Hi everyone, PlayStation 3 (PS3) firmware update (v3.00) adds a number of great new features that we’re excited to share with you. The latest update incorporates changes that improve navigation on your PS3. First, you’ll notice some cosmetic changes to the design of the XMB (Xross Media Bar). We’ve enhanced the look and feel of the XMB so that it’s easier and even more intuitive to use. We’ve also added network improvements and personalization options to help enhance your PS3 experience.
Additional highlights from update 3.00 include:
- “What’s New” – The “Information Board” will be replaced with a “What’s New” section, which allows you to enjoy interactive PlayStation news every time you start the PS3 system. Located under the PlayStation Network icon, “What’s New” displays the latest and greatest game, video, PlayStation Network and PlayStation news and releases, as well as your recently played games, in a sleek, new animated format.
- Status Indicator – In the top right corner we’ve added an indicator bar, which displays your user icon, friend icon, the number of friends you have online and a small message icon to let you know if you have any new messages. The indicator also includes a scrolling ticker that features the latest news from PlayStation Network. In addition, when you press the PS button, the battery life indicator will no longer cover up the clock.
- Friends List – Now your PlayStation Network friends will appear in a slightly redesigned format on your Friends List. Also, messages will now be viewable from each of your friends’ respective profiles.
- PlayStation Store Shortcuts – We’ve added a handy shortcut icon to the PlayStation Store under both the Game and Video categories so you can access the latest content quickly and easily.
- Personalization – Personalize your PS3 with new dynamic custom themes and avatars. Dynamic themes as well as free and premium avatars will be available through PlayStation Store. A dynamic theme takes your screen to a whole new level as it incorporates animated objects into the background.
- Trophies – Showcasing your hard earned trophies just got better. Update 3.00 gives game developers the ability to modify how they display trophies for add-on content. Base and add-on game trophies will continue to be combined into a single list so you can see where you stand in a game as a whole. Within that list, trophies will be broken out into subcategories—base trophies and add-on trophies—that way, you can easily view the percentage of your base game trophy collection, and separately track your trophy progress in add-on packs. Look for this enhancement to be included in upcoming games.
To get a preview of what’s coming in update 3.00, check out the video below:
We’re looking forward to releasing firmware update 3.00 soon. As always, we appreciate your feedback.
http://forums.n4g.com/Cross-game-chat-and-why-its-currently-MIA-m700070.aspx
forums.n4g.com/Cross-game-chat-and-why-its-currently-MIA-m700070.aspx
Wow. This is ‘exciting’? Must be a dull life at Sony. This stuff is a point release at most; more fixes for intial implementations than new features.
Thanks for fixing the clock, the rest of it you can keep. I hope What’s New is switch off-able.
I appreciate the effort but how about something useful (see almosst every other comment for examples)?
What about the romours that 3.0 will add bravia sync capability and remove the install other OS functionality for 1st generation boxes?
i know the feature evrybody wants is cross game voice chat. im dying 4 tht 2 bt i also think it would be a good idea to have a spot on the xmb tht u could put a site on like the iphone.
Eg say you want the ps blog u could jst click it on the xmb rather than going on the web and typing the address.
still not X-game chat! WHY WHY WHY?!?!!?! this is like the most wanted feature. Forget the users who say that they don’t want someone yapping in there ear while they are playing batman. Such a bland excuse, they don’t get the point. Get some friends.
@1647:
It’s not going to happen for a long time, if at all, it appears. Some games won’t support that kind of feature. So, if some games won’t support it, there is no use for it altogether. Deal with it and be thankful for what Sony does give us…FOR FREE!! They could be like Microsoft and charge for everything we get, firmware updates or not. As I see things, we are in no position to DEMAND ANYTHING of Sony because we aren’t paying for their gaming services. We buy games and some PS Store content. I, for one, will never go back to XBOX 360 and XBOX LIVE again!! Thank You Sony!!!
I made an error in my last post. I put @1647… I actually meant @1657. Sorry. lol
Sony has already stated in interviews that the PS2 BC is off the agenda for now.
We will eventually get PS2 BC after the sales of the system finally die off and also there is no fully functioning emulation available just yet so there hardware sales arent being hurt as much.
As for voice chat Sony announed in 2008 that they would be skipping implementing XMB voice chat in favor of in game XMB VIDEO chat (friends video feed in the topright corner of the screen). I’m sure when this implemented that you will have the option to turn th camera off and just use voice if you prefer
The BC might be milked a bit but if you care enough about your old PS2 library you can pick up a slim for cheap like me and 10 million other did when we couldnt afford the PS3 at launch
On the other hand the only thing I see holding back the X-Game video/voice chat would be laws and patents.
The Cell is designed to flawlessly broadcast 16 HD channels SIMULTANEOUSLY so implementing even in game CONFERENCE chat wouldnt be ureasonable.
We’ll see all this stuff in good time. Meanwhile the world in shambles, I’m gonna work on my part while Sony takes care of their end.
I am eagerly waiting for this release. the animated theme feature is just awesome…
I think the PlayStation Network Avatar’s,
“Are not my Own, So I do not like them”
I did not make the Avatar that i’m using on my account now, so we do not need more PlayStation Avatar’s
We need you to put some thing in your XMB “Xross Media Bar”
So we can Upload are own Avatar’s from are PlayStation 3 Photo’s, to are own PlayStation Network Account,
We have be using the PlayStation Network Avatar’s for a long long time now, i’m going crazy from seeing them on there it’s be that long, please please please update it.
Cool Update. However, I think these would add to the overall experience significantly:
User Created Avatars
A Trophy Rack in Playstation Home used to Actually display the trophies won from the games you played
Ad-hoc Party. Please bring this over from Japan. Games like Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and Dissidia: Final Fantasy are begging for this feature in the US
Trophies for older games
PS2 Software Emulation (For Playing our old PS2 Discs. If it can be done for downloaded games such as Tekken 5, why can’t it be done for discs?) Its not right to give us the capability to do so with earlier models and then just yank it away from us with later ones.
Dynamic Background Changing (Let us choose 7 different backgrounds and have a different one show up for every day of the week)
Cross game voice chat? c mon sony how long have we gotta wait?
Also 1 feature I used to luv on my 360 was the ability to play music off my HDD in game.
Apart from that keep up the good work guys. V3.0 looks sweet :=)
The rumor is that EA is the reason why we don’t have cross game chat and in game music.
Please add support for custom music in every game! And please make the PSN download speed faster, the PSN downloads at about 1mbps, when a lot of connections can support faster speeds. I really love the status indicator though, I’ve been wanting one of those for a long time. And is there any news on TV coming to the USA? I haven’t heard anything on that in a while, and I know Europe is getting it.
Oh, I forgot to add in the cross-game chat. The text chat was a step in the right direction, now it’s time for voice chat. A “Playstation Party” feature, where you can launch into games with friends (WITHOUT USING HOME PLEASE!!!) would be very nice.
I encourage all PS3 owners to carefully read this before believing any of this rumor:
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6878067.html
I would really like to be able to stay signed in while watching a movie and be able to use my XMB while watching a movie…. who likes this idea say HERE HERE
We look forward to your feed back my A$$… how long have we been asking for in-game/Private chat/Playstation party chat… and for us to be able to listen to music while playing. etc….
firmware 3.?? would be kewl too 4 some changes for music category
like:folder in folder=artist/album
and for search artist by pressing R3 button
and chat in game like in littlebigplanet for each game
Is it possible to finally swap the O and X buttons for Confirm and Cancel as a System Setting?
It’s annoying if playing games from another region.
Over at the N4G Forums, one Super_Secret is spilling the beans that it’s not Microsoft’s patent’s fault why the in-game soundtracks, in-game XMB and Cross-game Chat features are not coming to the PS3. No siree. There are obviously a variety of alternative options Sony could implement and exercise in order to have it in their system. They just chose not to because of a certain company.
According to Super_Secret (and he’s supposedly been right on “about every other” Sony-related rumors/ speculations), a certain company, whose name he withheld, is the real reason why these cool things are not happening on Sony’s really cool console.
To quote:
So what happened? Why is it that titles HAVE to be developed specifically with custom soundtrack support when it was working more or less just fine?
Is it because Microsoft owns the patent on custom soundtracks in games?
This is something that makes me laugh every time I see one of the less educated ones spouting it off. That’s an absolute fabrication. Patents don’t matter, Sony as a while infringes upon thousands of patents through the whole company, both hardware and software. If you infringe a patent, you pay royalties to the owner or find a different way of doing the same thing that doesn’t infringe. That’s it. Microsoft infringes upon all kinds of patents we own but that’s up to legal to sort out.
No, the reason we had to drop Custom soundtrack support like that has nothing to do with Microsoft. It does, however, involve a different company. A rather large company. You see, one of their games happened to fall into the 5% that didn’t support in-game custom soundtracks. And they did not like this.
When they found out that a new firmware update was going to suddenly make one of their games look inferior to just about every other game released, they protested. A lot.
They threatened everything, from legal action to dropping support for the PS3 all together.
Hmm… that last bit.. I’ve heard that one before… Then again, it could be anyone, really. Let’s not end on a sour note, though. He did say that the Firmwares team (you know, those guys dealing with the Firmware updates) are really “working very hard on it”. If it doesn’t come out in 3.0, maybe it’ll come out in 3.1. Or 4.0. Or not at all. (copied from qj.net)
that company was EA their trying to bully sony…
that company was EA their trying to bully sony…
p.s sorry for the quad post REALLY,REALLY sorry
If I’m in Canada where the video store is not yet available, is there any way I can get rid of the Playstation Store link under the video section of my XMB? Because that would just depress me every time I saw it.
@1609: it amazes me how you and many others feel u deserve all the stuff u want on ur ps3,the 1st line of the terms and conditions say tht the firmware is not obligetory of ony, u bought a ps3 after say me who got a 60gb and spent the extra moey to get one, if anything sony shld listen to 60gb owners more thn u because 1. they must have bought it within 1 months of it being released making thm more loyal, 2.they also put more money in sonys pocket by paying the higher price also proving their loyalty.
@1679
Loyalty? what the hell are you on about?! there’s a 50-50 chance that you and all the others, that feel this “loyalty” of urs just because they got a 60Gb, owns a “toybox” aswell!
Plus, I never used the word “demand”, so I guess I still have the right to ask for it, no!? even if Sony would wanna sell that feature, I would gladly pay for it, since, and I repeat myself here, I rather have one machine playing both ps3 and ps2 software than bringing my ps2 out of the box.
Good for you that you spent some extra money soon after the release, we all have our motives to have or haven’t done so but, in the end, we are all the same, we all pocess the same hardware and most of the software(since only BC is missing).
You can all have a go at me as much as you want but the fact that me and all the others ares ASKING for it and NOT demanding, is good enough to make all ur ranting, worthless. ;)
the only thing i find cheap looking is that box around the clock etc, seems like it was done in ms paint, could’nt you do somthing that looks a little smoother or just not have it at all, i just dont think it fits well with the rest of the xmb.
I do hope there is more to the 3.0 release than this. This just looks like it is there to shove the store down our throats. Is it the Playtation Store Network now? I do hope there is an option to customise the menus so I can hide items including the annoying tickers? Please?
all these comments of ungreatful people its so sad, there could be meny reasons why they cant put in cross game voice chat i dont really know any off the top of my head.I admit that it would be nice to have only thing i like about the xbox that the ps3 doenst have. im looking forword to the update(3.00) but with some people i agree that we dont need more playstation store icons.i just get tierd of reading every time of people hopeing for cross game voice chat or demmanding it just plain rediculous…
this is going to be crazy good i hope the next update they do is the in game chats without the ps3 camera and just the mics and access music while playing a game but other words sony is amazing
can’t wait for this update this update is crazy the theme is crazy
@ zeePh3nom
Excuse me? Why should Sony give you what you want for nothing? More pages in and you still complain on not having bc. What about those that did pay more? The last chance you had was the MGS4 bundle that was $500 + tax that came with game and 80 gb hd.
You waited as many did for all features to be cheap but you fail to realize why sony gutted features for the newer prices. When they did hd increase they found they could make it cheaper by doing away with bc. Now for 299 its the size and look.
You like everyone else whining for bc should have bought it then or only when sony wishes it feasable. Its called supply and demand and learning to understand when to buy something. You are owed nothing and you pay for what you get.
For the price differece, go buy a ps2 slim. It equals that to the extra 100 or so the higher models were. Right now I’m going to play my PS2 collection on my PS3 ;3 Live with your choice and grow up.
Nice update though and looking forward to it.
Dear Playstation,
I will gladly pay the $100 you charge for a ps2 just please arrange an update by which I can have backward compatibility. This way you wont be losing money.
Forgot to mention, Excellent job. PS3 rules.
This is teh greatest… sony is the best .. Xbox 360 dont have a chance withe the new ps3 slim, the price drop and the new firmware:D
When does it come out I NEED TO KNOW?????????!!!!!!!!!!
it cums owt 1st of september the ps3 slim an the update should be the same day to becaouse the slim is gonna have it on it when it releases so am sure the 3.00 update will be released then to that depends were you are in the uk its on thrsday wait untill the 3rd it should be owt evrywere
-Cross Game Chat/ Cross game launching
-In Game Music for Every Game IF YOU CANT DO THIS SAY SO!!!I’m sick of waiting and being strung along.The 360 has these features standered.I like sony more,but these features are more important to my gaming needs then a few exsclusive games,i.e uncharted 2,god of war III, MAG(and MAG will be usless without X game invites).I WANT TO KNOW IF I SHOULD TRAD MY PS3 IN ,OR NOT.These features are the STANDERD NOW.IF YOU CANT PUT THEM IN TELL US!!!!Seems like i payed $600.00 for a secound rate system.DID I?
ps3 needs voice chat after that im gunna stop buying 360 games
– If this EA THING is true
and we dont get xgame invites/chat and real custom music,how much do you think I’d get for a 60gig ps3,15 games,chat pad,2 controllers(1 six axis,1 duel shock),ps eye and the ps3 headset(came with socom)at Game Stop? Could I get an 360 elite and a game or two?
I swear the majority of you are such whiny brats its almost embarrassing.
If you want xbox live features as fervently and immediately as your whining makes it sound, get an xbox and pay for live service. PS made no promises to you of what to expect with this particular update so stop bitching about whats not there. You only have your own expectations to blame. Heres a hint: you rarely get stuff in the time frame that you want when you’re NOT PAYING FOR IT. Why? Because PSN has no obligation to give anyone ANY updates as long as their current firmware is functional.
You better believe that I wont be complaining about what a free service lacks that a paid service gets, because if sony ever starts charging for PSN I’ll be the first one to go. THANKS FOR THE UPDATE SONY! I hope you nerds get everything your hearts desire so you never have to leave your rooms again.
peace out.
nice sony i love my play3 lol the best firmware but still falt listen my musics while i playng my games its only to falt to my ps3 will is perfect!!!
I got 2 give yall props on tha new firmware kant what to tri out tha movin themes i hope dat yall dont disapoint.
@atreyu_-
LOL, clutch move clutch move….. and for those of you who are asking for BC, you should of bought the 80gig or 60gig or 20gig when they first came out.. i bought the 80, i had to pay extra for BC feature. so screw you guys who want that feature for free in the update or future updates…
I think “soon” means around the release of the new PS3 Slim, whenever that’s supposed to be released.
And nice update guys, keep it up :)
Oh, and for everyone who wants a BC update in later firmware, THEY CAN’T. It needs some sort of hardware built into the PS3 which was in the 80, 60 and 20 gig PS3’s like FRONX said. So unless they ship out the hardware for people to put into their PS3’s then you won’t have BC with your PS3, unlucky XD
sony u droped the ball again this is nice but u need to give the people what they want come up with something to please these people SONY if u dont start now you are going to lose all ur players to xbox i wount mind if u started charging us for ur online services that why XBL is getting all there cool new and interactive features make deal with companies like facebook and myspace or hulu if this is a compter enertainment system then i want proof