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PS3 Firmware 3.00 Announced: Dynamic Themes, No more battery covering clock!

August 18, 2009 in News comments 30

While it does not include cross-game chat like many speculated it would, it has some other really nice things, like the battery finally being moved from over top the clock. Whooo.

Dynamic Themes, info board, XMB Updates, more avatars, tons of good stuff. Definitely one of the better updates.

“What’s New” – The “Information Board” will be replaced with a “What’s New” section, which allows you to enjoy interactive PlayStation news every time you start the PS3 system. Located under the PlayStation Network icon, “What’s New” displays the latest and greatest game, video, PlayStation Network and PlayStation news and releases, as well as your recently played games, in a sleek, new animated format.

Status Indicator – In the top right corner we’ve added an indicator bar, which displays your user icon, friend icon, the number of friends you have online and a small message icon to let you know if you have any new messages. The indicator also includes a scrolling ticker that features the latest news from PlayStation Network. In addition, when you press the PS button, the battery life indicator will no longer cover up the clock.

Friends List – Now your PlayStation Network friends will appear in a slightly redesigned format on your Friends List. Also, messages will now be viewable from each of your friends’ respective profiles.

PlayStation Store Shortcuts – We’ve added a handy shortcut icon to the PlayStation Store under both the Game and Video categories so you can access the latest content quickly and easily.

Personalization – Personalize your PS3 with new dynamic custom themes and avatars. Dynamic themes as well as free and premium avatars will be available through PlayStation Store. A dynamic theme takes your screen to a whole new level as it incorporates animated objects into the background.

Trophies – Showcasing your hard earned trophies just got better. Update 3.00 gives game developers the ability to modify how they display trophies for add-on content. Base and add-on game trophies will continue to be combined into a single list so you can see where you stand in a game as a whole. Within that list, trophies will be broken out into subcategories—base trophies and add-on trophies—that way, you can easily view the percentage of your base game trophy collection, and separately track your trophy progress in add-on packs. Look for this enhancement to be included in upcoming games.
Shattered via blog.us.playstation.com »
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  • 1
    Red 9* Aug 18, 09
    I see no cross game voice chat. Everything here's all great, but nothing we truly needed.
    • 0
      Daweii Aug 18, 09
      Perhaps just maybe very definately maybe cross game voice chat is just very difficult to do the way they built the XMB operating system. This is a great update hell every update is great, people just expect too much.
      • 0
        Red 9* Aug 18, 09
        Nah, this update's great, packed full of lots of great stuff. Sony did, however, say they were working on voice chat between games, and I guess we all just assumed FW 3.00 would bring it.
        • 0
          Shattered Aug 18, 09
          Well I've heard rumors that have stated they we're testing it back in June but I don't know about the validity of those claims. It'll come eventually, my guess is sometime before the end of this year.
    • 0
      Gamesta100 Aug 18, 09
      No we don't need them but personally I don't care about cross-game chat so I think these are much better features.
  • 0
    phowell23 Aug 18, 09
    Lookin forward to the dynamic themes but other than that nothing too special
  • 0
    Kave En Aug 18, 09
    Tight. This is super cool.

    25char
  • 0
    Linkin Park Fan* Aug 18, 09
    dynamic themes will be so sweet. I wonder how people can make them. I definatly will.
  • 0
    Red 9* Aug 18, 09
    So when does it go live? All of this stuff sounds interesting, and I'd like to see it.
  • 0
    blazeboy11 Aug 18, 09
    The status indicator thing is nice, I constantly miss messages since people seem to insist on sending them to me when I'm patching or something.
  • 1
    HisServant77 Aug 18, 09
    I know I really shouldn't be . . . but honestly I'm mostly interested in the dynamic themes! How sad is that?! This update though is great A lot of neat things in it most of us have been asking for, especially the messaging and friends aspects!
  • 1
    Metallica Aug 19, 09
    The battery icon covering the clock has irritated me for too long lol, glad it's been sorted and the dynamic themes looks like it's going to be sweeeeet!
    • 1
      Ameer Aug 19, 09
      Most important thing about this update............that annoys me soo much.
  • 0
    tallteen86 Aug 19, 09
    Finally, I wasn't sure if they were ever going to fix it, but at last we have confirmation that the battery indicator won't be covering the clock!

    The dynamic themes are actually pretty good, I was expecting junk like MS's NXE themes. These are better, and like with the ribbon default theme, can change depending on the time of day.

    Premium avatars though? Meh, I wouldn't ever pay for that (I don't pay for themes either). Hopefully there will be some good freebie themes.
  • 0
    Bale Fire Aug 19, 09
    Dynamic themes sounds cool, as do new avatars. Not a bad update.
  • 0
    reaver11* Aug 19, 09
    I was just thinking this the other day how cool it would be to have a moving background, like a screen saver. I can't wait.
  • 0
    Daweii Aug 19, 09
    Depending on how good the premium avatars are I may just buy a few. I'll certainly buy the premium dynamic themes if they are any good. The free ones will be nice but I can see the premium themes just looking amazing.
    • 0
      HisServant77 Aug 19, 09
      Yeah! I'm not planning on buying avatars, and don't want to buy the themes, but if they're really good. . .

      I'm honestly hoping that LBP theme is available . . . AND FREE! Both because I want it so badly, AND because I'm hoping that the LBP as awesome as it seemed, is even just the free one and they get MUCH better as premium themes come out!
      • 0
        Shattered Aug 19, 09
        When Sony releases the software update that allows average joes to make animated themes I'm sure we can come up with great (free) idea's and apply them to one for the rest of the public. I'm just waiting.
  • 0
    MrGrimm Aug 19, 09
    What kind of avatars? It'd be sweet if we could unlock avatars while playing games. Like earning a Socom avatar, or something.
    • 0
      Shattered Aug 19, 09
      That's actually a good idea TBH. I think it would work.
    • 0
      tallteen86 Aug 20, 09
      Yeah, people were talking about that ages ago (along with HOME t-shirts and furniture and stuff).

      I was thinking that new games should come with some avatars, particularly as trophy unlocks.
      • 0
        HisServant77 Aug 20, 09
        The problem with all that is, unless there's money involved for the company to gain some, many devs do not even bother anymore.

        I can only think of 2 off hand (Insomniac and Naughty Dog) who actually tend to go the extra mile for their fans/customers. I think there's a few more, but really they are rare.
        • 0
          Shattered Aug 22, 09
          Insomniac & Naughty Dog have always been great developers who are more interested in pleasing their fans rather than greasing their hands with large amounts of cash, like some other developers *cough* Square *cough*

          Of course by pleasing their fans they tend to earn a lot of money at the same time, because everyone loves them.
  • 0
    Daweii Aug 20, 09
    I personally believe Sony need to take a hit on their pride and take Home avatars out of Home and put them on the XMB to walk around and live. I mean Nintendo and the Mii's was a great idea, Microsoft upped it to a whole new level with human avatars that are fully customisable. Sony should do something like it as they have Home, but often people don't want to play Home just to have an indepth avatar that looks like them.
    • 0
      HisServant77 Aug 20, 09
      Yeah but I don't like the MS and N avatars and how they are. I really wouldn't have any use for my Home Avatar outside of home. I'm sure they'll do some things later on (it's been hinted at) to where the HOME avatar and the PSN avatar could be the same, or it'll show in the user profile and all that.

      When? Heh . . . That's the question.
  • 0
    Xenctuary Aug 20, 09
    Worth it for the battery no longer covering the time on a short press of the PlayStation button alone.
  • 0
    Daweii Aug 23, 09
    I guess we'll be getting this on September 1st even though Amazon.com is releasing the Slim in 2 days which has this firmware on it.
    • 0
      Red 9* Aug 23, 09
      Yes, but technically Amazon isn't really supposed to be releasing it that early.
      • 0
        Daweii Aug 24, 09
        Thats true though hopefully if sony knows about this release then we may get the firmware early as the firmware has to be finished. It's probably on their servers ready for someone to press a button to make it visible.

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