Better late than never: PS3 firmware 2.53 is here

by James Ransom-Wiley { Dec 2nd 2008 at 1:29PM }

Chances are your Thanksgiving holiday (or plain old half-week) was not spent obsessively refreshing your PlayStation 3's "System Update." Chances are your spirit did not diminish with each passing day that firmware v2.53 was not released. Chances are you forgot all about it.

We happily report that the latest incremental update to leave your PS3 looking a lot like it did before the latest incremental update has arrived. Only ... what's this? Full-screen Flash videos in the web browser! It is a new PlayStation experience. Truly.

Tags: flash, ps3-firmware, ps3-firmware-2.53

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

SuMtOnE @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:34PM

finally been waitin for this one to come out

343 Guilty Fart @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:35PM

And it took about half an hour to download to boot. All I wanted was to download the demo for Valkyria Chronicles. Has anyone else played it, is it worth getting?

Wiinterfang @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:56PM

I hear good things about it I try to convince my friend to download the Demo, he says is too different from the conventional Tactical RPGs, is nothing he ever seen before.

But that may be either good or Bad so I guess you need to play the demo and *gasp* make your own opinion :P.

John Z @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:03PM

I dug it. The strategy looks like it will be there, even if the demo was painfully short, and the actual gameplay was fun enough. Might want to try the demo just to be sure, but I put it on my rental list.

LaughingMan @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:18PM

Valkyria is worth getting.

The demo only gets you through one early mission where you've only got a few units. Later on in the game, where you have to manage complex maneuvers against a formidable enemy force, is when the game system really starts to shine.

On top of that, it's a beautiful game. The cel-shaded, watercolor art looks and feels like a manga come to life.

The story is engrossing and complex too. That's the one caveat about the game... it's not a mindless boom-fest. There is a lot of story that is presented through cutscenes and dialogue sequences (sort of like MGS) between the missions.

I love this game, and I think that everyone with a PS3 owes it to themselves to at least rent it.

343 Guilty Fart @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:27PM

Thanks, I'll play the demo to at least get a feel for it. I've just been playing so many shooters lately that something different would be nice, and this looks like a nice change of pace.

BananaBoat @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:28PM

I LOVE the art style, but the gameplay is really take it or leave it. You should definitely try the demo and see if you can stand it. Basically you have a random chance of hitting anything you shoot at, and there is really no way (short of getting so close you can smell the enemy) to make your shots more accurate. The end result is that you could miss a guy you've aimed at perfectly, and then he could blow you away. It's a tiny bit frustrating, but the game is worth it overall I'd say.

Strategy_Panda (the artist formally known as Titanium_Orchid) @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:28PM

Definitely play the demo. Its a good will give you an understanding of how the game works on a technical level. It is not representative of the difficulty or creativity of missions you will find in the retail game.

I always find it hard to recommend the game to people because, while its a very well made game, its also very niche. If you don't understand what kind of experience you will be getting, you might get a little put off.

I generally tell people that if they liked Final Fantasy Tactics, they will like this game.

baby sea tuna @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:29PM

Valkyria is really the only thing I'm interested in playing on PS3 right now (sorry LBP) but after finishing Fallout and being in the middle of Fable 2, the last thing I want to play right now is another RPG.

Vidikron @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:30PM

Half an hour? This update went fast for me. Download and install took maybe 6 minutes total.

Josh @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:31PM

Get it, get it, get it now. Get five copies, and give them to friends. Just get it and play it.

Strategy_Panda (the artist formally known as Titanium_Orchid) @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:35PM

@baby sea tuna

VC has RPG elements but it can't really be classified as an RPG.

Basically, at the end of each mission, the player is awarded xp and money. Xp can be spent to upgrade classes of units (snipers, engineers, scouts, assault, lancers). When xp is distributed among classes, every unit of the given class is allotted the exact same amount of xp.

I really liked the system, as I was not looking forward to attacking targets with specific characters just so I wouldn't have a severely underpowered unit.

Money is spent to conduct research along RTS-like tech trees.

Strategy_Panda (the artist formally known as Titanium_Orchid) @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:37PM

oops, misread your comment

baby sea tuna @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:39PM

Regardless, when I'm done with Fable, I'll be in the mood to either hop and bop, or blow shit up. Valkyria'll still be there when I'm done though. It's a long time between now and Halo Wars and/or RE5.

required @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:40PM

The ugly truth is that it doesn't work very well.

tmacairjordan87 @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:04PM

All I know is yesterday I couldn't watch Hulu videos on my ps3, but today I can. That's all I needed to know about the update really.

Erwos @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:12PM

You could watch Hulu videos yesterday, too. And just like yesterday, they're still a choppy mess.

tmacairjordan87 @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:18PM

I couldn't use hulu yesterday. I tried, but nothing would load. It ran really well today too there was no issues at all.

BananaBoat @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:31PM

There are no issues...except that full screen doesn't work on widescreen TV's (it brings hulu up in a square box. You get more screen real estate from the right bumper) HD content doesn't work, 360p (or whatever) content chugs like a mother (I'd estimate 15-20fps on average) and it just doesn't work correctly in general.

Someone on the engadget thread suggested an application that can make it work, called "Play on", but it's trialware (14 day trial, 30 bucks after that).

The annoyance of not being able to watch Hulu videos continues, Flash 9 or no Flash 9.

Vidikron @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:42PM

PlayOn has been around for a while now and it works very well. It plays videos off of Hulu, ESPN, CBS, and some other sites. It even has a WIP Netflix support. I used it for a while, but it screwed with my TVersity a bit so I uninstalled it from my file server. I use TVersity to stream media files and, at the time, PlayOn didn't support file streaming, though that was also a planned feature. It may have been added by now. BTW, it works with both the PS3 and 360

Haggard @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:53PM

Point of information: readers in the UK may be interested to know that this update allows you to watch BBC iPlayer on your PS3. So that's any show on the BBC in the last 7 days, and soon the TV channels themselves streaming (although presumably since it's hooked up to your TV you could have done that anyway)

Kodros @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:37PM

"except that full screen doesn't work on widescreen TV's"

Maybe I'm missing something but why would you want a horizontally stretched out video?

sk8monroe81 @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:15PM

so when did the ps3 go from BEYOND High def and its in our "HDNA" and blu ray is the future...
to saying that putting low quality movies on our tv is good?

most every HDTV is widescreen.
most ps3 owners have and HDTV.

damn who cares about this HULU jargon.

i could already do this from PC to my TV much faster.. lol
that ps3 browser is slow anyway.

its really not a big feature...lol..

required @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:39PM

Kodros, most contemporary 16x9 TV sets do a smart scale of 4x3 content so that it's not just horizontally stretched.

BananaBoat @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:46PM

@kodros

The content is 16:9 widescreen. It's easy to upscale to the same aspect ratio without screwing up the picture, thus I'd much rather have a full screen of video than a square box in the middle of my screen. Hulu has support for this on the PC, but not on the PS3 right now, for reasons that I couldn't tell you.

NOT ME @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:41PM

ummm yay!!! .....i think

Courtney @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:45PM

And lo, the Sony gods did handeth down v2.53, and there was much rejoicing.

Strategy_Panda (the artist formally known as Titanium_Orchid) @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:30PM

preach it sister!

J @ Dec 2nd 2008 10:09PM

courtney can be a guy's name too.

I know right?

Courtney @ Dec 2nd 2008 10:12PM

Sister is the new brother?

Squirtforce @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:49PM

Finally! Fleshlight support!!!

Wiinterfang @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:57PM

LULZ

joeymoto @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:52PM

Ermmmmm... does it sort out my continuously frustration of PS3 signing out of PSN at random intervals ????

In other news... I've been so excited for this update, it's the one to rival NXE.

Mr Khan @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:52PM

The snark is never refreshing

joeymoto @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:54PM

I know what your pic is... its that guy off of the one and only Megas XLR!!!! That was the funniest kids show ever.

joeymoto @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:55PM

The above post was to Mr Khan... damn comment system.

Mr Khan @ Dec 2nd 2008 1:59PM

Indeed. A screen capture from one of the most memorable moments from the pilot episode involving "some prehistoric yahoo and his pet monkey thing"

peepoop @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:08PM

Oh joy. Grainy, Youtube Flash in screen-filling 1080p...

Chris @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:20PM

So are these people just uninformed/talking crap or is youtube quality flash the only flash that ps3 will play? I would like to know what people who actually have a ps3 and who have actually used the flash player to tell us about it, instead of hearing from the usual 'automatically claim everything Sony does is shit' crowd.

Erwos @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:24PM

See my post above. I tried Hulu in full-screen this morning with 2.53, and it locked my browser after a few seconds - not to mention that it was a choppy mess, too. Sony really hasn't delivered in the way we're looking for them to - I'm sorry that you can't bring yourself to believe this and have to call everyone else a liar.

Chris @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:53PM

I'm not calling everyone else a liar. In case you hadn't noticed, many people on this board make false claims about sony products/games despite having little to no knowledge of that product/game and I was simply asking for people with knowledge of the product to reply, I thought I had made that clear.

And before anyone gets their panties in a bunch, yes I realize that the same can be said for Microsoft and Nintendo games/products, its just that in this case I was curious about the sony firmware update.

brampf @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:38PM

I just watched the Price of Persia review on gamevideos.1up.com (the flash version) and it played normally and as expected. When I switched to fullscreen it was slightly choppy until it had finished buffering but then it worked perfectly well.
The quality, well it looked the same quality as it is on my pc so check out the video.
Its not like flash video is usually that good but the flash support is much more usefull that for just blowing up grainy youtube videos.

Chris @ Dec 2nd 2008 6:20PM

Good to hear, bramph. I don't have a ps3 (yet!) but I'm glad to hear it.

hplcman @ Dec 2nd 2008 2:26PM

Yikes. I know this was late coming out and we should all be totally pissed about that, but c'mon. It seems to me this website has been getting more and more critical of the PS3 lately. I know there's always been a bias towards the 360 here, but this is getting to be a little too much!