PS3 firmware 2.00 tomorrow, full details today

by James Ransom-Wiley @ on Nov 7th 2007 10:28AM

PlayStation 3 2.00. Mythic sounding, ain't it? Oh, how we've pined for the promise of this transformation. Never mind that Xbox 360 has the games and Wii has the demand. This holiday, PS3 has the update -- and it's available tomorrow.

Now for the bads news: The update, well, it's, um, it's ... (how to put this?) ... ~~it's lame~~ it's not gonna 'un-lame' your crippled PS3. What, you cry, but it was supposed to trump the Halo 3s, the Mass Effects -- the best Mario game in more than a decade! We know. Sorry, folks. At least you can finally use your Canon printers. At least, firmware 2.00 is free.

Was that too harsh? Maybe. There are some welcome features. Here's the complete 2.00 breakdown:

Remote Start - Energy savings: no need to leave your PS3 on all day while you periodically access it with your PSP during coffee breaks.
Information Board - Scrolling headlines, handpicked by Sony for Sony. (Thankfully, you can disable the ticker until a later update, when Sony plans to let you import your own RSS feeds.)
Themes - Create. Share. Love. Ain't that what community is all about? [Joystiq's pick for 'Best New Feature'; customize backgrounds, icons and fonts with companion PC software; supported by PlayStation.com and PlayStation Store.]
XMB Color Selector - Take control of the mood.
Music & Photo Playlists - But no Music-Photo playlists.
Additional Sorting Options - Now you can sort your music ... (ready for this?) ... by year!
DualShock 3 support - A "last-gen" feature renewed (without a US release date).
PLAYSTATION Network XMB group - Attention: PlayStation Store has moved to a new icon.
Canon printer support - 'Cause even game consoles need to print things.

Optimists (like PS3 Fanboy) argue that 2.00 installs "the framework for a much meatier PS3 experience" with a host of new components that will eventually lead to polished entertainment. But we say Sony dropped the ball again and for a second straight straight holiday season has failed to make a play. (Just imagine where PS3 would be without Insomniac scoring down the stretch.) At this point, it's not a win Sony should be shooting for, it's a tie. More so than a wowing new feature, Sony needs to deliver parity. It's 2007, why can't we send a frickin' message to a buddy from a game's pause menu? Where's our in-game XMB access?

Music playlists is just not the feature we're looking for a year into PS3's life cycle. And still we wait.