Hi everyone. We’ve been listening to all of your feedback about the PS3 and PSP, and with these next firmware updates (coming soon), we’ve added a number of new features and improved some existing functionality to make your PS3/PSP experience even better.
PSP (v5.00) update
Let’s start with the v5.00 update for PSP. In this version, you’ll notice the addition of the PlayStation Network icon on the XMB. You can now sign up for PlayStation Network, manage your account and access PlayStation Store directly from your PSP – meaning you can download games directly to your PSP while connected via Wi-Fi. Getting games, demos and trailers while on-the-go has never been easier! Check out the screen below.
The current PlayStation Store on the PC will be down in the interim as we take some time to revamp. Don’t worry, it will re-launch soon after we’ve made some tweaks. Please keep in mind, if you already have a PlayStation Network account, simply sign in on your PSP using your existing information. The same account and wallet can be used on PS3 and PSP. You will be able to check out the PlayStation Store on the PSP soon, as we’ll have a video demo featuring Grace Chen posted soon on the Blog.
Update v5.00 adds a sleep timer option that can be used while you are playing music on your PSP. In addition, we’ve added a full screen keyboard option for text entry and have redesigned the background of the XMB. You’ll be able to find all of the information on Firmware v5.00 here once it goes live.
PS3 (v2.50) update
Now on to the PS3 v2.50 update. The latest features/enhancements include:
- Support for the PS3 Official Bluetooth Headset – we’ve told you about the upcoming Bluetooth Headset and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation Bundle on the Blog. This latest firmware installment enables High-Quality (HQ) mode, which delivers clear and wide-band online voice chat. On top of that, an added on-screen indicator shows battery status, volume level and use of HQ mode.
- PlayStation Trophies interface enhancements – I know that many of you are busy collecting trophies and raising your PlayStation Trophy level. This update makes sharing and comparing your trophies with your friends even easier. On 1st part of the profile page you’ll see a symbol under level that represents level and the actual percentage towards the next level along with the existing level meter. The level symbol carries over to the trophy comparison screen where you will now be able to see your level, your friend’s level and the percentage towards the next level for both users along with all of the game by game comparison information you see today.
- Friend status – Offline friends on your Friends list will have information below their avatars that will indicate how long it has been since they were last online.
- Video – This update adds the Scene Search feature similar to the feature on the PSP. Activating this feature while viewing a video on the PS3 will break the video up into scenes that you can quickly access by pressing the X button. You can break the videos into one, two or five minute intervals. In addition, you can now choose to have all of the videos under the video section of the XMB play in sequence. Go to Settings then Video Settings to turn this option on.
- PlayStation Store – We’ve added a redeem codes option right on the store to make it easier to redeem your PlayStation Network Cards and promotion codes. In addition, PlayStation Network Sign Up and Account Management have been redesigned.
- Power Save Settings – You can now set your PS3 and wireless controllers to turn off automatically after set periods of inactivity. Go to Settings then Power Save Settings to turn on these features.
- Background Downloading – You now have the option to set the PS3 to turn off automatically after a background download or installation of content has completed. This option is available when you turn off the system from the button under [Users] while content is being downloaded or installed.
- In-game Screenshots – this tool will allow everyone to capture, share and in other words, immortalize their favorite gameplay moments. This will be supported on a game by game basis. Please check back to find out which games will support this feature.
- In addition to all of the features above there are some additional features and enhancements included in 2.50. Once the update launches, you can read all of the details here.
The support for the Bluetooth Headset will be of particular interest to all of you SOCOM fans. With the “Proximity Chat” feature, SOCOM: Confrontation gameplay is intensified as it allows you to experience high-quality voice playback in full surround sound. Whether the action is near or far, Proximity Chat clearly matches distance to sound effects and voiceovers within the game, putting you in the heart of the action.
Enjoy and please share your thoughts with us.
I have the headset connected, but I’m not seeing any on-screen indicators or anything about the High Quality mode (unless that’s automatic).
also, when it connects, it finds the headset as “Wireless Headset”, is that right? i would’ve figured it would at least find it as a “Sony” headset..
nevermind.. i didn’t know that the indicator shows up when you use the volume keys or mute button!
I like the update.
but there are a few things I’m still wanting and waiting for
1. Multiple PSN login at same time. This way my friends can play games online with my and track their stats as well
2.how about for game updates, make it possible for them to DL in the background and then when they are done, you can choose when to install them. They just appear like demos and DL’d games do in the game list of the XMB
This seems like an awesome update. Thanks.
Have you guys considered .MKV support???
I would really love to have this on my ps3…
Please add a feature that allows me to copy my ATRAC3 music to the PS3. I’m a minidisc user and all my music in DRM free ATRAC3. The files play fine on the PS3 via DVD but when I try copy them I get this message: “There are no tracks that can be copied”. I can copy the same files to my PSP and they work just fine. Please, Please, Please in a future firmware update allow ATRAC3 files to be copied to the PS3’s Hard Drive.
One small complaint, I’d like to be able to set the PS3 to turn off after a download with the PS button. If someone already asked for this I don’t read. Sue me.
Great update, but please get rid of the splash screen before opening the store, change the logo back to PLAYSTATION with the psn icon as it looked hundred times better, when highlighting the store in the xmb show a picture of the store instead of the text box, remove the captions above the redeem/cart icons in the store, fix the clock overlay, smarten up the gamer profile and keep it more inline with the design of the xmb, picky i know but every update makes the xmb more clutterd.
Hey PS team!
Can you add a friends list to the psp firmware. Just something basic JUST TO CHAT. I just would like a simple friends list, with the ability to text message them, and view messages (and recieve of course…).
Can you do that? Would be greatly appreciated!
@Eric or any other firmware developers
Don’t fear redesigning the in-game xmb to reduce the amount of memory it uses in order to allow for in-game access to music for all ps3 games, cross game invites, and persistent voice chat for ps3 games.
I have 3 suggestions.
1. Remove the video and playstation strore categories. The 360 does not allow its users to play videos or visit the xbox live marketplace while playing a game, so you have no threat from the competition there. Remove items that you can’t and will never be able to access while playing a game. This action would result in the following categories being left in the in-game xmb: Users, Settings, Photo, Music, Game, Network, & Friends.
In the Settings section, only Network Settings and Accessory Settings would be available.
In the Photo section, only the photo thumbnails would be available.
In the Music section, only the stored playlists and non-playlist music tracks would be available.
In the Game section, everything would be left as it is.
In the Network section, only Remote Play and download management would be available.
The Friends section would be left as it is.
Hopefully this will reduce the amount of memory that the in-game xmb uses so that in-game access to music can be a system wide feature.
2. The other suggestion would be to change how the in-game xmb behaves. Make it where only the horizontal categories are displayed with none of the vertical categories displayed. To access the vertical categories you must use the x button to access it. Once accessed the horizontal categories would go away.
3. A final suggestion would be to combine the 1st 2 suggestions.
hey since you guys added Adobe® Flash® Player 9 to the ps3 do you think you could add that to the psp please
Sony, for the love of all things holy, please add the ability to have video thumbnails for files stored on an external usb harddrive connected to the PS3. The PSP has this ability by creating .thm files for the video, but the PS3 doesn’t. I mean, even the DVP-CX777ES dvd changer will let you capture a thumbnail, it even reads it from Sony DVDs automatically. The thumbnails on external drives don’t need to be animated, just jpeg or png format or something! I have a HDR-HC1 camcorder and store all of my home videos on an external drive. Please Sony, this is something that should have been in there in the beginning. I am not the only one who has been searching for a solution to this. Read the forums at us.playstation.com and you will know what I’m mean. Scene Search works great, though! I was afraid that wouldn’t work with files on my external harddrive, but you guys didn’t dissappoint.
Cannot update PAIN to recent version after installing Amusement Park. It times out before it begins to download….
I love the power saving feature, but there is a problem occurring when the controller is charging. If it is charging and the 10 minutes lapse, you can’t turn the controller back on without first unplugging the USB cord, turning the controller on, then plugging the USB cord back in.
Nice update, overall. I was hoping that someone could hopefully take some time in the next update and move the battery indicators for controllers to a location slightly below the clock. It’s difficult to read when the clock was placed exactly where the indicator normally appears. I know that I’m nitpicking here, but could this be changed? Thanks for hearing out the users!
why still no download for update 2.5 on playstation.com? I need to do the update using PC…
Did you guys check the update page?
They DID update the flash player to adobe flash 9!!! go see for yourself!! I’m looking at the daily motion right now. ^_^ hella stoked
What games have the screenshot feature???
Great update, but you’ve messed up accessing XMB whilst playing a video. Ever since I can remember the video has continued to play, but now as soon as you press the PS button the video pauses! Argh! Please, please fix this.
Audio via HDMI and optical at the same time would be very handy, even if it means just DD/DTS (5.1) and 2CH PCM?
As others have said, please fix the battery/clock issue and make it possibly to hide and/or specify the clock format (there should be a leading ‘0’ on the 24hr clock).
Also the ability to play HD Quicktime and MKV would be awesome.
Skype on PS3 would be great, as would internet radio (if the PSP has it, why can’t the PS3 also?).
I’m not into all this trophies nonsense and would prefer if when I selected a friend in the list it gave me the option to create message etc as it did pre-2.4. Drives me crazy having to press triangle.
Ahh, another thing which would be VERY useful:
Let’s say you create an album called “driving” on one racing game and another called “1st person” on a FPS shoot-em-up.
Rather than having to type the album names again on other titles as you add them, could you not make it so you can select from a list of existing on album names or enter a new name? Would make organising games/music/videos much easier.
One thing i think should be brought back is backwards compatibility, both for sales reasons and for obvious reasons.
But on the update i only see one thing i’d like, and that’s PSN Access through InGame XMB while playing your PS1 and PS2 titles.
i though all ps3’s came with backwards compatibility, and they dont. i was sorta tricked when my cousin got one (she has a 60GB). she told me they play ps2 games. i bought a ps3 for the fact that i can play games from the past and still play mgs on the same system.. come to find out 40GB’s cut b/c. now i have almost 50 games go to waste. i wouldnt have a doubt in my mind that sony would win this generation if the firesale of b/c didnt exist. all of the “other” competitiors have it in some form, but i think if sony really wants to gain back ground, they will need to have a firmware update for all consoles.
please make ps3 backwards compatible!
hi,
please ps3 friends list on psp status and voice chat. or allow us to invite or enter
to a voice chat meanwhile remote control of ps3 with psp.
thanks
absolutely amazing;
i installed the firmware the morning it was released – i actually stayed home from work that morning to download/install it and there are so many little tiny little updates that each time i first power up my PS3, i notice one that i had not yet seen or forgot about it from prior =)
great work yet again Sony.
you really listened to what a lot of us have been saying and it’s the little things like that that make me a loyal fan/consumer to the Sony brand. cannot wait to see what might be in store for any next big firmware update.
As a UK user I’m less than happy with the PSP update.
Yes, I can now see the lovely PSN store interface. I can even browse to demos and videos I want to download, select them and start downloading. Unfortunately, that’s where it all goes wrong and I get the error:
80109B0B
Am I alone in this? And what, exactly, does this cryptic code actually mean? Is there any chance of getting a list published somewhere so we can actually attempt to debug problems?
While I’m whingeing (which is obviously what us Brits do best) I’d also like to point out that, even though I’ve set up the network to use a web proxy, the PSN access attempts to go direct to a url. This is a pain for me (since I’ve then got to allow extra exceptions to my firewall and don’t get the benefit of cached images etc.) but it’s also not particularly professional of Sony to be ignoring my settings.
Sony, thanks a lot for these firmware update on the PS3 and PSP. They’re just about the best updates the systems have ever seen, and my PS3 has never been faster and smoother than it has since the update. I’m definately going to use my PSP more too with the PSN function added to it. Now, I will request some extra, mostly simple and easy to implement things I know that not only myself but everyone will want added in a future update for both systems.
PS3
-Add the ability to play and show videos in a chat room, if possible, while still having voice chat.
-Add in-game voice chat. Video is not necessary.
-For our PSN profile, allow longer “About Me” posts and add another page of anything else desireable to the profile card.
-If a friend is on PSN on a PSP, add a PSP symbol under or beside their name on the PS3 friends list to indicate that they are on PSN on a PSP.
-When a player upgrades to a new level with trophies in their profile, award them with something simple, such as changing the color of their profile card or adding profile card themes that corresponf to their level.
-If a PSN Friend is idle for over 10 minutes, display the [Not Available] status or make a new status set to [Idle] so other friends don’t think they’re online.
-Move the battery status indicator to the lower left hand corner of the screen so it doesn’t block the clock.
-Add a signal strength status icon to the lower left hand corner of the in-game xmb screen as well to show your connection strength to the internet if a wireless connection is used.
-Allow for longer comments that fill the entire comment bubble on the friends list.
-Give more avatars to choose from, or allow PSN users to create or use their own.
-Finally, add support to more files such as more DivX stuff. Even I have had some DivX movies not play on my PS3.
-Give an option to opt to stay online on PSN when watching a DVD or playing a PS/PS2 game.
PSP
-Add trophy support to PSP games which can be linked to your PSN profile just like PS3 games since the PSP now supports the PSN.
-Update the PSP flash browser.
-Add [Friends] List to PSP so we can message them.
-If a friend is on PSN on also on a PSP, add a PSP symbol under or beside their name on the PSP friends list to indicate that they are on PSN on a PSP, or do that for a PS3.
I know some of these things are hard or impossible to update, such as avatars and chat room video playback (even though that’s my most desireable feature), but most of these are small and easy to implement in a future update for both systems. This would make the PS3 experience even more fun and more diverse.
hi,
if you give us the option to select betwin
clan members, vips, all, only online,
in our friends list the charge of informatin will be fewer than actually have
cause in my opiion people will slect settings as only online, clan members or only vips so playstationnetwork and each user dsl line will supports less charge of bandwith transit,and free resources from playstation network too.
thank you
I’m having sound issue’s with this update >.> whenever I started burnout paradise sound changes to full blown bass, the range of the sound just disappears.. I wonder if anyone else has this
Before it was possible to watch movies, push the PS button, and keep watching them while scrolling the XMB. now it’s not. that’s rather lame. i don’t wanna pause it just to read a message or watch my downloads or whatever..[DELETED] 2.51 !!
and please split the notification messages. I’d like to know when I get a message, but not whenever people are logging on\off\on\off … get the point ?
HEY I wonder if the can add messanger for the next firmware updates for PSP and PS3
Sony please add these things.
1. Add a option to not show the Trophy popup,I realy hate them at my first playthrough.
2. Move the battery or the clock info when you press the PS button, they overlay.
i doubt im the only one who feels this way but i want the backwards compatibility back on my ps3. if its possible to get that through a firmware update it would blow my mind if i had to buy another disk drive or buy it as a premium add-on or something like that to pull it off i might even consider it.
This update is awesome!!…….but I have 1 tiny problem. My videos don’t play in colour anymore. I only have a 50hz tv and before i got the update all my videos were in colour. Can you do something about this in the next update?
Can you guys also include being able to install demos and copy files in the background? It gets really boring having to sit through the copy/installing screen
Great update i love it. Love the friend list updates and the turn off options.
However i have one problem and i dont know why this was changed. Whenever am playin a video and press the PS button the video pauses. I used just let video’s run in the background while i did other stuff. I watch alot of music video’s on my PS3 so the removal of this feature is very annoying.
I hope am not the only one who’s bothered by this because i NEED Sony to fix this.
fellas, anyone else experiencing the same problems as I am?
After starting the browser for the second (and more) time some images cannot be displayed.. It occurs on sites which were visited during the first browser launch.. Some cache errors, i dont know… the same occurs in the store.. when I re-enter it, some images are not shown… the only solution is to reboot the system.. it started after 2.50 update… I’ve got 60 GB european version.. the browser also freezes a lot.. real pain …
some sites also are not displayed properly. Still cannot enter my facebook page…it’s written Cookies must be enabled..but it’s enabled in browser tools menu! The same cookies problem on GAME.CO.UK, I log in, it seems that everything is ok, but when i continue surfing the site it appears that I need to re-log in… dissapointing…
yepp.. video stoopping after pressing the sp button is really annoying!!!
Hello Eric,
when cames the NTSC-patch (in 2.61?) for us european ? When I want to look a film or trailer from the harddrive the ps3 always switches from PAL to NTSC mode! my tv cannot show ntsc-format. the german support told me to buy a tv that supports ntsc !?! thats impossible !! when i play films from the dnla-server is play fine in pal. so why not from the diskdrive ? i plugged extra an 320 gb drive in for that. please help us european. thank you very much eric !!
greeting from germany sebi
2.50 brink my 60GB HDD it won’t play disk and whenever I insert one it makes a loud grinding sound the only thing keeping me from buying a new one is backward compatibility I hate the fact that this was taken out the was a HUG MISTAKE I don’t know what you were thinking seriously.
@ Land Of Trill.
i have kind off same problem u got. i leave my games in my PS3 and when i want to play next day, i start up my ps3 log into my acc , and when i want to startup my game that little icon isn’t there, now i have to take out discs several off times and put it back in till it reads my disc and icon appears, but when the icon shows up and i play, then i dont have any problems at all till next day it happeneds again. now i tried this with no disc in tray. i switch on my PS3 and log into my name, and i do nothing for 10-20min, and then i put in my CoD4 disc and the little icon shows after 4-5 secs
@ Gibbs no my problem is different and there is a fix to your problem because the same thing happened to me. My problem is I can’t even put a disc in my PS3 whenever I try it makes a loud sound and after a few seconds it ejects but it doesnt completely go in at first but as to your problem perform a system backup and then a full format it takes a 3 hours but it works and that’s what got my PS3 working again. It does suck though I have no idea whats wrong now and can’t play any of my games therefore I haven’t bought new ones and my warranty is up I would buy a new PS3 but because of the backwards capability I won’t
PSN: PYTHON101
Blog members some of you are adding features that you fell are cool but are a waste really I myself see this and so does Sony so think about that also we should all be thinking of how to improve what we got before adding new features.
Why did you block BD-J in this firmware?!?!
I want to update but that means I would not play old games like Mario and Battle City. I realy love this games and usually playing it on my PS3. I know Java can’t run any loader or hack PS3 protection. So, why did you block it? Many users was so happy when they knew some coder from Japan (I love this country)) made a little homebrew.. Please keep this feature in new version of firmware for my favorite console! In my PSP I using M33 firmware but I buying games everytime. I don’t like piracy, but I usually using homebrew for make PSP more functionality like tetris game, filer, SNES emulator and using Music PRX Plugin! That’s all. Please, unlock BD-J in next firmware.
@ Land
u sure it will work? cuz now i have to take out my disc when i stop playing, and the next day i have w8 almost 20 min to put in my disc and then the icon shows. isn’t it better that i just copy my save data and game updates on a external USB disc. And after i did a full format, do i have to install the latest firmware again?
I hope it works cuz in early 2009 my warrantee runs out :(
Make 2.51 with BD-J and fix for NTSC and PAL modes
Почему убрали поддержку BD-J?!?! Верните её! Я хочу обновиться, но я хочу играть в игры наподобие Mario и Battle City! Что мне делать?! Даже на ПСП я пользуюсь М33 прошивкой, потому что нужны хомбрю и плагины. Хоть я и сижу на такой прошивке, я покупаю игры, не люблю пиратство. Сделайте 2.51 с поддержкой Java и фиксом NTSC и PAL.
Please Please update the PSP’s internet… I can’t even check my gmail account anymore, why, it use to work? Please make it so i can do the simplest things on it… You guys should contract with Firefox or something, that would be cool…cause you don’t have the internet browser down, sorry but it sux… Fix it and i will buy the new PSP when it comes out, don’t and i’ll just buy an iphone or something that actually does what it should.