PS3 firmware 2.0 to be released

[Harrison]

There is definitely quite a lot in this new update. Many people have a go at Sony but you have to admit that they do work hard on firmware updates. Look at all the additions they have made to the PSP since its launch.

Some argue that those are just to combat firmware hackers, but that's not true as many new features are added to most PSP releases, and it seems the same is true of the PS3.

One entry that interested me was "Support for PLAYSTATION®3 format software titles has been expanded." Any idea what this means by "expanded"? I assumed that out of the box the PS3 can run all of its own region software so what can this mean? Other region compatibility? Surely not!

Now we just need the PS3 equivalent of Dark_AleX to get to work on this firmware and release a nice "custom" version.

[AlexJ]

One entry that interested me was "Support for PLAYSTATION®3 format software titles has been expanded." Any idea what this means by "expanded"? I assumed that out of the box the PS3 can run all of its own region software so what can this mean?

I'm guessing that Sony's going to have it so that new PS3 releases will only work on the new firmware to ensure everyone upgrades.

[Harrison]

Oh yeah, that's a good point. Although I've never seen them list it as Support for software has been expanded. They never have for the PSP anyway.

[Teho]

It may be more backend features that the developers of games may take advantage of. There always was talk there would be support for games to be programmed to act differently depending on the country the console is in, the age or gender of the user etc. For example, Germany's crazy censorships may not need a separate version to be made, the game could just be programmed to remove gore if played on a console in Germany. Things like that. Could be something like that's what that support update is.

And it's very true about Sony being very active in updating their firmwares. This is the third one allready since the European launch in late March; The consoles were shipped with 1.50 but 1.60 was available allready on the evening of the launchday. Then 1.70 came out two or three weeks ago, and now 2.00 is around the corner. So what happened to 1.80 and 1.90?

[AlexJ]

Then 1.70 came out two or three weeks ago, and now 2.00 is around the corner. So what happened to 1.80 and 1.90?

Enough changes were made to justify moving up a major version as opposed to a minor version.

[Harrison]

The same happened on the PSP. It's firmware jumped from 2.81 to 3.01 due to major differences.

BTW, I wanted to ask something regarding the PS3. I've been reading that none of the current standalone Blu-Ray players can access any of the custom java based content on the discs. Can the PS3 access it?

Obviously it has the big advantage of being a powerful computer so would definitely be able to run Java applications from the discs very easily and smoothly. I just wondered if the functionality had been included in the firmware yet.

[Teho]

No, it hasn't. But it probably will eventually. According to Wikipedia, there are a couple of players that support it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BD-J#Pl...upporting_BD-J

By the way, this entire story about the 2.00 release and feature list was originally a rumour posted on some message board a couple of days ago. I've seen it mentioned on a couple of other message boards too. And according to one, Sony's official word is that there's no truth to this rumour. There was no link though.