I give full props to Sony for choosing consumers over developers when it became obvious the developers weren't working to give consumers what they want.
👍
I like the idea of having a direct internet search option. Currently I have Google as my homepage for the PS3 browser, but this is even more convenient. 👍
Although having an in-game custom music option is not a big deal for me, I do like that they also added a nice popup menu for quickly controlling and adjusting the custom music you have selected. 👍
The in-game XMB feature I can see using the most is the ability to quickly read and respond to messages from those on your friend's list. However, one thing I noticed is that so far there has been no mention of being able to chat with a friend via XMB while in-game.
The other thing I noticed right away was the categories that showed up on the screen when he selected the
Accessory Settings menu at about the 3-min mark in the 2.4 demo part 1 video.
It appears they have added two new options to that menu that have never been mentioned in any of the articles speculating on what 2.4 will offer, nor mentioned in these video demos from Sony:
- Reassign Controllers
- Controller Vibration Function
These appear to be the same options currently found in the
Controller Settings menu available during a game when you press the PS button on a controller and select "Controller Settings".
I'm not exactly sure why you would need these options available in the XMB when not in a game. However, I'm also not opposed to having more options available.
Speaking of the Accessory Settings menu, I noticed that while in the demo Eric Lempel showed how we will have in-game access to this menu, what he never showed or mentioned is whether or not we will still only be able to register one audio Bluetooth device at a time... which really bites if you own and use multiple Bluetooth headsets.
As for the updated profile and trophy support. As far as I could tell the profile options have not really changed. We have always had the option of adding *"About Me" info and listing up to three different languages we can speak in our
profiles:
*The issue I have with the current profile, and judging by what I saw in the video it still exists, is that we are limited to just 20 characters in the "About Me" window, which severely limits what you can say.
While I am not easily convinced that "trophies", like achievements will interest me much, I have to admit it does look like an interesting option. I especially liked how you will be able to compare detailed trophy lists with other users, thus making it easier to identify a user that has managed to accomplish something in a game that I might be struggling with. I could then send them a message requesting tips on that set of challenges. 👍
I also hope developers expand on this feature by coming up with some really interesting looking trophies, thus adding a little more incentive to the player to see what a particular trophy might look like... although considering that Sony has emphasized that these are "2-D" trophies, perhaps they are saving the really interesting looking and possibly 3-D animated trophies for use with Home.