Leaked pictures last week turned out to be true. In an effort to not be left out in the cold, the PS3 is getting Facebook integration “soon.” Sony posted a little walk-through of firmware v3.10 last night. Still no cross-game voice chat. And for fuck’s sake, Sony, can we please get auto synchronization for Trophies? Anyway, how do you all feel about the update?
With the launch of the PSP Go today, Sony has gone ahead and release firmware v6.10 for the system. Whether you’re rocking the old school PSP or the new PSP Go, fire up your internet connection and grab the new firmware. Most notably, you’ll be able to tether your cell phone to your PSP Go with Bluetooth to get internet access when you can’t find a WiFi connection. Pretty cool, as long as you pay extra for a tethering plan or have a phone that supports it (sorry US iPhone users at the moment).
Media Go, the PC based application which allows you to access the PlayStation Store and sync music, movies, and photos to your PSP is being updated as well. An all new interface is being added to make it easier to browse all the goods to download. Since Sony is promising and explosion of content for the PSP Go, being able to browse easily is key. Now if only they’d release this for the Mac…
Lastly, Sony is introducing SensMe channels which scan all music added via Media Go to and put them into one of 12 categories (such as “Relax” or “Newly Added”). Some people may find it worthwhile, but I don’t see myself using SensMe on my PSP.
Sony released a new PS3 firmware update today which fixes bugs introduced in the big 3.0 update, bringing the system to v3.01. The biggest fix is the crashes that were occurring every 30 seconds in Uncharted.
Fire up your PS3 and get the latest firmware… again. I’m happy that I’ll be able to play through the first Uncharted now one more time before Uncharted 2 drops on us very soon.
Make sure to note that this is not a mandatory firmware update. You won’t be prevented from signing in to the PSN, download from the PlayStation Store, or doing whatever it is you do online. I’d still suggest downloading the update.
Sony today released firmware v6.0 for the PSP. Not many major new features, but one unadvertised change makes upgrading your portable firmware much easier. You no longer need to fully charge your PSP and have it plugged in to update the firmware. It’s about time.
There have been an absurd amount of times where I’ve wanted to play a PSP game only to be required to update the firmware first. I’d have to put my PSP down for an hour or two to fully charge before being able to run the update. Thankfully, that’s a thing of the past.
Other changes in the firmware include more colors available under Theme Settings, renaming “Network Update” to “System Update”, and various security patches. You can also group game content by expiration date, which drops hints at possible rental titles coming soon on the PlayStation Network. We’ll see how that pans out.
I discovered one of the lesser known features of the PS3 firmware update v3.0 today while setting up my new PS3 Slim. While re-downloading all of my PSN games and content, I noticed that I was queuing up an unusually large amount of data. Upon inspecting the Download Management section, I found that I had 29 items in the download queue. That’s a lot more than was previously allowed.
The last time I downloaded such a large amount of data was a few months back when I hit the wall at 15 items in the download queue. Now with firmware 3.0, you can queue up metric tons of content from the PSN and let your PS3 download them for days on end. Not the coolest of features, but it’s a nice touch.
Check back tomorrow as I detail my full switch from my launch 60GB PS3 to the new PS3 Slim.
It seems that every couple weeks, Sony is releasing a new firmware for either the PSP or the PS3. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if the process wasn’t so tedious. I hope you’ve scheduled in an extra 10-20 minutes in your gaming day for updating your PS3 firmware if you have any intentions of playing online. The new v2.80 update is out today.
Yet again, this update doesn’t do anything except improve the “playback quality of some PLAYSTATION 3 format software.” That’s the same thing they say every time.
Maybe we can hold off on these updates a bit and roll out one a quarter or twice a year? Just saying, it would be a bit easier.
Sony is dropping a new firmware update for the PSP tomorrow, bringing the system to v5.50. What’s new? Nothing that means anything to your portable gaming. Here’s the changes that are coming:
While being able to control what you’re kids are doing online is good for parents, what does this really bring to gamers? I’m not going to jump through the necessary hoops of connecting to my wireless at home just to view the Information Board when it would take half the time to fire up my web browser or even my PS3. And the sub-folders on the memory stick aren’t going to simplify things much more from what they already are.
If you want to get online with your PSP, you’ll need the update. Make sure your battery is fully charged before you attempt this, since it’s required to install the firmware update.
The next time you sign into Xbox Live, you are going to have to download the latest system update. There is nothing new here, just some behind the scenes work on fixing some connection issues to a few games. It’ll take all of 5 minutes. Its mandatory, so this is more of a heads up than anything.
There were high hopes for firmware v2.70 for the PS3. Sadly, almost none of those features have made the cut as Sony announced the official release of firmware v2.70. Here’s all you’ll get:
- Text chat with up to 15 friends
Friends list on the XMB (XrossMediaBar)
- Sort your friends via their online status
- Attach larger files to the messages you send to your friends (file size will increase from 1MB to 3MB)
Video delivery service on PlayStation Store
- Video files you’ve purchased from the PlayStation Store can be backed up to an external storage device and then restored to PS3’s internal hard drive for playback – so you can clear up space on your hard drive and then restore the video anytime in the future
- Videos you’ve purchased for PSP (PlayStation Portable) system can now be transferred to PS3 for playback
Not that big a deal. I was hoping for more, but I guess we’ll have to wait. Maybe Sony will announce a huge v3.0 update for E3 that will blow the doors off this bitch. Maybe? No?
We’re taking this one with a gigantic grain of salt, but it sounded fairly interested so we figured we’d share. A user on the GameTrailers forums says he has a friend in R&D at Sony and this friend shared with him all the stuff coming in firmware 2.7 for the PS3. Here’s the feature list:
Friends List:
- Voice Messaging is now available as an alternative to text after selecting a user on the friends list. Voice message recordings are capped at 30 seconds.
- Home Integration: Saved Playstation Home avatar photos can be selected as photo ID for Gamer Card/Friends List.
- Trophy number and Gamer Level are listed under Friend names for quick reference.Gamer Card & Trophies:
- Gamer Card layout has been changed to more closely resemble the Playstation Store aesthetic.
- Past Trophy information can be viewed in detail by selecting “Recent Trophy History” option.
- Newly aquired trophies auto-sync in the background
- Server infrastructure for Trophies has been optimized. Resulting in faster retrieval time for Gamer Card and Trophy information.In-Game XMB:
- Loading time for In-Game XMB has been drastically reduced, resulting in a more seemless in-game experience.
- “Theme settings” options while in-game is now available, allowing custom themes to be applied to the In-Game XMB.
- Internet Browser can now be accessed while in-game.
- Voice messaging and voice chat options can be used while in-game.
- Options that cannot be used in the XMB during game sessions are grayed out (but still selectable) to eliminate user accessibility confusion.Misc:
- Other slight UI tweaks and enhancements.
Not anything overly crazy, so it’s definitely plausible. Having the Internet Browser available in-game does seem a bit of a wish, though, due to bandwidth issues. We’ll see what happens. Sony isn’t commenting on this rumor, as usual.
Coming Soon!
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