Hi, everyone, I’m excited about this new blog so I can talk with you about all the cool things we’re doing with the PLAYSTATION®Network. To start, we recently released PS3 firmware update 1.80, which is packed with features that we know many of you have been asking for. You can read the specifics of the upgrade here. That’s one of the best things about PS3 – it’s constantly being updated with new features. With 1.80, you can now upscale PlayStation® and PlayStation®2 games and DVD movies, up to 1080p if your TV supports it. You home theater buffs are probably all over this upgrade already, but if you don’t have an HDTV just yet, check out what upscaling does for God of War II and Shadow of the Colossus – games that were already gorgeous-looking to begin with – in these comparison screens.
Firmware 1.80 also added DLNA media server capability for streaming photos/music/videos from your PC to PS3, and I want to make sure that everyone knows how simple setup is. This feature works with many programs and devices; for this example, we’ll use a PC with Windows Media Player 11. All you need to do is:
* On your PC, enable “Media Sharing” on Windows Media Player 11 and allow sharing with the PS3 (it may be labeled as an “unknown device”).
* On your PS3, turn on “Media Server Connection” under Network Settings. PS3 will automatically search for media servers on the same home network, or you can scan for them manually.
Your PC and media files will pop up under the Photo/Music/Video XMB icons.
Need more info? Go here, here, and here.
The other big upgrade we’re thrilled about is Remote Play via wireless Internet. You’ve been hearing us talk about PS3-PSP interoperability for a long time, and this is a great step forward on that front. With the DLNA feature, you can access your PC’s media files remotely on your PSP, so you’re not limited to what’s on your PS3’s hard drive. Here’s a cool tip: if you’re not home on Thursdays when the PLAYSTATION®Store is updated with new content, get a head start by going to your closest Wi-Fi hotspot, turn on Remote Play on your PSP, and access the PLAYSTATION Store to download the latest games, demos, trailers, and more. Using background downloading, you can easily queue loads of content quickly. You will need to leave your PS3 on and in Remote Play, but we hear you loud and clear about wanting to power on or off PS3 remotely.
On that note, we’re always evaluating ways to enhance your PS3 experience, so now’s your opportunity to have your voice heard! Submit your number one most wanted addition to the PS3’s feature set here. We’ll post a list of the top 10 suggestions next week.
Eric Lempel
Director of Operations for PlayStation Network
I have to agree with Foo in comment 10. Update 1.80 with DLNA media server capabilities works well for me. But, what I really need is 720p only PS3 games to be scaled to 1080i not down to 480p over component inputs. My Mitsubishi WS-65909 doesn’t support 720p and doesn’t have an HDMI input.
I’d be more inclined to consider a Playstation 3 if the price was a bit lower.
Not to mention – what do you want me to do with my old PS2? Should get in touch with retailers and offer a tradeup program.
Until I see a killer integration between games I like on the PSP and PS3…I dunno. It’s just all theory until something is actually done with it.
Work on your developers.
Im watching all my Dvd’s on my PS3 now Advent Children looks so beautifull and alot better same to GT4. Sony you freaking rock keep it up.
Keep up the good work and continue to stay in tune with our, PS3 owner’s, needs.
Oh yeah, more to add.
-In-Game XMB access.
-Increased Personalization
-Why do you automatically stop playing music when you access other functions e.g the PS Store? Whyt can’t it play in the background.
-Support for more video formats. : )
Will think off more
Thanks Sony for the great recent update, which greatly improved DVD player capabilities.
Now, something REALLY important:
When will Sony announce their plans for supporting the Blu Ray BD 1.1 Profile. This enables capabilities like Picture-In-Picture that have been holding back releases such as The Matrix on Blu Ray, and also means that some Blu Ray releases have less supplementary content that their HD DVD versions (examples: Blood Diamond, and the upcoming release of “300”).
This is really very important to the “format” war, as we are being treated as second class by Warner because of the lack of the BD 1.1 capabilities.
So please let us know when the PS3 will be upgraded to support BD 1.1, and how you are working with Warner to get these capabilities on Blu Ray movies.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
I think the most important issue left to address is the upscaling of 720p-only titles to 1080i for people with 1080i-only HDTVs.
The PS3 is the only HD-capable device I’ve encountered that doesn’t support 1080i scaling for all of its content — and it seems pretty bizarre that after dropping $600 on an HD gaming system for your HDTV, you’d be forced to play the majority of its games in standard definition.
I’ve already passed on 6 PS3 games that I was interested in because they’re 720p-only, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that regard. Providing 1080i support across the board would increase PS3 game sales and make early adopters a lot happier.
After 1080i support, I’d say in-game access to the XMB is the next most important item.
Thanks for listening.
In general, I LOVE my PS3. It works really well for digital photos (lightening fast) and viewing H264 videos (but needs broader video support). Really looking forward to HOME and some new games (God, we sooo need some new games)
One thing that I really need is to be able to play multi region DVD’s. I moved to the US from the UK and have a bunch of DVD’s that are region 2. I do have a multi region DVD player, but it doesn’t upscale, and the US DVD’s I have look so great on the PS3 – come on Sony throw us a bone here!
Here’s a couple of things I’ve been waiting for.
Browsing the playstation store gets rather irritating. Why aren’t L1 and R1 mapped as back and forward like in the web browser?
The ability to play music while viewing your pictures in a slideshow. I love this feature from the Wii and that’s why I use my Wii to show off pics to friends and not the ps3.
RSS feeds for podcasts as well as videos. It would be awesome to set the ps3 to download the latest 1upshows or other video podcasts I usually watch.
Speaking of downloads. The ability to set your ps3 to turn off after downloading. This is a feature added in the latest 360 firmware and I like it a lot. I usually queue up a bunch of downloads and leave and rest easy knowing that my 360 is turned off.
oh yeah, the usual…
in-game xmb
custom soundtracks
movie downloads in psn store
where are all the freaking ps1 games?
rumble
An official ps3/ps2 controller adapter so Guitar Hero 2 is properly compatible. I really think people underestimate the importance of Guitar Hero.
Thanks!
first of all i luv sony and everything that its doing second of all can you sony plz give us update that will let us check out messigies in the middle of the game or just check what time is it i’m sure this can be done easily..
Firmware wish list.
There have been some excellent firmware updates the past year with the Playstation 3. My firmware wish list has shrunk considerably since launch. There are however a few remaining items that would make the PS3 the multiplayer game box of choice with a few strategaic changes (in order of importance)
* XMB friends list access in game. This means reading and responding to friend’s messages as well as receiving and requesting audio/video chats while playing any PS3 game.
* Friend Invites. The PSN should allow the user to create and accept invitations to friends so that they may easily join up a game in progress or in a lobby.
Those two are by far the most important changes with regards to making the PS3 the best it can be as an online gaming console.
Other firmware changes that I would love to see are:
* Additional video codec support. WMV would be excellent and DIVX/XVID would be welcome as well.
* Wake on LAN for PSP Remote Play activity.
* PSP features such as: Custom Backgrounds, Multiple fastforward and rewind speeds for media (music), RSS support, & additional music visualizers.
maybe someone can answer this: where to I get help with getting my PS3 onto my network? I got some contrived process to get onto my network where I have to give my mac address to the router and then keep my accounted logged on through internet activity. I got it on initially and was always logged on because of F@H but I had to change up settings. Any idea who to call?
Congrats!
Let me be the first to ask when can we see a true linux driver for the RSX? Without that Linux is hobbled and not that useful as a user system only as a server.
1 – DivX/Xvid with subtitles support(upscaled to 1080p)
2 – Option in XMB to boot “otheros”
3 – SMB/CIFS client (access windows shares from PS3)
Before I put in my suggestion for future updates for the PlayStation 3, I just wanted to say excellent job to the team working on the XMB software. Firmware update 1.8 is really something else. Again, great work to the hard working people at Sony Computer Entertainment! :)
For my suggestion, I’d like to have in-game music playback as well as access to XMB while in-game. Also, I would like to suggest that any copy protection for saved games be removed. Backing up data is pain sometimes. As a matter of fact, it would be nice if you could specifically choose what you could back up when choosing to back up the data on your HDD so you don’t necessarily need GB’s of data onto your smaller Memory Stick DUO/SD/external HDD. For example… you have the freedom to choose to only back up certain saved games or all saved games, etc. or maybe some videos or downloadable games.
I hope you take my suggestions into consideration as I think a lot of people would appreciate some form of implementation. Thanks!
When you select hdmi full color for RGB output, the setting resets itself when you play a game or dvd or blu-ray and then exit back to the xmb. the setting will still say FULL, however the picture obviously has changed back to the normal setting, when you change to normal and then back to FULL, the color returns to the full setting, i have to do this often because i find the picture to be much better under full rgb than normal please fix this problem so i dont have to continually reset the setting.
I have really enjoyed the 1.8 firmware upgrade and feel it has really added value to my PS3. The DVD upscaler is fantastic and now my PS3 is my main DVD player.
As for PS1/PS2 upscaling, I’m very happy to see many 2D PS1 games looking just fine now on an HDTV; however, there seems to be issues with PS1 upscaling on FMVs and some games (like Casltevania: SotN). Some PS2 games appear to look better, some worse, some no difference. Still, I’m very thankful for the PS1/PS2 upscaling.
Now, I just really want in-game XMB access and being able to set a picture as a wallpaper, and I’ll be extremely happy.
1.8 is great!
Please add RSS news feeds.
I now use the PS3 as my main Web Browser in the lounge room and have bought a Bluetooth keyboard.
Can you please enable key bindings, especially the start button, select button, L2 and R2 to zoom and the PS button so there is no need to keep swapping between Keyboard and SIXAXIS
Keep up the good work, don’t beleive the antisony hype!
“I would suggest that u guys try to fix the upscaling on the games to high def as even though u successfully upscaled it…..it made it more blurry to see…”
That’s what upscaling does. That’s the whole point of it
Also, how about adding common options that you see in most games, to the XMB. Like music and sound effect volumes, invert Y axis, use trigger for accelerate in racing games, subtitles on/off
And add those common options, and the PS1/2 upscaling options to the menu that pops up when you press the PS button.
@shaunLEGEND
“The ability to play music while viewing your pictures in a slideshow”
It has that ability. While playing music, press the PS button, then go do your slideshow
@lynux3
“Also, I would like to suggest that any copy protection for saved games be removed.”
That is a horrible idea. It’s there for developers, and to prevent cheating in some games.
I’m having problems submitting in that form so I might as well post it here:
Priority: XMB friendslist reachable from within a game by pressing the PS button. Sending and receiving messages this way is vital. Adding voice messages would be a high plus.
2nd: Higher friendlist cap, increase it to a hundred and let us divide the friend list into groups.
3rd: Let us turn off the controller when in the XMB or in Remote Play mode.
Please.
It would be nice to be able to voice chat while in game, possibly type chat while waiting for a server to start up, access XMB ingame, and be able to see who is online and what they are currently playing as well.
before we start adding stuff to the new update can we please get remote play to work properly!!! ive heard nothing but problems with people using it and have had NO luck myself. i can log on from my own router but not from another location. its pretty much useless. we either need a longer time allowance for the ps3 to be recognized by the psp or for us to enter two different router locations (internet setups). other than that the updates are awesome!!! love the media sharing and dvd upscaling!!! keep up the good work.
I am glad that upscaling was added. It’s a nice bonus.
I would love to see in-game XMB with the ability to send/receive messages and listen to music etc in the next update.
Love the update! Keep em comin!
Please work on the speed it takes to navigate between pages in the PLAYSTATION STORE……(i.e make a button on the controller the Previous Page button).
Until this happens…..everything just feels klunky.
I would also like to see the video skipping issue when PS1 games are being upscaled. The game itself plays fine, the fmv’s are choppy.
Eric,
I saw the link to the new blog on Kotaku and thought I must stop by. I guess that this is a US-focused blog (I’m in Dubai, with a PAL unit which I believe is signed up to the European Network) but I do hope that “the powers that be” within Sony at least read the feedback left on this blog and have some influence with those in charge of regions outside of the US.
I think the PS3 is a fantastic machine; the recent firmware update was brilliant. I was watching a Seinfield DVD last night and was really surprised how good the material now looks on the PS3. But that’s the thing. Pretty much all I’ve been doing now is watching DVDs on the PS3.
I know content will come and I am patient enough to wait for games like Lair, GTA IV and so on but I have to say I think Sony has a serious issue with end-user accessibility of content which is already available on other parts of the Playstation Network.
Can anyone at Sony please explain why the content on the European store is so far behind that of other jurisdictions? Where is Calling all Cars? There’s not even been an announcement on when to expect that! What is the hold up? Why couldn’t this game have been released across the network at the same time? What about downloadable PS1 games or other classics to tide us over while we wait for the next big AAA title? Are we worth only a couple of stupid puzzle games and the odd trailer?
If Nintendo can do it, why can’t Sony?
As much as I love my PS3 I can’t contain my disappointment in the way things are going. The 1.8 firmware release was a high, but that buzz only lasts so long. As one Asian developer noted owning a PS3 is “like paying for dinner at an expensive restaurant and then not getting anything to eat”. Here-here.
I thought my Wii was a phase because it looked cool to play. I plugged my Wii back in last night.
The 1.80 firmware update was good but we need this feature in the 1.90 update BADDD…
– XMB™ (XrossMediaBar) is now accessible during gameplay.
And custom soundtracks as well. Please do it every ps3 user wants it and theres petitions for it as well.
Hi Eric,
first of all, congratulations on your blog! Second, Firmware Update: Great! But still a lot of work left. I am sure, Sony will manage it.
Eric, since Firmware Update 1.60 my PS3 is much louder than before. After a couple of minutes it switches itself into a “highspeed cooler mode” and not back anymore.
Doing so the PS3 is not more silent than the XBox 360 anymore.
You should fix this issue soon because it’s really to bad when watching to DVDs or Blu-Ray. Several Times I switched to my Sony X1 Home Cinema System with Upscaler and HDMI because this stuff is completely silent.
im with venom x we need the XMB™ (XrossMediaBar) to be accessible during gameplay, to send messages.
on the psn network we need more demos & open betas so the people can get busy.
I also vote for custom wallpaper and XMB in games sooner than later.
I want in game xmb access and wallpapers.
1) I only have 1 game because i have a 1080i tv and the ps3 doesnt upsacle the 720p ps3 games and there alot of those. I would buy more games, but everytime i see a game i like, i look at the back of the box and ouch! 720p. Fix this so i can play motorstorm, F1.
2) OK listening to music while browsing or doing anything for that matter. We need it.
3) If you add Divx and Xvid support you will have thousands of thousands of more PS3 users.
4) Work with linux! Unlock all PS3 power. There are tons of tons of users with Linux on there systems and they all want one more thing! Thats the graphic cards use in linux.
5) One more thing, a usb antena to get better wifi signal. Some Ps3 users are having problems with low wifi signals.
If you follow all 5 points, the Ps3 will get way more intresting until we wait for more games.
Love the 1.80 update, just hope you keep on bettering the firmware ;)
– Divx/xvid/wmv support
– Better/more PS1/PS2 support (yeah we europeans need better support)
– Access to GPU under Linux ;)
@NeoTechni
Hence the idea that Sony allows people to specifically choose what and what not to back up.
I’m sure you guys are working on many of these already, heck, just last 2 months the list would have been much longer. Here’s a list I whipped up of things I would love to see the PS3 doing. Good work, Sony!
Most wanted feature:
XMB Access – this includes mp3 during games, friends list access, game invites, possible chat while playing offline games. ability to access it during F@H as well. would get even more folding done:)
Other features:
+ Folder system for movies/music.
+ Better music support(playlists, qeued up tracks, more visualizations)
+ PSP downloading via Remote Play – the ability to download a mp3 track from your PS3 to your PSP instead of streaming it.
+ PSOne/Two emulator options
+ Better codec support – I would like to be able download movies/vid interviews from IGN and sites like that. .mov,.wmv, and .avi would suffice for me.
+ If possible, a way to take pictures of gameplay, or even record gameplay, and upload it to a YouTube-like service integrated straight into the XMB.
+ Wallpapers, screensavers.
+ Listening to music in the PS Store and F@H.
+ Easier to see date and time. Shouldn’t have to go to settings to find out the time from the PS3.
+ One I just thought up, have square be a help button in the XMB. Like in RPGs, you can put the cursor over an item and it will tell you what it does in a small description. So, say you don’t know what the heck RGB Full means, which I don’t, push square on it and it will tell you!
+ I also think the online manual could use a little work. I would replace it with a tips/introduction slideshow type thing. It would be much easier to inform people about great features like music during the slide show, or even that you can make icons for each video (I’ve had a PS3 since November and didn’t know I could do this until March at GDC because I saw Phil Harrison had it on his PS3.)
Here’s hoping you guys really listen.
“3rd: Let us turn off the controller when in the XMB or in Remote Play mode.”
In XMB – Hold PS button for 4 seconds, menu pops up letting you turn it off
In Remote Play – Hold PS button for 10 seconds, controller shuts off
@Lynux3
“Hence the idea that Sony allows people to specifically choose what and what not to back up”
The whole point of having developers choose is so it’s not up to us.
As a programmer, your suggestion is counter intuitive and would break gameplay/difficulty is some games.
“Easier to see date and time”
Agreed, it should be as visible as it is in the PSP.
i think one of the updates should come with a visual make over of the playstation store, i dunno but bright blue doesnt seem to match the ps3’s sleek, mysterious theme much at all.
@NeoTechni
There are other methods to securing game saves rather than copy protection. Each game save can be unique to a specific console and only work on that specific console.
Make the PSN Store more like the itunes store http://www.apple.com/itunes/
I’d also like to add that there is nothing good about limiting what the consumer can do with a $600 entertainment system. That is why I am proposing that there be a different system in terms of how you can back up your data. We already know that when restoring data it can only be restored to that specific console.
DTS HD-MA, please. Although I agree with a lot of the suggestions in #89, DTS HD-MA is the only feature I really feel I’m missing.
JET
I think the update was really great, but something I would love to see, is being able to run Folding@Home from the PSP via the remote play. I don’t want to leave the PS3 doing nothing so when I’m done accessing what I want, I’d like to leave the PS3 running F@H. That would just be a neat little minor feature for me personally.
For #46 I also have a Linksys Router but I am fully capable of sharing information with my laptop and desktop. You do have to have MediaPlayer 11 and then set up to share with the PS3 on the PC first.
Also there are a lot of things that we want for the PS3 but lets stick to whats trully important and that will pull its wait time.
XMB support in as many games as possible would be the #1 most important we all want better communication and music support and full access to our beloved machine :) .
Also file support for our pics music and movies should get an update. For pics support so I dont have to look through every pic to find the one i want to use for attaching to songs perhaps folder support and naming folders within the XMB. Also for music and video a playlist set up so multiple plays can be customized and randomized via a playlist temp folder.
Also using a image of our own for our Avatar with a resizer to give the right amount of alotted memory space for the avatar.
Update on the Chat function I have tried that feature but have not been succesfull with my friends.
Oh and something I thought would be awsome is a mic attached to our controllers to talk in game and not wear a headset.
And yes I want to use my own artwork for wallpaper and I did like the wallpaper I saw on Singstar the clouds were moving. that would work well as a screen saver to have the wallpaper in motion like water or clouds in motion would be less burn in on Plasmas.
Oh and what should be #2 on my list is FLASH PLAYER 8 or above for I have trouble veiwing alot of content on websites even the Playstion.com one.
Perhaps all of the stuff that we all are posting will be in future updates but please please open up the communication for us, me and my friends have been using the title bar only to send messages to each other in game only we still cant respond without leaving the game, as well as only being able to type a few words we are building up alot of messages.
For those who dont know how to send a message to a friend while they are in a game, and do not need a response.
Hit Triangle over a friends avatar then sellect Create Message, enter your message in the Subject bar only, this is seen by your friend while they are in a game. If your message is a long one just repeat the process till you finish your message.
Maybe one day we will just Hit Cntl R to reply to a message in game with a keyboard attached.
Well, since the Director of Operations for PlayStation Network is supposedly reading this, he can hopefully answer this simple question:
Why do content updates take place only on Fridays? Why not have content available as soon as it’s ready? I’ve notice the Japanese Store isn’t run by the same rules. Content updates happen anytime there. It doesnt seem to follow a week-by-week schedule like the European and USA ones do. Any logic reasoning behind this?
100
I myself have hoping for custom soundtracks since launch.