Slow And Frequent Updates Kills The PS3 Experience

Although I'm more of a Xbox 360 gamer, I do occasionally fire up the PS3 for some God of War 3 or Guitar Hero love. But one thing that I always thought was just an issue with me, turns out to be an issue with many PS3 casual gamers. It always seemed to me that when ever I turned on my PS3 there was a mandatory system update that you had to take, or you couldn't play your game. And unlike Microsoft who only does maybe two major updates a year, Sony does them routinely. Minor features (some that are not even wanted) that could be saved until Sony has one massive update every half year. But no, Sony likes to nickel and dime you with these stupid mandatory updates, which many times kills the game experience.

During those updates you can't do anything else on the PS3, but sit there and wait. I thought there was something wrong with my download speed or PS3 wireless connection, but according to Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica you're only getting 2.5Mbps from Sony which is about the low-end of DSL. So between download and install you're looking at about 30 to 45 minutes before you can play said game, and by then, I'm on to something else.

Ben Kuchera article about this is great, and he hits the nail on the head about this subject like you wouldn't believe.

Thanks to Gizmodo for this.

[Ars Technica via Gizmodo]

PS3 2.40 Firmware Update Details

The most anticipated firmware update for the PS3 version 2.40 will be held back. At least until E3 when Sony can announce it during their presentation in 3 weeks. This update will bring many features to the PS3 that should’ve been there from day one. Most of the features plays catch up with the Xbox 360, with in-game XMB-access and achievements finally being added to the console. Here are some of the in-game XLB features that will come with the update:

Friend category

View, send, receive messages

Manage downloads

Set the vibration feature of the controller

Sign in to PlayStation Network

Register friends

Manage Bluetooth devices

Terminate the game

Music category

Use the system BGM

Work the system BGM operation panel

Settings category

Assign controllers

View profiles

Game category

Set audio devices

Use the voice changer

Now we just need a good game to take advantage of the new features!!!

Thanks to Gizmodo for this info. [CVG via Gizmodo]

UPDATE: Here's a video of the new Trophy system

Vista SP1 Released Tomorrow?

So the long awaited day is finally upon us......

The release of Vista SP1 is secretly set to be released tomorrow March 18th, and the world will have its answer to the question "does Vista truly suck?" My personal hope is that the answer will be "NO", considering that I'm writing on a Vista laptop right now. Some of the criticizing that it has gotten is unwarranted, with some people thinking it's fashionable just to hate anything that's Microsoft. But some of it is, with the long delay before it was release coupled with expensive hardware upgrades, and multiple versions that only confused the consumer certainly put it behind the 8 ball. So what changes must be made for Vista to rebound from the "You suck" land that it's been dwelling in? With so many people thinking that Vista isn't any good, has perception become reality?

What must SP1 have to fix Vista?

Can it be fixed?

Does anyone still care?

[Engadget]

Vista Updates Tomorrow

Well it's not quite SP1, but it will be a welcomed update. Come tomorrow, Microsoft will update Vista with some much needed features. The new update is said to "extends laptop battery life, improves the stability of wireless network connections, shortens recovery time after exiting hibernation or sleep, and deals with compatibility problems with some antivirus software."

These issues should have been addressed within the first week or two of the release, and not several months later. I personally have run into the battery life issue and the wireless network connection problem from time to time. So I'll be first in line to get this installed on my laptop ASAP, so hopefully my "Wow" experience with Vista will be of a good thing for a change.

Vista speed, stability fixes to hit Windows Update on Tuesday [Computerworld via Crunchgear]

Windows Vista Service Pack 1: Coming Soon

Microsoft has officially announced Windows Vista Service Pack 1, which was a mystery to no one. The beta has been announced and once the beta is complete, the Service Pack will be released in the “coming weeks”. The Pack will address reliability issues and hardware support. It will also have more IT admin improvements, and enhanced functionality so people will bitch about it a little less that normal.

To see the whole list of stuff, check out the links below via [Crunchgear]

Announcing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta [Windows Vista Blog]
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta White Paper (All updates listed) [Windows Vista Blog]

iphone Update Issues!!!

If you own an iphone, you might want to hold off on the newest update (1.0.2). Engadget is reporting that they attempted to update theirs, and lost all data within the phone. They also state that they lost their backup as well. Check the quote:

"Despite the fact that we had a couple of error messages during the upgrade which seemed innocuous, this iPhone update wiped out our device and refused to restore our last back backup, instead creating a new backup based on a fresh restore."

DON'T INSTALL THIS UPDATE PEOPLE!!!

iPhone 1.0.2 update released [Engadget]

Norton Antivirus update: whoopss!!!

I hope any of our readers haven't updated Norton Antivirus on a Windows XP machine in the last few days. On May 17th the Norton database was upgraded and by noon millions of users’ PCs were crashing. Norton’s latest update accidentally tagged two essential system files as viruses and cleared them away.

This prompted the 'Blue screen of death' followed by an error message regardless of rebooting the PC. Symantec has acknowledged that the upgrade was mishandled and that they’re working on a solution to better monitor such upgrades.Symantec has acknowledged that the upgrade was mishandled and that they’re working on a solution to better monitor such upgrades.

In other words, somebody is gonna get fired!!!