Are you a slightly obsessive compulsive freak like I am? Do you like things to be exactly the same, in line with each other and in alphabetical order? If you said yes to any of these questions, then firmware 3.00 is for you!
Sony Corp. I feel is slightly OCD. They can’t leave anything alone until everyone is on the same page and happy. This is a good thing though, annoying at first, but a good thing. Where am I going with this? Why is the title of this article completely different than the text within? Well, it’s because I have to get you completely confused first, and then explain myself later.
Hit the jump for more »
There’s a new firmware out today for your PS3, bringing the system to v2.36. This is NOT the big one. This just provides some stability with PS3 titles. In essence, it makes it work better. The big news, however, is that Sony officially confirmed v2.40 coming “soon” with both in-game XMB and Trophies.
Details are coming soon, so we’ll just have to continue to speculate about the Trophy system and how it will all work. I’m sure Sony will be letting everyone know very soon. I’d estimate another 2-4 weeks before we see this firmware update. They wouldn’t have released v2.36 now if they planned on releases v2.40 really soon. We’ll keep you posted as we get more details.
Everyone’s most anticipated PS3 update is coming this summer according to SCEE executive Ray Maguire. Speaking with MCV on the topic of PlayStation success, Ray had this to say:
Our momentum will continue with the introduction of in-game communication in the summer, firmware update 2.4 and the strongest line-up of games through our third party partners and our own studios. I’d personally like to thank our trade and business partners for helping us on the start of the PS3 journey.
Got that folks? In-game XMB and possibly a few other features are coming this summer with firmware update 2.4. Hopefully they mean early summer and not late August.
Sony has confirmed that we will not be seeing any announcements for in-game XMB or Home at GDC. A comment on PlayStation.Blog asked: “Please either confirm or debunk the ingame XMB/HOME/Achievements coming VERY soon rumours !!” Jeff Rubenstein, Social Media Manager at Sony, had this to say in response:
If by “VERY soon” you mean this week – debunked.
I see the same rumors, and they’re just that – rumors. Literally 95% of what I’ve read this week is just groundless speculation. But hey, that’s the game biz.
There you have it. We’re going to have to wait a little bit longer to pull up that elusive XMB during gameplay. And Home is just around the corner, but isn’t ready for the prime time just yet. Patience friends, patience.
Sony knows you want in-game XMB on your PS3. Enough so that they made a joke about it at GDC. Check out the shirts they’re giving out.
Now, personally I think they wouldn’t be doing this unless there’s announcement of this feature coming soon. I’m not saying it’s coming at GDC, but in the next month or so I’d bet we get a firmware update that enables in-game XMB access.
[image via Frag Cast]
Somebody made an oopsy over at Sony. A new PSN page with Home details, among other things, went live in the US PlayStation website quickly before being removed. Thankfully, an asute NeoGAF’er grabbed some screenshots for all to see. The biggest update? Here’s what was listed under Friends & Messaging:
Talk to others during game play, say hello anytime you’re online, or have a video chat with an Eye camera; USB Camera or headset.
Notice the parts “during game play” and “anytime you’re online.” Those seem to be some deliberate phrases there. Was this meant to go up next week during GDC? Will Sony be announcing an firmware update next week? Only time will tell, and we’ll keep you posted. But here’s hoping for this feature real soon. I would love in-game messaging, cross-game invites, and a unified friends list in one spot.
[via NeoGAF]
Sony has confirmed what I had initially thought. Those in-game XMB screens we saw are fake.
“The XMB images are fake,” Sony told [CVG], adding: “There are no firmware updates planned for January.”
Looks like we’ll have to wait a bit longer for this much anticipated feature. Patience young jedi. Patience.
[via CVG]
According to a tipster over at Triple Tags, we might be seeing in-game XMB access on the PS3 this month. Check out the screenshot they received of the XMB running over top Resistance.
There’s a few things here that throw up red flags for me. First, it’s blurry as all hell. It’s not that hard to take a picture of your HDTV with a picture on it. You would think this person could have done a bit better. Could be Photoshopped. Second, where is the PlayStation Network icon? Granted, Sony may not have included it yet in this build or it could be removed from the in-game portion of the XMB. But it just seems a bit fishy.
We know it’s definitely coming, and the sooner the better. But I’m leaning towards shenanigans on this one. Until I see some video and/or better screenshots, I’ll wait until we hear word from Sony.
[via Triple Tags]
This week’s PlayStation Store update brought two unannounced additions. With High Velocity Bowling, gamers can use custom soundtracks using any songs ripped to the console’s hard drive. And with the Timeshift demo, users can pull up the XMB to access in-game messaging. Wow. Two HUGE features that have users have been begging for just dropped in our laps with these updates. Nice early Christmas present from Sony!
However, this does beg the question: are these features something that needs to be implemented on a game-by-game basis by the developers, or could this be a global thing controlled by the XMB? I personally believe this is now globally available in the XMB. In the last SDK update, Sony released these types of features to developers. However, the developer must implement the code into the game. In the case of custom soundtracks, this isn’t really that bad. But for in-game messaging, I sincerely hope Sony implements this across the board. Every game should have this option. In my opinion, it’s the one real glaring advantage Xbox Live has over the PlayStation Network. Being able to message your friends and send invites across different games is huge. We’ll see how this plays out over the coming months with new game releases…
Sony released the new firmware update for PS3 today, bringing it up to v2.01. The new update provides stability enhancements for PS3 titles and the XMB.
- Stability during playing some PLAYSTATION 3 format software has been improved.
- Stability of System Software including Internet Browser and Information Board has been improved.
- Stability of the upscaler for PlayStation 2 format software has been improved. (Playability of PlayStation 2 depends on model)
- [Remote Start] feature is changed to avoid unintended power on.
I haven’t experienced any issues with Assassin’s Creed after the update, but then again I didn’t with v2.00 either. I have the Information Board turned off regardless.
Now here’s where things get tricky. Reports are coming in from the intarnets that the new firmware update breaks online play for Call of Duty 4. Ruh Roh. There’s no way to confirm this right now, as the CoD4 servers have been flaky anyway. We’re working to try to find any more information about this issue.
[Update] Activision / Infinity Ward has resolved all the issues with CoD4. It was things going wrong on the server end and had nothing to do with the firmware update. Take off your tin foil hats and resume online gaming.
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