Sony Demonstrate PS3 Firmware 2.40 Features

[Hermiod]

In a video on their site.

In game XMB looks smart to me, perhaps a bit better than the 360's offering though there's no sign of cross-game invites yet.

No proper demonstration of trophies yet, but as long as you are able to make them private or turn them off I'll be happy.

 

[unimatrix7]

I can't recall ever thinking I need an in-game XMB.

 

[Hermiod]

^Get a message from a friend and then see. You have to quit the game to read it.

As the guy in the video shows, you would also otherwise need to quit the game to set up a bluetooth headset etc as well.

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah, it's useful. Problem is, I have no PS3 friends.
I think the trophy system is a bust, since people can copy saves around. They've started to lock save files to the console, but for most games it hasn't happened. Case in point, downloading a save for MGS4 so you don't have to bother doing Big Boss Extreme difficulty yourself.

 

[Rincewiend]

Video 2...
http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/06/30/trophy-video/

 

[Hermiod]

^2.40 is out July 2nd, Wednesday!

As I don't particularly want people to see which games I've bought or how far I've gotten with them, there had better be an option to turn this off or make it private or I'll just leave my PS3 signed out of PSN until there is.

 

[Sheep]

I'm with firehawk12--no PS3 friends yet considering the only games I own are Uncharted, Ratchet, Pixeljunk Monsters, SSHD and Flow--all games that can't be played online.

It's nice to see them finally introduce this functionality, but considering the equivalent of in-game XMB was included in the PSP from day 1, leaving it out of the PS3 seems simply idiotic. Granted, the PSP's version was simpler and didn't contain a friends list or messaging, but you'd think Sony's programmers would've built on what they started with the PSP beyond asthetics or at the very least ripped off some of Xbox Live's functionality.

 

[firehawk12]

Wow, so 2.4 is actually coming before E3?

Anyhoo, I'm thinking they actually wanted to release these features with Home, but Home got pushed back so much that they just had to put this out now.

 

[Hermiod]

The new firmware is now out.

Can anyone who downloads it let me know if it's possible to make your trophies and you profile private please ?

 

[Hermiod]

I expected a bit more quality control from Sony. Lots of reports all over the Internet of 60gb PS3's being bricked by this, especially in Europe. Stories are all the same, they get to the wavy lines after the restart and refuse to go any further. Then, when you power off it just gives you a blank screen.

 

[jeff lebowski]

Yeah, it's useful. Problem is, I have no PS3 friends.
I think the trophy system is a bust, since people can copy saves around. They've started to lock save files to the console, but for most games it hasn't happened. Case in point, downloading a save for MGS4 so you don't have to bother doing Big Boss Extreme difficulty yourself.

I thought Sony said everyone will have to start from scratch and you won't be able to add trophies that way.

Everyone starts at the same level.

I expected a bit more quality control from Sony. Lots of reports all over the Internet of 60gb PS3's being bricked by this, especially in Europe. Stories are all the same, they get to the wavy lines after the restart and refuse to go any further. Then, when you power off it just gives you a blank screen.

I have a 60GB and no troubles at all.

I have 4 trophies from SSHD that I had to earn again. My saves didn't give me trophies off the bat.

 

[Rincewiend]

No problems here either...
I actually upgraded my HD a couple of weeks ago from 60 to 320 GB...
Listening to mp3's while playing RR7 or GRID doesn't work, probably is something that needs to be implemented per game/patch...

 

[Hermiod]

I took a risk and it worked. Phew.

 

[firehawk12]

Guh. The trophies are not retroactive? I would be PISSED if I did a full run of games like Uncharted and found out that I had to do all that again.

I'm also afraid to update the FW now. My poor PS3.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Well i gave this a whirl this morning, still no in game music yet and the trophy system is still only on a very select few games at this time, but on a plus i could send a ingame message to somebody.....anybody.....if only i had some PS3 freinds....

Looks like this is update is just the basic foundations for later updates.

And i must admit that when the ingame XMB becomes fully functional and the trophies become standard and we see gamercard type profiles, i will find it very hard to justify renewing my gold XBlive account next March when i am getting all that stuff on the PS3 for nothing..................its going to be a very interesting 12 months, i wonder how XBlive will counter all this.

 

[Rincewiend]

Well i gave this a whirl this morning, still no in game music yet and the trophy system is still only on a very select few games at this time, but on a plus i could send a ingame message to somebody.....anybody.....if only i had some PS3 freinds....

Looks like this is update is just the basic foundations for later updates.

And i must admit that when the ingame XMB becomes fully functional and the trophies become standard and we see gamercard type profiles, i will find it very hard to justify renewing my gold XBlive account next March when i am getting all that stuff on the PS3 for nothing..................its going to be a very interesting 12 months, i wonder how XBlive will counter all this.

Feel free to add me, same name as here: Rincewiend...

Oh:
http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/07/01/trophies-coming-to-burnout-paradise-soon/

Thanks to Phipps' response to the PlayStation Blog comments we now know that Burnout Paradise's trophies will work retroactively. This is thanks to the unique way that the game saves data via the PlayStation Network linked to your account. Don't expect this to be a common occurrence.

 

[Hermiod]

^The in-game music only works on titles that have been patched to support it, just like trophies.

Why ? Hilariously, it's because of Microsoft. Microsoft patented the way custom soundtracks work on the 360 (i.e. the console OS overriding the game and playing the music itself). Instead, the PS3 has to just tell the game where the music is and the game itself has to play the music. Otherwise they'd be violating Microsoft's patent.

 

[firehawk12]

Huh, figures. Although, I've never used that feature other than to listen to a podcast over the game music.

Oh, are we trading PSN names?

 

[Hermiod]

^Not unless Sony add the privacy features I want first.

 

[firehawk12]

But there's no real private information associated with an account, is there?