PS3 2.40 firmware details leaked

Last week we told you about the recent firmware upgrade the PS3 was getting and touched on the arrival of milestone version 2.40. While Sony has confirmed the inclusion of an in-game XMB (cross media bar), the rest of the 2.40 update was a bit cloudy.

But now, CVG claims to have the final list of features that make up the much-anticipated upgrade. In addition to the XMB, version 2.40 will feature a trophy system that will let compatible games track your progress, similar to the Xbox 360 Achievements. Instead of a score, you earn different level trophies as you progress.

According to the site, you'll be able to access the following features via the XMB during gameplay. But be warned: some games may not support this feature.

• Friend category
• View, send, receive messages
• Manage downloads
• Set the vibration feature of the controller
• Sign in to PlayStation Network
• Register friends
• Manage Bluetooth devices
• Terminate the game
• Music category
• Use the system BGM
• Work the system BGM operation panel
• Settings category
• Assign controllers
• View profiles
• Game category
• Set audio devices
• Use the voice changer

[Kev50027]

Holy crap, this update looks like the most awesome thing to come to the PS3 since.. it came out. Seriously, these features are awesome Sony. Get this update out!

[yzzlthtz]

E3 (in like 3 weeks) it's supposed to drop.

[RRosal]

Sony has announced officially that FW2.40 will be available for download on Wednesday, 7/2/08 :)

[chrkeller]

Sounds pretty slick. The trophy system is long over due. I also want custom soundtracks with iPod support.

[jvandervest]

Funny you guys get excited over features that Xbox has had for years.

[whoadude1]

whats funny jvan is actually the fact that its probably the same people that have slammed XBOX users for years because we have the "stupid achievements" for every game and "friends lists". now they LOVE them?????????

[stuntman_mike]

What's really funny is that two posters that obviously don't like the PS3, read and commented on a PS3 article lol.
.
No wait... that's not funny... that's sad.

[RRosal]

That's cuz they've run out of stuff to do with their XBox 360's LOL

[2Cold Scorpio]

Nah, more likely their precious XBox 360s got the dreaded RROD and they are now bored. You get what you pay for, I say... ;)

[BCF1968]

Yeah and your point? Who cares about the PAST.Tthe important thing is that the PS3 now has it. So all you XBOX fanboys can't use that as an excuse as to why the 360 is "supposedly" better.

Also Sony won't charge $50 a year for this feature. I mean you think after spending $450 on a XBOX 360 $60 for a game that MS would throw you a bone and let you play online for free. They already got $510 of your money, but no they want even more.

Let's see
$450 for XBOX 360 5 years of XBL $250 total=$700
$500 for PS3, online FREE=$500

and the PS3 hard drive isn't gimped. Any reason why I shouldn't be able to download game saves to a thumb drive? If I fill my 360 hard drive up I either have to delete stuff or get another hard drive then have to swap the HDDs out all the time. At least with PS3 I can transfer my stuff to external HDD or just get larger standard SATA HDD say like 250 GB which only costs $125 compared to $180 for the gimped HDD that MS sells.

[bear740]

WRONG, you can hook up any eternal HD to the XBOX 360. Personally I would never own anything that Sony sells, arrogant company with a CEO that makes fun of Americans. But you go ahead and support this foreign company. I can't believe that people are stupid enough to buy into Sony's lies. How many times has Sony promised or leaked something that never came true at all? When will you goofy people learn. Both systems are pretty much equal in most areas, but the Online system of MS is light years ahead of Sony. I think the point is that you have bought into a company that never delivers the truth and their systems are never as powerful as they first brag about. You can play with those horrible small hand cramping controllers that Sony has put on every system from the PSone to this piece of crap. XBOX 360 is not perfect but it is now a stable and great AMERICAN system.

[BCF1968]

YOU are wrong bear740. You CAN NOT download game save or movies, TV shows or anything else bought from XBL onto a external hardrive from your 360 hard drive. I can't put game saves on a 1GB USB thumbdrive that costs $10. No, if I want to have a portable version of game saves I have to use a $50 memory card that only holds 512 MB. That's ok with you for MS to do?

The 360 an AMERICAN system? I swear mine said MADE IN CHINA.

[iwarrior-poet]

Still hoping the PS3 will somehow get the newer high end audio codecs... Though that is seeming less and less likely (probably needs a full hardware upgrade).

[gadgetguy360]

Actually as someone who has both systems... it is pretty funny to see this crap finally coming to my ps3. didn't the original xbox have the voice changer too?? i don't remember cus i never used the feature. But it is nice to see PS3 slowly catching up to my xbox. Cus lets face it people as much as you wanna slam XBox 360 for its hardware (even though the machine is a fricken beast with power) without the proper software it doesn't mean ****. Xbox has always had the better interface especially with the 360. I always enjoy going online on my 360, and the PS3 i just stick to single player. Its always a hassle. Don't take this as me slamming Sony. Cus I love my PS3... it was the best value for my Blu-Ray and also had a blast with Drake's Fortune. But the 360 is definitely my favorite.

[drewu]

There are video walkthrough's of the new features on the official Playstation blog: http://blog.us.playstation.com/

[Frost1235]

For an entertainment system, the ps3 has the 360 beat. No one wants a block popping in your movie with weird colors.

But the 360 got us with Live, and its gaming section. We lost an exclusive to GTA4, and DMC4. Those were our heavy hitters, now gone.
With this, we caught up to the 360, and hopefully, our Ps3 will show its true colors with Rfom2, and the begining of the PS3 era.

On a side note to 360 fanboys.
Our console kicks ass. We can go back through time.
IE Bioshock, and ingame soundtrack.
Beat that flamers.

[wadah1111]

I'm totally a playstation fan , but :( when I see that I can buy the Xbox for less money I say why don't i just get it, i mean i'm dying to play assassins creed and gta4 and all the multi platform games . but then i say it's a waste of money cause If I buy the xbox I'm gonna waste my money on a console that I won't be able to sell when the ps3 gets price cut and exchange ...
blu-ray rocks free online wifi hdd browser hd games storage devices compatibility
are you kidding me??

[i_am_still_wade]

No, what is REALLY sad is people actually bashing the PS3 or XBox 360 on-line.

[Kev50027]

jvar, I also have a 360, and I was cleaning my room the other day and guess what I found on my 360? A spider web. Yes, I just got this new Elite a month ago and already a spider web is on it. On my PS3 I found nothing, I use it every single day. Sorry, but as far as features go, the PS3 wins hands down. Let me know when you get a slick interface on that 360 too, because that blade stuff is a pain in the ass.

[ahazi]

We already know the Wii's flying off shelves like half-price Oreos, but how are things shaping up in the feature-value scrimmaging between Sony and Microsoft? Last October I plugged some numbers into a spreadsheet for kicks and discovered the PS3 was in fact marginally less expensive than the Xbox 360 once you took into account all the stuff you have to buy to make Microsoft's much accessorized system more or less feature-equivalent. Never mind the nickel-and-dime nitpicking over limited-time bundles and special deals, the notion that Sony's $400-$500 system was a relatively decent buy with all the negative press about Sony's pricing was a minor revelation.

Is that still the case? Let's take a look.



(Bear in mind this comparison doesn't take into account limited-time offers or special deals or "refurbished" pricing or whatever else your local retailer's doing to incentivize you to pick one or the other up.)

Thoughts...

- Curiously, the Xbox 360 "Arcade" is more expensive than the "Premium" model once you accessorize it. Jump up to the 120GB hard drive and the price leaps all the way up to an incredible $630! (And without the Premium's included component and HDMI cables.) No surprise: As with the discontinued "Core" system the "Arcade" replaced, you pay in the rears (and then some) for the perquisites of investing a smaller amount up front.

- The Xbox 360's upgrade pricing -- already laughably high when the system debuted relative to comparable market part pricing -- needs to drop immediately and dramatically. The notion that customers would pay $90 for a paltry 20GB (much less $180 for 120GB) when you can get a 250GB 2.5" SATA hard drive for $130 (and slap it in your PS3) is ludicrous. So is paying a hundred bucks for an 802.11g USB wireless network adapter worth less than half that in the form of a PC USB key.

- What's the difference between HDMI 1.3a and 1.2? Everything and nothing. Everything in the sense that I can count over a dozen new features jumping from 1.2 to 1.3a. Nothing in the sense that it's all barely incremental technical mumbly-jumbly even A/V-philes would have difficulty sussing out (if you want to know anyway, AVS Forum has a nice breakdown here).

- I've removed Microsoft's external HD-DVD player (closing out for as little as $30 in some places) from the bundle for obvious reasons, with apologies to HD-DVD holdouts. Now: Microsoft owes its customers a dedicated Blu-ray player, and I'm still betting money we'll see an actual part, or at least one announced, by the end of 2008. If it happens, given Microsoft's accessory pricing, don't expect it to be cheap. Bear in mind that a decent standalone Blu-ray player baselines in the $300 range, something I'm not representing in the chart above, and a point that weighs dramatically in Sony's favor if you care at all about HD optical media.

- The sooner Sony opts to make PS2-nerfed PS3s backward-compatible, the better. We're still seeing new and significant PS2-only games (like Persona 4) in the queue, for goodness sake, and what self-respecting PS3 owner really wants to clutter up their TV's A/V ports with an eight year old piece of space-hogging hardware?

- I opted not to include the 80GB PS3 MGS4 bundle because most stores aren't carrying it at this point, and the ones that are report it being "sold out" and "not available" for store pickup.

Summary:

What's changed in roughly 10 months? Not much. Sony, which at one point had three versions of the PS3 on the market, is virtually down to one, while Microsoft continues to chip away at the market with an unvarying tiered approach. While I've been harsh on Microsoft for its inflated component pricing, I still think the way the 360 offers customers an "acclimation model" trumps Sony's monolithic "buy the farm" approach. Sure, you get integrated Blu-ray out of the box with the PS3, but why force buyers to swallow the entire buffet in one sitting?

What's more, you've probably read the rumors that Microsoft's planning to drop the price of its $350 "Premium" system by $50 ahead of E3 (the blurry ad in circulation suggests the magic date is next Sunday, July 13th). If it happens and we see a sustained summer sales uptick for the 360, expect retaliatory pricing from Sony as early as autumn.