Three Wise Men

A Sony figure called Eric Lampel announced on the 22nd April 2010 that new mandatory PlayStation 3 firmware system update is available for all interested users on PSN.

Sony continues with surprises. I will fire up my PS3 and update to the latest and the greatest system update. User agreement v1.4 – nothing new about that, accepting and checking turn off the system auto-magically after the update, and waiting … Must say that Sony could do a little more for us technical geeks. For example while we wait for download to complete we could browse through a list of new features, bug-fixes, possible new bugs, commercial about how movie downloading is the same as stealing.

Anyway since Sony doesn’t have this information available for us, Eric has a job that requires from him to pass some of this information to us. You know the tech geeks. And this is what Eric reported:

“Hi everyone, in our continued effort to provide the best, most comprehensive entertainment experience possible, we’ll be adding a few new features to PlayStation 3 (PS3) via the latest system software update, which is a mandatory update and will be available shortly.

Most notably, you’ll see some new sorting options within Trophies that make it easier to claim bragging rights among your friends on PlayStation Network.

• Trophy enhancements – Now you can more easily sort trophies in the [Trophy Collection] and [Comparing Trophy] sections. Sorting can be done with [Trophy Collection] in the [Game Category] and also when comparing trophies with your friends in the [Friend Category]

• Trophy Folder (Title List) can be sorted by game name/ by title according to the date in which you earned your last trophy (ascending/descending)

• Add-on list (Group list) can be sorted by original/the date in which you earned your last trophy (ascending/descending)

• Trophy list can be sorted by original/trophy name/grade/date of obtaining the trophy (ascending/descending)

In addition, this update preps the PS3 system for some upcoming new features, including 3D stereoscopic gaming, which is coming soon to PS3, in time for the launch of Sony’s 3D BRAVIA TVs.”

Update and you will have the capability to sort your trophies. I will never understand why is sorting called a mandatory feature.

Eric Lampel – Director of PlayStation Network Operations confirmed a rumor about an upcoming PS3 firmware update.

He stated that the update will include the following features and improvements:

• Social networking integration by linking your PlayStation Network account to Facebook. PS3 will; upon users confirmation, publish trophy and PSN store activity. Although we applaud that users will have a choice weather to publish their personal information on their Facebook wall, we are not convinced that this will work through XMB menu system.
• The Photo category on the XMB has been revamped to make it easier to see more of your photos stored on your PS3
• The PSN Friends List has been modified based on feedback we received after update 3.00. Additionally, you can now choose a color for your PSN ID on the XMB.

Additional features list will follow upon 3.10 release. When? Soon.

Edit: Sources at 1UP.com state that PlayStation 3 firmware update 3.10 will be available later today on the November 18 2009.

As expected with every major update the stability of an operating system can become quite an issue. Sony‘s 3.00 firmware update about which you were informed previously is not an exception. Many issues plague this newly released monstrosity.

Among them some crashes of the best PS3 game called Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. There are also reports of bugs in friend list, dual shock 3 controllers losing signal, louder fans, poor wi-fi signal.

Since I am a PS3 user I can understand the rage of the other like me who updated to firmware to 3.00. Specially with the hardware quirks that presented themselves with the update. But for Sony the real problem is money. Games not running or crashing means loss of profit and bad publicity. Therefore Sony stepped up and announced a minor update called 3.01 which is available from the September, 14th via System update.

3.01 fixes some of the more pressing issues. Games will continue to run. So Sony says.

Recently BigWhale reported that PS3 prices will plunger. Subsequently old PS3 versions will lose its value due to the new, slimmed down PS3 version. Now there is some hope even for us mere mortals who own the original version of PS3.

On September, 1st you might have been surprised to find out that Sony launched its 3.00 version of PS3 firmware. Let’s look what goodies they prepared for us.