Rumour: PS3 Firmware 2.7 Features

Posted on 19. Feb, 2009 by Reckless in News, Rumours

The interweb is a buzz with PS3 Trophy Guides posting a supposedly firmware 2.7 feature list from a member on the GameTrailers Forums. Here is the list of the rumoured firmware 2.7 update…

Friends List:

Voice Messaging is now available as an alternative to text after selecting a user on the friends list. Voice message recordings are capped at 30 seconds.
Home Integration: Saved Playstation Home avatar photos can be selected as photo ID for Gamer Card/Friends List.
Trophy number and Gamer Level are listed under Friend names for quick reference.

Gamer Card & Trophies:

Gamer Card layout has been changed to more closely resemble the Playstation Store aesthetic.
Past Trophy information can be viewed in detail by selecting “Recent Trophy History” option.
Newly aquired trophies auto-sync in the background
Server infrastructure for Trophies has been optimized. Resulting in faster retrieval time for Gamer Card and Trophy information.

In-Game XMB:

Loading time for In-Game XMB has been drastically reduced, resulting in a more seemless in-game experience.
“Theme settings” options while in-game is now available, allowing custom themes to be applied to the In-Game XMB.
Internet Browser can now be accessed while in-game.
Voice messaging and voice chat options can be used while in-game.
Options that cannot be used in the XMB during game sessions are grayed out (but still selectable) to eliminate user accessibility confusion.

Misc:

Other slight UI tweaks and enhancements.

techhall.wordpress.com has posted a follow up: PS3 firmware 2.7 rumors, and why they might be fake. This is what they have to say…

Voice Messaging: A highly wanted feature, but more likely being saved for firmware 3.o

Trophy number and Gamer Level: I think this is something they could add, but where? under the name there is already the game they are playing, and generally the games use up the 2 lines available. I’m going to say the odds of this being true is a possibility.

Loading time for In-Game XMB: Sony keeps optimizing the XMB, but it would take a lot of work to get it to be a drastic improvement. I’m willing to bet that the improvement won’t be as massive as it is set out to be.

“Theme settings” options while in-game: A possibility, but a more pointless feature that Sony just ‘might’ add.

Internet Browser can now be accessed while in-game: This is what kills it for me, this is where i decided it has to be fake. Something such as an in game web browser is a huge feature, but one of those features that is to good to be true. There are a few main problems with this, the main one being RAM. The PS3 doesn’t have a lot of ram to start with, only 256mb, which almost all the newer games use most, if not all of it. Even without running the game, loading a big video or flash object can freeze up the system. Now if Sony can have the browser use almost no ram, than its a possibility.

Now you might be saying, “Some PS3 games already have an In-game web browser” while that statement is true, its not the point. Those games set the browser to a website that is designed to be easy on ram, and limited to that one website. They also put the browser to points of the game where not a lot, if not nothing, is going on, making it really easy on the ram. There is very low chance this feature will never see the light of day, at least on the PS3.

Voice messaging and voice chat options: If there going to implant voice in this firmware, why not make it in game? great feature, but more of a 3.0 feature.

I’m tagging this obviously as a rumour for now, so what you guys/gals reckon? Drop us a comment below.