news
- PS3 Firmware 2.40 First Impressions
- Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago by Coop
As teased, teased, and teased, Sony has finally updated the PlayStation 3’s firmware to support an in-game XMB. After messing around with all of the functions I am happy to say that the promises they made were met, and while it still has a long way to go until it is as functional as the Xbox 360’s interface, the key components fans have been waiting for are there and functional.
Pressing the PlayStation button in the middle of the controller brings up the in-game XMB, which is identical to the regular, out of game XMB that loads up when the PS3 is turned on. All of the options are there, from Blu-Ray settings to Folding at Home. Why you would want to access these menus is beyond me, but it was a nice addition. However, the options being there would put it a step ahead of the Xbox 360 if you could actually access any of these menus, but they cannot be used unless you exit the game you are playing, which the image above displays. In fact, a good 90% of the selectable options from the XMB require you to quit the game, which makes some of them just seem like a tease.
Sure, there isn’t too much of a reason to want to view images or use the Internet Browser while playing a game, but putting the option into the in-game XMB and making it so it cannot be accessed in-game is ass backwards, if you ask me. An icon next to "out of game" options or a different color on "accessible" ones would solve this problem, because it seems a little lazy as is. Sure, I can be called a hater or a nit-picker, but putting fifty options into an in-game XMB that cannot be accessed and only having five that can be is a little bit confusing.
Accessing your friends list and music from your hard drive are both easy, and require tapping the PlayStation button in the middle of the controller. The same goes for private messaging, so the core functions of the in-game XMB are there, and work fine. I just wish they would simplify the options and remove things that don’t work from the menu, instead of teasing us with a bunch of functions that aren’t actually available as of yet. Either way, I give the update two happy thumbs up and look forward to a better functioning PS3 online system.
Related Articles:
Sony Blog Posts PS3 Firmware v2.40 FAQ
PS3 Firmware v2.10 Hits Tomorrow
| Share this article: |
|
Comments
Will i ahve to take a day off of work to download this update?
hrrrmmmmm.
I really hope that when I update mine later today when I get home I don't share in the disappointments you pointed out.