation software running on it, you couldn't play those downloaded PS2 games, so the one requires the other.
@ fluffer
I'm pretty sure that those exist, but they probably won't be as good as your TV's upscaler, unless they're as expensive as a PS3.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 8/18/2009 6:56:17 PM
@Fane:
Sony would leave it up to developers to remix the games to play natively on PS3. Their (devs) investment hoping for a return. It just seems to me that Sony is continuing its open platform aproach with devs, unlike microsoft that forces devs to adhere to certain criteria such as custom soundtracks, in-game chat etc. Not that that would be a bad thing…
I'd love to give you an example of a ps2 game as a download currently available, but I haven't looked for one.. I'm all pure speculation and heresay.
The LBP theme looks amazing. I can not wait to see the Killzone, Uncharted, Gran Turismo themes.
With the avatars, about time! I can't wait!
Well thats all good and well but there is one thing i didnt hear that I wanted to hear. And that was text colour change.
Looking forward to the dynamic themes and I'm glad there will be separation of the trophies so one can tell which are for the original, add-ons, expansions, etc. So they say this will be coming "soon". That has such a broad meaning. Basterds.