Hey folks. Now that we’ve seen the big news about Firmware 1.8 for our black PS3 boxes, we’ve had time to digest the news. Did anything strike you as interesting, or something to be wary of? For me, there were a couple things:

1. A reader (Jason) pointed out that you can now copy savegames from your PS3 back onto your PS2 memory card using the memory card adapter. This was a major criticism of the PS2 - PS3 back-and-forth story, and now it’s been addressed.
2. If you go into the menus and take a look at the upscaling options for PS2/PS1 games and for DVD’s, they are anything but intuitive. I’m going to have to look them up to see what they do.
3. Upscaling a DVD, while a nice feature, isn’t really that big a deal unless your HDTV is crappy at it. Your HDTV upscales all input resolutions to its own native resolution anyway, so what does it matter if the PS3 does it or your HDTV does? It only matters if the PS3 does a noticeably better job at it. Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t try it. But I honestly don’t expect to see a big difference. The story for PS1/PS2 games is different - take a look at these screenshots.
4. The update includes the ability to output Blu-ray movies at 24 FPS. This is great news for all you videophiles out there who want to avoid all that pulldown nonsense and have a display with a refresh rate that is a multiple of 24. (Unfortunately, that’s not me. )
5. I haven’t tried TwonkyMedia yet because I was at my weekly games night last night. (We played Xbox 360 Burnout and Guitar Hero, as well as the really good card game San Juan, in case you’re wondering.) But reports are that it may not be able to support the AAC format, which would be very disappointing.
6. Unfortunately, here at work we use a wireless security protocol not supported by the PSP. So I can’t stream music (or whatever) from home to here at work. I’m just a wee bit disappointed.

Any other thoughts?

Update: According to someone over a HD Engadget:

1. The PS3 can now downscale BD (1080p) movies to 720p. (Wait a sec. Didn’t it already do this?)
2. Blacker-than-Black (BTB) and Whiter-than-White (WTW) support with (full range/limited) the BTB has been confirmed by DVE
3. HQV DVD test and the PS3 1.80 firmware passes ALL tests!! Cadence, interlacing, artifacting, you name it, it passed!!!

Information is from this PS3 thread at AVSForums.

Update 2: Someone shows off their installation of Vista seeing the PS3, and vice versa:

PS3 1.8 firmware streams music, photos, and video from Vista

More screenshots of same:

Sony PS3 Firmware 1.8 Screen Shots Surface

Update 3: There’s also a new photo slideshow mode that’s supposed to be pretty good.

Update 4: Here’s a link that shows off the upscalling and smoothing feature for PS1 and PS2 games:

PS3 Upscaling Comparisons

N’Gai Croal comes out swinging with another great article discussing the current state of the next-gen console war. For a small taste, read this:

The current strategy–offsetting the high price and lack of exclusive killer apps with the ostensibly strong brand loyalty of the Playstation name–simply isn’t working. The only killer app in the near future is Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and that seems far more likely to appeal to the hardcore gamers who already own a PS3 than to persuade newer ones to buy in. That would suggest a strong need for a price cut, but having just declared a $2 billion loss within Sony Computer Entertainment, I’m not sure that newly-minted Playstation overlord Kaz Hirai and his boss Howard Stringer have an appetite for more red ink.

For the full course, follow this link:

Monday Morning Quarterback: An Armchair Analysis of Videogame Sales for April 2007

Here are a few questions from a survey I filled out a while ago on the Playstation.com site.

The following statements concern the way you would like a portable device to interact with a console. Rank these statements based on their appeal to you.

Use the device to complete side missions for console games (unlockables, etc.).

Transfer media (music/pictures/video) wirelessly from the console to the device (broadcast television, new levels for games).

Use the device WHILE PLAYING the console game as an additional weapon/utility to help the game play (2nd player option, radar for incoming enemies, etc.).

Record console gameplay video for display on the device (showing off your high scores or “cool moves” to friends).

I like the idea of transferring media to the PSP, right now you can with remote play. But the problem is it’s only locally right now. Give us global remote play and I’ll be very happy.

I remember reading in MGS4 you might be able to control that little robot with the PSP. Send it ahead to scout out the area. That would be great! And recording PS3 game play video for playback on the PSP could be cool.

So how would you like the PSP to interact with the PS3?

OK, I’m wrong. I recently criticized Heavenly Sword programmer Dean Calver for being a Microsoft evangelist and possibly half-assing his Heavenly Sword work. I apologize for that and I was wrong. He is clearly a very knowledgeable programmer and takes Heavenly Sword and programming as a whole very seriously. The demos of Heavenly Sword speak for themselves as to the game’s quality.

Thanks to Dean Calver, for responding, and clearing up the confusion. Check out his blog, as he has updated it with a post on the PS3 CPU cache structure.

Deano’s Blog on PS3 SPU cache structure

Looks like that rumour of the 80GB PS3 has turned out to be partly true as it’s been confirmed on the Sony Computer Entertainment Korea website, according to Gamasutra:

The official website now lists only the new 80GB version, to be released on June 16th for 518,000 South Korean won ($557), before tax..

It’s not going to be seen in the West though, as it’s claimed that a high percentage of people in South Korea have access to high speed broadband, leading to Sony giving them a slightly larger HDD.

Personally, it doesn’t cost a great deal of money to buy a 250 GB USB HDD that you can use to connect to your PS3 and Mac/PC so this isn’t a big deal, especially as no other specs have changed in the South Korean PS3.

I would be annoyed if it was released over here at a similar price to the 60GB PS3 though.

80GB PS3 Confirmed for South Korea

I’ve been reading the blog of the lead programmer for Heavenly Sword.

He’s doing tons of Microsoft XNA programming, .NET Forms GUI development, Xbox 360 benchmarks, Microsoft Visual Studio work, 360 Lua integration (Lua is a popular lightweight language used in many video games in addition to a core language which is often C++), Microsoft .NET CLR internals investigations, Xbox 360 integration with Managed C++ (a Microsoft specific .NET version of C++), C# work, and miscellaneous other Xbox 360 development.

The PS3 is supposed to be getting Heavenly Sword as well, right?

However, there is very little mention of the PS3 or Sony on his site, and what is there has a somewhat negative tone. Contrast that with the Xbox 360 and Microsoft technology posts were he is full of excitement, enthusiasm, and even evangelism.

Just to be clear: PS3 developers definitely don’t need to be Sony cheerleaders. They have every right to their own opinion and that fully includes having a preference for the Xbox 360 or the Wii over the PS3 or preferring Microsoft-centric technology over alternatives. For example, the Warhawk guys can be seen using Microsoft Visual Studio on Windows PCs in interview videos and their website is developed in Microsoft ASP.NET. As a PS3 consumer, I don’t care because I still get a clear impression that the Warhawk team is giving the project their all.

With this Heavenly Sword lead programmer, I get the strong impression that he can’t stand working on the PS3 and isn’t giving it his full effort. He clearly spends lots of effort trying to incorporate as much Microsoft centric technology into his day as is possible. He’s added as much Microsoft tech to the Heavenly Sword tool chain as possible and even works on lots of side projects so that he can take a completely Microsoft centric focus.

He’s probably very bitter that his job carried him in a PS3 centric direction and tries very hard to cleanse himself of the feel of programming on a PS3. Unfortunately, this probably means that Heavenly Sword will not be the best showcase of PS3 technology. The best work in this world is done by people who love what they do, not by people who bitterly wish they were doing something else.

On the other hand, this is just one person. I suspect that many other staff particularly those doing art, production, sound, and managerial duties are much less opinionated on Sony/Microsoft technology and platform issues and are much more likely to be giving this project their full attention. However, he is the lead programmer which is a very significant role.

So, what do you think? Am I overreacting? Can PS3 exclusive developers be huge Microsoft fanatics or can Xbox 360 exclusive developers be fanatical about PS3, NetBeans, Java, ODF, and other distinctively non-Microsoft technologies and still deliver 110% as cutting edge lead game programmer typically do?

UPDATE: Misunderstanding is cleared up.

Heavenly Sword Lead Programmer Blog