Latest PS3 Firmware Updates

[J0e Musashi]

What the Flist needs is the ability for you to add your own name to people that only you can see, or some kind of grouping method. I sometimes forget who people are as their PSN name doesn't match their forum name for example.

[JP]

I'm embarrassed to say that I do like that new LBP theme! Some nice stuff but surely this is going to increase the memory footprint instead of reducing it which would be far better.

Sony's PSPgo is set to launch with a firmware upgrade featuring new options and tweakables. Expect a full video reveal in a forthcoming Eurogamer TV show, along with fuller hands-on, but in the meantime, check out this complete technical readout of the new, fully armed and operational PlayStation Portable.

The pre-release sample of the new hardware arrived with an unreleased firmware revision: 5.70. This may or may not be the system software that ships with the retail unit coming on 1st October, but either way it seems certain new firmware is part of the launch. Regardless, 5.70 does feature a number of changes over the current 5.51 operating system, albeit somewhat slight.

Not surprisingly, it's the Settings area of the XMB that gets the lion's share of the changes:
Network Update is now listed as System Update, but, curiously, has the same options.

• Video Settings obviously doesn't have the first four UMD-related toggles.
• System Settings now has a "Your Birth Date" option (second from top), and a "Display Panel Close Option" toggle, which allows you to set it to either "Standard" (goes to a clock graphic) or "Enter Sleep Mode". Also "Battery Information" seems to be gone, as do UMD-related options, but there's a "Format System Storage" option in addition to the usual Memory Stick format option.
• Power Save Settings loses the "Backlight Auto-Adjust" option for some reason.
• There's a new "Bluetooth Device Settings" entry, which consists of a toggle for switching Bluetooth on and off and a "Manage Bluetooth Devices" entry.

All other elements of the XMB are identical to the current 5.51 firmware, aside from a new "System Storage" folder similar to the "Memory Stick" one, which, as you might imagine, allows access to the PSPgo's internal flash storage. Hooking up the PSPgo to a Mac via USB, we find that the total available storage available to the user is 14.74GB, formatted in the FAT32 configuration (hence introducing a 4GB file-size limit - unlikely to be a concern to any PSP user). All this gives the PSPgo a marginal memory edge over a 16GB iPod Touch (mine comes in at 14.64GB total capacity).

We also measured file transfer times via USB, to the internal flash memory and also to the M2 memory card, using a 699MB file (715,647KB). The M2 transfer came in at 93 seconds, while the copy to the internal flash drive took 95 seconds, so effectively there's next to nothing in it.

What is intriguing is that Sony has opted out of using a conventional USB cable format on the new handheld. The PSPgo itself uses a wider, thinner connector for the console, terminating in the standard USB connector. So, similar to the iPhone and iPod Touch, it's proprietary cable time. It also appears as though Sony has moved away from the old AV port that debuted on the PSP-2000 - there's a common-or-garden 3.5mm stereo jack connection for headphones only, not the more traditional extended interface with its support for external remotes and the like.

Since the video output settings are still on the XMB, our guess is that Sony is indeed following Apple's lead by consolidating all connections into that new wider, thinner interface, which we strongly suspect will form the basis for an iPod-style dock. All very nice, but it once again emphasises that this is something of a clean break from the old PSP hardware - not only will your UMDs not work, but your component cables are now obsolete in the new order, as are your Memory Sticks: PSPgo uses the newer, smaller, M2 format as found in a number of the Sony Ericsson mobile phones.

In terms of other interesting information we picked up... well, we're going to assume that the final production PSPgo hardware won't allow you to flash the firmware with a system update designed for the older handhelds. Bizarrely, the sample apparently does, which resulted in a rather snazzy-looking brick once the PSPgo's previous trustees (who shall remain nameless) had finished with it - a side effect of which is that the rather intriguing-looking Gran Turismo demo included on the flash drive didn't work by the time the unit arrived in our possession, which - as you can imagine - we were really happy about...

[Largo]

i like the dynamic themes hehe, and finally more avatars

What the Flist needs is the ability for you to add your own name to people that only you can see, or some kind of grouping method. I sometimes forget who people are as their PSN name doesn't match their forum name for example.

yeah same here, thats a good idea infact


with regards to emulation, i think we all know that it will happen one day, of course when that day might be nobody knows

[JP]

...and finally more avatars

That's something I've moaned about a lot. I'd happily pay a couple of quid to get an crap as the set that come with it.

This is a brief video from the show which shows some of the catch up TV stations that are on the way to different areas. We get the BBC's iPlayer at first and it gets it's own icon on the XMB which is another thing that I've been moaning about.


It'll be nice to have a few of them which take you directly to things like ITV Player, Demand Five, 4oD etc and have them configured specifically for the PS3.

[kernow]

How do you get the TV icon will it just appear or do you need to install the PlayTV software?

[funkydan]

How do you get the TV icon will it just appear or do you need to install the PlayTV software?

BBC iPlayer is coming to the PS3 xmp soon dude, so I guess once the update for that is installed, the TV icon will be visible (afaik, it has nothing to do with playtv)

[kernow]

ah.. HA!

thanks, I should stop posting at 2am

[J0e Musashi]

The TV is only to do with PlayTV currently, as that is the only TV service currently avaialble. Once more things become available it'll be a TV services general menu header.

[Largo]

whats the release date on this btw?

[kernow]

september 1st

[Largo]

thanks

[JP]

Some more details of v3.0 have been released via an interview with Sony's Satoshi Hashimoto.

• Version 3.0 of the the firmware will add the ability to upconvert audio from hard disc and USB sources to 88.2KHz or 176.4KHz. This is something that was added with version 1.8 exclusively for CDs.
• The right analogue stick functionality during video playback looks like it will be pretty powerful. When you push the stick in any direction, the video will pause. You can then rotate the stick for speeds ranging between slow motion and four times. Rotate clockwise, and you?ll advance the video. Counterclockwise will backtrack. The speed can be adjusted at a precision of 0.01 times. Let go of the stick, and the playback will continue at normal speed.
• The web browser?s print screen functionality can output to a printer connected via USB and over LAN. Only certain printers are compatible though.
• This is something you might have not noticed before (I certainly never gave much thought to it). Currently, when you start up your PS3, the XMB interface begins by pointing at the games section. Starting with firmware 3.0, the interface will default to pointing at the newly added What?s New section of the network column. This is true even if you have a disc in the system. You can go into the settings menu to switch back to the original behavior if you like.
• The analogue clock display in the upper right side corner of the screen has been switched to a busy indicator. When the system is working, you?ll see the clock spinning.
• The font size and icon size for the main interface have become a bit bigger. This was implemented in order to better show what area is in focus.
• From version 3.0, all versions of the PS3 ? old and new ? will have a change to their startup sequences. When booting up the system for the first time, PlayStation family logo, PS3 logo, and PlayStation 3 logo will all display simultaneously. When you start up a game, the PS3 logo will no longer be shown, giving a slight boost in speed to startup time. Note that this does not apply to original PlayStation games, as they run on an emulator.
• Version 3.0 adds support for more dynamic themes using videos and other elements. The system?s base ?wave? theme has also been changed to a display of fine particles. Backgrounds for such themes are created by the same SDK that?s used to make games. There?s a slight bit of interaction with the particle effects. If you?re scrolling down, the particles will flow down. If you?re scrolling left, the particles will flow left

.

[cutmymilk]

I updated to V3 last night. The iPlayer app is great, even if it's just a hyperlink to the new PS3 specific webpage.

[wod]

i updated my ps3 to version 3 and the iplayer link is no where to be seen in the menu ?

[Btang84]

Is your machine a UK PAL system? I'm guessing they locked NTSC machines out getting the iPlayer app/link, since my Japanese PS3 doesn't have it either.

Annoying but there we have it.