Hi everyone, PlayStation 3 (PS3) firmware update (v3.00) adds a number of great new features that we’re excited to share with you. The latest update incorporates changes that improve navigation on your PS3. First, you’ll notice some cosmetic changes to the design of the XMB (Xross Media Bar). We’ve enhanced the look and feel of the XMB so that it’s easier and even more intuitive to use. We’ve also added network improvements and personalization options to help enhance your PS3 experience.
Additional highlights from update 3.00 include:
- “What’s New” – The “Information Board” will be replaced with a “What’s New” section, which allows you to enjoy interactive PlayStation news every time you start the PS3 system. Located under the PlayStation Network icon, “What’s New” displays the latest and greatest game, video, PlayStation Network and PlayStation news and releases, as well as your recently played games, in a sleek, new animated format.
- Status Indicator – In the top right corner we’ve added an indicator bar, which displays your user icon, friend icon, the number of friends you have online and a small message icon to let you know if you have any new messages. The indicator also includes a scrolling ticker that features the latest news from PlayStation Network. In addition, when you press the PS button, the battery life indicator will no longer cover up the clock.
- Friends List – Now your PlayStation Network friends will appear in a slightly redesigned format on your Friends List. Also, messages will now be viewable from each of your friends’ respective profiles.
- PlayStation Store Shortcuts – We’ve added a handy shortcut icon to the PlayStation Store under both the Game and Video categories so you can access the latest content quickly and easily.
- Personalization – Personalize your PS3 with new dynamic custom themes and avatars. Dynamic themes as well as free and premium avatars will be available through PlayStation Store. A dynamic theme takes your screen to a whole new level as it incorporates animated objects into the background.
- Trophies – Showcasing your hard earned trophies just got better. Update 3.00 gives game developers the ability to modify how they display trophies for add-on content. Base and add-on game trophies will continue to be combined into a single list so you can see where you stand in a game as a whole. Within that list, trophies will be broken out into subcategories—base trophies and add-on trophies—that way, you can easily view the percentage of your base game trophy collection, and separately track your trophy progress in add-on packs. Look for this enhancement to be included in upcoming games.
To get a preview of what’s coming in update 3.00, check out the video below:
We’re looking forward to releasing firmware update 3.00 soon. As always, we appreciate your feedback.
Fix the friends list please.
very nice with the themes and avatars i wish we had in game music already
very nice thank you!
Looks nice but, the conroller I used to get the update will no longer do anything except turn on the system so…I hate it!
Love the update guys, really like everything i have seen so far including the friends list setup. DOnt see what all the fuss is about.
The update is absolutely horrible. Every other update has been for the better so far. This has made my entire xmb look bigger. ps store is everywhere wanting me to buy something. NOTHING at all was added things are just moved around with different shortcuts. Its pretty sad i knew the new playstation looked horrible but i thought the software would still look great. Major dissappointment.
At first I was somewhat excited about this update, but after seeing it am quite disappointed. I’ve changed everything I could BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS!
I dislike having all the extra Store icons, there are no new avatars available yet (and it looks like the only new ones will eventually be sold in the store)…and most of all I HATE the date/time/stockticker area at the top! Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just have a nice high def analog clock icon in the corner without the ugly white borders?!!) At the least SONY could have had a disable option in the setup section….
One good thing is that the “What’s New” section can be disabled, allowing you to start in the games area.
The dynamic themes could be good but I didn’t want to pay for the Sackboy theme just to find out.
Nice try Sony…NO CIGAR
im sorrry to say it, but the update sucks. i was thinking it would have stuff like cross-game chat and partys and stuff like that, the only good thing it has is that it fixed the clock area
sony ive been waiting for cross game chat so i can talk to my friends playing other games, like xbox 360, were you cna have partys, private chats, and way more then ps3, take this as a threat to loose so much money on games i buy and controllers, etc. if sony doesnt come out with cross game chat by next update im going with xbox 360 where there is way more features!!im sure a lot of others are feeling the same way as i feel right now!! so please take this in perspective and do what your coustmers want. so hopefully sony will pull it out thanks!
I just downloaded the new update and I like the What’s New Bar, showing the clock, Date, Friends On-Line, The 1 thing I HATE is what SONY has done to the Friends List, that God Awful Box, it looks Terrible, this needs to be fixed. Also I really want cross game chat with the next update. This is the first update I have had any issues with, Hopefully SONY is listening and addresses our concerns.
last 1 here n i got the update its live n im gettin ps3 slim for my dads car now im waitin for the playstation home update when does tht come out?? some 1 tell me
Nothing new.
Is there a way to get back the old XMB back? Or some option to toggle the new features on/off, some of it I just don’t need and clutters up the XMB =(
If you guys give us an option for font size, to hide the ticker and the extra PSN Stores, and revert the friend’s list to the original look… this will be a great update. The sound options were great and the overall response of the interface is quicker… but it looks way too clustered as it is.
It’s been a couple hours since I updated and I still don’t like the update at all.
It’s also the very first time that I regret updating my PS3, there simply so much wrong with this update, that it makes me regret FW 2.80
– the XMB is cluttered now (those extra two PS store icons are annoying)
– the bigger fonts/icons are fine on SDTVs but it’s unpleasant for people with 1080p sets like myself
– the new friends list is ugly as sin, there are no words to describe this abomination
– the new ticker is also annoying, please, please give us an option to turn it off
– the new blur effect of the background is ok, but it would be better to get an option to turn it off too
The only good things are the What’s New section and the status bar (minus the ticker).
Please fix this !
what the frack is up with the fonts and icons in the new dash? is this the default setting for the visually impaired? where can i put it back to the 20-20 vision setting? it is *WAY* too big …. come on people.
ps. the kids want the LBP theme….
is this a joke?
sony announces the new features as if this is a change in the console world. most of that stuff is available for over a year on the xbox-360. the only true new thing was the animated themes.
how about sony finally gives a private chat option during games. i wanna talk with my friends while playing batman or metal gear solid. the text chat is useless. heck i bought a headset, now let me use the damn thing while playing games!!!
Is no one else bothered as much as I am when you go into folders how the background completely blurs… and then you go back to the root menu and it unblurs… My eyes are killing me, I cant even browse my music anymore without having a migraine!
I understand it might be useful for the dynamic moving backgrounds, but for us static background people… PLEASE PLEASE give me the option to turn that hideous background blurring off!
Not to mention like everyone else, the font size looks like crap on my 48″ HDTV… why punish HD users only so SD users can see the fonts better?
Please change the font size, icon size, and the ugly friends list!
The most exciting part of the preview for me was, and I quote, “if you don’t like the new look of the XMB, the old classic look is available, and you can change that in the theme section”. Great! The option of both the new look and features, or the old tried & true layout. I went to change to the classic look, and I assumed since Eric referred to the XMB specifically, that selecting this option would change the font and icon size back to the original design. This was not the case at all. The only change that occurred was to the background, I could see no change to the XMB at all. I can confirm that the enlarged icons and text look horrible on a large HDTV (1080p 50″ plasma). I like that the information in the top right displays the number for friends signed in, as well as unread messages. The new theme and avatar options are also welcome. It is nice that the controller battery life indicator doesn’t appear atop the date & time while in the XMB anymore. The changes that were made in regards to the XMB and overall layout of the PlayStation feels like a underhanded attempt to change the experience, when in fact there is very little substantive going on. I hope they take time to bring about real improvement in the future.
So now we can’t hit the PS button to browse the XMB when music is playing????? That is a TERRIBLE CHANGE!! Why would you take that away????? And I had to change my Sound settings to Multi-out, even though My sound is set to Optical out already, and that is the only sound output I am using… What the heck went wrong with this update that made the music player revert to it’s old dumb self?
Geez.. I’m late about this news. I’m sooooooooooo downloading it now! :D
everyone rally soesnt like this update lmao anyway what sony should do is let poeple choose what type of clock they what wit the layowt there should be an option so you can decide the type you want most people hate the clock on right now, to me what needs to be improved iis the web browser to pc standerds same as the pc they should also get in IM bult in like they have done with the bbc iplayer thats sik that lol anyway yh jus a few more good updates should do it
Here’s my five cents…
+1 for the right stick control in videos. It’s now more comfortable to control a video. I especially like the possibility to go in slow and fast motion.
+1 for adding useful icons in the upper right.
+1 for sparkles in the back and for dynamic themes (though I find it ridiculous to have to pay for all of them)
+1 for adding screenshot option in browser, and a similar thing in video playing.
And now, for the bad…
-1 for super ugly friends list. Change it back, there was nothing wrong with the old one.
-1 information in the upper right corner is in an ugly box.
-1 XBM font is larger. WHY?! I get it’s an accessibility option for ppl who need it, but hey, I want an options for smaller letters.
-1 for the Store icons in every category. I doubt I will ever use the store that way. It’s annoying seeing it everywhere.
-1 for adding the logo at the start up.
-1 for removing logo from when starting a game.
Rest of the changes, I’m feeling neutral about.
So +4-6=-2. Four steps forward, then six steps backwards.
It has some good ideas in it, but needs more polishing, and to be more customizable. Do just that, and you might get a +1 and not -2, from your loyal customer. And that is me.
Thanx
Just some gripes….
I miss the PlayStation Logo and chime when you start up a game. I hate the HUGE text size in the XMB and the grey boxes on the friends list. And, I wish the original orchestra startup and “Sony Computer Entertainment” label would have stayed the same. Perhaps the older PS3’s should have been left alone and the newer Slims get the newer startup….
And, organization of music is still terrible if you have 1000’s of music files. I think a search feature and/or alphabetical scroll function to get to your files more quickly would help out a lot! Also, PROPER Ipod support would be great, too….
at first i was very unhappy with the new ps3 friends list layout
then i discovered the cool new options of video right analog tilting…it rewinds and fast forwards to ur exact degree…lol awsome
and copy and paste is nice too…..but please sony get a new look for friends list or make it go back to normal it makes me dislike my beloved ps3 8(
Sony,
The new friends list is a step backwards from the old one. Please fix this soon as it’s painful to look at and embarasing for other people to see.
Also, I’d like an option to turn off the info box in top right. I think it looks plain and basic as hell, and would rather not even use it. It detracts from my background.
Love the sparkles!!
Agree with many others. This update is kind of cool but the lack of cross game voice chat is really weak.
The multi-audio out is a great feature for those of us with multi-source/multi-zone receivers.
I hated the battery indicator bug (over the time/date)….but I would have gladly continued suffering if we didn’t get that incredibly UGLY & DISTRACTING news ticker!
At least we could turn off the old ugly orange news scroller.
Guess we’ll have to wait another few years to fix that…although it will probably never happen, since Sony seems to be growing increasingly in love with additional advertising on the XMB, wherever they can find the space.
Nice but seems to be more for Sony’s sake than for the user’s – exactly what I need more ease of marketing. How about giving the users more than tinkering around the edges – like maybe backward compatibility with PS2
I agree with others that most of this should be optional or there should be more than one option (friends list, fonts, icons, etc) but I would also like to see an option to turn off all of the playstation store links in the XMB – very annoying – I know, not likely.
I did the update and then tried to play a game and it won’t show up in the games nor will mine play blue rays now WTF did I do wrong? Someone help me
Getting there but still a long way to go to catch up with XBL.
Party chat, cross game chat…. where r they??
I completely agree with the_grimlord.
He pointed out the pros and cons very nicely, with my major gripes with this update being the new friends list, bigger font and ESPECIALLY, the PS logo and chime when starting game (why the hell would anybody want to remove it???). I dunno about the PS STORE icons everywhere… But beyond that, its all good.
But please, FIX the things i just mentioned. I would like to have that chime again whenever i start a game (it’s a small thing, yeah i know, but then again, WHY TAKE IT OUT??), bring back the old friends list (there was nothing wrong with it in the first place) and at least, give us the option to adjust the font size (it seems really big to me).
And of course… BC and Cross Game Voice Chat are a must for later updates!
hey guys
i guess i can live with it,i’m sure there’ll be some minor(read major) tweaks in the ver 3.1 nd 3.2..will wait till then to complain
but i have got a slight problem and if there’s anyone out there who’s suffering from it or has a solution pls post it here..
so here goes…while going through my music and videos on the ps3 earlier i could just prss the ps button and be in the main screen while stuff ws playin nd choose the nxt song…BUT nw if i press the ps button with new update it just asks me whether i wanna quit the playback
anyone hv ny suggestions? any option tht hs been reset or is it just a major bug?
pls lemme kno
thnx in advance :)
This would be great to play if I dident have a 60gig launch PS3 that was bricked by the YLOD. I am going ahead with my class action suit on this because Sony’s refusal to acknowledge the problem for less then a $150 service fee is unacceptable. Enjoy update 3.0 ;-(
Have a big problem my ps3 frezzes when im playing uncharted what can i do
I REALLY hope you guys will consider making some tweaks to this update… some of this stuff has made it really hard to look at my screen:
1. Bigger fonts are fine, but I prefer the smaller ones. Could we at least have an option to choose which we prefer in the system/theme menu? This isn’t a big deal.
2. That ticker under the clock has got to go. I understand that you’re trying to draw new PS3 owners into the store, but it’s super distracting. Why can’t we disable it?
3. The Playstation Store icons under the Game and Video menus are annoying but I can understand why they’re there. But when I try to click on the one in the Video section, it tells me that feature isn’t available in my region! If it’s not available then it shouldn’t be there!
Points 2 & 3 are my main concerns. Everything else looks good to me! Thanks for the update… but by God I can’t wait for 3.1…
Damn theres much i like about update but tbh the cons outweigh all of that by about 3:1. The loading clock is cool, as is the new themes and avatars.
But was there a reason why you discarded the PS3 jingle? And replace the Playstation orchestra welcome tune so something that sounds like an apple II keyboard reconnecting? Not too mention the oversized font and crappy rounded logo that replaces the awesome Spiderman font… Friends list looks super gay over a dull grey box.
Previous updates were awesome (especially like video playback through a USB flash) but new *overhaul* this just sucks cook.
I didnt like this update at first, because you changed the loading sound and screen but i have got used to it. its a very good thing.
BUT will you be releasing a kit to create dynamic themes? just like you did for the static themes?
Sony we dont want a downgrade, please give us back what we had. Is it just me or now i cant listen to my music if i dont have a playlist? I run an mp3 and it plays just that single song, cant shuffle anymore through melodies, cant jump with the nex buttton to another mp3. Give us back the fonts, give us back the old friend list,I dont like psn icon everywhere(i know to enter on psn from a single place), i dont like the blur,i dont need whats new, i dont like the new startup of the console. Give us skype instead of a downgrade. I REALLY LOVED MY PS3 BUT NOW I DONT EVEN WANT TO TURN ON THE CONSOLE.
Hi Playstation Blog! Sorry to say this, but I have to complain about FW 3.0. It’s awful. The Friends List is hideous. The machine seems to lock up a lot now, especially when using the browser. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune has some major issues. The worst offender- that stunningly awful advertising scroll box. I don’t know who thought that wouldn’t tick a bunch of people off, but it’s sure doing a number on me. It’s infuriating, and it’s a horrible idea. Maybe take it down and cram another five psn store icons on the xmb?
wonderfull , but unfortunatelly for thousands of gamers from my country ( Romania , where we do not have acces to PSN store) we cannot enjoy this new update because we can t use it.
Very nice! But when PSN will support Brazilian customers?
Friends list is terrible. At least make it optional, or customizable. I don’t see how anyone could look at this design and say it’s a good idea let alone an entire team.
Everything else is great (or at least acceptable). You guys did a good job accept for the friends list. The larger icons really bugs me but I’ll get used to it. Friends list, I will not get used to.
i’m still a bit disappointed at the navigation within the music and video files. there is no filter to navigate through the artists by letter, genre, or to simply do a search. i have hundreds of artists in my music and i hate having to scroll down so much just to play something. also, when is sony going to create an iphone program so that i can use it as a remote.
I truly think all these psn store icons are ridiculous. One was enough. All the others just clutter everything up.
The new friends list is a complete fail. You just made a nice transparent list into a huge blob of boxes.
Please can we turn off the new ticker.
Why are the icons and fonts huge now, and why can we not make them smaller?
Please release NEW free avatars this week.
We’ve waited long enough!
Thank you.
I want my old XMB back this new one is awful on my 52″ Sony TV, looks like a kiddie game console. The friends design is so blurred im not sure i’ll be using it anymore. Whats up with the PSN store everywhere? You won’t be gaining my purchase power with this kind of behavior. What happened to meaningful updates like revised communication and 3rd party network integration (Blockbuster/Netflix)? Did you really have to mess up my $700 grown up console with your childish antics? SCE you just screwed the pooch with this one!
I canceled my download of the update after reading of the UI changes. Updates are fine, but give us the option to keep everything the same.
Go talk to your SWG team about what happens when you screw with stuff that people dont want changed. IS this the PS3’s version of the NGE?
I love my PS3 and plan on buying a second one (slim version) but I will hold off on the update for as long as I can.