Firmware 3.00 Now Available

Friends list don’t look to bad to me at all and I like that it now shows the game played and when last signed in for everyone without having to scroll to that name exactly. Might be quite colorful if everyone was allowed to select a color for the bar instead of gray. I thought there was to be new avatars with this update but I don’t see any. Home is to be having in-game photo snapshots soon apparently so anyway we can use that to make avatars? Just getting a bit tired of so many people having the same pictures.

Did the font size change? I haven’t noticed. I’m on an SDTV though and it certainly doesn’t look any different. Does it only occur on HD. I prefer big fonts anyways so it’s not an issue to me unlike so many games that use tiny flickery fonts (even the PS Store’s font is often too flickery on my TV)

I like the background blur when going into folders or messages. Makes foreground text a lot more readable for me.

I like the top right bit more too. Nice seeing the avatar and users online all the time in menu and I like the joypad battery charge icon no longer obscures the clock.

Trophies seem faster now and that’s great too. The What’s New bit is good but I like that it’s start up is optional so I have that off and just go look when I like. Don’t really need the PS Store icon in the Games bit though.

Nice to have iPlayer be easily accesible from the menu too. Sure it’s a browser link but it feels better having it under TV and I’ll likely use it a bit more now that I’m reminded of it (though iPlayer’s video quality still isn’t all that great in my opinion. Bit fuzzy and a slightly jerky frame rate).

sorry fot two messages. Hit the letter limit on the first.

It would be nice if you where able to remove Trophies.
Or have got to file a complaint with EU before Sony wakes up to law in Europe. Just to force them to come in to compliance with Data Protection law.

At least where able to post news on this update today, yes we all know a mobile phone that do not even know going to sold is such more important news! Ow how dare I forgot it SCEE!

@22

You can’t completely turn off “What’s New”, but you can stop it from being the first thing displayed when you switch on. I forget where it is in the options but it’s right next to the option to run a game/movie automatically when a disc is in the drive at start-up.

I’m going to try it on for a few days to see how it feels before I decide if I disable it.

I’d agree that the Friends list needs fine-tuning. The other changes I don’t mind. The larger font will take some getting used to, as will the changes to the start-up jingle, but they only look odd because we’re used to how they used to look.

On GC2009 you’ve announced also the NOS video streaming service for the netherlands (with Firmware 3.0). But when I startup my PS3 I don’t see this service. When will it be availible?

I really hope we don’t have to wait until 3.10 to disable the grey boxes around my friends list, it looks so terrible. Everything else is good, the text size is pretty good, could once again have choice.

It’s great you’re giving us updates and all but you really did make a couple of poor choices Sony.. the friends list above all, it looks just terrible. And we should get at least one free dynamic theme, like the LBP one or a Killzone 2 one.

So yeah. 3.10 = Cross game chat, cross game invites, party system, universal music player & easy game invites, the ability to press the PS system when you receive a message or get a trophy to access it straight away.

Please? Please? Pleeeeease? (:

Well, I think most is covered above.

I’ll add – When will the News Ticker Tape become active for the PAL region?

As far as the ‘What’s New Section’, I quite like it but it seems too big. This coupled with the horrendous bulky friends list and new store link in the Games section, I am left wondering why it would be worth while having an animated background considering most of it will be covered.

Oh, while on the subject of animated themes, where’s ours? JPN even has a free one. *hint*

Hi Jem,

I’ve downloaded the new FW update tonight and first i wanna say is that is cool to have a new FW update sometimes

I love the ‘What New’ function and the new dynamic theme’s..

But after i saw the friendlist it was a bit dissapointing.. it is looking UGLY now.. sorry, but the friendlist in the past is a way better then now.. I hope you hear that loud and clear, becease im not the only one which telling that..

Also i am dissapointed of the bigger font of the XMB, i feel now if i play on a SD Tv.. come on please, add a option to switch..

After all i look really forward to the NOS player for The Netherlands.. Is it streamin in HD?

Thanks in advance and this is positive critism

Liking the new look. Clean, crisp and I love the new status indicator at the top right so I can easily see how many friends are online.

Thanks

Have just posted this in the forums but would like to mention it here. I would really like to see a ‘things you may have missed’ or classics section, no wait a community picks section – yeh i like that name.

I am sure many other people myself included have forgotten about past store release or DLC. Loads of games have come out recently and the store can only hold so much on the latest page (its the one i usually visit over the others)so i am sure we have missed or forgotten about some games that we had planned to get but didn’t at the time. It would be great to be reminded about these in this section.

Same goes for DLC, i often pick up a game a couple of months after release, most times there has been DLC for it but i might have forgotten so a reminder about this would be most useful.

To extend the community input further you could run polls on selected titles and get us to vote on what should be included in this area, then update it with the community picks. It could be done on a monthly or twice weekly basis to keep the content fresh and i am sure it would help to direct people to some great PSN gems. Especially useful for all those new PS3 slim owners new to the PSN!

It;s a bit of a dumb update. Whats new is kinda nice, but why is PSN store listed twice now? iPlayer is just a quick link. Friends list looks bad.. aw well..can’t get it right all the time.

Yep the friends list looks awful but SCEE have done in depth research on this and people love big grey boxes.

‘You were telling us 3.00 would be great, but you just change the look, and not even the most useful way.

I’m sorry to say it, but it’s the truth.’

++++++++++++++

Atleast Europe got something new like the iplayer Australia got nothing. [DELETED] SONY I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!

Hi, big fan of the 3.0 but is there a way to change the colour of the backgrounds on the friends list? the ugly grey colour ruins the great new moving theme

Friends list looks hideous

I hope there is another update before Christmas with some sort of chat function..Now all previous 360 owners going to pick up a PS3, will complain, like i do, about the cross game chat…its not practical playing a PS3, and having the 360 on, just to talk to a buddy.

Sorry to complain but…

The interface and font size is HUGE. It looks terrible and provides a worse overview. Give us an option to change it back please.

The grey boxes around the friends was not very pleasing either.

The high tech and slick look of the xmb is gone. Looks like it’s designed for old folks with poor eyesight… :/

also Playstation Store icons all over the place is ridiculous and just an attempted to get more people buying stuff. Keep them under one icon not in games, movies etc. It was not hard to access the Playstation Store before.

If we were able to change the colour of the grey boxes (like you can change the colour of speech bubbles in Home), and the boxes displayed some trophy information (like trophy level and number of trophies), the friends list will look a little prettier. Also, only show the box of the friend highlighted on the XMB.

I have no major issues with anything else, really.

Thanks for moving the battery icon. Actually, now the entire status bar is overlapping with the XMB menu on a SD tv, as you can see here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzt_o0cwRj0

(excuse the cameraphone quality)

I don’t appreciate the 3.0 firmware very much at all:
-XMB overlap with status bar
-Dont enjoy the glitter background. Yes, you can turn it off, but you CANT turn it off for the user selection menu right after booting (without auto-login)
-Friendslist look horrible
-Extra PSN icons just clutter the XMB
-Whats New clutters the XMB

I’d like an option to remove the extra PSN icons & What’s New from the XMB alltogether.
Actually, just give me 2.80 back.

“Where are the hundreds of new avatars we were promised?

Don’t tell me they are all premium…”

This.

And I don’t like the grey boxes either…

I like the update alot so far, but why can’t I get the LBP theme here in Denmark?

And another question: Are you gonna use the grey space at the friends list for customisation?

Thanks for the update!

*Continues looking at XMB-sparkles*

I can’t see the iPlayer icon, is the setup a little broken so that since I got a Spanish PS3 (but living in the UK now) and using a UK PSN account, it will never show up?

Probably one of the worst updates so far if you ask me. Just cosmetic changes that make using XMB annoying.

Also, why 2 clocks????

Do you want to copy message!! NOOooooo
Give me back my old XMB with new themes… should be a option to keep old or upgrade friends list…

Oh Shiny stars! That does not do it…

Where is the LBP moving Theme? It is not on the PSN Store?
But the USA and Japan PSN store have got it?

Pleeassee just change the friends list back.

The rest i’ll get used to, but the friends list is an eyesore!!!

Hi,
why no animated theme for EU PSN????
And I think the font size is too big and I can’t reduce it…
Thanks

PLEASE! get rid of the PS Store icon under Game, it is completely useless as there is another icon right next to it under network and soon there will be ANOTHER one under video, is that really neccessary!? They just look out of place and ruin the simplicity of the XMB.

I dont like the whats new section either, i can guarantee i will never use it and would love the option to disable it.

Friends list doesnt really bother me as long as it is customizable in the future or Sony have good plans for it.

The artical says “let us know what you think about it”, what the point?.

There is over 1200 posts on the US blog post, there are numerous threads on the EU forums and the US forums all with the same complaints and YET there is not one single responce from sony.

Whats the point in asking what we think about it when you are ignoring the vast amount of complaints, you know the deal, the friends list is bad, the fonts/icons size is bad, the fact that you can’t turn off the info bar at all is bad, the store icons all over the place are bad, why not listen to the compaints instead of ignoring them and fix it.

Btw I like the larger font. I always thought it was too small before

Great update =)

Dynamic themes are great, shame I have to break PSN T&C’s in order to actually use one…

Nice update, except the friend list. I don’t like the new look of it… seems like I’m not alone either.

I’m rarely one to complain but this update is so terrible I feel I must.

- The massive font is too large and looks ridiculous.
- The friends list is just hideous, and is so obtrusive to the screen. Whoever thought of that should get sacked, seriously.
- The new ‘shortcuts’ are barely shortcuts and do nothing but clutter the wonderful XMB.
- The new boot screen does not match my PS3 model, ridiculous.
- Removing the PS3 icon before loading a game is also a silly idea.
- The status bar thing is useless and does nothing, expect shove adds in my face constantly.
- The new blurring of the background when clicking something is pointless and ruins the home screen.
- The old boot up sound was better.

I just don’t know what to think Sony, I am a HUGE fan of the PS3 and have never complained about it. But with this atrocious update you guys really messed up. You took the beautiful, clean and sleek XMB and butchered it. Now I have a cluttered mess with unnecessary icons and horrid grey squares. You guys should just revert back to 2.80 and release a 2.81 with the new themes, because everything else is just pointless clutter.

Just realised the new icon on start up, it would really annoy me that it doesn’t match the logo of the PS3 fat, fortunately my TV takes a few seconds to adjust to the picture of the PS3 so i can’t see it when i turn it on

I think the firmware update is quite good, wether that be because I recently got my hands on a big HDTV is open to opinion.

I love the animated backgground ability as it helps give the value for money and brand status because the old background was plain and wallpapers have been around for ages, think PC’s.
Guess we gotta wait a little longer for the themes to come through but I think they will be good.

The friend list is different but I like it because having wallpapers before would colour clash badly if you had the wrong set up and with animated themes imagine the clashes you would have.

Do they do beta test on people for the XMB? cause they should.

Oh and another thing – when will the Friends List Profile screen be revamped? There is absolutely no need for it to be in a little grey box in the middle of the screen – why isn’t it full screen and a nicer colour (like PS Store Blue). If you gave the Profiles an interface similar to the PS Store it would look a lot nicer and you could probably fit all the info on a single screen without scrolling through 3 pages of a little grey box…

You’ve added a slick interface to the What’s New section and the Games Store link so why not apply the same slick interface to your profile and friends list?

If anything that section has gotten far worse with this latest update…

Congratulations Sony you’ve done it again, promised us chocolates and flowers, but have only produced petrol station flowers and poundland candy. The friends list is shanked, if you were hellbent on putting borders in, you could have at least made them look like our portable id’s. Luckily I use a custom theme but turnin I off to see the sparkles and wow, are we all blind or something? Those are huge. Plus to everyone crying for animated themes don’t bother SCEA are charging crazy amounts for the LBP one. None of them will be free ever. Firmware 3.00: or please give us more money. Plus BBC iplayer? Watch in grainy full screen or teeny seenu eyestrainovision? I’ll stick to regular tv thanks. And not one useful addition to the thing I bought this for: playing games. Well done. It’s a good job the games are good, as this is shank.

Can we get a responce about why the original video about 3.0 had blatent lies in it?.

In the original 3.0 video it clearly stated if we didn’t like the new features we could select the “classic” mode in the theme section to get it back to how it was in 2.8, so why when selected does it only change the backround (which makes no sence as you can select that backround anyway under original) and nothing else,.

1. The ability to choose which trophies we want to show on our Play Card.
2. Password Protection for users.
3.Being able to have a security camera for your clubhouse on PS Home & being able to set it as a theme.
4. Not just BBC iPlayer but ITV iPlayer, Channel 4 iPlayer and Five iPlayer plus Free INTERNET TV, not using aerial, make a deal with FreeView and FreeSat for this one = ), after all Xbox is gettin this from Sky

I love it!! Great work

Yes where the Rolling News ticker top right the usa have it & japan it may be little but it gives infor & now a shock, yes the usa indeed have the LBP theme what the person forgot to say its not free $2.99, once again SCEE did a half barked Firmware update we got the unfinished 1 & prove my point this blog confirm it by posting the news HOURS after the Scea-blog did 1st night they got LBP theme.

@ Play3Addict, trust me the old font looked FAR better on a HDTV, the new font size makes it look like you’ve set the PS3 up wrong and are not using it in an HD resolution (a bit like when you set your 17″+ PC monitor to 800×600)!

Hey Asim90 I feel for you Im a HUGE Sony Fan too, EVERYTHING IN MY HOUSE SAYS SONY ON IT!! EVERYTHING! EVEN MY TOILET PAPER lool, Son, please read our comments, plzzzzzz

What a dreadful mess.
The icons are disgustingly HUGE with jaggies
The text font is MASSIVE and childish, like it is aimed at 6 year olds or the visually impaired.
You have taken the most slick and stylish design of the XMB that all your competitors where jealous of and destroyed it with huge jaggy icons, huge childish laughably ridiculous text fonts, spam, clutter, whats new junk that you cant get rid of, TWO clocks???, horribly designed friends list grey boxes..
I am seriously unimpressed. I am thinking about removing this from the living room and just getting a BD player with an adult interface to go in the living room, You have made the PS3 look like a children’s cheap toy.
Way to go to destroy something that was beautifully designed.
I am seriously not happy with this ill conceived downgrade and I am not alone This is easily the most hated and unpopular firmware that has ever happened since day one of the PS3.
IT IS AWFUL

Seriously ??
A MAJOR update ??

What I see is a MAJOR failure !

- Ugly friends list
- BIG icons and texts (I thought the screen options had been reinitialized to SD…)
- Blur wallpaper as soon as you select something (what’s the use of having a wallpaper if it’s blury 90% of the time ??)
- What’s the use of having a PSStore link all over the place ?
- What’s the use of having 3 shortcuts for recently DISC games as I have to change the disc to play ???
- What’s the use of having 2 clocks in the status bar ???? At first I thought it was an icon but didn’t know want for…

And still no cross-game vocal-chat nor background game update downloads…

The only thing I like is the fact that the battery icon don’t cover the clock ! A major update indeed…

Notice that it’s the first time that I take the time to write a comment on a blog here.