Impressions: Firmware 2.40

Well, its here at last. Firmware 2.40 is here at long last for the PlayStation 3 and it is the biggest Firmware to date, adding In-Game XMB as well as Trophys plus a couple more new feature.

But is this where the PS3 starts build-up to a big journey within the next couple of weeks and ends at E3 a week and a half from now? Lets find out.

First off, In-Game XMB itself, the main aspect to this Firmware update and by christ, it is a godsend...for messages anyways. It'll come in handy for me anyways when I use it for MGO clan matches when messages come through of ir I forgot the password to a clan room.

But other then the fact that its a great feature for messages and as well as linking up your Bluetooth headset, thats all you can really do In-Game. You cant browse the internet In-Game despite that you can somewhat do it on Metal Gear Online and you have to wait for patches to actually listen to In-Game music.

Same can be said for pics and videos, you cant watch them in-game (Then again, unlike music, you wouldnt want to look at them)

However, a nifty feature is to exit one game and play another, all without going to the XMB to do it.. Let me give you an example, I'm playing Metal Gear Solid 4 but I wanna play something thats on my HDD so I'll bring up the XMB In-Game and select my game, for all and intents purposes, which is Super Stardust HD and all without looking at the XMB menu when you go out of the game which is a handy feature.

The new search bar which has also been added is a nifty feature as well but I feel that they could have waited a while before they added that onto the PS3 but I have to applaud Sony for adding a clock at the top right of the PS3.

The other major part of the update is Trophys. And so far the only game to include them is Super Stardust HD in a patch released this morning after the releae of 2.40 however, there are patches coming to games between the end of the week and the end of E3 with Gran Turismo 5: Proluge possibly been patched tomorrow as Polyphony Digital have hinted at an update for tomorrow.

But Warhawk should beg etting a patch as well and Uncharted and Burnout Paradise will also be getting trophys patched. And as well as that confirmed earlier this evening in a Eurogamer livetext, LittleBigPlanet will be getting trophys when it is released in October.

However, the bare lack of games who have trophys is incredibly poor, just one game and while there are patches coming, there should have been a couple of disc based games which should have had trophys from day one.

Another thing is that after so long, PSN avatars of your friends will not appear and you will not get onto the internet browser as well and finally to top it off, the PS store as well.

Plus, as an added bonus, you could only view messages by pressing X on the friend your looking for and hey presto, the messages pop up. Now, when you press X on your certain friend, you get their new gamercards which show their profile and how many trophys they have won as well as show the games they have won trophys from while you have to press Triangle and then Message List to see your friend's message instead of going up into your inbox.

Overall, it is a good attempt by Sony and they have some good ideas but quite frankly, this could very much work better when...

1 - More disc based games get patches for trophys and In-Game music.
2 - When PlayStation Home comes out (Whenever that'll be)

But as it is, it's a decent first attempt by Sony but they could have tried a bit harder in all honesty.