The real secret update in PS3 firmware 2.80

GZ: The optional PS3 firmware update 2.80 actually included a very important improvement for game developers.

When PS3 firmware 2.80 came out it was unclear what had actually been included. The update was optional with the common and only log inclusion of "The playback quality of some PlayStation 3 format software has been improved."

Our friends at PS3Attitude discovered an increased character limit in chat, and TheSixthAxis found that the update was actually required for the console's music video application, VidZone. This was the first clue as to what the update actually included for PS3 developers.

It's now clear what was involved with the update...

[snaz27]

and if it allows games to look as awesome as uncharted 2 then im more than happy lol, i do wonder tho what sony has instore for us this year in the way of new applications and such, skype would be my main request, come on sony make it happen.

[Fox01]

skype would use too much ram, forget it.
I don't like talking or hearing people talk when I'm gaming anyway...

[Megaton]

I'm with Fox on the chatter. I can see it if you're playing something really tactical and need to communicate with your team, but other than that I don't like talking to, or listening to, other people while I play games. Since headsets have become popular in console gaming, I've discovered that the people I play with usually don't have anything to say worth listening to.

[Apocwhen]

Not if the Skype app was loaded on demand. I wouldn't want to load it in a game but it would be useful to use just from the XMB without anything running. I'm sure everything is not loaded into memory when the console is initially booted. Some of it must be saved to the hard drive I would imagine as the PS3 firmware files are quite large to download but the article mentions a 74mb footprint back when 1.8 was released.

If the Skype app was just on the hard drive portion of it and loaded only when I want to access it, just like the PSN Store (which is not accessible from in-game).

[WhittO]

seems the memory gained must have been significant if they were able to add so much.

Cant wait until the next big FW, since Sony confirmed they are working on in-game chat too !

[Ray J]

you know, i would love to see sony implenting some "apps" coming from their cooperation with Google.

1. Google Earth!
Would be amazing to check that out on my HDTV, and the ps3 certanly is powerful enouhgt to do it. heck, even the iPhone has Google Earth!

1. Chrome
they should swap the current internet browser engine with the Google Chrome enginge, but keep the whole menu interface. that thing would be sooo much better!

[WhittO]

Chrome on ps3 would be amazing!! - Id actually use my ps3 to browse.

The browser on my iphone is actually ALOT faster than that of the ps3 when using Wifi! (how is that possible!!?? lol).

[snaz27]

who said anything about in-game? i just want skpe so i can make free skype to skype calls, to pc, mobile and landlines, well you have pay for the mobiles (not using skype) and landlines, but the calls are dead cheap, its also very cheap to call other countries... skype would be a very usefull tool to have on the ps3, why do you think they have it on the psp? is it for in-game "chatter"? no!

edit: whitto, i use the browser all the time and find it to be pretty fast, tho i have 20mb broadband and i use it hardwired, so maybe the problem is not the browser but more your connection? the browser does have a few faults the, like some sites not loading properly, but all in all its really quite good.

[St0]

Check out these two comparisons, could this be the result of the extra ram being used :O

http://www.psu.com/forums/s...

[Maddens Raiders]

work there if this is indeed the case. All aboard the bullet train.

[uie4rhig]

skype is still more than possible on the ps3 lol.. my phone which has only 32MB memory in total runs it in the background with ease.. hell there are mobile phones out there that don't have anymore than 10mb ram and they can run it easily.. naah it must be something else stopping sony from putting skype on the ps3.. not the ram!

[WhittO]

I also have 20mb fibreoptic broadband and my ps3 and pc are "hardwired", but still my iphone loads a number of sites ALOT faster than my ps3 (and thats using Wifi), like Youtube on ps3 is really slow and laggy, so is N4G when comparing the speed to my PC or iphone.
(even though it has half of the memory and not even close graphical/processing power).

You cant say the ps3 browser is anywhere near the speed of chrome or firefox.

Really they have such a powerful console that could easily have an amazing broswer if they put more time/money/effort into it, but i can see why they are focussing on other features as they are more wanted.

[pixelsword]

Those were internal improvements from Naughty Dog, that had nothing to do with the update as far as anyone stated from ND or SCE.

[Traveler]

@whitto

I am sure you are correct as far as your setup is concerned, but I know for a fact that my PS3 browser is a lot quicker than my laptop running Chrome or Firefox. This has always amazed me. My friend was asking about the PS3's browser and I told him that it is missing a lot of features that make surfing on a computer more functional, but that it makes up for it with its speed and ease of use. I can definitely start my PS3 and be on my favorite websites A LOT quicker than I can if I use my laptop. My gaming rig I don't use for the internet, so I am not sure how much faster that would be.

Anyway, I noticed Sam Thompson, Producer for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, said something about getting more memory from the 2.80 update in this interview http://n4g.com/ps3/NewsCom-... Listen at 7:14 to 7:53. He says "you know, if you look at the game itself with the 2.0...err.. 2.8 engine update...you know, we're adding more memory so we get a lot more utilization of the SPUs, so increasing our optimization of the Cell processor as well".

He was obviously referring to the 2.8 firmware update and the added memory it gave them. At the time I didn't know if anybody else caught that, but I found it really interesting, and great news for PS3 owners.

[samfk]

s l o w , yawns

[vdesai]

Chrome and Safari use the same engine being webkit although the java-script handlers are different.

@Traveler
If you say that Chrome on your laptop is slower than your PS3 browser its probably because your laptop isn't well the greatest thing out there.

[jhoang]

wow if this is true thats actually pretty interesting

[Aggesan]

I would just like to know exactly how much more ram is availiable to the devolopers.

[TheTruth89]

Whoa!!

If games like Uncharted 2, Killzone 2, God Of War 3, Heavy Rain, and all other PS3 esxclusive are PERFECT even when the amout of available RAM was less.... i can't even imagine what they what would be if devloped now.

Goood xD

[tehReaper]

Perfect is too much of a word. I have not seen a perfect game this generation. Uncharted and Gears come close, but they have their flaws.

Developers need to start polishing their games more and make them longer, it's as simple as that.

We'll see if ND can pull it off this fall, and I'm sure they will.

[kagon01]

Just like the did with the PSP a while ago, if you remember when they unlocked the cpu with a firmware update, and now look the ps3, its games are gonna be more beautiful than ever. :)

[pure pwnage24]

the closest a game has come to perfection is Metal Gear Solid 4, its the best game of this gen

[WildArmed]

agreed.
MGS4 was the closest thing to perfection.
Never had a hitch or second thought about 'this shoulda been this way' when i played it

[tehReaper]

Story-wise, yes, gameplay, no. MGS4 introduced a great story, but stories don't make perfect video games. Sorry.

[marcindpol]

great news if true!, i just would like to know what is the exact memory footprint right now..

[techie]

72mb at 1.80...must be near 50mb by now.

360's was 32mb...but i think that it might have increased with NXE.

[Kushan]

It couldn't increase with the NXE, or it would risk breaking a lot of existing games. What happens if a game used every single free bit of RAM? The NXE would break it.
That's what makes these updates so difficult, once you reduce the RAM (for example), you HAVE to keep it that low or lower. The NXE certainly looks impressive, but don't forget that Microsoft is primarily a software company, who employ any number of hardcore software experts capable of pushing every byte of data to its limit.

I'd be willing to bet that the original 74Mb Sony Reserved on the PS3 probably wasn't fully used, but they'd likely have some kind of roadmap, with "estimated" memory useage for each future feature. Then, when a feature is implimented and optimised, they can probably reduce the reserved memory somewhat. And it makes sense, as well, apparently the 2.8 update increased the character limit of Text chat, so it's possible that what we've seen here is the "optimisation" of that feature and, subsequently, the reduction in reserved RAM from what was "left over" for that feature.

[techie]

It was originally 96mb.

And I'm aware of all of that...I think maybe NXE only uses up more memory when out of game than before.

And your second paragraph is exactly what happens :)

[Kushan]

It's possible that it may do, but the XMB also uses more memory when "out of game" than when in game, because that memory isn't actually being used for anything else. In other words, that statement about the NXE using "more memory" is completely irrelevant, because we're talking about the memory available to Developers.

[Kleptic]

yeah this is all related to the in game xmb and OS functions incorporated during gameplay...not when 'out of game'...as that obviously frees up all the memory of the PS3, and there in allows full functionality of every feature...

same with the NXE...it definitely is not more than the original dashboard was, as already released games would potentially be unplayable...but the 32megs the 360 uses is also only in game...not out of game...

this is a pretty big deal for the PS3 though...as this was the only advantage the 360 had over the PS3 memory wise...despite ignorant rants, the unified structure of the 360 was hardly an advantage...it was simply that the PS3 had a larger OS footprint, and there for less overall memory available to developers...even though the PS3 overall had higher memory bandwidth because of the high speed server class XDR processor RAM...as well as the the large cache amounts given to each spe...

[devilhunterx]

in 3.0, the PS3 will transform and roll out.

[Redempteur]

and in firmware 4.0 optimus prime will come and say hello to his friend ...

[Maddens Raiders]

Nice, devilhunter lol!

[IanTH]

"Any last words, punk-ass Decepticon?" Oh God, the Transformers all needed a Bumblebee treatment and get stuck communicating via radio in Transformers 2...or perhaps they would have just blared rap the whole time...sorry for that little tangent.

Yes, any PS3 optimization totally works for me. I love my black monolith and if the 2.8 update gave a difference like we saw between the pre-E3 and post E3 versions of the Uncharted 2 trailer (if the differences were in fact due to that update), keep bringing on the vague "Compatibility improved" updates lol.

[CobraKai]

LOL devil hunter, that was awesome. TF2 rocked!!! It just made Lord of the Rings its b*tch at the box office.

[CobraKai]

"Punk-ass Decepticon" was said by Ironhide followed by
"Any last words?" which was said by Optimus Prime.

So that one liner was actually 2 by 2 different characters

[IanTH]

So instead of that one liner, I hope my transforming PS3 doesn't say "Punk-ass decepticon" or "Any last words", whether that be said together or independent of one another. I'd also prefer if it didn't try to execute my Wii sitting next to my TV in a cool way only to mar it by saying something trite like "Damn I'm Good"...

[CobraKai]

Aww that was my favorite part.

[cmrbe]

Sadly it won't make T2 the better movie if it makes more than LOTR. Reminds me of certain games this gen.

T2 is trash for teenage boys the same as New Moon will be for Teenage girls. None of these teen flicks will win any Oscars like LOTR.

[CobraKai]

I loved the hell out of it. Makes film douches crazy since it made so much. Movies that don't take itself seriously are normally my faves. Academy Awards don't really mean much. A bunch of old film snobs thinking they know what is best. Seriously they gave Halle Berry and Jamie Fox awards and they are terrible actress/tors. LOTR deserved the award, it was overly long and mind numbingly boring key attributes to win over judges. I thank God for guys like Michael Bay and Sam Raimi, they make movies for fun and popcorn, not art.

@cmrbe (Open Zone tho): Ugh. Tell me you did not like that gawd-awful Across the Universe movie.

[Cajun Chicken]

Great news! Pretty much doing what they did with the PSP when GoW:CoO came out!

[techie]

lol not really - they're not opening up more processor power.

[Cajun Chicken]

Shame. Just apps then? Will this help in-game XMB? Because some games already use up so much memory that they can't record videos at the same time or take pics or even do custom soundtracks.

I thought the PSP thing was processor power all that time ago.

[PirateThom]

The PSP had more processing power, but was intentionally underclocked to conserve battery life. When God of War came out, they allowed devs access to the full 333MHz. If your PSP is running custom firmware, a lot of apps allow you to change the processor usage.

[techie]

Reducing the OS memory footprint will allow upgrades in development of apps and games (though minimal). A lot of the features (like recording videos) are added on top of that memory footprint, so that's why some developers choose not to use them.

[saint_john_paul_ii]

if true, more games might do what criterion did with burnout, 1080i support for more games as one of the possibilities.

[AXAXAX]

Amazing before and after

[Ninjamonkey]

awesome.

Tbh sony should be able to reduce that even more, XMB isnt exactly incredibly taxing.

[chisox100]

Stuff they need in the next system update:

Cross Game Voice Chat
Universal Invites
Installing should be optional
Trophies should sync a bit faster
When you recieve a message or a trophies while the icon is still up you should be able to press the PS button and have it take you right to the awarded trophy or message.

If they add all that I would live on my ps3

[techie]

And your PS3 would collapse from your phat ass

[na2ru1]

and your problem should be solved.

[HolaTarola]

lol. In fact, his problems would increase, you know.. teh RROD, E74, batteries for the controller, pay for a p2p online, etc,etc.. I'd say, stick with the PS3 =)

[twdll]

My PS3 will now play audio in both outputs simultaneously. Why would they keep this a secret? I dunno, but glad to see the change.

[techie]

What do you mean both outputs?

[siliticx]

I'm pretty sure he means both optical AND HDMI.

[ShadowMantis]

Kudos to u Sony for the PS3!
Oh oh,the PS3 is on fire.
:)

[Shane Kim]

Teh Ps3 just keeps getting better and better while the 360 is getting worse.

[Crazy Dave]

YYoOuU AaArRRRREeeEE RrRRiIIGGgGHhHTttTT!!!

[Kill Crow]

"For reference, the PS3's memory footprint was reduced to 74mb at firmware 1.80, so who knows what it is now. Sony might even be closing in on the Xbox 360's 32mb's."

LOL - both consoles have 512MB RAM... but the amount taken up by the OS is more than twice that of the 360. Funny how the article can only guess at the amount being made available ...

So, for all those that have been saying the xbox and PS3 have the same amount of RAM - They never did, xbox has always had more available for games (not to mentions a better unified architecture unlike the PS3's rigid 256MB Graphics + 256 MB CPU crap architecture)

Hey, PS3 is still a great blue ray player ... but that is all ...

[Sir Ken_Kutaragi]

If you want a High Article/Story on this just put the Words -

'PS3 Firmware Update'

or

'PS3 Price Cut'

And your Article/Story will hit '1000' in 1 hour...
Why you ask???
Well you will get all the ChatBots reading it while they are SH*TTING THEMSELVES WITH WORRY!!! ;-D

[tehReaper]

Now Ken, don't be naive. I'm afraid it's the other way around.

Look at the only 1000 degree article on the front page: "1140° New Xbox 360 Model Possibly Revealed"

Hmm..

[ShadowMantis]

But did u read the rumor on its portable console which on the main console sucks:Rings of fire!

[Kill Crow]

Droids have been praying for a price cut for over a year now ... remember how Sony have been denying it since last fall, then spring, then summer ... now they're denying it again for this fall ...

Poor droids, no one buys PS3rd, they get given it free with new Sony Bravia TV to watch Blue ray ... nothing else ....

[siliticx]

You mean...like the macbook? http://www.youtube.com/watc...

I knew Sony had deals with apple...

[na2ru1]

Was playing my 360 without install so DVD was as noisy as ever.

Suddenly my PS3 started bleeping and instantly my eyes were bleeding after feasting my eyes on a fustrated shiny face coming out of the body and tentacles stretching. Had to see it to believe it.

Whacked out an electric guitar and smashed it on the 360. My xbox became my ex-box. Thankfully my PS3 didn't zoom off thanks to the silence my PS3 got and is use to.

[free3sixty]

"If games like Uncharted 2, Killzone 2, God Of War 3, Heavy Rain, and all other PS3 esxclusive are PERFECT even when the amout of available RAM was less.... i can't even imagine what they what would be if devloped now."

So you think, 23 Million PS3 users worldwide have a internet connection to get a new firmware update? FOOL/ KID!

Devs MUST programm games with the PS3 hardware/ software which came out 3 years ago.

[techie]

If a software update is needed for a particular game, the update is included on the game disc :)

[talltony]

I think it might work like PC games meaning if you have the newest update on your PS3 you will get the best looking game possible. And if you dont well it will look tapered down a little. Or the latest software update is just on the game itself.

[OnlyOnN4G]

If the game requires the the latest firmware, it'll be included on the game disc

[TRIPLEPLAY]

the psp works the same way

[BadMF]

comes with the discs too you know.

[Guitardr85]

...and people complain when the benefits aren't readily apparent...Kudos Sony on making the PS3 system even better!!!

[xg-ei8ht]

I think there is extra security going through sony's network slows down the browser abit.

But tbh, i stream iplayer easily without interuption and it's not a bad pic.

But i'm glad sony are getting the footprint down, the friends list was a massive joke ram wise. I hope they've got that down somewhat.

[na2ru1]

to be completely debunked!

[keysy420]

their still 7 + years of this to go

[Traveler]

Actually the PS3 isn't even into its 3rd year yet. It is only 2 years and 8 months old in North America and only 2 years 4 months old in Europe. If you average it out, the PS3 has only been around for about 2 and a half years. That means that we are only about a quarter of the way into its projected 10 year lifespan.

[JonnyBigBoss]

Wow, that's pretty crazy. Definitely makes sense though.

[CobraKai]

My nipples are getting hard with excitement with what devs can do with more ram

[hesido]

Which one would you prefer, Sony giving more power to devs, or keeping those extra ram for xmb refinements? I think when the dev in question is naughty dog, give'm all you got :)

[theminority]

what ever happened to that backwards compatibility thing. i guess its not gonna happen after all

[tawak]

it doesnt matter how many update they do
the fact is they will always be on bronze medal,not that bad tho =)
(flame suit on!)

[starchild]

Sony is constantly improving the PS3 and I love that.

[starchild]

Ok mr. psychic you should be working for the CIA or something since you think you know so much about the future. The PS3 most likely will catch up to the 360 in overall sales, and if it doesn't... so what?
The 360 has a smaller lead over the PS3 today than it did when the PS3 launched. I wouldn't say that is anything to brag about.

Who cares anyway? The PS3 still gets the best games. The Wii has a huge lead over both HD consoles and nobody cares, you know why? Because most of its games suck. Likewise, the 360 might have a small lead over the PS3 (completely due to the 1 year head start), but it still isn't as good as the PS3 in games, reliability, or overall features.

[rjackson1]

Games will be more beautiful now that's great.

[OnlyOnN4G]

Yeah, i agree, but you have to remember the effort sony's first party devs puts in, to have those games looking like visual marvels

BTW you have an odd comment history

[lonix]

i wonder which firmware will unlock the 8th SPE