It’s been a long time coming, and now it’s here. The new PlayStation 3 firmware, version 2.70. It’s been ages since there’s been a firmware update which can be described as landmark, and Sony know that – so is the latest update going to be enough to satisfy your cravings?

The simple answer: I highly doubt it. However, that isn’t to say it’s a completely pointless update – it’s brought some clever little options and some really nice new features with it; I just doubt it’s enough to class it as a milestone for PS3.

So, new features. There isn’t a huge amount this time, but they’re done relatively okay and integrated well into the existing system. However, they aren’t going to revolutionise the way you use your PS3 – far from it – but they are going to make the experience that bit easier and just a tad high-tech.

The biggest addition to the system is the new ‘text chat’ feature. Allowing up to 16 people to chat using a controller or keyboard, the new text chat feature is, essentialy, the MSN of PlayStation 3. It works in the same way as MSN – you type your message in the input box, hit send and it appears in a reading pane above for you and your friends to read. If you’re in a game, new messages in the chat room appear as message alerts in the top right-hand corner of the screen. You can even participate in up to three chat rooms at once.

However, there is one big weakness to the feature. If you’re halfway through a game and get a message, you have to access the in-game XMB and go into the chat room to type a message. This lengthy and clunky process can be frustrating if you’re in the middle of an attack online, and could cost you precious online XP if you miss something while typing a message. A Home-esque message box and input system would work much better; if you could type a message using a keyboard whilst in-game, the system would be much more fluid to use.

The dynamic normaliser for music is pretty useless, if I’m honest; it prevents sudden volume jumps when you’re listening to music. However, if you’ve bought an album, all the tracks should already be of a similar volume anyway, so really there’s no real scope for the future. However, if you’re someone who uses ‘free’ download websites to get your music, you may find yourself using this feature out of pure necessity.

Use of internet on the PS3 has been improved, giving much more flexibility to the user. By highlighting a game disk and going into the ‘triangle’ options menu, a new feature called ‘Internet Search’ will allow you to immediately search for that game via the PS3’s inbuilt search function. Good if you’re looking for news on that game, bad if you already know or you like playing your games and not researching them. Furthermore, Sony have added language fixes to the browser, meaning that Polish, Greek, Czech, Slovak, and Turkish languages now have the full sets of characters required for reading foreign-language sites on the PS3’s internet browser. You can also copy and paste text now, but it’s slow and taxing on the system. Both features are done well, but seem more like additional features than actual firmware features.

The best of the features has to be the new text-chat function – if you don’t want to talk over camera or headset, or you have friends who don’t own a headset, you’ll find yourself using the text-chat function more and more regularly. Whether it be for organising games, fighting talk or just general chit-chat, this’ll be one feature which will probably be used more than all of the others put together.

Overall, however, you won’t find yourself gaping in awe at the new firmware.

Linford

Labels: First impressions, PS3, Update

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