Home Gaming Rather late than never: In-game XMB with 2.4 firmware update for PS3

Rather late than never: In-game XMB with 2.4 firmware update for PS3

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Ingame XMB finally announced

Over at the official US Playstation blog, it’s been officially announced:

A new PLAYSTATION 3 firmware update (v2.36) will be launching soon, improving system stability when playing select PlayStation format software titles. We’re also happy to officially report that the 2.40 system software update for PS3 will include “XMB” access in-game. The update will also include “trophies,” an exciting new feature that we’ll be providing more details on soon, as well as some other new enhancements. We’ve talked about some of this on the blog previously and know that many of you can’t wait to get your hands on these features. You can expect us to share all of the official details shortly.

At last, is all I can say.

While in-game XMB should finally make it possible to listen to your own music or interact with friends who come online while  you’re in a game – what Live has been doing for ages, in other words – the trophies is kind of a blatant rip-off of achievements on the 360, in my opinion. That said, if Microsoft’s ‘Avatar’ concept proves to be more than a rumour, they will basically be ripping of both Home and Mii’s in one foul swoop.

Regardless of the amount of copying going on, I’m glad that Sony finally sorted this out. The past few updates have been infuriating in their lack of any progress made on the in-game XMB front, so hopefully this will offer a fully integrated scheme like Live does.

[Ed] Microsoft actually hold the patent for in-game music so I doubt we will see that in 2.40

Last Updated: June 19, 2008

7 Comments

  1. I used listen to my own music whilst playing game on xbox, but now that the novelty has worn off I don’t do it anymore.

    Maybe you can put up a poll regarding in game music.

    I would say that cross-game invites and messaging are far more important additions for me.

    Reply

  2. PaasHaas

    June 19, 2008 at 09:35

    You cant hold a patent to “Play ingame music”. You patent a method of doing something not what it is doing… and with the nature of programming there should be ALLOT of different methods to get customer music in games.

    Reply

  3. LazySAGamer

    June 19, 2008 at 09:43

    Yeah and there are a lot of ways to make a controller rumble but we all know how that turned out 😉

    Honestly I think it’s a dumb patent and it can’t hold up but I thought the same of immersions rumble technology…

    Reply

  4. hilt_ctn

    June 19, 2008 at 09:52

    Some games like Super Stardust and High Velocity Bowling already feature in-game music…weird

    Reply

  5. Etienne Vlok

    June 19, 2008 at 09:53

    It’s probabably accurate to say in-game music is the least important aspect of this update. If Sony can basically deliver an integrated online experience that enjoys parity with Live, Microsoft will be under a LOT of pressure to drop the cost of subscription for Gold membership, or scrap it entirely.

    This would be a huge problem for them, since (at least, as I understand it) their entire strategy for the 360 revolved around selling the console for a loss and monetizing the online service.

    Etienne Vlok’s last blog post..Xbox 360 gets Resident Evil exclusivity

    Reply

  6. PaasHaas

    June 19, 2008 at 09:59

    Ye I get what you mean but rumble has “physical” aspect to it aswell that severely limits options compared to programming, especially in something small like like a controller.

    And even if Sony was to create their “own” rumble they would still have needed to settle things with immersion because of the PS2.

    I guess well all know how it turns out when 2.4 hits… whenever that my be. They can still throw 2.37/8/9 at us between now and then if they feel so inclined 😕

    Reply

  7. CraigN

    June 20, 2008 at 01:08

    Well good for Sony to finally play catch up. Hopefully they innovate a bit as well so we get some healthy competition going.

    I won’t be surprised however if the in-game XMB opens a few issues in current titles on the market.

    CraigN’s last blog post..Develop a game and win money

    Reply

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