This is not what the Friends list currently looks like.
Firmware 3.00 brought many changes: some good, some bad. The good? The removal of the PS3 logo at a game's launch, which "makes the loading time a bit quicker than before." The bad? A few aesthetic changes, most notoriously the redesigned Friends list. Inexplicably, the latest software update added large gray boxes around each individual user ID, making for a cluttered look that simply didn't jive with the elegance of the XMB. SCEE's PS3 Brand Manager appeared on the EU PlayStation.Blog to admit that "updates to firmware don't always suit everyone's tastes."
Thankfully, the Friends list is something Sony is "looking into based on your comments." Mark Bowles added, "We really do appreciate the feedback you guys give us, both positive and negative."
Sony, may we recommend you take some inspiration from the mock-ups (seen above) created by Steven Shaw? The "box" idea works really well, when implemented correctly. Above, Shaw uses the box to highlight the selected user, and then takes advantage of the screen real estate to provide instant access to useful information. We're quite fond of his work -- you should definitely check out more.
The old start up sound was actually pretty good. They made the new one too rich an threw in too many cellos. It just sounds sloppy now. The other one just sounded clean, inviting, and just better
I miss the logo and chimes when launching a game. The sequence took about 2-3 seconds and for all intents and purposes it takes just as long to load a game.
One of my long standing gripes withthe UI is I have to dig multiple levels just to find what game someone is playing or what the actual trophies are. I feel like I can tell at a glance what achievements are on the 360 but icon design seems often lazy on the ps3 side and I can never tell what the actual trophies are or even what my friends have recently played.
Meh, I got like 1 friend on my PS3 friends list (i really need to start playing something other than FFXI on it...) so the friends list stuff is lost on me.
However... A few updates ago (a year?) they made it so that the cursor would either go to a default place or to the last place you were at. (Basically, turn it off/on and the cursor would be on the game you were just playing instead of over thier New Stuff icon). With this update they got rid of that.. I really could care less about the news they think I want to know. It was VERY NICE being able to easily go back into what you had just be using.
Also, that box in the topright? I turned the info thing off cause I didn't like seeing that thing up there. Now this update comes and puts something in that spot indefinately. Again, I understand what it does.. and if I had friends on the PS3 it would be handy. But I dont, and I'd like an option to be able to hide that as well. Couldn't/won't that end up burning into peoples TVs? (Or are we past that age now with CRTs being basically obsolete)
You can turn off that feature. It's one of the options and it's called something like "Show What's New on startup." I don't remember exactly where it is or what's it is called and I'm at work so I can't check.
Also, I don't know what the behaviour would be once it is turned off. I assume that it would go back to how it was prior to 3.00.
you guys fooled me. that does look pretty tight. but if they are gonna change it, change it to something thats off the chain. a box with your trohy info wont cut it.
To everyone with the music stopping problem, this is straight from Sony on why that happens and how to fix it: "The PS3 extended the upsampling capability to audio tracks stored on HDD and storage media with v3.00. Some function on the XMB such as the internet browser and photo gallery outputs with 48KHz only so you need to set audio outputs as 48Khz to enjoy music and net surfing."
Oh my god, it took me about 10 minutes, a read on the entire PsBlog link to finally read the entire article and find out that this look for the Friends List is a mock-up.
Sorry, but that friend list look is just perfect.
If sony could pull off showing all the trophy info quickly on the friend list and with a look like that, damn, I would take back everything bad I talked about the 3.0 update :p
I'm still more irritated by the fact that the Playstation Store has an icon in just about every menu now. Whats worse is that it's the first icon on each menu by default.
I get that maybe they want people to go there and lay down some more money, but shoving it down my throat makes me less likely to throw more cash at them.
Shame. I loved the XMB, but this new update really screwed it up.
Should also include trophy information in the top status bar. Whats the point of trophies if you can't show it off??
I also think they should put the notification window in the bottom-middle ala the 360 (or an option to position it), it makes it easier to notice new trophies, friends, etc than from the top right corner.
But aside from those, I approve of these mock ups. Looks more slicker and gives a purpose to show off trophies.
you know, i was under the impression that the feature that picture shows was what Sony has been planning for a while. when 3.0 came out, i thought, oh sweet. we get that trophy card thing. but that is not what happened. and I'm sad for that. but, i go like my LBP dynamic theme. i hope we get a badass Uncharted 2 dynamic theme. and that trophy card.
What I really HATE is that the Auto-Start feature does NOT work now. That makes me loathe even more the What's New section as that is where the PS3 goes when it starts.
You're confused about what the Auto-Start feature is :P Auto-Start allowed (in the past, unfortunately...) to start the game inside the disc tray automatically after turning the PS3 on.
The fact that a game/film starts when you put the DVD/Blu-ray in the disc tray has nothing to do with Auto-Start. Regardless of whether it's on or off, the PS3 will always start to load the game/film if you're not doing something in the XMB.
just bought a slim 3 days ago, with uncharted and batman... upped to 3.0 and have only been able to play batman since... :S
still, went out and got hells highway and battlefield bad company the day after because of this, so i guess they are making more money out of me by having it broken!
Just wanted to add that this is perfect. The friends list is sweet, the expanding ALL their info on one screen is perfect. The news ticker is gone and just displays relevant info. And lastly, even the what's new area looks a lot more cleaner and tight.
I am fine with the current look of the XMB, but I would not mind one bit if they changed it to look something more like the mockup.
The only complaint I have on the 3.0 update is that when you are browsing your audio or video files and you stop on a file all the other file names fade away. That's annoying, taking away all my file seein' abilities.
Wow its everything you could ask for in a friends list! Sony sort it out surely it cant be that hard! Its taken a long while to understand why they would do that with the friends list i think it could possibly be because you may not be able to see your friends list properly if you have a dynamic theme going! But anyway they need to get rid of those ugly boses A.S.A.P!
now THIS is what i thought those boxes were for in the first place, but since the sync function is a bit slow to show the gamercard info (i know, it's much faster now, but still not great) maybe they should make a cache or something.
I like that mock up, but Sony would have to change how friend's list information is retrieved from the server. For reasons beyond me, it still takes quite awhile to get the users's level, level progress, and number of trophies earned so far. This info would have to be available almost immediately, so that you can browse through your friend's list without any lag.
My thoughts exactly - there is a world of difference between a quick photoshop of what you'd like things to look like and programming it to work that way. If Sony simply implemented this overnight the average friends list would take 10 minutes to load... and they'd get lynched for it.
Also, from the first time i saw the gray boxes i assumed something like this is what Sony were working on. I am surprised so many people would think they'd put these ugly boxes in without any reasoning. Maybe with hindsight they should've left it until they had achieved a bit more, but to believe that someone at Sony simply thought "pointless gray boxes on the friends list is a great idea!" is a bit naive.
The XMB is elegant? When did that happen? As much as I love the PS3, brilliant white text and a few poorly-designed icons doesn't suggest high elegance to me.
The whole frontend needs redesigning from scratch. Firmware 4.0, anyone?
I'm extremely surprised at the amount of downvotes I'm getting. I can't believe that you people, actual gamers who witness these screens every time you play, think these screens are needed and don't get fed up with them. What benefit do they bring? Did any lawsuit against Nintendo regarding Wiimotes being thrown into a TV set actually stood up in court or would they if a warning was placed at the being of every game session? Do we need a screen every time we boot the Wii recommending we read the safety booklet? (How many fuckin' times do I need to read that booklet?) Do we need a screen on Sony games informing us that a small percentage of the population could be epileptic and experience seizures from the images? How many of you people actually consulted a doctor before playing? I sure as fuck won't...
Why can't Nintendo or Sony display these warnings initially, but offer users an opportunity to disable future screens, essentially saying "we have told you there could be a problem, here's an option to turn off these screens, but doing so frees us of liability." Maybe I'm a bit naive as a Canadian, in a society where citizens don't sue everyone for everything, which appears to me as a clear fault in US society for having that opportunity. But whatever, clearly the majority of Joystiq readers would rather read the same warning every time they game, instead of pushing these companies to come up with more sane solutions.
