In the pursuit of science, I spent a while today getting to know the latest PS3 firmware update. Some of the biggest criticisms have been addressed, while a few others still remain. If you don’t know what this firmware brings, shame on you. But I’ll tell you anyway.

First off, in-game XMB works as you would expect. Checking and sending messages, viewing what friends are up to, changing some settings, it all works great. There are some features that don’t work, such as changing your video settings, which is understandable. Two areas I hoped would make it, but should be slated for a future release are cross-game invites and private voice-chat in-game. Another minor feature is the addition of the date and time in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Good idea, bad placement. You see, whenever you hit the PS button to bring up the XMB, the clock is covered up by the controller battery status. When in the XMB with a dark wallpaper, it’s tough to see either. Hopefully Sony includes an option to disable the clock or move it in a future firmware update. Custom soundtracks are there, but currently no games support this feature through the XMB just yet (some games support it in-game, like PAIN).

Unannounced, the PlayStation Store got a minor, but very nice upgrade as well. Images now cache on the server and console, meaning there’s no long delay in getting images to load when you fire up the PlayStation Store. Sony also added a new View Mode button mapped to the Square button while lets you change between the previous (standard) thumbnail view or a new list view, which works very nice). Gotta love having options.

That brings me to the last, and some say biggest update in v2.40: Trophies. For those of you who like to whore yourselves out with points, here’s your chance. The new gamercard viewing when you select a friend and the Trophy collection is all done very well. I have to say, I’m a big fan of how Sony has it broken into Bronze, Silver, and Gold Trophies with no points attached. I don’t think you’ll be seeing a Bronze Trophy for beating Through the Fire and Flames on Expert (why is that only worth 15 Gamerscore Points, anyway?). Platinum Trophies are reserved for large-scale games (disc based and larger downloadable titles like Warhawk) and are only unlocked when you get every trophy in the game. Accumulating Trophies will add to your level, turning your gaming into a real-life RPG. Pretty cool. You can see your progress for moving to the next level in your gamercard. Unlocking a Trophy gives a pop-up, similar to receiving a message, with the Trophy icon and what you unlocked. You also get a little bell sound, but in the time spent with Super Stardust HD to see what happens when you unlock a Trophy, I couldn’t hear it too well. Chalk it up to things exploding all around me.

Overall, it’s a huge update that has been sorely needed for the PS3. With every new firmware, Sony is doing a good job of expanding the capabilities of the PS3 and PlayStation Network. While there will certainly be people complaining that Sony didn’t add enough, you can’t logically expect them to make so many radical changes in one update. Firmware 2.4 is step one of Sony’s plan (we’ve heard three steps) in updating the PS3 to make the user experience that much better. Good job and keep it up!