PS3 Firmware Update 3.0: Does It Make The Grade?

Chris Selogy of SmashPad says:

"The monumental 3.0 update for the PS3 should bring with it substantial additions that tackle the long list of requests that is posted in every corner of the internet. So will the upcoming firmware bring the goods? We rate the updates below:

...

Firmware 3.0 – Rating: C

Though these additions are nice improvements on certain aspects of the XMB, none of these things are really a big deal to be worth the jump to 3.0 from where we stand at 2.80 right now."

Read on for the detailed breakdown.

[edwineverready]

Cross game chat. party chat. that's the only last thing i need and then all the other additions are extra.

[ARog34]

I hope to see it soon, too...

[Venomish]

if they add it, are you really going to use it??
I would probably try it once to see how it works and never touch it again

[Sk8boyP]

I wish that could happen, but Microsoft has those features patented which is why it hasn't been addressed yet. I would've loved for the PS3 to have those features, I would get one. But instead I'm sitting here waiting here for my 360 Elite to get back from Microsoft repair center. I'd be cool to be able to have Cross Game Chat and a reliable console at the same time. But that's a "feature" reserved for heaven.

Yes guys, thanks to Microsoft, having a reliable console is now a feature. lol

[chaosatom]

But Who cares, lets give it a grade anyways.

I also think Cross-game invite is more important than cross-game chat, but that's just me.

[jwatt]

Didn't ms also patent in-game music but Sony found a way around it?

[Final_Rpg]

Here's an idea to get round the patent: implement skype. Two birds with one stone my friends.

[Sk8boyP]

They found a slight alternative, because it's not in every game. Since it's on a game to game basis the developers themselves have to take advantage of the feature, which makes it "iffy" whether or not it'll be available in one game compared to another. Which is also why it has to be "activated" in LBP, I didn't even know it was available in LBP.

[Noob]

Only how it is done, right? If that's the case, I'm sure they will have cross game chat on PS3. Also, the insider on these fourms said it would be coming before the holidays. I'm not saying he's 100% right but so far he hasn't been wrong about anything.

[talltony]

I guarantee that most of the new features are what you cant see. We will hear all about them later like we always do.

[RememberThe357]

I think the new animated backgrounds are pretty sick too. I personally don't have any complaints.

[uie4rhig]

i wouldn't be surprised if cross chat is actually built in to the new firmware, but Sony might be surprising us. Super_Secret has been right 100% so far (including the 250GB ps3 Slim: http://www.joystiq.com/2009... ).. but you never know!

[Viper7]

Pretty nice updates, and it is also nice to hear that Sony at least tries to follow the "Do not fix whats not Broken". For those who don't care about animated themes or sparkling XMB can easily just use the old themes so no1 is forced to use these.

Although the thing about avatars got me a bit dis pointed.. Seriously theres no need to add new avatar pictures, just give us the way to upload our own. Especially if there will be "premium avatars" which just sounds really retarded as 2d avatar picks have been free from the beginning of time.

[callahan09]

So basically this guy has deemed everything that the firmware has irrelevant and rated it purely on the fact that it doesn't have some features he wanted it to have. This is a nice update and it will make the XMB much smoother, more efficient, more attractive. Judge it on what it's doing, not what it doesn't do.

[uie4rhig]

also, he's got em all at B-/B/B+/A- (6 of em) and one D and the average comes out at a C lol

[rockleex]

That Sony was trying to implement cross-game chat for 3.0, but it probably won't make it. He also said cross-game chat will definitely be out by the end of the year.

Also, this article is pointless. The firmware numbers represent how much Sony they added to the XMB.

The firmware numbers don't represent how IMPORTANT those features are to each and every one of us.

[dantesparda]

Are nice, no! No, it doesnt. No backwards compatibility and no cross-game chat & voice messaging makes it disappointing. I also give it a C. Sony keeps doing this sh!t and they need to stop doing it, this is why they are losing.

[deadreckoning666]

I agree with the first comment and with the C rating. The only thing that blew my mind was the interactive xmb thg

[Nitrowolf2]

i am really excited for the new themes. i likes that LBP one, this is really sweet, i hope we get the ability to cut a video scene and set it as theme

[Rifle-Man]

Yeah, the themes are cool. And finally I'll get to change my avatar to something other than Nathan Hale.

[Nathaniel_Drake]

yeah just seeing the dynamic custom theme of little big planet grades this firmware an A+ for me

[rockleex]

Kind of like how Sony allows user created themes.

Imagine an official GT5 dynamic background. Cars crashing in slow motion. Deforming, breaking into pieces, spinning out, etc according to realistic physics. :O

Imagine user created dynamic boobs with full physics for our backgrounds? :P

[Klipz-Wish]

If you really have to review the firmware at least wait till it actually comes out instead of reviewing a video preview and description on the PS blog

[Christopher]

Does it really matter? It's a site that just wants to complain about 'features every gamer has been screaming about for the last gazillion years' not being present yet. Forget the issue of having to develop a method that doesn't infringe on Microsoft's patent of the technology when used with console games, they want it now and until then the Firmware gets a D or a C grade from random site #87148.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

I know it sounds lame but I'm actually most excited about the animated themes. Bring on 3.0!

This sounds an awful lot like a review. Unless this person has it I would say they are jumping the gun on this.

[Sunny_D]

Yes exactly!

[Noob]

It adds life to the XMB. I can't get over that LBP theme.

[DreamcastFanboy]

I want cross chat not animated themes.

[Blacktric]

Yeah I was hoping for it to show up with FW 3.0 but it didn't. And also I was waiting for backward compatibility too but thanks to Sony I'm (should I say we) screwed once again. I'm not going to buy any game from PSN now on (except exclusive ones (which I don't care about too much)). If Sony's going to keep doing these stupid cosmetic changes I'm not gonna buy anything from them.

[Aclay]

I know a lot of PS3 owners are still waiting on Gaming related updates like Cross Chat, etc..., but I'm most excited about the Animated Themes in this update and can't wait to see what other ones are made available.... I want some God of War, Gran Turismo or Uncharted 2 Animated themes running the background of my XMB, and I'll gladly pay for them.

I know that I'm in the minority for being more excited about Animated Themes, but I'm not much of an Online Gamer, so features like Cross Chat is something that I'm not really anticipating, but I REALLY hope Sony eventually delivers the key Online gaming features PS3 gamers have been clamoring for in the near future so that we all can be satisfied.

[CharlesDCI]

Firmware updates are free, so I don't care what comes out at long as its useful.

[SprSynJn]

Bring it on Sony, bring it on!

This article's rating: D
Pros: The LittleBigPlanet picture
Cons: Thinking oneself important enough to review a firmware update that has yet to be finalized and hence released.

[Xulap]

@SprSynJn:

Your reply's rating: A+
Pros: Made me lol. Got a bubble for it.
Cons: You're not the 1st poster, so you won't get as many Agrees as you deserve.

[AXAXAX]

Message box displayed on xmb.. :)
and the battery icon has now moved out of the clock's way I hope?

Animted backgrounds will be awesome providing users can also create them.
I'll be running onto After Effects to create some awesomeness!

I hope the 'latest played' feature also runs with Music.

[Zydake]

lol it would be funny if the battery was at the same place. and i think i read somewhere on a interview that 1 of the guys who makes the FW didnt like it either so probably they did move it probably aside

[themyk]

read the article it says they moved it.

[spongeboob]

A++, and since my rating is more important than yours i win. Now move along there is nothing important to see in this moronic article.

[unrealgamer58]

yes because a free firmware update for a free service is definitely a c at best

[kyrosheel1]

How can you review a firmware update when it isn't even out yet? I bet there are countless other upgrades and adjustments, even some hidden jems. Sony just showed off some of the main highlights. They even mentioned upgraded an upgraded friendslist and trophies section but they didn't show it to us in the walkthrough.

[kyrosheel1]

lol i said upgraded twice, my bad

[Saaking]

Another bot trying desperately to downplay the epicness of Sony's conference. I'd say this firmware update is at least a B. It basically just cleans everything up a little bit to make it look more alive and organized.

[ZOMBIEMAN1]

cross game chat is that when you can chat to someone during a game without them having to be playing the same game right ? i don't see why ppl want it so bad i know i could use it but can everyone ? no not everyone has a headset so cross game chat would be useless if the other person can't chat

[themyk]

no offense. but that was the dumbest comment i have ever read. and i mean that in the kindest way.

[fadeawayjae]

That is what I always hoped for.

[themyk]

or maybe a fireplace background for those christmas morning gaming sessions.

[themyk]

or a first person view of gt5 racing through the streets.

[themyk]

or if they let you record 45 seconds of video while your playing a game. online or off. and let you upload said 45 seconds as your animated theme.

[Blaster_Master]

I love the way these pro Sony guys are always like "I love this update Sony, bring it on!". I just gotta laugh at how mindless some of these people on n4g really are.

[The Wood]

'why are these sony guys happy for.... I actually have nothing of importance to say I'm just a killjoy'

¬_¬

[AnthonyPerez]

Hey everyone, SmashPad publisher here:

I had a long talk with our writer about this update, and his main point is that none of the updates are necessarily "bad" but they're pretty underwhelming especially since the firmware version got the 3.0 treatment. Usually in software releases ".0's" bring significant additions to user experience and there are no big additions.

I actually argued with him over the grade, but he made that point and I had to agree. It jarred me too that the overall grade seemed out of place with the individual grades, but his reasoning was that those individual updates weren't bad, were convenient (What's New Section), were downright cool (Animated Themes), but as a whole there were no killer additions that really made it particularly exciting or worthwhile. Thus it got a C: an average grade.

As comparison, the NXE had lots of great additions (along with it's fair share of "meh" additions, as I've never cared about avatars) but it did bring features like Netflix, which by itself validated the entire update.

It seems that Sony still has a long way to go in matching a lot of elements of the Xbox experience, BUT that doesn't take away from the fact that Sony has made HUGE strides in the right direction over the past year or so after their barebones release.

To show how we've treated other updates, we put NXE through the paces when it was released as well: http://blog.gamer20.com/200...

Though we created a different kind of post with suggestions to Microsoft (none of which they used). In fact, if you have ideas for how Sony can get past a lot of the patent issues they're facing or any other additions you'd like to see, we'll put together a collection of all of your ideas and credit them to you.

[themyk]

as far as certain features your right it does lack a few. but i'll take this layout with the xmb and the new additions they added. over the nxe any day.

don't mistake that with me downplaying xgame chat or a party feature. i'll jump for joy when we get those.

but the new look of the xbox in my opinion is super lame. and i can't stand it.

i love the simplicity of the xmb. and i love how they incorporated the changes.

in my opinion the 360 looks like it wants to be nintendo really bad.

[AnthonyPerez]

I'll definitely agree with you on that end, themyk. I still personally think the 360 has better features (I wouldn't give my Netflix up for anything in the world), but I was never a big fan of XNE's look. I think the Cross Media Bar is superior, and the new animations look great. Hell, look at the vast majority of the comments here: Everyone thinks the LBP theme looks SICK

[Theoneneo81]

how can we grade something that 1. isnt even out yet and 2 not all the features have been detailed and second this idiots logic in averageing the grade is wrong to the least it should be is a B-

[insanemcbain]

from what Sony have said so far...this update fails.

[DanSolo]

There's some good additions to the XMB, although obviously all the things that would really make the PSN complete like party system, cross game chat, ect ect haven't been added.

The new newsticker is better, and I like the sound of being able to jump back in to your last 3 games easily.
I don't like the PS store icon in the games section, I really don't see the point of having it in 2 places... and cluttering up my game section with sh!t I don't want in it.

The animated backgrounds although not essential will be nice to add a bit of life to the XMB.

[Skynetone]

is good, but having my ps3 start up to this page every time is bad, is there a problem with options, why cant i start up in the music section

is 3.0 a forced update, i only want the animated themes

theres a reason i have a wallpaper, i dont want it changing every two seconds, every game changes your wallpaper, home icon, life with playstation, photo gallery and store should have translucent options

[Reibooi]

So according to this the the new XMB is a A or B but because they don't know much about the friends list it makes it a C? Great logic....

[keysy420]

what the hell is this guy talking about. he gives every grade b and above except one and give out one d and the rating is a c wtf. sounds like he was mad they didn't give him what he wanted. xgame chat is probably it. but is it really that neccesary. it's a plus but not neccesary.

[jarhead906]

I completely agree with the review of the 3.0 FW (as it has been announced). Small perks that are cool, but mostly it's just a way for Sony to expose the customer to the PS Store's advertising of content. I really didn't need two more Playstation Store icons on my XMB. I can get to it in two button presses.