PS3 v2.00 released

Sony's full-version firmware bump to 2.00 is now out and available for your downloading fix. So go ahead and get to downloading and feel that underwhelming surge of decorative features overwhelm your console. As to the remote start feature, once enabled, prepare to have the PS3's cooling fan spinning 24 x 7 in preparation for remote access even when the console is turned off. Fortunately, it's nearly silent so no worries -- just as long you're not concerned with the wails of the baby Gore. That, according to Engadget Japan's translation and confirmed by their testing. Wha?

[Via Engadget Japan, thanks to everyone who sent this in]]

Read -- Firmware 2.0
Read -- Remote Wake

[Curtis McHenry @ Nov 8th 2007 1:22AM]

I sense a house fire in the works.

[M @ Nov 8th 2007 1:30AM]

Why?
M

[Martin @ Nov 8th 2007 1:36AM]

The PS3 runs quite nice even when left on. The fan is much more quiet than the 360 and does the job well. I bought the 40gb which is also supposed to run a little cooler.

[chris @ Nov 8th 2007 5:50AM]

i think he means so he can make a claim on his home insurance for a PS3!

[Martin @ Nov 8th 2007 1:36AM]

I keep my PS3 on all the time and run Folding@Home so a remote wake future is not very useful to me. Anyway I just downloaded the firmware and it looks fine. Can you turn off that news ticker? It kinda ruins the clean look of the interface. Oh by the way, when the hell is Sony going to improve their horrible Playstation Store. Come on guys!

[Dahk @ Nov 8th 2007 2:42AM]

I agree, that ticker looks quite ugly =/. But you can take it off easily by hitting triangle, when you highlight it and choosing accordingly.

Anyway, they added streaming video to the PlayStation Store, for those who didn't catch it =). You can now watch them while they're downloading. There's a play button right on top of the "Perform on Background" button. So... it's slowly improving.

[gt @ Nov 12th 2007 7:09AM]

Um... the idea of remote start is that the PS3 is in standby mode, and can be activated remotely via the PSP. In standby mode the fan is not spinning at all.

GT.

[Chris @ Nov 8th 2007 5:24AM]

i agree on the Playstation Store remark above- it is just horrible.

I'm at work and can't check/update mine yet- but do i understand correctly that we can make custom playlists/slideshows.... but still can't include our own music in the games? This is a feature i'd really like to see added... is it even possible w/ a mere firmware update?

[Jimmy @ Nov 8th 2007 1:52AM]

Thomas,

Your post implies that your PS3 will need to be on all the time for you to be able to remote play. This does not appear to be the case. As I understand it, the PS3 will be in sleep mode so I doubt the fan will be running at all. The system will essentially wake-on-lan when you connect and then will return to sleep when you disconnect.

[Ryan @ Nov 8th 2007 2:30AM]

I don't know much about the system, but it has built in wireless right? Wake on LAN would require an ethernet connection, otherwise to have the remote access feature the machine would have to be on so the wireless connection can stay connected.

[Thomas Ricker @ Nov 8th 2007 4:34AM]

@Jimmy,

Strange as it seems, my colleague in Japan has updated his system and tested. Even though the PS3 is "off" (aka, sleeping, waiting for remote wake) the fan continues to run. It's quiet, but it's definitely running.

Thomas

[Chris Derry @ Nov 8th 2007 2:54PM]

Just tried remote waking this morning: works perfectly well. I don't understand how wake on LAN works over WiFi, but it does seem to...

[gridbread @ Nov 8th 2007 2:02AM]

In-game XMB yet?

[BarryBee @ Nov 8th 2007 2:14AM]

Unfortunately, no.

[gridbread @ Nov 8th 2007 2:22AM]

Yeah.

But overall I was pleased by this update, I like what they added.

[why not the LS2/LS7? @ Nov 8th 2007 3:19AM]

However, it does support XMB over video playback. By that, I mean video clips you play from the movie menu. It doesn't do it over BluRays.

So I guess we got 1 step closer, but still with several steps to go.

[Brentt @ Nov 8th 2007 2:21AM]

"baby gore" wouldn't want you wasting electricity to keep that fan on ;]

[Fruition @ Nov 8th 2007 2:44AM]

Yeah, I think that's what the article was implying.

[Jamesology @ Nov 8th 2007 3:09AM]

Damn, I really want a PS3 but there no games for it in comparison to 360. That 80gb looks really good. But I really wanna play Bioshock, Gears of War, etc. :( What games are there to expect for PS3 to ease my mind besides MGS4.

[Setan @ Nov 8th 2007 8:52AM]

Great, bye a 360 and shut the hell up.

[Setan @ Nov 8th 2007 8:55AM]

Yes, I spelled buy as bye. Sorry about that. Is there any way to edit comments?

[why not the LS2/LS7? @ Nov 8th 2007 3:22AM]

It has an option "enable WMA playback". Did PS3 play WMAs before?

[Jason @ Nov 8th 2007 4:59AM]

Yes for a good long while

[why not the LS2/LS7? @ Nov 8th 2007 3:27AM]

The downloading is a bit different now. There's a play icon in the download window while downloading a movie (in the foreground). Don't know what this does, perhaps start playing it even before you've finished downloading it (like streaming)? It also appears as an option on items in the background download manager. But it's greyed out.

But, seriously, the ticker is really ugly.

[why not the LS2/LS7? @ Nov 8th 2007 4:04AM]

I just checked, it does not seem to charge controllers in standby, as some had rumored it would.

[harveyhanson @ Nov 8th 2007 5:42AM]

I live in the UK and checked for updates last night and mine still says 1.94 is the latest firmware, has this changed now, or is this just a US update?

[WíZ @ Nov 8th 2007 6:13AM]

I WANT ITUNES ON PS3!

[josh83 @ Nov 8th 2007 7:54AM]

So the highlight of Firmware 2.0 seems to be those themes. This feels a bit 1997 to me, this themes thing. But I posted a poll about asking: Don't you think this all business is a bit overhyped?
http://www.pollsb.com/polls/poll/3647/ps3-themes

[John @ Nov 8th 2007 8:31AM]

"I WANT ITUNES ON PS3!"

Its Sony PS3 not apple...

[Jon @ Nov 8th 2007 10:11AM]

I've owned at least one console per generation since NES and Master System. I own a PS3 now and I've never been more disappointed in a console. WHERE ARE THE GAMES?? Other than cross platform games (that according to reviews are usually better on the 360) there are only a few games worth even mentioning. I'm looking forward to Uncharted and Killzone 2 (hopefully it's better than the first one), and of course MGS....and that's pretty much it.

[why not the LS2/LS7? @ Nov 8th 2007 11:45AM]

So play the cross platform games.

I've bought nearly all consoles in the last 10 years. And most all of them have been short on games for the first year of release. This includes 360 also.

In the first year, PS2 had: SSX.

Part of the problem is in the past, consoles haven't come out in the US until they'd been out for 6 months in Japan. So we only had to wait 6 months in the US for games to come out after launch.

[CosterMonger @ Nov 8th 2007 12:14PM]

Jon I aggree with you.

Sony should have learned from the PS2 and had more games ready to go.

how much money do they lose on the console
how much money did they throw at Heavenly Sword
how much money did they lose on L*A*I*R

these could have been great games... sigh.

I want to get a PS3 but not until it has enough games to justify its cost.

right now I'm sitting on the fence with 2 must have games, and one is exclusive R&CF:ToD

[Jamesology @ Nov 8th 2007 3:33PM]

Yeah I agree with Jon and Monger. Where are the games? I'm pretty sure if we wait it will come out soon. Just like the PSP, in the beginning there was none and now there is like crazy good games even MS and Nintendo fanboys are crying about like Lumines and Monster Hunter. Let's just wait for the PS3 to grow up

[gridbread @ Nov 10th 2007 1:35PM]

The 360 had a year as a head start, and it's launch titles were weak.
I seem to remember a sizable dry spell of no games for it as well.

Also, multi-platform ports don't cater to any particular hardware, they have discrepancies both ways, never use ports to judge any hardware.

[Jon @ Nov 11th 2007 1:33PM]

The 360 did have a weak launch lineup, but for me at least, it was much better than the PS3 lineup. Also, by this time in the 360 lifespan, we were getting Gears of War! My personal favorite game of all time.

[Jeff Zawada @ Nov 9th 2007 8:16AM]

This firmware update appears to be a hoax. Where the heck is it??? Not on Sony website, that's for sure!!

[apple4everever @ Nov 8th 2007 3:43PM]

the PS3 wuld be soo much better if it ran Leopard.

[Aaron @ Nov 9th 2007 1:11AM]

No offense to PS3.. but it looks to me as if this just stole another feature from Wii (first being motion sensing, second being 24/7 internet connectivity) and one from 360 (decorative themes)

[Jamesology @ Nov 9th 2007 5:03AM]

As you pointed out it's not "another one" from Wii, it's from 360. Also so what if they copied it, it's not like Nintendo didn't copy Sony with Net browsing and Seg1 TV. And failed if I may add

Then all these Nintendo fanboys insult the PSP for having multimedia capabilities and not having games earlier in it's release; then what do DS fanboys/Devs do? Make a MP3 adapter so the DS can play MP3.

Also, 360 will never make a good racing game that can come close to Gran Turismo; Forza and Project Gotham sucks.

PS3 might suck now but so did the N64 and the Gamecube back in the day.

[Aaron @ Nov 9th 2007 11:58AM]

gamecube still kinda sux. there are some good, no great, games for it, but few and far between. internet browsing has been around for ages.. and I never said anything about the psp, i have a ds, and I love it, but I also like the psp. the ps3 is a great console, but it's too expensive. Sony's trying to get as many reasons to buy the console as they can. Im not dissing sony, just pointing out that they did kinda copy. Hey, maybe they'll make it better. For now, I've turned my attention to Wii and 360. When I can afford a ps3, and the library for it makes it worthwhile, I'll do it.

[Jamesology @ Nov 9th 2007 12:56PM]

Well that's the same reason why I don't have a PS3, the games. I love the system especially with the PSP connectivity would of made me buy the system in a sec., but no games again. Good thing most of 360 games are on PC anyways.

I was close to buying PS3 for the heck of it but then I saw Mario vs Sonic Olympic Games, so it will have to wait.

And yeah net browsing has been around but not on a portable gaming console; no GBA or Sega Nomad had it so its new to the portable gaming area.

[Vidikron (FU) @ Nov 9th 2007 2:53PM]

You're really stretching with that comment. You really think they copied the themes? The PS3's XMB is basically the same as the PSP and the PSP has had some of these theme features for a long time. Also, the new themes go way beyond what you can currently do with the 360. You can now change all the icons and the font as well. I haven't seen that on the 360.

And, please, don't even bother bringing the Wii and WiiConnect into this. Sony may be playing catch-up when it comes to online features compared to the 360, but Nintendo's online stuff is a joke in comparison to both. I mean, it's cool that the Wii can notify you about messages and updates when "off", but the ability of the PS3 to wake-on-lan and stream media to a PSP across the internet goes waaay beyond anything Nintendo and Wii can even dream of right now. I really think we would being seeing these features with or without the WiiConnect24 on the Wii.

[Falcon Fan1131 @ Nov 9th 2007 11:10AM]

There are a lot of great games for the PS3. I have both an xbox 360 Elite and PS3 and each systems has it on unique qualities. I have a PS3 because I enjoy Blu-ray movies, it has a built in WI-FI, Ghost recon AW 2 looks a lot better on ps3, every one says that the games look a lot better on the 360 because of colors and textures. my opinion is that they look better on ps3 because they are more realistic looking with the colors and texture difference. The PS3 has a good library of games right now like

Resistance Fall of man
Ratchet and Clank
Ghost Recon AW 2
Call Of Duty 4 (which looks and plays a lot better on PS3)
Warhawk
Heavenly Sword
assassins creed
Oblivion
Rainbow Six
Uncharted Drakes Fortune
Splinter Cell

[steve @ Nov 13th 2007 6:53PM]

@Aaron

So did X360 steal themes from Windows?

Anytime someone says "stole another feature" they look so lame. Don't you understand that all these features for the most part have been done before.....

PS1/PS2 had a motion sensing add-on back in the day, does that mean Nintendo took that idea from those people? NO!!

[Aaron @ Nov 9th 2007 12:58PM]

did you not read my second comment? i guess not.. I think that companies borrow ideas, and adapt them to make the gaming world a better place.. Im simply noting what features came from where.. and btw, microsoft makes windows AND the 360.. incase you didnt know.. the 360 is sort of an extension of windows, allowing you to access your computer's content and such..

[Morg111 @ Nov 9th 2007 11:40AM]

Any chance they will ever add basic features in these updates---i.e adding keyboard functionality beyond the letters, in other words all the functions that a PS remote can do...oh and more video codecs please, divx, xvid, wmv etc....

[Yannick Desjardins @ Nov 9th 2007 1:48PM]

BEWARE! The new firmware breaks the Wifi connectivity for you Linux partition (So far cataloged on Yellow Dog Linux and Ubuntu).

[Vidikron (FU) @ Nov 9th 2007 2:56PM]

I love how the article seems to make fun of the PS3's fan running due to the wireless being active for the remote turn-on feature, yet the fact that Wii's fan doesn't run with WiiConnect24 enabled has resulted in quite a few DEAD Wii's. The Wii gets very hot with WiiConnect enabled and a fair number of people now have dead Wiis as a result.

[erx @ Nov 19th 2007 2:18AM]

hey trade wuhan STFU and GTFO ty have a nice day