PS3 Firmware 3.00 features in development pre-NXE

by Andrew Yoon on Aug 18th 2009 4:15PM

"What's New" isn't really that new at all. In a conversation with Joystiq, SCEA network director Eric Lempel revealed that the feature has been in development for quite a long time, before Microsoft first revealed the NXE last year. According to Lempel, Sony "didn't want to do a big update," akin to Microsoft's total makeover. Why? "People like the XMB."

The Information Board, introduced in firmware 2.00, was always meant to serve as a placeholder for the "What's New" feature, Lempel admitted. This evolution of the PS3 operating system will make it clear to PS3 owners "what the latest and greatest is" on the PlayStation Store -- and yes, the system will continue to evolve over future iterations. One missing feature that might appear later on? The ability to see all DLC for a specific title, something NXE currently provides.

Firmware 3.00 will be available to download on September 1st and, while the PS3 Slim will debut shortly afterwords, it will not come preloaded on the hardware. Instead, new PS3 Slim owners will download a day-one upgrade to 3.00.

Tags: eric-lempel, ps3-firmware, ps3-firmware-3.00, ps3-slim, xmb

Reader Comments (93)

September 1st? dont recall them announcing a Firmware update 2 weeks ahead of time......But I suppose it makes sense to coincide with the "Slim" release....

I know I ain't buy the new PS3 until maybe Dec, I don't want the same problem all the PS3 launch day owners get...no sir i don't

What problem is that?

They fixed the lack of games issue...

"The ability to see all DLC for a specific title"
You can do that already by going into the store and looking at the DLC tab.

@PN04: Indeed you can, which is what I initially thought. But I think they mean something integrated into the XMB. Like pressing triangle while the game is highlighted and having an option to bring you to that part of the Store.

"People like the XMB."

People also like BC. =)

bc pleas gamers stop bitching end buy a ps2 ; ps2 games looks like ass on a hd tv .

i hate u lol

@bioshot

I guess you haven't seen a PS2 game played through the PS3 that wasn't stretched or formatted to fit the whole screen. If the formatting is off then ya, it will look bad. Otherwise, they look exactly as a PS2 game always has.

You had your chance.

Should've bought the launch console like the rest of us...

Is it my imagination, or is the PS3 the only piece of hardware that actually REWARDS legacy owners?

If you look at something like the iPhone, you got screwed if you purchased the original.

Why should I pay for a PS2, when the PS3 is perfectly capable of handling PS2 games and is a major selling point?
Sony should have BC in PS3 Slim- no questions asked.

It doesn't reward legacy owners, you still paid $600 for it. And it's not like they gave it to anybody after they released the newer ones.

I have an 80GB partial BC, and when ever i start a PS2 game, not even 20 seconds into it the fan goes nuts. It's far louder than any PS3 game. If they were to fully emulate it on the current PS3's, it's possible that it would require more processing power than the majority of PS3 games on the market. I think they will do some BC in the future, but likely do each title one-by-one, to ensure it's perfectly emulated, then put them on the store. It's probably still a few years off, but i think that's what will happen.

Keep dreaming, DangerMouse!

Who doesn't own a PS2 anyway? If you are really that interested in one, they are dirt cheap now.

@bioshot, I'm not bitching about bc, I'm crying for it. I do have a ps2 right next to my ps3, but my ps2 can't upconvert to HD. That's all I want guy.

@wiizer, I would've loved to have bought a ps3 at launch, at the time I didn't have 600$ dollars for a console, and I still don't. I'm much better off financialy now, but I had to scrape together to get a stripped down 360 back then. Also, I was waiting for a price drop, and we all know how that went.

There are a lot of people that want their cake and want to eat it, too.

I don't know what else to tell you, but to suck it up! If you didn't have the money, or whatever, you do now, so go buy this PS3 and buy one of those cheap PS2's and you're spending $400.

"Keep dreaming, DangerMouse!"

With regards to what? Am I wrong? I don't think so.

Who the hell cares how long they've been working on a "What's New" section? They've had one inside the store since the beginning anyway.

Since you're talking to them, tell them we don't want to the PS3 to boot to the "What's New" section, we don't want the PS Store shortcuts in the game and video sections, and we would like for the scrolling information in the info pane to be able to be disabled (like the current info board).

"What's new"? So now they have ads on the PS3 too...

Kind of. It's not as bad as the 360 in that it's not a main menu item, it's a sub menu under the network section. I'm fine with it being there except now apparently the PS3 will boot to that section instead of the game section as it does now. That is unacceptable. People are already complaining so I bet it gets changed.

I don't really see the problem. They've never bothered me on the 360, and it's not going to bother me here. It's more news, telling you about new content on the marketplace rather than ads.

I just don't like it being a main menu item on the 360. And I don't want the PS3 to boot to that item anymore than I like the 360 booting to the spotlight section. In addition to being faster, I always liked the XMB because it wasn't clutter and easy to use. Some of the stuff they're planning on adding makes it more like the NXE, which isn't a good thing IMO.

Ads? I didn't see anything about Telus in there. I'll have to look again.

mhmmm shut it

Not an impressive update but I could stare at that LBP theme for hours

Peach? I could eat a peach for hours.

Why 3.00? These features aren't really careworthy. 2.99 at the most.

Hopefully

Yeah, because 0.01 is such a big difference.

But they should have called it 2.90 just so the stupid fanboys would shut up. It's just a number, it would make no difference.

I really don't see the big deal here. Whether this was in development before NXE is meaningless considering it is nothing like it. It isn't a complete overhaul, it isn't bringing enhanced features we've been begging for years now for, it's just cleverly disguised advertising. This is the last thing I wanted to see on the XMB. I already hate that I can't completely remove PS Home, Life with PlayStation, Photo Gallery, and that useless Information Board from the XMB... I really don't feel like having to look at this every time I turn on my system just like I hate having to look at that stupid Spotlight menu on 360's NXE.

you can remove the information bar, its under one of the options i think if u press triangle.

I know you can stop it from functioning, you can't however remove the actual icon from XMB.

Friends list -- Status -- Appear Offline / Invisible

PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEE

Wow, you really need to consider taking some of those people off your friends list...

Being Nice and anti-social at the same time doesn't work well.

It's just a basic privacy option that even the simplest online messenger has.

Can't be that hard to incorporate that.

Why not just not go online? Or make another account? I don't understand what the point of even having a friends list and functionality if people don't even want their friends to know when they're actually gaming. That's the entire problem with the Wii's online system. Well, that and the long-ass codes that you can't memorize.

I just want the option, is that asking too much?

Geeez

I want that too, Maximun... You other guys are simply offering workarounds with other unnecessary or undesirable side effects, not a direct solution. "Make another account?" Did you really offer that up as a solution? You really are missing the point here.

It would be quite in-line with every other IM/friend system to simply offer a 'appear offline' option.

I have different groups of people I play different games with and sometimes I don't want to announce my arrival online to everyone, but yet, I want to be logged in to see when others I'm waiting for come online.

Is there really argument over who came up with the "clearly never ever been done anywhere" idea of "What's New"?

I was playing Wipeout HD Fury and thought it would be cool if the background of the main menu (the acid trippy ship) was a moving background in the XMB. It would look badass Even better than the wavy thing we have now.

Looks like a decent update. the battery indicator over the clock bugs the crap out of me, so i hope that's fixed. The current information bar is worthless and horribly implemented, so it's also good to see they changed it up a bit, too.

Yes that's fixed.

YAY!

YES Indeed!

Didn't Sony say the same thing when the Wii was announced about their [half-assed] motion control in the six axis?

Didn't Captain Planet say something about "gonna put pollution down to zero"?

It's just a front. How else do you think I get girls? With this hair?

@Captain Planet:
Well, you're certainly not getting any girls with that name. I mean, being a "captain" only goes so far. Women, in general, like to have a MAN around. You know, like BatMAN, or SuperMAN. :P

Sony seems to have a lot of carbon-copied features that were "in development since before [competitors's feature]"...

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PS3 Firmware 3.00 features in development pre-NXE

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