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.
love the text feature Sony, Great for offline MSN-type chats with mates.
Things I would like to be fixed:
1, Messages you can type are too short!
Their shouldn’t be a cap on how many letters you can use.
2, Remove the censorship! It’s “unnecessary”
We can only talk to our friends so why Is It a problem If we swear?
Please listen too our Sony feedback :)
I like this update thank you Eric Lempel, guys what youve got to realise is that these things take time and I believe the PSN team are working on it, and we will probably see these features in the near future.
P.S. my only problem with the update is the friends list, please give us the old way to sort our friends list back as an option (online at the top then alphabetical order of whos offline below)
cheers
ohhh come on Eric. we wanted custom avatars, faster gamercard loading, cross game chat, and for your trophy level to show up next to a person’s PSN id. I hope you can listen to our feedback and try to add these features for next update.
Sweet as always! I’m looking forward to trying out the text and voice chat while in game. If I understood the video it looked like they both would work cross game…so that is very exciting. The biggest thing for me though is the video backup option you have!!! Wow! Now I might actually buy movies/tv shows! Great news!
Great job on the update, but now Call of Duty 4 won’t work for me online. Sure hope it is a server issue with Activision at this time.
@NoobianGod
No cross game voice chat mate
Onna76_NL | April 2nd, 2009 at 4:32 am
@Kevbocat, what kind of ridiculous comment is that? Personally I don’t want to have voice chat for ingame. When I game, I game and don’t want people to yell in my ear when I try to follow a line of the story in the game. Then text chat is the most obvious and suitable way.
Sorry sir but it’s not a ridiculous comment at all. I’m not sure the type of friends you keep but my friends do not scream in my ear when I chat to them in the voice chat room and I’m sure if I was in game that I could hear the storyline and understand it fully. Also, it’s not like you will be in a cross game chat with your friends all the time but having the luxury is great. The text chat as it is right now is terrible and a bad idea on Sony’s part.
Also, to answer your question, the account name gets blocked and not the IP.
this is just a kick in the teeth.
the freind list is ruined…. the update that should have been added to friends is the ability to change the name of the PSN id so you can type in the name you know them by.
secondly Video saving feature…. wow way to rub it in that the UK still hasn’t got this feature on the PSN store yet.
text chat…. yes cos I want to be online and have to hide in a corner and hope I dont die so I can chat to my buddy…. we want private channels for voice chat so we can chat to our mates as we play with out having to pause and hide and risk getting voted out by other players… which I see is going to happen a lot….SONY… are you really that retarded.
next time you want to do an update…give me a call I will tell you what to put into it.
also …how about making a USB add on to play PS2 games on the PS3 for those of use who have had to buy new PS3s that no longer support PS2 backwards compatibility…. I would pay for that
@949 in game voice chat hasnt been implemented yet
@948 The gamercard/profile loads alot quicker, and those features will probably come in the future.
Thanks for the update Sony. I know you guys are constantly working towards making the PSN the best place to play online gaming. I hope more games start to support multiple PSN logins like resistance does as well. Taht’s a feature I want to see. It would be cool though when the second player is logged into his/her profile if they would show an online status. That way they can see their friends list as well to invite people into the game. My friends have a lot of different buddies on their list than I do but in Resistance it does not even show them online if they are the second player. Minor complaint though I still appreciate the updates.
Great update, thx!
It’s not that I don’t appreciate what’s being done here by the PSN team, I really do appreciate free updates and a free online gaming service. My biggest beef is that we don’t get any notice on these things. Yes, we got a post stating the features of 2.7 before the FW came out, but it was only an hour earlier. That and there isn’t even a nod in the direction of cross-game voice chat. There’s not a “we’re working on it, be patient” or anything like that. If we knew that it was at least being WORKED on, I don’t think there would nearly as many complaints as there are.
I tried the text chat feature last night. While it was good to be able to text friends while playing a game, it (as I anticipated) got me killed…a lot. It’s good for between game situations, but not at all good for FPS games during a match. Please, at least tell us you’re working on cross-game voice chat…that’ll go a long way to calming the crowds.
Why do you all keep sidestepping features that gamers really want, like in game voice chat.
All this complaining is getting out of hand. The features you want takes time and money. The other console has over 10 million idiots paying 50 dollars a year to play online. That equals 500 million dollars a year. That’s why the other console has voice chat/cross game voice chat etc…..Just enjoy the games and be happy!!
What I don’t see is any kind of notification if a friend starts a chat or has send me a new message through the chat… If I have to keep going to the XMB while ingame to check the chat status, this is rather user unfriendly…
Before i was a little time with the new update i just can say one thing, they are laughing in our faces.
Crappy update.
People please, don´t praise this firmware because there´s no reason for.
We have to be all one in this fight.
I have already got my update, I got it last night when I purchased Wheel of Fortune from the Playstation Store
To all those who complain about the complainers of “free” updates.
Quote “The PS3 is a premium product”.
As a premium product you expect high service levels as part of the initial price of the product. You have bought this in advance. $50 a year for xbox live is not a lot when you consider it’s cheaper than the PS3 by some margin. It’s a different model of support cost that’s all.
I chose the PS3 over the Xbox as it gives me more media capabilities but that’s not to say I shouldn’t expect it to improve over time especially as functionality they have put on the PSP would / should be transferred to the PS3 such as Skype (then I could actually use my Eye Toy) and internet radio.
We’re not moaning about getting free stuff, we’re moaning because Sony are not supporting the PS3 as a premium product they claim it is !
Thanks sony…im looking forward to downloading it.
my oh my… sony just stop this nonsense.
its 2009, text chat? WTF?
and don’t come with “its free blabla” any damn hobby coder has more knowhow than you do or what to say to all the hobby coders that make free utilitys that work better on a 30dollar laptop than your stuff on your highend system that not even is able do decode some kilobyte of voicechat codec while playing a game?
have you been so naive in the development stage of the ps3? you gave all resources to the games – all of it so the ps3 can’t decode a voicechat?
hire some folks that know what they are doing!
Another great feature would be the ability to send videos and music to people other than just pictures.
But anyways, EXCELLENT EXCELLENT JOB SONY!
You guys are truly magnificent!
DEATH TO 360!
Nice!!! now all we need is audio/video chat in game just have a small transparent box in a corner for video chat or only when the xmb is up.
Come on seriously? we been waiting 4 months for this? the text chat better be compatible with the psp on wifi because if not then its a waste of time and resources, the things many PS3 users want is cross game voice chat, more avatar options, an option to change your PSN ID for a fee, the ability to access the XMB while watching a movie and a few little enhancements to the XMB, its not that complicated what PS3 users want.
Yeah.. to anyone outside the US, this is an utterly worthless firmware update.
Sorry Sony. You fail… again.
I don’t see the difference between a text based chatroom and a text based instant message in the context of mid-game play… because there isnt one.
15 people arent going to wait around for a response in a chat room while you find a hole to crawl into in Killzone to send another message.
STU. PID.
the video storage options is quite useless for the majority of the world. >.> what about those psn cards for europe and canada?
I don’t know what it is but i wish someone at Sony would let us know why is it that we can’t get voice chat. it is much more desirable to voice chat over a game than to text. every time you was to chat now you will have to pause your game just to type a message. Pls say something about voice chat. let us know if it going to happen or not!
you guys really dropped the ball with this update
One feature I was hoping for was a faster loading in game XMB bar, its crazily slow at the moment.
Other than that, its a decent feature list.
I’d rather wait 2 or 3 months for backwards compatibility, with no other updates.
Why, Sony, why won’t you listen to the fans. Nobody wants in game text chatting and nobodies going to use it in game. Stop wasting your time and money on these pointless updates. I think I can speak for all of us when I say what we want psn to be is xbox live.
nice one! i would love to see voice chat feature understanding it might be a working progress…
And .mkv support. Jesus.
Appreciate the update guys.
Sony what you should do is get rid of the XMB and put all it features in PS HOME. bring back the open world voice and get game launching up and running for all games played on PS3. Make it so that when you turn on your ps3 you start up right into PS HOME. that why you can chat with your friends, launch into a game and continue the chat while in game if you want to using the phone a friend option. When you done playing you back out into PS HOME again. I think this is your future! “GET IT CRACKIN” SONY!
Is it just me, or is Sony taking baby steps here? Big deal. Text chat is just like the message feature. Where’s the cross game chat?! Do you guys have any idea what you’re doing over there? Then you wanna know why the PS3s aren’t selling more than they should. Wake up Sony!
A great update thanks Eric.
But please can you look into giving us in game music for all PS3 games. I know there is a Microsoft patent, but please can you somehow give us this feature direct from the PS3 instead of giving developers to include. If I had in game music I’d be the happiest PS3 gamer in the world!
Thanks again for the update.
Oh yeah and people above me stop moaning already,I could imagine how bored you must have the writers of this blog.
Oooo, I just figured it out. When apple made the update for the itouch that gave us apps they charged us for it, but it was worth it. Since then all other firmware updates have been free. If Sony needs money in order to give us features we all want, I don’t see why they don’t charge us(for one update only, otherwise it gets out of hand)
@ SlipperyCustomer
might I suggest using PS3 Media Server?
Audio chat at the XMB level that carries over in-game regardless of what game you’re playing is an absolute necessity. This is the one major thing that really holds back PSN from being as good as XBL.
My PS3 fw wish list:
1) I’d like to be able to sort games list after their names, hdd consumption size, etc. not only by last palyed.
2) HDMI Bravia theatre control – so when i turn my PS3 on then the TV turns on and select proper HDMI input automatically – as it does with HDD/DVD SONY Recorder
3) Skype compatible a/v chat for PSEye
Thanks
I just installed the new firmware and ended up with a flashing red light upon restart.I’ve already tried a different hdd the problem is system related just a heads up.
Trophies and the web browser are faster now, as well.
4) resumable folding@home so that computation can be stopped and then continued (now any computed state is throwed away and new computation is started)
@Sig-gotyouth
Already use it, but i dont like HD transcoding media and losing quality. Plus my internet isnt great. Its great for transferring files bigger than 4gb though.
text chat? TEXT CHAT?!
The Xbox 1 had voice chat when Xbox Live launched in 2002. That is SEVEN YEARS ago, a whole generation and a half earlier!
As for text-chat… why not integrate Home more with XMB features. When you text chat you see your avatar and those of the people you are speaking to.
PlayStation 3 gamers want cross-game chat and an easy to use party list so you can easily join your friends in games.
Eric and team, we know you are all working on stuff and the PS3 experience has definitely been improved by in-game XMB and Trophies. But please give us some dialogue about what is happening about voice-chat.
TALK TO US
I was actually hoping for the following:
-Trophy number and Gamer Level are listed under Friend names for quick reference.
-Voice Messaging
-Gamer Card layout has been changed to more closely resemble the PlayStation Store aesthetic
-Past Trophy information can be viewed in detail by selecting “Recent Trophy History” option
-Newly acquired trophies auto-sync in the background
-Server infrastructure for Trophies has been optimized. Resulting in faster retrieval time for Gamer Card and Trophy information
-Loading time for In-Game XMB has been drastically reduced, resulting in a more seamless in-game experience
-Internet Browser can now be accessed while in-game
-Options that cannot be used in the XMB during game sessions are grayed out (but still selectable) to eliminate user accessibility confusion
I’d be happy with the ability to organized downloaded game content in alphabetical order. I’ve got a list of maybe 20 different things (demos, PSN games, etc.) and it would make looking for stuff easier, since I never know how recently I played it.
Eric, good update. I tried the text messaging feature and it work fine. Much quicker and easier that having to sending messages to co-ordinate a game.
Hopefully we get the cross-game Voice Chat feature that most of us want next time around.
Personally, I suspect there are technical issues and limitations with the current design of the OS and the way games work on the PS3. It’s a feature that was not thought of from the start and it may never be implemented. Same as cross game invite (which is the other most wanted feature).
That has to be the main reason, because it should not take over 2 years and counting to add features that a “supposedly” less powerful console has had from day one since 2005.
But thanks for the update, and looking forward to future ones.
2006 – Nintendo awarded patent for instant messaging in games -(somehow MS gets around this, and now Sony) – http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2006/06/7024.ars
2009 – Paltalk get’s in on the action – Sues MS for 2 violations (MS settles -My guess win for Paltalk)- http://www.lawyershop.com/2009/03/16/online-chat-company-files-90-million-xbox-live-lawsuit/
The way I see it with all these patents filed, things can’t be easy at the firmware team offices. Add modified Skype to ps3 and let it run in the background?? Hey engineers Sony pays large sums of cash to…think harder! There is a way around this.