Hi everyone, we’re adding some great new features with the next PS3 firmware update (v2.70) that will continue to enhance your connected experience on the PS3. The 2.70 update brings a new Text Chat feature that enables you to communicate online with your PlayStation Network friends. Now, you’ll be able to chat with up to 15 online friends using the Wireless Keypad, on-screen keyboard, or other compatible keyboard peripherals. Not only can you chat with your friends instantly, but you can also access Text Chat while playing PS3 games and even participate in up to three chat rooms at once.
In addition to Text Chat, we’ve added a few more enhancements:
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
For a quick preview of Text Chat and some of the other 2.70 features, check out this video:
The 2.70 update will be released soon, and as always, we look forward to reading your feedback.
Another thing, HOME is a good example of In-Game Chat, Home has in game, and it had in game voice chat,HOME is no differnet then a ps3 game, the only problem was that it was causung problems for poeple signing in to PS Home, so they took it down. Basically if they can some how allow the PSN network to be more stable, maybe we can see voice chat, by that, i hope we can pay yearly, just for that to work, IF that is the problem to begin with…
First I thought it was voice but oh well.
Finally I can back up and restore my purchased videos. Before this update I had to transfer my movies to PSP then to my external drive using PSP Media Manager on my laptop. Not anymore! Thanks!
Great update but what about in game chat.
Thanks for the video features, but TEXT CHAT!!!! are you messing with us on purpose? You ask for comments and every other comment for the last year or more has been VOICE CHAT private and cross game. You strut this lame text thing out there like….”eeeeh nailed it!” You will not hear the end of the demand for voice chat features until you give them to us. Your text thing is WORTHLESS!!! Not one bleeping guy over the age of “just one more game mom” will even dare try to use that while playing a fps! You should come to my house, we’ll get the fella’s together to play football in the back yard. Instead of talking though, you can text us while we play full speed tackle football. Yeah its the same thing dude. I pray you don’t take this long to waste our time on the next update.
PS3 just got better!
@ 450
THE UPDATE IS LIVE RIGHT NOW!!!
I hope its a joke to be honest.
Bcos who at sony thinks stopping a game to text chat is a great idea.
I can understand it being a sub feature along with in game voice chat but on its own, its just is an epic fail.
I hope this update has ingame voice chat, if not Sony should be ready for some mockery from the gaming media.
lol the Text Chatroom has a word censor filter in place, and it limits how much text you can send at once.
Horribly lame.
It’s for groups of FRIENDS, why would you censor their language?
I kind of feel bad for the Sony engineers. First, we yell about wanting in-game XMB. Sony delivered. Now we want in-game-chat, to which I believe they are working on but people aren’t patient. As soon as that is delivered, I can guarantee that we will be yelling (not asking) for in-game video chat.
HELL YES! THANK YOU SONY! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT ALL OF US PS3 OWNERS HAVE BEEN ASKING FOR! Honestly, this is the best update ever. Letting us send text messages in-game is something I’ve never even dreamed would come in such a futuristic console. Thanks guys!
Really though, this is pretty bull. I’d rather NOT have the 2.70 update at the moment. I would much rather this have been a 2.65 update or something, cause this is generally embarrassing. I mean… We all got excited for in-game voice chat in 2.70 due to rumors – this should have immediately prompted you to change the firmware version of this update to .5 lower so you could work your @$$ off and get in-game voice chat for the official 2.70 update.
This is very, VERY disappointing in my opinion. For a while i thought that in-game chat would completely ruin games like Socom, but if developers had the option to disable it then all problems will be solved. And NO, do NOT leave it up to developers to ENABLE it if you actually give us in-game voice that. It would turn up like the in-game music.
Still no fix for the Trophy bug I see…
See what i did there?
So yeah. Thanks for the update, i appreciate the fact that it was free and all – but the only thing holding me back from getting a 360 is the fact that i gave mine away to my friend due to its loud-@$$ fans, annoying disc tray, scratching my Rock Band 2 and Fortza, lossy audio, game selection, and unconfortable controllers. Basically, if they got their hardware together and stopped being a Microsoft-esque company (Yes, i realize they ARE Microsoft. Doesn’t make the statement any less true) there would be little reason for the PS3 besides the game selection. Sadly, thats the thing that matters…
Im ranting and going off topic. Just give us in-game voice chat, please? Thanks guys. >.>
PLEASE SAY CANADA IS GETTING VIDEO STORE SOON! HALF OF THIS UPDATE WILL BE MEANINGLESS IF WE DONT!!!
awesome job guys! can’t wait to try all the nice new features out.
peace,
Lh
The voice chat feature is blacked out, however maybe it has been unlocked? maybe its now up to the game DEVS to put it in like music, or sumthin, since 360 came with idea of in game music and voice chat o a next gen console…
@Eric Lempel
thanks for the update man.
3 requests:
1)while watching youtube or any streaming video using PS3 web browser ,I have encountered huge audio lag(like 5 seconds).My speed is high but I have no idea why this lag is happening (it’s a new thing ,like 2 months)
2)Incorporate home avatars in PSN ID card.
3)add a section called Mygames.So we can add the game’s cover of games we own (it should be accessible from PSN ID card).so when you go on PS home and check other people’s profile ,you can see if they play similar games to you or not.(it makes adding people on home much easier)
Are you guys that retarded? if you actually watched the video, you would see that there were two chat options, one was text, the other was voice, the stupidity here amazes me.
Pay attention and stop jumping to conclusions idiots. >_>
I look forward to whatever else is in this update as well :D
When will the voice chat be avaiable?
Whoa, this better not be a April 1st joke. This is very surprising!
Can you please put friends list sorting to back the way it was before the update? By sorting through status, it makes it harder to find friends who are offline since it’s not in ABC order anymore (and no, switching temporarily is BS)
Good job Sony. However, I can’t help but feel this text-chat is a bit lackluster. It would help me a LOT more to have cross-game voice chat.. I understand the feature is patented by Microsoft, but there has to be a way around it!
Thank you Sony, for wasting my night that I was planning on spending GAMING with another USELESS(for me) update.
At least if I could SKIP the thing until later tonight when I won’t be playing on my PS3 and I can just let the system download the update at whatever crappy rate it’s going to do it at(it takes forever for me).
Come out with a FW update that adds backwards compatability for those of us who didn’t wanna shell out $500-600 for a game system or something useful, like internet surfing WHILE IN A GAME so I can look up FAQ’s on how to beat a level if I get stuck.
Totally useless and utter waste of time this garbage is.
So, thanks Sony……for wasting another night for me.
THis is pretty lame you guys should of made it so we can have custom avatars, or at least in game voice chat come on step up your game
I really don’t get it. over 2 years and still no in game chat, makes me think sony has given up on ps3 like nintendo gave up on gamecube. how hard would it be to implement Skype into the XMB? the psp has it why not the ps3? wouldn’t that solve everything?.
At least it’s something. At least it’s a start.
Sony, you honestly need voice chat across all games, and during movies. Just look at what XBL is doing, take the good parts, and make HOME more fun.
This is pure EVIL if it’s an April Fool joke. I’ll hate you forever Sony.
Thats coo. Im still hoping to be able to listen to music while playing cod4. Cool new feature though.
$TK*
This is a good update but what most of us really wanted was cross game voice chat, are you guys woking on cross game voice chat?
Awesome!!!! Thanks Sony. Now you guys have to step it up with some in-game Voice chat.
Thanks!!
shadysaiyanz,
you just made a fool of yourself.
the headset icon isnt new- its been there forever!! look at your XMB much?? Guess not!
Thats NOT for in game voice chat- its the same as its ever been – up to 4 person Voice Chat , OUT OF GAME , Sitting in your XMB.
@473 lol, maybe u r the retarded one? it shows both options when he is in the XMB, not in the INgame XMB, he doesnt even go to that option, also the update is live, and voice chat isnt an option….yet….
The IM msngr is ok but bad thing is it only offers less then 30 letters to be entered. :(
so i have to pause my game in kz2 TEXT CHAT MY FRIENDS resume the game get shot and die as soon as i resume playing. lmao
YES! I’VE BEEN FEENING FOR AN UPDATE!
Nice features! Sony does it again! Keep up the good job Sony!
What a joke.
A new focus on PS2 and a crappy, pointless FW update (outside the video backup thing).
What a terrible week. We’re supposed to be excited about this?
OK, I’m done posting now, promise.
Still love Sony and my PS3. I just think whomever is making decisions there is clueless. Totally F’ng clueless.
Hey, thanks for the update.
Can someone please put 2.70 up for download on the playstation.com website?
My PS3 keeps logging off and I can’t get through a whole firmware download. Thanks. ;)
lol lol what a f”” joke no cross games voice chat again im seln this pieco of s”’ and back to my xbox 360. well it looks like the rumor is true then microsoft must have the legal rights to cross voice game chat.. bye bye sony and i will not be f””’ cumn back
norm01
Heres the problem, these features that we are yelling about right now, like In-game Voice messaging, Cross game private chat via voice, Automatic Trophy syncing, and Cross-game invites have been the MOST REQUESTED FEATURES we all wanted ever since they brought the in-game XMB into the system. they did not prioritize at least one of these features to bring it to this FW update, instead they put a feature that we dont want.
that leaves me with disgust. they have stated to leave feedback here on the blog so that they can see what we want, yet they put miscellaneous things that just make us go “WTF is this S**t?”
from my observation, instant messaging looks no easier than sending regular message. but movie backups are a plus.
I think this update deals with both text and audio chat. Right below text chat. There’s a choice of creating a audio or video chat.
steven4rmcpt,
Wont happen unless the GAME devs patch it into COD4…Sony won’t/hasn’t made it an XMB function. In game music is only if the game makers make it part of the game. Makes no sense.
This is awesome Sony… thanks for another great update. Text chat looks real cool.
why is sony always giving us BS updates
Thanks Eric.
So all the rumors are really true…
Thanks to all the people at Sony for keeping us happy and listening.
Long live the PS3 !
My Spidey senses think that this text-chat paves the way for future voice implementation. Interesting indeed…
Speculation aside, I’m just wondering if the Video Store is coming to places outside the US. I’m a Canadian, and I could see myself using that service, especially with this new update. Are things being discussed, or is it just not leaving the States?
this was a waste of a update. Well then again I do like we can backup our movies and transfer them. The text update is worthless. I want to be able to leave a voice email, Use that 3MB space for text and use that for voice emails. trying to text someone in the middle of killzone to join in the game sucks and only gets me killed.
this is pretty cool…
can’t wait for voice chat though! =]
Uhm how big exactly is this update?
Already sent an email about this awhile back, but I guess this is the next best method of contact.
Is Sony of America every going to release the Ad-Hoc Party application in the west? Its already become incredibly popular in Japan, adding online play to nearly every PSP game in existence (most importantly Monster Hunter and Phantasy Star Portable), and is rising in popularity stateside (and even in Europe). Lots of people are bypassing the language barrier and just downloading it from the japanese PSN store because it is such a great app, and would boost PSP game sales incredibly in both North America and Europe if released in English. Some of the higher ups at Capcom of America have noticed many people using the japanese version to play Monster Hunter games online, but it would be so much more convenient for everyone if it was available in all regions. They even claim to have been pleading with you guys to bring the program westward.
i can’t complain. i don’t have to keep going back to my XMB and sending/replying msg to different friends. however i noticed in-game when you start a new chat you have the option to pick text or voice chat but voice chat is ghost. a feature update we hope.