PS3 Firmware v3.00 – A disappointment… that freezes games
As all Playstation 3 owners are no doubt now aware, there is a new firmware update available for the system. PS3 Firmware v3.00 has been a long time coming, and all sorts of promises were made about what it would include. It turns out to be a huge disappointment that has improved little, made some things worse, and is causing certain games, the Web browser, and even the system itself to freeze. Clearly another great move by Sony.
I look forward to firmware updates because they offer a refreshing change to the look, feel, or features of a console. Most updates are minor but occasionally there is a major one offered. Microsoft unveiled the New Xbox Experience on the Xbox 360 last year to a mixed reception. But it was generally seen as a good update.
There has been talk of PS3 Firmware v3.00 for months now. Admittedly, most of it was coming from sources other than Sony but the company still talked it up in the weeks leading up to the big release. That release happened early on Tuesday (Sept. 1) morning, with systems around the world updating. Unfortunately, Firmware v3.00 is a complete mess.
Mike reviewed the changes immediately upon release and seemed quite pleased with what was on show. Whereas I’m left feeling bitterly disappointed and left wondering what the point of it all is. I waited months for this update and all I got was some changes to the XMB which make it uglier and features I really didn’t want.
The background sparkles. Great. The font is now larger. Too large for any decent HDTV. Gray boxes have been added to your friends list. Very ugly gray boxes. In the U.K. we’ve had the BBC iPlayer added. In fact, all it is is a link to the Web site which anyone with half a brain already had bookmarked in the Web browser anyway.
Then there are the great new links to the Playstation Store under every heading. One place was sufficient thanks. I’m not stupid enough to need separate links to purchase games, movies, and whatever else Sony has now decided to sell to me. Which includes these great new animated themes, which are, of course, exactly what I have always wanted.
Two days on and there are now multiple reports that PS3 Firmware v3.00 is actually causing freezing problems on games including Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Bioshock, and UFC 2009. Some people are having trouble signing in to PSN, and others are having system issues which didn’t exist prior to them downloading v3.00.
And to top it all, we’re still left waiting for PS2 backwards compatibility and cross-game voice chat, two of the most requested features made by existing PS3 owners. Another astounding success for Sony.
Related Posts:
68 Responses to “PS3 Firmware v3.00 – A disappointment… that freezes games”
Leave a Reply:
You must be logged in to post a comment. Don't have an account? Register today!
September 3rd, 2009
This firmware doesn’t freeze anything. A huge disappointment to you only. Sony said there wasn’t gonna be any backwards compatibility anymore. Cry me a river. Also i agree the gray boxes on your friends list does suck and is ugly too. The font and words can be put back to the same size by going to themes and choosing classic. Sony did a nice job. So stop complaining is not like they making you pay or ask you to update your PS3. Also voice chat was never say to come with this firmware we all knew what we were getting. We all have a damn fucking PS2 already wow.
Your disappointment are are kind of pathetic. You can ban me for saying this i really don’t give a shit anymore. I just hate when people bitch about things they knew they were getting.
cya all in the year infinite. I’ll be on the PSN later today MSG me your comments there I’m so outer here my PSN id is Ivan-
Dave you are trying to do something with this post i know.
September 3rd, 2009
I can’t believe this was a news article……:(
For me, the friends list, I’m warming up to. The new changes to the XMB, like the sparkle, you can easily fix that with a wallpaper of your choosing; if not, then I guess you gotta get used to it.
As for the PSN signing in problem, yah, that did happen to me for the first hour then I was able to sign in normally. It was because of the huge saturation of people signing in at one time.
Sony itself said that PS2 b/c is gone now, so guess that has to be lived with too, unless you start working for Sony and somehow work up your way up until you’re at a position where getting back PS2 b/c is tangible ^.^ (just an idea
).
The What’s New section is pretty cool, although if people don’t like it, they have the option and ability to simply ignore it. Additionally, voice chat was never supposed to come to this Firmware Update, and plus, with Sony determined to push their 10-year life cycle philosophy, expect voice chat coming on the horizon (guess the same can be said for PS2 b/c right?)!
About the PS Store shortcuts, I agree to an extent, they are unnecessary, but I believe it to not be a major gripe. As for the freezing problems, I really hope Sony intends to fix those ASAP (a couple of my friends have had these).
Lastly, like Ivan_PSP said, the font and word size can be put back to normal.
So really, it’s only a complete mess because you see it as so, only from a glance. However deep down, it’s a very solid update, and just like with the 360 and Wii, a firmware update always adds more to the experience, no matter how subtle.
September 3rd, 2009
Victor321:
Add me thanks 4 ur honest comment
September 3rd, 2009
Np my man ^.^ I’ll add you.
September 3rd, 2009
Ahh forgot to tell you that my PSN ID is Kurokai123 and if only there was a reply option…:P
I don’t really reply much on this site (I check everyday for new articles, and not for just gamer.blorge), but after reading this article, I just had to speak out.
September 3rd, 2009
Damn Dave I Know you want to keep the 360 crowd happy but you did not have to exaggerate that much. Overall it is a good update. and no everybody experienced the freezing issue. out of everybody here just to people had issues with the update (carlB & Jofamang) and it can be fix really easy.
you shouldnt even have mentioned the BC, because like Ivan said, Sony said loud and clear that BC is not coming back. and can you explain me again why the update is a “complete mess” ? (I wont expect an answer from you because you reply to our questions). Overall the update is a better looking XMB and more user friendly. thats all……
and also not everybody is like you, I know many ppl who did not know there was a video store in the PS store….and you didnt even said a word about all the cool feature like faster load for trophies, new clock display, streaming videos from the XMB. etc.
but I guess you to keep the “war” going some how right???
September 3rd, 2009
I agree with Dave. Altho, I havn’t seen any freezing on my end.
I think part of the problem is that people seem to hype these updates to no end, and Sony adds into it by using a ‘major’ revision number (instead of something like 2.xx). Other than that, it indeed seems like a ‘give us more money!!!!’ update. More links to the shops, and new theme support – of which the only theme you can get (other than default) you have to pay for (couldn’t have thrown 1 or 2 ’simple’ ones to showcase it a bit more Sony?)!
Agree dave again on the friends list. It wasn’t fantastic before but now its just ‘ugh’. And what is the point in having a squished up tiny picture of your avatar on the ticker? Finally, don’t get me started on the ‘buy some more moviez!!!!’ link, when its not supported in Canada…. *sigh*
Oh and the ‘whats new’ game quick launch tool seems excessive.
I do like the sparkles tho…
September 3rd, 2009
“Finally, don’t get me started on the ‘buy some more moviez!!!!’ link, when its not supported in Canada….”
you seem pretty pissed about it. how come they can it work in Canada, are they movie law/restriction different there or what?
and I dont think the PS store under the “game” and the “video” tab is a give you money feature. it is just a extra icon that everybody can ignore pretty quick without even noticing the icon was even there. its’ not like the xbox dashboard where you get all this “windows” advertising games and what not.
and there should be some free animated themes tomorrow.
so SW do you agree the update is a complete mess like dave said?
September 3rd, 2009
The main problem is that people are now expecting an NXE type update just for the sake of it, which the PS3 just doesn’t need.
The XMB works fine, although it certainly needs a little condensing.
No PS2 B/C could be a non issue IMO because if 3rd parties follow Sony and start releasing upscaled PS2 games made for PS3, then B/C becomes a non issue, as the message would be pretty simple; if you want to play PS2 games, buy a PS2…but if you want to play remastered PS2 games, you need a PS3.
September 3rd, 2009
I would change the word ‘mess’ to ‘waste of time’ or something then I could agree with dave %100. At the moment lets say I agree %90 then
September 3rd, 2009
“out of everybody here just to people had issues with the update (carlB & Jofamang) and it can be fix really easy.”
1st impression after just a week by giving PS3 a chance after years of no similar problems with 360: a shit ton more network problems with PS3, from updates to loading times, to getting kicked off of PSN, to patches, to having to reboot, to having to delete and reinstall game data, to my first game played freezing (one of the “major” showcase games- Uncharted), but I guess that is what you get for paying the price of free… that and “sparkles”.
September 3rd, 2009
srry carlb u had to experience that+jofamang
it used to not be so bad…i get booted from psn every so often but nothing too major like rebooting,freezing,etc
September 3rd, 2009
@Carl
Things can only get better!
September 3rd, 2009
CarlB, it is a shame you are having issues, mine has been rock solid from day 1 and I use wireless network connection too ? The only issue I had was when Home went live and I had trouble connecting. Apart from that, it has been streamlined and trouble free.
September 3rd, 2009
Ivan and Victor, I can already smell the bromance.
Brother in law hasn’t had any issues with the update yet.
September 3rd, 2009
“I guess that is what you get for paying the price of free”
the NXE was bricking system and also brought the infamous E74 error, which both were worst than the minor issues with update 3.0. you just happened to be one of the “lucky” ones
September 3rd, 2009
No problems so far, but I’m not looking forward to going through Uncharted again before the next one.
September 3rd, 2009
Roca.:
“the NXE was bricking system and also brought the infamous E74 error, which both were worst than the minor issues with update 3.0.”
I’ve never had so much as a freeze/lock-up on my Xbox with NXE or any of the subsequent updates that have come along in the year or so I’ve had Xbox.
September 3rd, 2009
NXE update was free for silver members too.
September 3rd, 2009
@ Happy and Harry,
I was just making a point to show that it very rare to that a major update is going to come out perfect without any issues/bugs. It doesnt have anything to do with whether you are paying for the service or not. you always going to find those small bugs. and also not everybody expierienced those bugs, sometimes it could be a bad download.
September 3rd, 2009
Edited Post**
“that it is very rare to that major update”
sorry I have to type as fast as I can when my boss is around.
September 3rd, 2009
“Another astounding success for Sony.” – DaveP
preach it, man, preach it….
i can’t help but wonder what type of QC, if any, sony does on their updates before they launch. this isn’t the first time sony has hosed their customers by their updates…..
will it ever end? only time will tell, but i think, no….
i’m hoping sony honors this under their warranty so ps3 gamers get a working console after all of this…
September 3rd, 2009
@ Harry:
Lol We just happened to have the same opinion, but there was a clear distinction on how we said that opinion huh XD?
September 3rd, 2009
See, I thought this was a pretty solid update, and I haven’t had any of the problems people have been mentioning.
But I lost ALL faith in the updating process (definition of update: bring to the latest state of technology)
when I decided to play some music on my Playstation, I press the PS button and it comes up with
‘do you want to quit playback?’ – WTF is this?
I’ve been able to play music and browse the XMB @ the same time since I bought the system @ launch…
Really irritating, as I like to be able to browse and choose the next song I’m going to put on while one is still playing, rather than my Playstation turning into nothing more than a brick playing music.
Very disappointed with this
September 3rd, 2009
the update was probably rushed for all we know, to give the PS3 Slim a fresh look. but everything can be fix with 3.01, 2.20…and so on
September 3rd, 2009
DAVE PARRACK, I hate hate hate the way you write. You have no consistent voice at all! They should rename this Schizo.Blorge. One article, you’re all great with Sony, the next you hate them. I would be fine with this, normally, except that you write in such a way as to suggest that you have ALWAYS hated them, or ALWAYS loved them, depending on which version of DAVE PARRACK is writing.
It’s annoying. Pick one and stick with it, freak.
-Arvis
September 3rd, 2009
Arvis came back on fire!
September 3rd, 2009
New members
Arvis:
LoL You mad as hell. And what that heck is Schizo never heard that word in my life.
I have never had any problem with any firmware so i don’t how other people get any problems. I guess I’m lucky or not stupid.
I can still play music the same way no problem there. The web browser is better now. I love the sparkling background.
September 3rd, 2009
File Restore and Database Rebuild functions through the restore console fixed all my issues. Although I am left a little underwhelmed with the content of the update.
Sparkles. Neat and lame at the same time, but mostly lame.
Grey boxes on friends list that clashes with the look of the rest of the XMB. meh.
3.00? no. 2.85? sure.
September 3rd, 2009
the Dave symdrome got Ivan too!
2 days ago you was about to sell you PS3 because of the update. You were pretty pissed off about it. and now you seem to be enjoying the update…..how do you guys manage to have multiple personalities?
September 3rd, 2009
“Grey boxes on friends list that clashes with the look of the rest of the XMB. meh.”
thats the only thing I dont like about the update..hope they take it off. or at least come up with a new design.
September 3rd, 2009
Just hope its theme based. Thats what I’m doing.
September 3rd, 2009
what are you exactly doing??? =/
September 3rd, 2009
Roca.:
Unlike Dave i actually was mad at the right things like the gray boxes which i know he stated that too. And the big icon and words but i got over that plus i lean to fix it too. I knew voice chat and bc was not coming plus i have a bunch of ps2 plus all my ps2 play ps2 games. I’m still mad a little because this was not really an update if ask me. PSP still has some beterr fetures then PS3.
PSP is my favorite gaming console then PSX/PS2. PS3 3rd PS1 4th
September 3rd, 2009
Firmware v3.00 raped me… repeatedly.
IN all seriousness, I haven’t had a single problem with it at all. We already knew there wasn’t going to be BC, or cross chat.
I like the fact that the icons on the XMB are larger and the background blurs when clicking into things. The dynamic backgrounds are cool, but I don’t see myself paying $3.00 for them.
Haven’t had any problems with Batman, but it does suck that Uncharted crashes. I would bet that a lot of new Slim buyers picked up a copy. That’s not good at all.
September 3rd, 2009
did you beat Batman Barnabe?
the last boss was…….a bit of a disappointment right?
I just need the challenges trophies to get platinum, but those challanges are freaking hard
September 3rd, 2009
‘the last boss was…….a bit of a disappointment right?’
Yep. May as well just been Batman Vs Henchmen.
September 3rd, 2009
I haven’t finished it just yet.
*spoilers*
I made it up to the point where you stopped the Joker Toxin from entering Gotham River. I need to go see Poison Ivy again. I started to revisit all of the areas and get the remaining Riddler challenges. There are a few that are giving me a hard time.
I’ve only played through the first challenge so far. I tried another one and lost.
September 3rd, 2009
I have heard about the last fight. Killer Croc was a little disappointing also. They had some cool ideas, but it was a little too simple. I liked the fact that he stalked you when you were trying to collect the spores, but the fact that you only needed to hit him once with the Batarang was lame.
September 3rd, 2009
****2 DAYS AGO IVAN SAYS
“Wow i hate this update so much i might consider myself giving up on gaming. Is garbage lame it hate fuck Sony i hate you now. Going back to PSP and PS2 fuck PS3 this fucking update suck.WTF is this crap Sony you fucking useless now.”
“I knew a bit what was in store i the video they show on the PS Blog. Sony can go to hell for all i care. I wish i could sell my PS3 without losing my $500 guess i need to keep it and just sell my Xbox 360 since is useless to own.”
*****NOW AFTER DAYS OF BAD PRESS OVER THE NET
“This firmware doesn’t freeze anything. A huge disappointment to you only.”
“Your disappointment are are kind of pathetic”
September 3rd, 2009
HA HA HA HA HA!
PRICELESS!!
September 3rd, 2009
“but it does suck that Uncharted crashes. I would bet that a lot of new Slim buyers picked up a copy. That’s not good at all.”
This.
I imagine Naughty Dog are now fretting big style that Uncharted 2 is gonna start crashing.
It is amazing though how it’s only Sony’s games that get affected by this. You would have thought their games would be the last to have problems.
September 3rd, 2009
I actually didn’t mean for that to come out so angry. It’s just annoying how we never get an honest sentence from Parrack. He writes empty, heartless articles that have no personality, designed only to illicit reactions and heated debate. Mike Ferro isn’t the best writer in the world (who is?) but we at least know who Mike Ferro IS. You can tell just by reading his stuff that he’s the one who wrote it. We don’t get any of that in Dave’s articles, just a lot of spiny, belligerent nonsense.
His bit about the NXE in this article is a perfect example. He and Mike both tore into that update when it came out. Now? He pretends it was “generally pretty good” just to contrast FW 3.0 and exaggerate the problems.
I don’t know why I’m so annoyed, though, this website subsists ENTIRELY off of exaggeration and sophomoric hyperbole, so… I guess… meh, really it’s just Dave’s schizophrenia that’s annoyed me, I guess.
-Arvis
P.S. @ Ivan: “Schizo” is pronounced “shee-zo” and is a kind of Japanese sushi. >.>
September 3rd, 2009
@ CON – lmao
@Arvis – I thought you were being sarcastic…
September 3rd, 2009
arvis – i could be wrong, but dave p seems to be a bit more neutral in his writing. if sony does something he believes is good, he commends them on it. if sony drops the ball, he calls them on it.
Mike F, no matter what sony does, writes as if sony is the end-all-be-all of gaming and software. not neutral at all.
well, at least that’s how i see it.
CON – Friggin’ awesome. It’s funny watching the many personalities of Ivan…
September 3rd, 2009
This is a news article with a heavy dose of opinion. Honest opinion that is also meant to elicit debate.
Some of you will agree, some won’t. It’s as simple as that.
Arvis, I can only suggest you stop reading my articles if my style doesn’t suit. But I guarantee I write what I feel. If Sony does something good then I report it, if they do something bad I also report that. The same with Microsoft and the same with Nintendo. The alternative is fanboyism.
September 3rd, 2009
My SCE game are working fine UNCHARTED: Drake’s Fortune, Killzone 2, Resistance: Fall of Man, Resistance 2 and Warhawk plus Call of Duty: World at War Activision. I like how game load faster now. I like fish LoL.
Dave Parrack i bet is about to blow up in anger. Write a new post or give your PSN ID to prove you actually own a PS3. Lol jk u dont have to.
pushsquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/psnthanks.jpg
I’ll be on this show soon us.playstation.com/psn/thetester
September 3rd, 2009
@ Dave
“But I guarantee I write what I feel. If Sony does something good then I report it, if they do something bad I also report that.”
yeah but you dont have to exaggerate that much just to “elicit debate”. I dont think calling it a complete mess is a “honest opinion” and then mentioning BC when it was clear that is never coming back.
September 3rd, 2009
Roca, I mention PS2 BC in relation to it being one of the most requested features by PS3 owners. Which it is. I didn’t suggest Sony has ever promised it. Which they haven’t.
September 3rd, 2009
It looks like GOW remakes isn’t coming to EU anytime soon. I wonder why?
September 3rd, 2009
you can always import it
September 3rd, 2009
Fucking PR disaster for sony here. So much good press from the slim then this. Just gonna play right into the hands of ms with their promotion of the price cut
September 3rd, 2009
the new Xbox360 exclusive “Raven Squad” is also selling like hotcakes
here is what gamespot.com has to say about it:
“Raven Squad is 90 percent first-person shooter, 10 percent strategy game, and 100 percent bad.”
I cant help but laugh!
September 3rd, 2009
Why the fuck did they string everyone along to think there was gonna be cross gaming voice chat. They deliberately let these rumours go on without doing anything?
The sad thing is that sony have announced that this is gonna be its last major update for some time so looks like it’s gonna be quite a while for cross game chat. I know a lot of my quite a lot of you here had been bragging to me for ages that ps3 was finally gonna get it so even though you won’t admit it (IVAN) I know this has really pissed a lot of you guys off
September 3rd, 2009
Just one more thing before I go to everyone complaining about this article which by the way has been well documented in many sites throughout the web unlike other articles on this site.
Are you guys honestly saying that this update was a success and that you’re happy with it??? Or are you just jumping to sonys defence because it’s turning into such a PR disaster???
September 3rd, 2009
Sony said this is the last “major” update for “2009″
but they always do a whole bunch of minor updates,
-redsign PS store came in a minor update
-Text chat came in a minor update
-voice changer also came on one of those random updates
do your research before you talk (dont become like Kev)
September 3rd, 2009
the update was not a success and it wasnt meant to be a success, Sony is starting fresh with a new long and new (redesign) PS3 slim. the update was just to give the XMB a fresh look. and it did!
September 3rd, 2009
“Naughty Dog is constantly working to improve every aspect of the gameplay; be it animation, lighting, sound, texture fidelity. You know if you look at the game itself with the 2.80 engine update, you know we’re adding more memory, so we get a lot more utilisation of the SPUs so we increase our optimisation of the Cell processor as well. So we’ve got from the engineering side all the way up to texture fidelity, artists adding in even more…I mean there’s really not a singular aspect that’s not been improved in the game.”
Supposedly Sony was reducing the OS foot print to increase RAM for Uncharted 2. I wonder if that has something to do with the first Uncharted glitching.
September 3rd, 2009
I read somewhere that the PS3 OS a couple of months ago was taking up 73mb RAM, which is pretty shocking when you think about it.
September 3rd, 2009
“Sony has just confirmed to VG247 that the God of War Collection, featuring God of War I & II, will indeed be region free.”
h**p://www.vg247.com/2009/09/03/sony-confirms-god-of-war-collection-for-ps3-is-region-free/
September 4th, 2009
-a higher failure rate for the console (according to Happy/kev)………
-Firmware that pisses off the masses and potentially bricks consoles.
-A LOWER PRICE!!!!!!!
Holy Shit!!! you Xbots were correct. Sony is trying to copy Microshaft.
September 4th, 2009
phranctoast:
“-a higher failure rate for the console”
Erm, where are you getting this from (jape aside)?
I have said several times that I would expect the PS3 failrate to fall with the more energy efficient cooler running slim 45nm (or is it still 65nm – either way it’s small & efficient) hardware.
I have been surprised to see the PS3 failrate at 10%.
Whatever anyone thinks about the early Xbox failrate (and I have never said it was anything other than an unacceptable blight on the brand) that 10% can hardly be said to be ‘good’ either, can it?
September 4th, 2009
“the update was not a success and it wasnt meant to be a success”
classic
September 4th, 2009
roca – “yeah but you dont have to exaggerate that much just to “elicit debate”
why not? you exaggerate all the time. geez….
September 4th, 2009
these replies were crazy to read…literally lol almost made me soil myself haha…but its sad cause it’s true (not the soiling part)
September 7th, 2009
I can’t see why people aren’t happy with Dave’s article. The man is entitled to an opinion, as is Mike Ferro. Just because Dave’s opinion isn’t as glowing as Mike’s when it comes to everything PS3 related doesn’t make him dishonest (I’m looking at you, Chris).
I know that accusing a writer here of being dishonest isn’t as bad as calling another writer here ‘one who smokes rooster’, but still, it’s probably not a good way to make your voice heard.
September 7th, 2009
Here, here Harry. I don’t see anything wrong with DAVE PARRACK’s article either.
September 7th, 2009
Dave,
the “what’s new” section and the PS store under video and game can be turn off by going to the “system settings” then set “displat whats new” to off