We were told to expect
Advanced Remote Play functionality in today's
big PS3 update (version 1.6).
Looks like we were played the fool: you will not be able to access your PS3's content from any wi-fi point: once again, you must be in wireless range of your PS3. Until they correct this, the Remote Play functionality loses a lot of its purpose: what's the point of being tethered so close to the system? Update 1: It looks like Sony has delivered, but in a very unreliable fashion. Personal tests show that a "PS3 is not detected" error message is given more often than not. A variety of factors may be causing this glitch: firstly, your PS3 may lose its internet connection, especially if it's not wired. Secondly, Folding@home seemingly activates even when your PS3 is in Remote Play mode, which can cause some glitches. Personally, I've been able to successfully connect to my PS3 from an external wi-fi source less than 1 in 10 times.
We shall investigate further.There are some additional improvements made in this firmware revision, but they are very subtle. You'll be able to easily register a PSP for Remote Play use by accessing Remote Play from System Settings on PS3. Also, you'll be able to connect a wi-fi bridge to 20GB PS3s, allowing them to interface with PSP like the 60GB versions do.
[Thanks, Ryan!]
{ Mar 22nd 2007 at 7:15AM } 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
bxbailey @ Mar 22nd 2007 7:23AM
I hope this is a joke because that's just ridiculous
ChrisG @ Mar 22nd 2007 7:29AM
It's no joke. While I appreciate how easy it was to register the PSP, I already had it setup before. I assume this is a small step, as now the PS3 recognizes the MAC address of the device and stores it.
I assume the next step is Wake-On-LAN and Remote Triggering of it.
Remote Play over the Internet would suck if your PS3 had to be left in the Remote Play state waiting for a connection.
txa1265 @ Mar 22nd 2007 8:12AM
Boy, I know that we try to separate out the noise of constantly negative Sony reporting, but these guys do themselves no favors - on the same day as it is reported that they aren't even selling 25% of the allocated Aussie games, and there is some spin-doctor pretty much saying that Sony *likes* having their game systems sitting on shelves unbought, here we get news of a major *promised* new firmware feature not coming out?
sean @ Mar 22nd 2007 10:01AM
they never said this one would have that. it said they were making it for people with the 20 gig version able to use the PSP-PS3 remote play. go check the 1up.com or ign.com news stories.
Ryan @ Mar 22nd 2007 10:57AM
It all comes from this:
Tom Kiss (tomkiss.net) at a Three Speech event in London this year asked Phil Harrison directly...
Maybe Harrison misunderstood the question. Or maybe it's still coming. Only Sony knows. Perhaps they wanted to make sure even the 20GB model was able to do basic Remote Play before they roll it out. If not...well I guess I've wasted a lot of time and energy converting all those avi's into mp4's for my PS3. Oh well, back to Motorstorm and Killzone...
Hoffer @ Mar 22nd 2007 10:48AM
The remote play thing did change. Before the PSP only communicated with the PS3 directly. Now, if you have a WiFi access point, it can connect to the PS3 through that. As someone said, now someone with a 20 GB can connect. Also, I guess it could give you greater range.
Either way, I messed around with the remote play thing once. It's pretty lame.
Ryan @ Mar 22nd 2007 11:07AM
Sorry: here's what Tom asked...
When will the PS3’s remote play functionality be available from outside the home?
This was one question I had to ask - and one of the major reasons I wanted a PS3 in the first place, it’s a really great piece of media functionality. I missed this question in the Q&A but managed to ask him afterwards. He said “Remote Play from wireless hotspots? It’s included in the 1.6 update“.
icruise @ Mar 22nd 2007 1:30PM
This is actually not a surprise. The Japanese press release for 1.6 has been out for a while, and IGN reported that Remote Play from hotspots would not be in the update. And just for the record, Sony NEVER promised that the functionality would be in this particular update. That is entirely based on that comment by Harrison, which could have been misinterpreted, or maybe he was simply wrong.
It's a pretty solid update (I can finally use Remote Play on my 20GB PS3 for one thing) but nothing earth-shattering.
Tom Kiss @ Mar 22nd 2007 3:37PM
Well.
I asked the question to the man himself. I did say external access, and mentioned from 'outside the home'.
In his answer he clarified the question, by saying "Remote Play from wireless hotspots? It’s included in the 1.6 update". If he misunderstood the question, fair enough.
I'm left feeling sorely disappointed though.
quest1962 @ Mar 22nd 2007 3:17PM
This reminds me of a story from 20 odd years ago, when cordless phones were just becoming widely available.
While discussing that the range of the phones was "about 1000 feet," my boss actually said this.
"What if you want to call someone down the street? Or across town?"
Makes me wonder.
PS . . . Do we even HAVE PSP HotSpots here in the US?
Tye @ Mar 22nd 2007 4:25PM
I've downloaded and tested remote play from access points today and it DOES WORK.
First you'll need to re-associate the PSP with the PS3 in the settings. It will create a new wireless profile in your PSP called PLAYSTATION 3 for direct wireless access.
However, if your PS3 is set to Remote Play & connected to the internet and you attempt access from an access point, it WILL WORK. Lag is noticably larger but it works.
In addition to this change, you will also notice you can see your PS3 demos in the "game" section of the XMB - and if you attempt to run them you will be given the message that the program is incompatible with remote play. Presumably there will be something in the future that is compatibly.
Way to jump the gun everybody..
Liquidus @ Mar 22nd 2007 6:55PM
Umm I don't know what PS3Fanboy is talking about regarding the Remote Play not working through Wifi Access Points as I can access my PS3 from down the street from my buddies access point.
Mairin @ Mar 22nd 2007 11:07PM
Liquidus,
What are you talking about? I tried to connect to my PS3 using my neighbor's access point. It tells me 'No PS3tm systems were found.'
Andrew Yoon @ Mar 22nd 2007 10:00PM
This really seems to be inconsistent. It may be because so many people are trying to use the service. Hopefully, the glitches will be ironed out soon enough.
ECCO @ Mar 23rd 2007 12:51AM
same as me no ps3 was found. Please explain how you did it again?
Ryan @ Mar 23rd 2007 6:03AM
Interesting. Even though it's glitchy it is a positive development that at least some people are able to connect. I'll keep trying. To everyone who has made it work: are you using a wired 20GB version or a wireless 60GB PS3?
Liquidus @ Mar 23rd 2007 1:40PM
I'm using a 60GB and I have no problem, you guys know that your PS3 must be in Remote Play Mode for this to work right?
Ryan @ Mar 23rd 2007 5:11PM
Just hooked up my 60GB to my router with a long ass ethernet cable from work. Walked around the 'hood and tried 4 hotspots. No joy. Only at my own hotspot does it work. The rest give me that all too familiar "No PS3 systems were found" message. Very curious. And shitty.
Ryan @ Mar 24th 2007 11:12AM
Tye and Liquidus, what kind of router are you using to connect your PS3 to the Internet? Maybe we can figure out the settings/brands that work. I emailed Sony asking for help, but I'm not holding my breath.
Liquidus @ Mar 24th 2007 12:05PM
LOL, I'm using a ghetto Siemens Speedstream 6250 router and I run an Ethernet wire from it to my PS3, my PSP system is registered with my PS3 as well as Activated in the Personal Management Menu online. My PS3 is also activated.
Tye @ Mar 24th 2007 12:24PM
The PS3 is wired through a Linksys router (Cisco Systems) & the PSP was used through a Linksys wireless access point as well.
I suspect there may be something you need to configure w/your firewall setting on the router the PS3 is connected through.
I work for a major electronics retail chain, and have been through a few routers in my day - I will only sell Linksys now.
nynja @ Mar 25th 2007 1:10AM
1.60 update did not screw up my remote play, just had to reconfigure my PS3's remote play settings and re-register my PSP. See post # 11 by Tye.
As for more lag, I did not notice any significant change. Did you check the connection settings? Try setting it to 5 while you navigate the system and before u watch a video or listen to music, set the connection to a lower number for better quality.
nynja @ Mar 25th 2007 2:31AM
Nothing earth shattering, just a slew of new functions;
BIG updates (requests from fans)
- Remote Play over Access Point (AP): You can now use the remote play feature from a PSP system via an access point. You can establish a remote play connection with a PS3™ system that is not equipped with the wireless LAN feature (20 GB model).
- Precision Zoom: You can automatically enlarge to optimal viewing size the area on the screen where the pointer is located.
- Full Size Keyboard: You can now use a full-size on-screen keyboard to enter text.
- Background Downloading: Support for background downloading of data has been added. Select up to 6 games to consecutively download while using the PS3, watching videos, surfing Internet, browsing PS store, listening to music or playing offline games.
- Folding@Home (though not sure if was request from fans): You can now download and use the Folding@home™ program. Folding@home™ is a distributed computing project that is run by Stanford University. The goal of the project is to research protein folding mechanisms in the hope that this will lead to medical treatments for related diseases. Using the Folding@home™ program, you can participate in this project over the Internet. Note that the program must first be downloaded and installed on your PS3™ system.
New options in XMB:
- Support for playback of BD-RE (Blu-ray Disc Rewritable) ver 3.0 has been added.
- The PS3™ system can now automatically detect an HDMI connection to a TV. If the PS3™ system is turned on with an HDMI cable connected, the screen for switching video output settings will be displayed automatically.*
- Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, Chinese (Simplified) and Chinese (Traditional) have been added as options in [System Language] under [System Settings].
- You can now select the character set to be used for file names under [System Settings] > [Character Set].
- [Enable WMA Playback] has been added as an option under [System Settings].
- [Disc Auto-Start] has been added as an option under [System Settings].
- You can now restore backed up data to another PS3™ system under [System Settings] > [Backup Utility].
- You can now register a keyboard and a mouse under [Accessory Settings] > [Register Bluetooth® Device].
- [Remote Play Settings] has been added as an option.
- Support for playback of DSD (Direct Stream Digital) discs has been added.
- Motion JPEG and AVCHD (.m2ts) have been added as playable formats.
- [Download Management] has been added as a feature.
- [Start New Chat] has been added as an option.
Ryan @ Mar 25th 2007 4:47PM
Thanks.
Tye, which Linksys router are you using?
Ryan @ Mar 25th 2007 1:16PM
nynja: The question isn't 'why did it screw up my remote play?', since it still works like before. My question is, how do I get the advanced features working? (Specifically, accessing PS3 from wifi hotspots outside my house.) Lag is not a problem for people using Remote Play close to their PS3. Sorry for multiple posts, just wanted to clarify...