Firmware 3.0 and a New PlayStation Network?

PSInsider writes: We reported that Sony is rumored to be revealing the PS3 Slim and a reduced price PSP Go a few days ago. Now our source has revealed some more information as to what they have planned for that 3 hour conference at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany.

[iamtehpwn]

anyone.
Make this Happen.

That would be EPIC.

[Blaze929]

just 9 more days and all will be known!

[PHOSADRA]

your right this would be EPIC
It will be twice as long as their E3 conference plus new info.

But Yu yevon helps create Sin. Isn't that kinda dangerous?
Maybe we should call upon Shiva instead:)

[deadreckoning666]

The 18th will be a great day for existing and new PS3 owners. I even thk it'll outdo E3's conference!

[Darkeyes]

lol.. All this makes me remember Greenberg and his stupid comment... '3 hours long conference... I hope they have comfortable seats'... If all those things happen, people will be on the fu*kin edge of their seats...

[Angry Moth]

Ign said on podcast beyond last week that contrary to popular belief the conference is likely to be 1 hour to an hour and a half long. The 3 hour figure is just the time slot they have booked, so i wouldn't get your hopes up for too much

[Trollimite]

you forget yaweh.

does any one else get the feeling that even if sony gives us everthing on that list "we" will still complain about some other useless features we dont have!

seriously, people that complain about the battery icon over the clock are just stupid!!! if you wait like a half of second the battery icon would disapear.

[iamtehpwn]

I miss Wakka.

[PinkUni]

THATS HORRIBLE NEWS

all of that stuff is suppose to be free

[Mindboggle]

I really hope this is true as im fed up with xbox live and want to migrate to PSN fully....One of the main reason is the scumbags on xbox live, and I fear a PS3 pricedrop will bring all the horrible people onto PSN...

Look at this video if you wanna know what live is like...

[Hoolock]

any updates or new features are great although the article used the word "premium" when talking about an update too PSN which usualy translates to "costs money". Still i happily pay for XBL and will happily pay for PSN if the features are worth it. can anyone speculate as too what it means by "unlimited downloads" cos im sure we can technically do that now or would this include the ability to download as many PSN games as we want for a monthly/yearly price?

hmm cant wait to see what they got to offer

@bogglemind
every social network from myspace to XBL to PSn and beyond is like this, its just people and its what they do.

[ThanatosDMC]

HAHAHAH! Yu Yevon! HAHAHAAH!

[Marcelles25]

not at all i've never met someone on psn who went out of there way to send someone a message to say how gay another person is the only time there is name calling is when someone kills you and laughs about it or a team mate sucks but if you have a mic no one says anything to you its funny actually

one time i accidentally killed my teammate in COD and he got pissed like AHHH What A fa-ggot then i got on my mic and said sorry i didn't mean to do that and he was like oo its okay man its fine hahaha it was hilarious

[Hoolock]

i do agree that PSN is not as bad as XBL but i believe this is likely because the Mics arent given as a standard. MS gave out Mics hoping it would encourage team chat and socializing, which it can do, ive had many an occasion where i have entered into a decent disscusion with people but it does on occasion lead into verbal abuse, at which point i report them and have it done with. Honestly i find people who do insult others on either service to be a useless addition to the community as most people just want to play thier games and its the vocal minority that ruin it for other people.

[whoelse]

If you listen to say the IGN podcasts you will know the actual conference bit is NOT three hours. That is how long their slot is.

[talltony]

Does anyone here know if gamescon will be sreamed on the internet? I have to see what happens when it happens.

[50CALheadshot]

will forever destroy imitation.

[Allelujah00]

Guys just don't put your hopes up too high. Some might come such as the slim and a price cut, but I doubt that a lot of the other stuff is. Being a PS fanboy myself, I remember hearing massive leaks before a conference just to be let down.

Like he said take this with a grain of salt guys. BIG PIECE OF FREAKING SALT.

[prunchess]

The only down side to these rumours is that Sony will be looking to charge us for some of the upcoming features.

I spend enough money on Sony products as it is (bought a launch model PS3 when it came out for 700 euro) and the one of the reasons I bought a PS3 was due to its online features being free.

Sony - don't try to nickle and dime us with this update!

[Domenikos]

I expect a "playback, smoothness, whatever improvement on 3.0...

3.0456 is the REAL deal

[Viatrophy]

Anyone know whether there will be a live stream of the conference? There has was for E3 (And TGS... I think?)

If so, please link me. :)

[indysurfn]

unlimited downloads and all its features will still be free. Last time I checked I don't care how you attempt to seperate something and charge me for it. Your still charging me. Oh this? It's not a fee, it is a to have unlimited access for free. Therefor it is not a fee! weee!!

[ultimolu]

Hell yeah.

For a conference that long, Sony better have some kick ass features up their sleeve.

And Mindboggle...just wow. o_o

[Nineball2112]

I'm really looking forward to this Gamescom.

[darthv72]

New Xmb Experience.

Edit: Here is a question. Would Sony revise the new PS3 to include more physical RAM than the original? They did it with the PSP from the 32mb in the original to the 64mb in the slim. What is to keep sony from doubling the memory in a revised PS3?

Would that put a damper on future development of games as it relates to the original models?

Serious answers please.

[DaTruth]

I'm growing weary of these articles with a question mark at the end; Please save the articles until it is a statement!

[Mo0eY]

Now that's something I'd pay $50 a year for - unlimited PSN games (and probably content). But I think that's way too generous so I wouldn't get my hopes up.

[fr0sty]

I would think they'd probably charge closer to $100 a year, like maybe $70-80. Still WELL worth it. If they did do something like that though, I'm curious how they'd deal with third party stuff? Maybe just pay them a flat rate or something for hosting the content plus still giving them commissions on the sales by those who do not choose to do the monthly payment thing.

Bear in mind that is all speculation on the rumor though, not what is actually rumored.

[TheWretched]

I'd say something along 5€ to 10€ a month, which comes out to 60€ to 120€ a year, because this is what Lovefilm et al want for their service in Germany too.

[SprSynJn]

I am not sure I would jump at it though. I have a few games that I do not even really play as it is. It doesn't really sound like Sony to have unlimited downloading for a flat rate either.

[jamesrocks3147]

we want to see in game chat / in game party, improved gamer cards , voice messaging, video messaging, the video store for eourpe, iron out a few bugs nd stuff AKA move the battery meter away from the time when PS button is used, want a standard in game party where we can watch a movie or play a game nd never lose contact with each other. intergate home a bit more would be nice and give us some more apps! video apps maybe maybe even a app store that would be pushin the boat out like a on demand video service like Vidzone with music would be class

[PHOSADRA]

I'm glad you didnt include cross game chat in your list. I think its over rated.

If I was playing Mag I would much rather talk to my team to keep things organized rather than talk to someone playing Uncharted 2.

[King_many_layers]

I can see why you'd rather speak with your team, which is why that's already an option. But speaking to a friend on your list wouldn't cut into that for you, you wouldn't have to speak to them..

Whereas for myself I'd love it, as if I could come online and see a friend playing a game I don't have, I could speak to them still, or I could play some KZ2 while my Partner plays LBP or Resistance 2. The feature in my opinion is almost necessary to make the service very much more online friendly.
Chat rooms are a great step forward, but are slightly inconvenient unless they can implement so that using a keyboard you could type and press enter to send your brief message.. For me having to go into the XMB is a little inconvenient and start stop.

[mastiffchild]

Kingy-x game chat is why I rarely game on Live anymore. Aside from any issues with cheating it completely wrecked TF2 on Live for me and most of my mates too. Even if you don't want to talk to anyone outside your game you still find yourself playing with and against others who are and get distracted by it-and on either side it can get annoying though it's ALWAYS a pain on yours. Gow can you get anything really coordinated iof some of your side are in chats with mates in other games? It doesn't work, imo, and the day X game lands on PSN will be a dark one for me.

Almost as dark as the moment I realised I couldn't just say "I don't want one of your avatars MS" when they changed the NXE! Why do I have to have one if I hate them? And if you have to why isn't there a free T-shirt with "I was forced into making this effort" on it for people like myself.

Whatever-I just don' want a carbon copy of Live as not everyone thinks it's perfect at all-though my biggest issue with it as a paid service is that there are fewer dedicated servers on it than on PSN and noone has ever made sense of why that would be for me. I get that it's not Sony or MS who always provide them but more likely the devs but why would they stick with P2P more often on the premium Live service? Honest question and not a dig at anyone.

Also wouldn't ony look a but dim after trumpeting the free nature of PSN as one of PS3 selling points for an absolute age?

[vShinobi]

All we can do is wait.

[TooL 316]

i love Sony n all but i don't see it happening.

[JonnyBigBoss]

This doesn't come as a surprise. 3.0 WILL be out this year, and it will be a very big update. Cross-game private voice chat will be added among a few other things. I don't want to go into too much detail but definitely look out for the next big firmware update.

[y0haN]

uhuh

[Baka-akaB]

Not again ... could those "blogs" stop raising's people expectations ?

If it happens it happens , if not we'll be pissed , but at least at actual facts

[fr0sty]

Our site is far from a "blog". And half the stuff posted on n4g are rumors, so I don't see the problem? If you don't like them, don't read them.

[Biggunz]

When I read:
"Sony did send out some e-mails recently hinting at a new PSN launching on the 18th, so that lends some credibility to these rumors."

I knew that this was a B.S. article. Everything in that email is already available on the SCEA website, except the 90 day extended warranty.

I love how every blog site now has a "mole" on the inside that feeds them insider info...LOL

[fr0sty]

@ 7.2... BS article from BS site eh? let's look at some of our previous rumors.

GDC -

New PS3 bundle coming - came true
"psp slide" to be announced at e3 - came true
new jak and daxter for psp coming - came true
ueda will be at gdc to talk about 2 new projects - partially came true, one project was discussed.

there were also 3 other rumors we reported on in the same post that didn't pan out (or haven't yet), but we still did better than not. these also weren't even from the same source. this particular source i feel to be a lot more reliable, as they are actually involved in the game development community, and they've leaked rumors for our sister sites in the past that came out ok.

either way, no need to defend ourselves. we're not some random blog, we have a forum 30k members strong and growing, and we only have to wait a few more days before these rumors can be put to the test.

wouldn't make much sense to report on stuff we knew was false when it is being verified in days. wouldn't it make sense to pick some time far off, like tgs, if we were going to fabricate rumors? then you'd be more likely to forget about it.

[Baka-akaB]

@frosty , wich is why i didnt read it anyway ...

n4g is often spammed with useless stuff and baseless rumors , but at least it got an article headline and frontpage that seems enough ..

When i see "Firmware 3.0 coming up ?" , empase on the ??? , and then a source i might not trust or really know , i usually dont bother going further .

Anyway my comment isnt even against your site per se ... but on a cyclic basis , or whenever a convention is coming , we got the usual circus : a blog or site post "Scoop super duper ps3 firmware is coming!!"

then people take it as gospel , then we it ends up being untrue , people lashes out ... not at the sites , but Sony

[chisox100]

Cross Game Voice Chat.

Better Invite System in games like KZ2.

Easier access to messages while in-game (press PS to access it right away while notification is up would work)

Faster loading in-game XMB (reduce from 3 seconds to 1 second)

[ThatCanadianGuy]

I could care less about better invites or cross game chat..
But the press "PS" to go directly to messages when prompted is a fantastic idea!

[Karum]

The ps3 chatpad has a button that does exactly that.

PS button is already for the in game XMB so you'd need to be fairly quick to hit it whilst the notification of a received message is on the screen and if you're at a critical point in a game, pausing to read some text isn't the best idea.

[King_many_layers]

agreed, pressing the xmb as a message prompt appears only to have it load right up would be nice.
Same with trophys, get a trophy, press XMB and see what it was for.

the game invites are fine with me.
the cross chat, see above.

Edit: @ Karum

"and if you're at a critical point in a game, pausing to read some text isn't the best idea"

Well that's a no brainer... just don't press it to pause it... just leave it like you normally would.

[-EvoAnubis-]

Paying to play online I'd never do, but paying a flat yearly fee to download whatever the hell I want on PSN? THAT I'd do, without hesitation or regret.

[Allowen]

LOl, that was funny : "PSP go Price cut" .

But so soon ! Sony lost it's faith on ppl that would pay no problem only $249 for it ?
hehehe

I guess that Sony is learning ... expensive PS3($599) and then err poor salles for almost 2 years and now wanted to charge $250 for a UMDless PSP ?

We are all happy that Sony is learning to better satisfie its costumers..... now if only Activision could learn some thing from other's mistakes ....this year would rock&Roll.

[fr0sty]

As long as they get MW2 out in november, i couldn't care less what activision does.

[Redempteur]

i laugh at your poor sales the ps3 suposed did ..

We know it only sold 100k less than the 360 in the same time frame . That is NOT poor given the price gap there is between the two and the fact the 360 had a year head start .

[WenisWagon]

Hmm, what do you know, Sony copies the NXE from Microsoft. but again it will most likely be too little too late for anyone to care.

[Tinted Eyes]

Hurt

getting harder to justify 50 bucks huh?

=)

has anyone found the halo wars stats yet?

[falcon]

I rather have a free copied psn then pay $50 for nxe.

[dustgavin]

You obviously seem to care since you took the time to read the article and leave a comment.

Of course, I would feel like a idiot too if I paid a yearly subscription for avatars, facebook, and twitter.

[OmarJA]

Gabe Newell stole them.

[fr0sty]

nxe ripped off home and mii's, so what are you getting at?

[Sir Ken_Kutaragi]

...PenisWagon!!! ;-D

That photo you got is what ALL ChatBots will look like after Gamescom 2009!!! ;-D

[presto717]

I'm really excited. Maybe the playstation cloud and the reputation system thingy were really true. I'd also like to see cross game chat too. But any improvement is totally welcome.

Damn!! god I love playstation!!

[Nelson M]

Thy Silly Little BoT !!
I'll bet you still live with mom and that you aint got a chance in Hell of Gettin Laid

[Saaking]

Oh look, it seems on of the bots has a new account.

[SonySoldiers]

WE ARE SONY DUDETTES! WE LOVE RUMORS! WE LOVE PROMISES! WE LOVE PLAYSTATION© 3!

[LevDog]

Now thats something to pay for.. Unlimited downloads.. That would blow XBL out of the water.. Free online for new users still, then for those that like to DL alot of things.. Unlimited for x amount.. Huge

[dktxx2]

I gotta say, I think were heading towards massive dissapointment on the 18th. Sony has a lot to live up to, and its not even their fault.

[thereapersson]

Funny how Sony used to be the ones to hype up everything, and now the fans and the media are the ones who hype everything up and it usually backfires on Sony, even when they had nothing to do with it.

[fr0sty]

It's only the fault of those who turn rumor into expectation. Those who are unable to tell the difference between the two.

And think about it, if they go 3 hours without busting out some HUGE surprises, it's going to be a failure on their part anyway. That's a whole lot of our time to ask for.

[thereapersson]

But MAN would this be a sweet bit of news if it came true

I'm really stoked for this conference. 3 f*cking hours long? There's BOUND to be some tasty news to be gathered from it.

I'll be checking my N4G RSS feed all day while I'm at work, lol

[youngmoney10]

The 18th is the first day of school for me so I really don't mind the wait lol.

[xplosneer]

The last update that actually added substantial we could currently use was April, according to the PS Blog posts. I hope it includes some good stuff if true.

[360isthebestps3sucks]

wow.. psn still horrible.

[RememberThe357]

So butt hurt. The PSN is fine, and any free upgrade is welcome. The PSN is why I don't pay for LIVE.

[IcyJoker187]

=(

[RAM MAGNUMS]

Then why are they asking the reader a question?

Sure would be nice to have a honest gaming site 1 day.
Only in a perfect world I guess. There is a difference between rumor & a bold faced lie.

Holy sh1T!

[fr0sty]

We didn't ask any questions... and yes, there is a difference between rumors and lies. outright lies tend to focus on events that are far off, so you are more likely to forget about the lie (after they raked in the hits on it) and their site's credibility isn't hurt so they can keep spreading lies.

this rumor is to be verified in 8 days. 8 days. It will still be fresh on everyone's minds when that 8 days passes, so why the hell would we want to make up a lie that would tarnish our site's reputation like that? Nobody is going to forget about these rumors in a week.

if you're going to make such accusations, at least think them through.

[RAM MAGNUMS]

Xbutts pay for "social features"?

WTF are you doing paying for stupid sh1t like that?!

Wait till your parents find out. They gonna take your computer away for letting it collect dust. You better lie to them & tell them psn cost more online & that the bluray player sucks.
You're parents probly think they raised a homo who twitters all day. Halohomosoldier360 is now playing halo fellow tweeters. Marcuspenis180 just poked you, poke back?

Fckn ghay a$$ xbutts! LOL! It definatly got worse than avatars. Have you seen natal?
It's the sixaxis without the dualshock! Haaaaaaa!

P$3! Hardcore system!
Xboxlive is the ghay community!
Halohomo360 is in a relationship with marcuspenis180. Awwwwww how cute!

[Hoolock]

i presume youre not a fan of the Xbox or its live services, lmao

[Etseix]

*Xbutts pay for "social features"? *

Lmao, just reading that, makes me think that some people gets to pay 50 bucks for meet a friend x] thats funny

[Qazdaz]

August 18th can't come quick enough

[SacredENA]

Who pays $50 a year for free services like Facebook, Twitter etc??

Oh wait.

Psst, your balls are showing Wenis.

[Tripl3seis]

This is why I love sony they are so creative with doing things and I hope this comes true let's go sony!!!!!!!.

[Tripl3seis]

There's got to be something good in this conference to be 3 hours long.Then again we're jkust have 2 wait and see ;).

[Knightrid808]

August 18th can't come fast enough :(

[ARog34]

...I can't believe Sony would charge $250. I mean, the games will all be downloadable and expensive enough... the best way to introduce a new PSP would have been at a comforting price that even a casual like me would pick up!

...The SCREEN IS SMALLER, too?!?

[crazyvideodude]

I can wait and find out what happens when it happens!

[Saaking]

Only the bots are stupid enough to believe Paid is better than free. You seriously gotta feel sorry for those guys.

[DW]

funny world

[jarhead906]

Yeah if Sony tries to implement a subscription fee for the online gaming components in the middle of this generation, they're losing a customer. I actually like to access the things that I pay for.

[xc7x]

monkeys coming out of pants pockets of speakers during conference?

[This_is_xboxlive]

These are the people that buy 8+ xboxes after they RROD, and play on xbox live

http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

You know what.. here's a playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/view...

[Solotov]

.MKV HD Video support!

[samfk]

to many ifs and buts purely a rumour and as for the person on about changing from 360 online to ps3 , people are horrid sorry chum but changin consoles aint gonna wrap u up in cotten wool!evry1 has to like it or lump it ,unless ur were jus blatantly doin fanboism !

[Campy da Camper]

give us a party feature and/or cross game chat!

[inFAMOUS_KRATOS]

heres my wish!!

1. universal voice chat!!

2. voice chat during bd movies... chat while we watch cool stuff

3. chat while we browse lol...omg.. or watch movie in the chat... unstead of your psn avatars ... gives you choice to show what u doin if you have eyetoy..

[Demon5500]

All you guys back stab Ms for Xbox live, and now sony are about to start charging you, its a strange world, will see if they can better Live or add lest match it :) Or try and rip it off more !!!!!

[fr0sty]

except we'll actually be getting something for it in return (free game and movie downloads at one flat rate, vs. just paying to play online and still having to buy movies and games.), if that were the case. Also, be sure to read the article better next time. it says nothing about a pay service, but that they are launching a new psn. the paid service part was just speculation based on a recent survey.

[Hoolock]

thats not stictly true. When paying for XBL the money goes towards matchmaking servers for every game on XBL. Sony because they do not charge for online force the Dev to pay for their own servers on an external network such as gamespy. This makes it much easier for MS with their single server system to add features such as the unified invite system and cross game chat and it also means every game is always supported. Whilst its up to the Dev to support the game on PSN, so at any time if the Dev goes bust or cannot afford to pay for servers, the game becomes unplayable.
Also the fact that MS has created its own matchmaking server system means that any XBLA or Indie game can have online functionality without a cost too the Dev, which is good as many indie game or XBLA game Devs have very little cash to play with.

[fr0sty]

no, the game does not become unplayable. the servers for each game are not hosted by the developer on psn. take warhawk for example... it uses a ps3 to ps3 server setup with no centralized server. each ps3 acts as it's own server.

the only thing live has over psn right now is matchmaking, xgame chat, and voice messaging. the rest can be done on psn already. firmware 3.0 (just heard back from our source again on that) is supposed to go well beyond what ps3 lacks vs. xbox live. he also made a brief mention of ps2 backwards compatibility possibly being mentioned at gamescom also, saying that it has been in testing for over a year now but still is not quite ready to roll out (which is why it's only being announced, not released, on the 18th).

[inFAMOUS_KRATOS]

sony has that " its free online " edge over microsoft lol i dont think is going to change, im full qore subscriber, so im already contributing to sony!! yay me

[fr0sty]

and as such, you're being charged. the difference is, you're actually getting something for it. the service referred to in the article (that was just speculation based on a recent sony survey) would be the same thing. you pay a fee, and get free downloads of games and maybe movies and music also. none the less, that was all just speculation.

[gameman]

i hope so make it happen Sony

p.s

from now bots just say something logic or just shut it we all know that you don't have anything to play this year and this is not our mistake

[devilhunterx]

keep the hype on the down folks.

i rather have low expectations and receive more, than have high expectations and receive less.

[skatezero246]

couldn't agree more

[cpt_kaos]

1.4 hope they got extra padding on those seat edges. ;)

[skatezero246]

man that would be sweet if all of that happened but i'm not going to get my hopes up incase it doesn't happen

[AXAXAX]

How about an option to disable 'friend online/off' messages? I am beginning to refuse friend invites because I am sick of seeing this message when all I wanna know is when i receive a message.

OR a little mail icon on the xmb can flash and stay on until the message is read.

Downloadable languages for blu-ray discs through BD-LIVE would be incredible. That is not up to Sony - but would be a nice addition to bluray films.

- search feature in the music folder
- or order of recently played

- photo browsing improvements, photos can come up as a grid to fill up the entire screen (like the ps3s photo album program)

[bujasem_89]

will reveal cloud in gamescon seriously why is nobody mentioning it???

[GamerscoreWhores]

Anyone know if these conferences will be streamed online like E3?

[kanedaakira]

I've just recieved an email from Playstation Asia.....See below.

Dear PlayStation®Network Member,

Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong Limited shall launch a new upgraded PlayStation®Network Membership service on 18th August, 2009.Now you can enjoy more value-added services such as online gaming, PlayStation®Home and exclusive membership offers.

Login the PlayStation®Network’s “My Page”, you can quickly and easily check your trophy lists and friend list with your PC. What’s More! You can also get 90-day free warranty extension* by registering your purchased products* in your PlayStation®Network account. Don’t miss it.

Looks like just being a membership service....(Playstation Thanks ???)

Don't get too excited guys ;D

[AenthonyDa1nOnli]

I would not be surprised if they kinda did a premium service for PSN like have a silver membership where we get all the access we have now and then have like a gold membership to have unlimited downloads or qore episodes bundled with a gold account, hell maybe even early access to dowloadable games , betas, and demo's... i think 60-100 dollars for that account a year would be fine... remember it's optional so no biitching about the price

[Wurider]

You guys are pretty pathetic. You constantly knock Live for the 50.00 a year but you are all excited to pay 100.00 a year. Wouldn't Sony lose money under this model. You think that you will be downloading new releases and new games on PSN every month!!! You will be downloading the free puzzle game and Ghostbusters!!!!!

[RedVsBlue]

I see Sony fans are hypocrites if they wont mind paying fot a PSN Fee lol hypocrites if this happen they lose all rights to whine about Microsoft & Live's fee but they wont stop

[Ron Zook]

It would be cool if they implimented some sort of (say $15 or $20 a month for minimum 1 year subscription) for unlimited movie downloads to compete with netflix

[Blacktric]

They should definitely add a backwards compatibily emulation for PlayStation 2 games. That's what I'm looking forward to see in Firmware 3.0