Sony confirms features for PSP FW 5.00, PS3 FW 2.50

Posted Oct 13, 2008 at 8:55AM by QJ Staff Listed in: Firmware, News Tags: Eric Lempel, firmware updates, PlayStation Store, Sony, XMB

Man, I haven't even brewed my first cup of coffee yet and here we already are with some piping hot news to start the week! We just got word from PSN director Eric Lempel via the PlayStation Blogs, and he's listed the features we can all expect in the upcoming system firmware updates for the PSP and PS3.

Rumored lists and other speculation have been around for the past couple of days now, and finally we get some solid evidence of what the system updates will carry.

PSP Firmware 5.00:

Direct PSN access. Yep, the PSP finally gets its native PlayStation Store. With FW 5.00 you can access Sony's online network directly from your PSP via Wi-Fi - you can register a PSN account (if you haven't yet - SHAME!) or manage your profile and settings. This also means direct download of games, media, and content from the store - no need for the PC Store anymore! Just a note, the same wallet and account can be used interchangeably for the PSP and PS3; there's no need to create a new account for the PSP Store. Just so you don't get surprised, the PC Store will be under maintenance while they get the PSP Store online.
Sleep timer option. Some of you have probably seen this many times before as a feature in some of the more ubiquitous music player homebrew projects in the community, but now, Sony's building it into the system already: the feature allows you to play music and set a sleep timer.
Full screen keyboard option for text input. Self explanatory.
Redesigned XMB background. 'Nuf said. (Wonder what it looks like though - they didn't show any screenshots...)

PS3 Firmware 2.50:

PS3 Bluetooth Headset support. Just as predicted last week. FW 2.50 introduces High-Quality mode for online voice chatting. The update also adds icons for battery status, volume level, and if HQ mode is active.
PlayStation Trophies interface enhancements. Comparing your Trophies with those your friends have collected is supposedly going to be easier. There's going to be a new "level symbol" that represents percentages of how much progress is needed to attain the next level.
Friend status. New timestamp for how long your friends have been online.
Scene Search feature in Video. Just like what the PSP got a few firmware updates ago.
Redeem codes section in PlayStation Store. A new option to make PSN Cards and promo codes easier to access.
Power Save Settings for controller. Self explanatory.
Auto-shutdown for Background Downloading. Just as it says.
In-game Screenshots. Self explanatory. But as an added note, this feature will only be supported depending on the game you're playing. Full list of games supporting this to follow soon enough.

Eric Lempel notes that this is not the full list of features. A more detailed list (i.e. changelog) will be published once the updates have gone live. Unfortunately, no launch dates for North America have been scheduled for these system updates yet.

Thanks to eaferrari24 and Fadil for the smoldering tip!

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Comments

# YEAH — deejaydark 2008-10-13 03:05

Hot sh*t can't wait...psp user 4 life

# ... — Matt-N 2008-10-13 03:07

All sounds good to me!

# ya — kimdrummel 2008-10-13 03:10

I hope Littlebigplanet will support the in-game screenshot function. :)

# oh!! snaps — vannk 2008-10-13 03:33

this sounds like pretty darn good updates to me

now i just play the waiting game...

# All Sounds Great! — CHUCKINGROCKSATSPACESHIPS 2008-10-13 03:33

All these features are great and helpful. I hope soon though that they give us more options and features for the web browser like an up to date flash player and the ability to copy and paste text. Maybe even a defrag tool would be nice. Overall though, the Playstation 3 and PSP have come a long ways with interesting abilities.

# Likely — Guest 2008-10-13 03:35

LBP supporting in-game screenshot sounds very likely. The game's set up with the whole "Play-Create-Share" theme. If we're able to share content (whole levels of 'em and whatnot), there's no doubt that something as simple as screenshot sharing would be implemented too. ^_^

# cannot wait — joseph10444 2008-10-13 03:37

cannot wait

# one more feature — mouse01 2008-10-13 03:58

i know we just got in game xmb not to long ago, but it would be nice to be able to send voice messages.

i like the current feature list.

# voice msg — Ron Overdrive 2008-10-13 04:32

I second that. Voice messaging would be better then typing out something. Granted I got a keyboard because its handy, but definitely need voice outside of chat and in-game.

# yep — afiset 2008-10-13 04:57

it already supports in-game screenshot in the beta. You do it in game with the game mechanic they offer and it works pretty well. You can scale a quare to decide how big your screen is and which portion of the screen you want to keep. However, having a universal way to take screenshot in-game is cool (like by the PS button)

# hmm — Seoulfood 2008-10-13 05:08

I bet all Sony games will support this. I would also imagine that more and more 3rd party games will support this as time progresses(like trophies).

# .... — usernameforever 2008-10-13 07:35

that will be nice. i like the idea of a full screen keyboard, easier to type on. and i wonder what the new Xmb will look like.....

# wow.. — AllyOmega 2008-10-13 08:04

sony actually adds something good to the psp for once. i might actually move up from cfw for this....

HHAAHHAAAHAA!!! i crack myself up. ill wait for dax to do his magic.

# Yeah... — Shatterdome 2008-10-13 09:04

This should be a no brainer, especiall if the other user you want to voice msg is online.....I can see why they are abit hesitant though, because if a user is offline, then Sony would have to use more of their bandwidth and server resources to store and send the voice msgs...

# Wait, what? — FreePlay 2008-10-13 10:23

No screenshot function on the PSP? Why the hell not?! The PRX file for taking screenshots has been there since 3.80!

And how about better fast forward/rewind options for the PS3 music player? It's SO AGGRAVATING to listen to long audio files on the PS3.

# Typo? — ~J 2008-10-13 10:41

"Just as prediected"

-prediected

# the new psp background — Act II 2008-10-13 11:15

could mean they made the wave look like the ps3 one

# Werdd — _True_Sniper_ 2008-10-13 11:29

I agree with u all the way on the better fast forwarding and rewinding options on the Ps3 - Its madd annoying to listen to songs without fast forwarding to the good parts

# elegibility required — Jaiggon 2008-10-13 15:02

so how much crap for the psp firm update will be for versions of the psp newer then mine and do nothing for the 1000 series.

# ? — psn_gamestar 2008-10-13 15:27

i wonder if its coming on wednesday when socom/headset come out?

# lol — PT-X 2008-10-13 17:44

I dont care about those bull***** update...its just nothing news to me.....they always update so fast that they dont even pay attention what they doing...shame on u sony.......

C'mon Dark Alex... kick those guy down....Homebrew for life!!!

# Wha? — girandhistacos 2008-10-13 17:51

Wow... you two are ridiculous! Why are you fast-forwarding through songs?! Just listen to the music and shut up.

Some people are just never happy! Stop complaining. This is all free... if you don't like it... tough *****.

# Where's the RSS feature — paulhampson 2008-10-13 18:52

Why is everyone screaming about the PSN network do they really want to give Sony all their money so badly?

What happened to actual features such as real RSS support?

This is as bad as the last "major" upgrade. Except this time the new corporate addition is Sony itself. FW 6 will it be Amazon search.

I'd understand if Dark alex didn't bother with this one.

# ... — FreePlay 2008-10-13 20:03

"Wow... you two are ridiculous! Why are you fast-forwarding through songs?! Just listen to the music and shut up."

Because not all audio files are songs. I have two-hour-long radio show podcasts on my PS3. If I accidentally skip forward, I have to rewind/fast forward for about five minutes straight to get back where I was if I was partway through.

Use your head, kid. There's a reason I said "long audio files".

# YEEEEEEYYYY — Nille007 2008-10-13 20:13

cool finally some usefull stuff:P

now lets wait for dark-alex to make the CFW version

# - — mr.x256 2008-10-13 22:59

You mean like the time position function on PSP?

# 01-12.bmp — _JG_ 2008-10-14 21:53

i wonder if sony has introduced nicer 01-12.bmp colors, a stock black one would be great.

Sonys XMB looks great against black, and its high contrast for people who have sight problems.

# "Auto-shutdown for Background Downloading" — platon 2008-10-16 17:11

Only for the firmware update it seems, I can't do it for the downloads... :S pretty lame.

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