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- Posted Jun 30, 2008 10:17 am PT
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We met up with Sony last Friday to get a preview of the upcoming Firmware 2.40 update for the PlayStation 3. Eric Lempel, Sony director of PlayStation Network Operations, gave us a quick tour of the new firmware features.
Yes, it's true. Firmware 2.40 has in-game XMB support.
Eric fired up a game of Pixel Junk Monsters and pulled up the XMB menu right in the middle of the game. Not all of the XMB options will be available in game, but most of it is there including the all-important friend features.
The XMB will warn you if you're about to perform an action that will cause you to leave the game such as launching a video.
Developers will also have the option to allow players to play music saved on the hard disk in game. However, you won't be able to stream background music direct from a USB device.
The other major addition in 2.40 is a new trophy system, Sony's answer to Microsoft's achievement points. PS3 games will have bronze, silver, gold, and platinum level "trophies" that players can earn by reaching pre-determined milestones within the game.
It's up to the game developers to determine the goals, so don't be surprised if some of the trophy requirements overlap with Xbox 360 achievements in multiplatform games. Developers have the option to add trophy support to games that have already shipped, but Sony isn't making it mandatory.
Platinum level trophies are only available in "large" games, basically full games that ship in Blu-ray form. Smaller games, downloadables and add-ons, will only have lower level trophies. Each large game will only have one platinum trophy, which you can only earn by unlocking all of the other trophies in the game. Sony wanted to give players a special reward for reaching 100 percent completion.
Your trophy count will feed into a player leveling system that will increase your level as you earn more trophies. The trophy system only exists in 2D at this point, but all of the information will be available for use when Sony launches its 3D Home service later this year.
You can compare trophy counts with friends, and even get down to the game level where you can compare the exact date and time each of you won particular trophies. Your player profile will also display your Online ID, an About Me section, and the languages you speak (to let other players know if communication is going to be a problem).
Other new features include an "Internet Search" tool that instantly launches a text search box that returns Google results.
That's it for our PS3 Firmware 2.40 preview. You'll be able to try it for yourself when Sony rolls out the download later this week on July 2.
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