PS3 Firmware 3.0 coming September 1st. TOMORROW!
Basically, the PS3 3.0 firmware will be adding a New & Improved Information Board, Status Indicator, better Friends List, PlayStation Store Shortcuts, Personalization, and a trophy update. I’m not gonna get into what they all are. You can do that yourself, by using the google. It’s not hard. If you’re lazy, go here.
It souds like good news. First, Sony announces a price cut to $299 and releases a PS3 Slim. Now they release the PS3 3.0 Firmware. Good news. Right? Maybe. Watch this video for the PS3 announcement, then read on.
It looks like all they’re updating are aesthetic features. As far as I’m concerned, the only cool feature is the new status indicator. It’s nice to have your online friends easily visible, along with your message count. Also, the ticker being there (always visible) is good.
Here’s what they need to release tomorrow:
- Cross-Game Voice-Chat
- View your Trophies Online (Trophy/Web Synchronization)
- Better AVI Playback
- Game Lobbies
- PS2 Emulation through Software.
It’s gonna be a bad tomorrow if we don’t see some improvements on the in-game aspect of the PS3. I’s good to have this nice home screen and all, but if the in-game doesn’t improve, then I guess the Xbox 360 is gonna get a boost. We don’t need that.
Update (09/01/2009):
In the new friends list, your Playstation Network friends will appear in a slightly redesigned format and messages will now be viewable from each of your friends’ respective profiles.
The Status Indicator which can be found in the top right corner, consists of your icon, friends’ icons, and number of online friends, message icon which lets you know if you received a new message, a scrolling ticker which displays the latest PSN news, and if you press the “PS” button then the Battery Life indicator will stop covering the clock.
The dynamic themes take your screen to a whole new level as they incorporate animated objects into the background.
Other additions include a constantly-updated news section to keep up with new games and news, news shortcuts directly to PlayStation Store under both Game and Video categories so that you can access the latest content quickly and easily and new PS3 Trophies Showcasing options to show off your hard earned trophies.
The update also gives game developers the ability to modify how they display trophies for addon-content. PS3 Firmware 3.0 features a new Xross Media Bar, and according to Sony the XMB is now “more intuitive”.
The PS3 Firmware 3.0 also gives users the possibility to control the video playback meaning that they can fast forward, rewind, and watch in slow motion. Another new feature is the simultaneous audio output across connectors which will be found very helpful by most gamers.
Read more: http://www.devicemag.com/2009/09/01/ps3-firmware-update-30-now-available-ps3-update-300-brings-dynamic-themes/#ixzz0PtiKYpVh