Playstation 3 System Update Thread

[land sea air]

agreed, if true, in-game browser would be awesome! Imagine looking for help when stuck on a level without ever leaving the couch (lazy I know)

 

[Giancarlo]

I highly doubt that's true. The internet browser can hardly handle running two websites at once, how could it handle running in the background with a video game?

 

[land sea air]

I highly doubt that's true. The internet browser can hardly handle running two websites at once, how could it handle running in the background with a video game?

I would imagine the game pauses as it does with every time with the in game XMB, the whatever you have on the browser closes when you exit the xmb back to the game, it might not be fast, but it will prove to be useful if true.

EDIT: I have no problem running 2 or 3 separate pages on the PS3 on a wireless connection, it's not as fast or flexible as my computer but since I don't have a laptop it's a nice alternative when I'm showing someone pictures or a video on youtube.

 

[FoolKiller]

I highly doubt that's true. The internet browser can hardly handle running two websites at once, how could it handle running in the background with a video game?

What sites are you visiting? I've been sitting at home watching my work email being forwarded to Gmail, reading GTP, and Joystiq all at the same time.

 

[Giancarlo]

I usually visit GTP (where most of the pictures don't load), RealGM.com, school e-mail, GMail, among other things.

I just haven't had good experiences with it.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

I highly doubt that's true. The internet browser can hardly handle running two websites at once, how could it handle running in the background with a video game?

What sites are you visiting? I've been sitting at home watching my work email being forwarded to Gmail, reading GTP, and Joystiq all at the same time.

I've often had six pages loaded at the same time without any problems. Most often I use it for Google News which only takes about 2-3 seconds to load.

In fact, I don't even have any problems browsing the web while background downloading either:

That said, for some sites it definitely loads much slower, but I suspect that has to do with the fact that it is a browser designed to protect your PS3 from being infected with mallware, spyware, even viruses and hackers.

There are some people who still believe the PS3 internet speeds are some how "slow", despite plenty of evidence that suggests otherwise.

If you think you may not be getting the most out of your connection speed, I would go to a site like SpeedTest.net and run a test on your PS3's browser and then do the same on your PC. If they are both slow... but match your ISP's suggested speeds, then you may want to sign up for a faster ISP service. If the PC is noticeably faster, make sure to test them using the exact same connection to your modem. If there is still a noticeable difference, then you may want to check your router and modem settings. If there is still a difference, it may mean you need a new modem and or router.

 

[Jeremy Ricci]

Just a heads up, we should see another system update coming within the next week or so. We should get more information at GDC, but a firmware update is most certainly coming.

 

[GT4 genius]

Great news, theres not been much recently. So now we wait for Sony's announcement at GDC, get way over excited because of a very near release date, then get told that a problem has arisen and then finally get the update 2 weeks after said date. Should be good though, and I'm not being sarcastic, because many now regard GDC as a bigger event than E3.

 

[Jeremy Ricci]

One thing that will be included in the firmware will be the ability to log into 2 PSN accounts during splitscreen games that support it (such as Resistance 2).

 

[GT4 genius]

One thing that will be included in the firmware will be the ability to log into 2 PSN accounts during splitscreen games that support it (such as Resistance 2).

That would be nice, if most other game developers come on board with it too. It would work well with COD's leveling up system of rewards as is similar with many other games. I could even see possiblilities with GT5, if a persons cars could somehow be linked to their account as well as their HDD they could go to a friends and sign in along with them and already have all their cars there and tuned just the way they like them.

 

[FoolKiller]

One thing that will be included in the firmware will be the ability to log into 2 PSN accounts during splitscreen games that support it (such as Resistance 2).

If they get cross-game chat/invites and there aren't any legitimate XBL is better comments.

Also, I have heard rumors of a satellite radio (Sirius/XM) deal being discussed, not for this update but later, and wondered if you knew if there was any truth to it. I would definitely get a satellie radio subscription and probbably eventually get a satellite radio for myself too.


Oh, and am I the only one to notice that when the clocks changed that the Set via Internet option has not updated yet? It keeps throwing me off when it gets late.

 

[Jeremy Ricci]

Well, a firmware update may not be in store. Doing some checking with folks, seems back end functionality for new R2 updates may already be there from 2.60

Will get to the bottom of it soon!

 

[GT4 genius]

Heres what Joystiq think:
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/25/ps3-firmware-update-to-coincide-with-resistance-2-patch/
Possibly an update today or tomorrow.

 

[Jeremy Ricci]

Heres what Joystiq think:
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/25/ps3-firmware-update-to-coincide-with-resistance-2-patch/
Possibly an update today or tomorrow.

Nope, talked to James earlier today, no firmware patch coming. The update they were talking about was included in 2.60.

 

[RACECAR]

I got a update called "Version 2.70". Any Noticible Significant changes?

 

[WallRunner]

Changelog includes things like "Text Chat" (Which I think is like IM, not sure yet)
Dynamic Normalizer (Like Sound Check on iPod)
Copy-and paste text from browser to text entry fields
and feature added to internet search that adds "Games you own" or something.

Seems like a pretty big update, DL'ing now.

Edit: Here's Joystiq's rundown:
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/04/01/ps3-firmware-2-70-brings-16-player-in-game-text-chat/

From,
Chris.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

I got a update called "Version 2.70". Any Noticible Significant changes?

You can read the official announced list of changes before updating it by simply following the on-screen instructions in the XMB for updating the system software.

The official PS Blog usually has a listing explaining many of the changes and occasionally even a video demonstration, which is what they have for this update regarding the new chat system.

Sony also will list the changes on their official system software update page, but sometimes they don't update it right away.

The Wiki listing for the PS3 System Software will usually go into more detail as unannounced changes are discovered.


So far here is what is known:

• Settings Changes
  
  
  • 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.
    
    
  • 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).
  
  
• Media Changes
  
  
  • 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.
    
    
  • The ability to search the net about a particular game direct from the game section of the XMB using the triangle menu.
    
    
  • The ability to cut and paste text.
    
    
  • A Dynamic Normalizer to prevent sudden increases in volume between music tracks.

BTW: It took just under 3 minutes to download, but I don't know how large the file is as I update straight to the PS3.


UPDATE: Added a link to the PS Blog System update info and video... and I also noticed one new feature that has not yet been discussed by any of these sources:

• When comparing trophies, instead of 0%, if someone, including yourself, has not played a game that the other has, it will now show a simple dash (-) instead.

I can see how this could be useful, but what would really be nice is if they would give us some sorting options, especially alphabetically. 👍

 

[ceiling_fan]

I can see how this could be useful, but what would really be nice is if they would give us some sorting options, especially alphabetically. 👍

Just downloaded it and that was the first thing I looked for. Right now I'm using FooKilla's 'putting each game in it's own album' (albums are sorted alphabetically) and having to press X an extra time isn't a huge issue

 

[Solid Lifters]

The chat feature seems cool, but I need a keyboard. Took forever to tell you guys I couldn't chat. It was nice to be able to tell you while playing KZ2 online.

 

[FoolKiller]

So, I guess I went to bed before the update rolled out. Can anyone who used the chat tell me how well that works in game?

Can you chat cross game? And is it something you have to go out to the in-game XMB to use, or is it like PC games text chatting, where you just type and it sends it without disrupting your game?

I am however happy to see that we can now copy PSN Store movies to external drives. That may be enough to get me to purchase a few. Of course, I guess that means that either they will never give us 3+ hour movies in HD or there will still be some limits to what we can copy, due to the 4GB file size limit on FAT32.



I am also curious if anyone else thinks that Sony played a bit of an April Fool's joke on gaming blogs. They send a message to Kotaku, the worst about spreading Sony rumors and blowing them up, pre-announcing an announcement for 3/31. Then they announce a PS2 price cut. The PlayStation Blog goes insane, the gaming sites question Sony's marketing, and it generally seems like a bunch of hullabaloo about nothing. Of course, one of the rumors was a Firmware 2.70 announcement. Then on 4/1 Sony announces and releases Firmware 2.70 near the end of the day, and past business hours in all US time zones. Considering how many sarcastic and somewhat volatile comments Sony has made regarding blog sites and rumors I would not put it past them to have purposely set them up to show how stupid they are on April Fool's Day.

 

[wolfdude]

I am however happy to see that we can now copy PSN Store movies to external drives. That may be enough to get me to purchase a few. Of course, I guess that means that either they will never give us 3+ hour movies in HD or there will still be some limits to what we can copy, due to the 4GB file size limit on FAT32.

Don't wanna rain on your parade but... I think this feature is only for you to "backup" your movie to an external storage. It won't allow you to "play" it elsewhere. If you want to play it, it'll still have to be "restored" to your PS3 assuming you've deleted it from the internal storage.

 

[FoolKiller]

Don't wanna rain on your parade but... I think this feature is only for you to "backup" your movie to an external storage. It won't allow you to "play" it elsewhere. If you want to play it, it'll still have to be "restored" to your PS3 assuming you've deleted it from the internal storage.

A backup is all I really want, as the Video Store doesn't have a download list, so if someone is low on hard drive space they cannot delete the movie and just redownload it later. Similarly if you have a drive issue and you get corrupted data, you previously didn't have an easy way to recover your movie. You could actually call Sony and have them allow you to redownload it, but that is a bit of a hassle and just costs Sony more money over time.


Now, for them to offer better pricing options for the video store...

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Can anyone who used the chat tell me how well that works in game?

It works great, although if you do not pause the game to view the entire chat log, you are limited to just individual pop-up notification messages with that specific chat message... so if several people were chatting, it would be hard to keep up with the conversation while playing a game of course.

Also, because it uses the same pop-up notification, each post has a limit to the number of characters that can be used... otherwise it wouldn't fit inside a notification pop-up window... which at first really bugged me, but then when I gave it some thought regarding the limited space inside a pop-up notification window it does make sense.

The way around this is to type a few posts one after the other to make a complete post.

The good news is if you want to chat, but also want to keep playing, even if you missed some of what was said, you can always go back later into the XMB and access the chat log by selecting that specific chat room in the "Chat Room" menu located in the Friends menu bar. 👍

Can you chat cross game?

Yes... with as many as 16 other people. So in theory you could be in a chat with 16 different people all playing 16 different games.

In fact, even if you did not create the chat room, you can still invite people to join it... so a chat room is not simply limited to the host's friends list. 👍

Also, you can participate in three chat rooms at the same time. 👍

When doing that in-game, you'll notice that each pop-up chat notification will tell you the name of the chat room and who the post is from.

When doing it in the chat room log area, to switch from one chat room to another, simply press the O button until you are back in the XMB, then select Chat Room and then select among the list of Chat Rooms you currently are participating in that you want to see the full chat log.

BTW: To scroll through a chat log, as C_F discovered, use the right joystick. 👍

You can also find out who is currently in a chat room by selecting the icon that says "Participant List" located near the bottom next to the "Invite a Friend" icon. Keep in mind, if you are in text mode, you'll need to press the circle (default back button) to leave the text mode and see the icons.

Here's some more cool things I discovered about this new chat feature.

When highlighting a specific chat room in the XMB, if you press the triangle button you'll find like many things in the XMB, it has some options to chose from:

• Open: This is the same as simply pressing the X button to enter that chat.
  
  
• Leave: This officially removes you from the chat room, such that you will no longer get any notifications. Now you can always go back, but what ever was said between the time you left and then came back will not show up in your chat log for that chat room. However, everything that was said while you were officially joined will remain in your chat log until you delete that chat from your chat room list.
  
  BTW: By signing off the PSN, this will naturally cause you to leave all chat rooms. So in the event you are participating in an interesting discussion in one of your chat rooms, and don't want to miss out on what's being said while you are gone - just don't sign off the PSN, and you'll then be able to log in to that chat room later on and scroll back through the chat log. 👍
  
  
• Delete: This deletes that chat room from your list of available chat rooms.
  
  You can also delete all the chat rooms at once by highlighting Chat Room in your Friends menu bar, press triangle, and select delete.

What is cool is that even if you turn your PS3 off, as long as you do not delete that chat room, you'll always be able to log back into it. This way you won't need to be consistently creating new chat rooms.

For example, if you belong to a clan for a specific game, someone in the clan could create a chat room just for your clan, and as long as it doesn't get deleted, it will always be there... which is also why giving a chat room a logical name instead of the default "Text Chat" is something I would strongly recommend. 👍

I am however happy to see that we can now copy PSN Store movies to external drives. That may be enough to get me to purchase a few. Of course, I guess that means that either they will never give us 3+ hour movies in HD or there will still be some limits to what we can copy, due to the 4GB file size limit on FAT32.

I suspect like other video "files", while it may appear in the PSN stores and in the XMB as a single file, it could easily be multiple hidden files thus allowing for a lot more data. 👍

 

[FoolKiller]

I suspect like other video "files", while it may appear in the PSN stores and in the XMB as a single file, it could easily be multiple hidden files thus allowing for a lot more data. 👍

If that is the case then it combines them when it puts them on the PSP. I have copied them to the PSP and then put the Memory Stick in my PC and opened the folders. It is just one .mnv video file.

I have yet to see a store video that requires more than 4GB, but they also have no 3+ hour movies in HD. With Easter and Passover coming up maybe they will give us The Ten Commandments in HD and then I can test this.

That said, I have seen the PSN store pull off some pretty amazing compression. I can't remember what show it was, but they had an entire hour and a half Sony presentation in a single file once in a less than 1GB mp4 file without much noticable quality loss (albeit I was still on an SDTV at teh time). Since then they have offered show presentation files split into multiple files.

Speaking of, no GDC videos?

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

I have yet to see a store video that requires more than 4GB, but they also have no 3+ hour movies in HD.

A typical 2 hour movie in 1080p on Blu-ray is around 20GB or more. 720p would only be about half that... without lowering the bit rates.

More to the point, although I have only downloaded some of the free stuff from the PSN Video store, as I posted a couple weeks ago in the PSN Store thread, I downloaded the free premier episode of NBC's latest series, Kings, in 720p which was 5.1 GBs and only 1 hour and 20 minutes long:

My family and I are up in Dallas and while here I surprised the nephews with a new PS3, and while loading it up with games and downloads, my sister in-law and her husband were curious about the PSN Video store. I personally have never bothered to use it as I prefer discs over downloads, but I gave them the basic tour and explanations of how the service works... and while doing this I came across a few surprises.

For one, I had the impression that all the content in the Video store is fee based, however, when I was showing them the various download sections in the store I came across an exclusive free preview for NBC's newest drama, Kings... and in very good quality HD no less. However, the real surprise was that they also had available for free, the entire 2-hour first episode in HD no less, and without commercial, so it was really just under 1.5 hours. 👍

Just be warned... it's a 5.1GB file... but well worth it, as it looks noticeably better than NBC's HD broadcast.

This got me wondering what else is free in the PSN Video store, as I have yet to see any post, thread, blog, article, etc on any free content in the Video store.

It didn't take me long before I found at least two other shows that were free, MTV's Nitro Circus: Season 1, Ep.1 (480p) and Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory: Season 1, Ep.1 (480p)... both 30-min shows trimmed down to a little over 20 minutes without commercials.

There is so much content in the Video Store, I didn't have time or the inclination to go searching for every free video I could find, but for those interested, here again are the four that I did see and downloaded:

• NBC: Kings: Season 1, Exclusive Preview (720p)
• NBC: Kings: Season 1, Ep.1 (720p)
• MTV: MTV's Nitro Circus: Season 1, Ep.1 (480p)
• MTV: Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory: Season 1, Ep.1 (480p)

If anyone knows of or comes across other free content in the PSN Video Store, it would be great if you would let us know. 👍

 

[FoolKiller]

I downloaded the free premier episode of NBC's latest series, Kings, in 720p which was 5.1 GBs and only 1 hour and 20 minutes long:

Weird, I could have sworn that the HD stuff was like 3.5GB. Perhaps I'm confused (which may be likely).

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

I like the new option to sort your friends list based on how recently they have been online... although I still prefer to sort them alphabetically.

I have noticed a few other new changes that have yet to be brought up.

For instance, the Themes in your theme settings menu are now sorted from *newest to oldest. Where as before it was the opposite. Although what would be really helpful is an option to sort them alphabetically.

* Although in my case for some odd reason, the Air Paint theme is at the top even though I downloaded it over a year ago.

Also, they have added a scroll bar to the PSN store front page lists of links to specific content. In other words, before this, it would only have room to list about 10 items per box, so even if an update had say 15 or more new items, it would only show around 10. Now you can scroll down to find links to all of the updates without having to go hunt for them in the "Newest" menu. Not a big deal, but still a nice option to have. 👍

 

[FoolKiller]

Also, they have added a scroll bar to the PSN store front page lists of links to specific content. In other words, before this, it would only have room to list about 10 items per box, so even if an update had say 15 or more new items, it would only show around 10. Now you can scroll down to find links to all of the updates without having to go hunt for them in the "Newest" menu. Not a big deal, but still a nice option to have. 👍

Actually, this was there last week. I noticed it, thought it was odd, shrugged, and moved on. I just figured it was something that I had missed before.

 

[Legendary]

Is there any way to set them with status AND alphabetically? I preferred it the old way and was playing a game and couldnt work out how to do it.

 

[FoolKiller]

Is there any way to set them with status AND alphabetically? I preferred it the old way and was playing a game and couldnt work out how to do it.

So, sorting by name now longer puts all the online people at the top?