Rumor: Firmware 2.40 will include in-game XMB and trophies

by Jem Alexander { May 30th 2008 at 9:00AM }

A rumor? Really? Let's be honest, here; this is all but confirmed. The general gist is that a document was sent out to developers yesterday detailing the next firmware update. Some sites, such as VideoGaming247 and Gaming Age, have seemingly been told a few of the details by inside sources and the word is spreading like wildwire. Even Insomniac's James Stevenson popped up in the NeoGAF thread to lend credence to the rumor and Jason Dobson over at Joystiq has also confirmed the news via his sources. There's no official word, obviously, so you're going to have to take their word for it.

Firmware 2.40 will apparently include in-game XMB and 2D XMB trophies. If true, this may be the firmware update that shuts the fanboys up. As for when it's coming, no-one really knows. Though there is a rumor that it will be out pre-MGS4 in order for the game to take advantage of the trophy system. Now that one is a rumor, so don't be surprised to see MGS4's release come and go without any word on 2.40. We're hoping to see an announcement soon. If we find out anything more, we'll be sure to let you know.

Tags: 2.40, firmware, firmware-2.40, in-game-xmb

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

adolson @ May 30th 2008 9:18AM

I thought this all along, but only based on that interview and the thing on the site that got pulled.. If this happens, which I think it will, especially now with devs chiming in, then I'm really happy about it. Can't be too far off, unless they release 2.36, 2.37, 2.38, 2.39, which they may.. But hopefully not. :)

JoJo @ May 30th 2008 9:49AM

LOL... damn... all them releases.. i hope not too!

al @ Jun 17th 2008 7:27PM

THIS IS TIME FOR ALL SONY FANS TO UNITE!!! All of the 360 fanboys, beware of your DEMISE! *evil laugh*

jason @ Jun 18th 2008 3:31AM

hope it displays the time somwhere with this new update

Justin @ May 30th 2008 9:19AM

Check this though:

http://www.videogaming247.com/2008/05/30/rumour-firmware-240-to-r
elease-in-june/

Videogaming247 has learnt that the upcoming in-game XMB - heavily rumoured to be included in PS3’s Firmware 2.40 - may not work with all PS3 titles, and that user-music and Trophies functionality is only being included as an option for Sony developers from this point on.

By point:

* Sony’s currently going through PS3’s library to check whether or not in-game XMB’s full compatible. While it’s expected that the the new menu system, in-game messaging, and so forth, will work with virtually all games, for a minority of titles the current black menu screen will be retained. It’s not known yet which games, if any, won’t be able to use in-game XMB.
* The user-music functionality is only included in the new development tools, which have now gone out to coders. This means that existing games won’t support it unless they’re patched. That’s right: you won’t be able to play GTA IV with your own music unless Rockstar updates the game, if what we’ve been told this morning is true.
* Same for Trophies. They tools required to add these are only just in the hands of developers, which means it’s going to be some time before you see the feature appear in a major game.
* Some aspects of the XMB, such as the photo viewer, won’t be available in-game after the 2.40 Firmware update. If you select these features in-game, you’ll be asked if you want to drop out of your game to access them.

There’s still no release date for Firmware 2.40 as yet, with Sony sticking to “summer” for now. We’ll have more soon, hopefully.

Vincent @ May 30th 2008 9:19AM

Omg that would be awesome!!

Reymo @ May 30th 2008 9:19AM

Cant wait for that release, bring it home FTW SONY :D.

"Dey took er jebs!"

Robert @ May 30th 2008 9:21AM

Hopefully it is true and has a near release date, by the way, when I saw that image the first thing to come to my mind was a mad face ancient artifact, more than a trophy

Dr. Strangepork @ May 30th 2008 9:22AM

Do you think there is anything that could ever really shut up a fanboy?

Nathan-DTS @ Jun 6th 2008 10:26AM

lol I chuckled at that part in the article "this may be the firmware update that shuts the fanboys up". We still have Home to complain about (god damn you sony for rejecting my beta application).

Wilester @ May 30th 2008 9:34AM

Hey Jem, it's "rumour". You're a disgrace to your country. :D

MrAlex @ Jun 2nd 2008 2:52PM

Eh... I dont care so much as long as he doesn't write color, from the 'USA spelling made easier book of english'

Archon @ May 30th 2008 9:55AM

As Lonestar @ NeoGAF noticed, this firmware will add support for Blast Processing as well.

reson8er @ May 30th 2008 10:04AM

SEGA called, they want their joke back.

baby sea tuna @ May 30th 2008 10:06AM

Trophies will only really be worthwhile if they can figure out a way to implement them into EVERY single game. Otherwise, it's not really worth the time it's going to take to develop and integrate them, and you'll end up seeing it in like 15% of the software (see also: camera functionality, decent SIXAXIS controls).

reson8er @ May 30th 2008 10:47AM

Well, since its already being done on 360, I think you'll see close to 100% adoption for trophies. I mean its really the same thing isn't it.

The real question is; Will they retro-fit trophies into past games? Now THAT will probably be close to zero, unless Sony has been talking to the publishers to work out something (which is highly doubtful considering Sony's track record with things of this nature).

If it IS done, it could breathe some new life into some games sitting on the self. But I won't be holding my breath.

adolson @ May 30th 2008 1:36PM

IF they do retro-fit games I've already completed, I won't be going back over them again... If it somehow scans my save files, that'd be sweet. But I won't get my hopes up.

Jerses @ May 30th 2008 10:11AM

so i have to wait like 2 or 3 months for this update and hope devs make a patch for my game? what about my ps1 games? will they make this patch? or every downloable game will have a patch? Im guessing but we wont see any game with this in-game xmb working in 3 months after the update release. ( only MGS4 of course).

reson8er @ May 30th 2008 10:48AM

PS1 and PS2 games will NOT have trophies, really how is it even possible?

Nate @ May 30th 2008 11:34AM

If you're talking about the in-game XMB, it's not a game software thing... it's an OS thing. basically it'll either overlay the game with the XMB for chat etc, or perhaps just switch to another screen while the game runs (presumingly you'd pause the game using in-game controls).

Terrence @ May 30th 2008 10:21AM

Developers have had tools for the trophy system for HOME since forever ago. This "2D trophy" stuff... is it completely unrelated from the HOME trophies, or is it just the same thing represented via the XMB?

Livi70590 @ May 30th 2008 10:40AM

Think though, Burnout Paradise's in-game custom Soundtrack is coming out at 'the end of June'. Why would they be doing this if Sony are creating In-game XMB? I think we'll b waiting quite a while. Possibly until LitteBigPlanet is launched.

Jtenma @ May 30th 2008 10:50AM

And that right there totally debunks this rumor...

This rumor has been proven false.

reson8er @ May 30th 2008 10:52AM

Umm not necessarily. The Burnout team may have already had this in development before they received word on the release schedule for 2.4. If that was the case, even with custom soundtracks coming, there is no reason for them to undo their already in process development. I'm sure the features can co-exist, they are not dependent on one another.

Mattchewie @ May 30th 2008 11:31AM

its separate from home. Since HOME is an opt-in service, I might be a user that wants a trophy but doesn't want to use HOME.

ON another note, I hope the "might not work on all titles" blurb from vg247 is directed at trophies and in game music.

I think the ability to get to xbm in game really needs to be in all titles and done in such a way where xmb is just a "layer" your accessing.

Nate @ May 30th 2008 11:32AM

Angry trophy wants in-game XMB now!

True_Darknight @ May 30th 2008 11:36AM

I don't get as to why just now is it even possible. I've been using my own music on High Velocity Bowling since the beginning. I'm guessing it has to do with the messaging factor... cause music is doable outside of 2.40. And did i not post something about 2.40 before MGS4??? Oh yes yes I did!!! and being thet Kojima is a God to Sony, I bet he had the firmware from like April :-)

Ambarato @ May 30th 2008 11:54AM

Great! Can't wait! Now I wonder what happens when 13 million people (according to vgchartz) try and download a firmware update at the same time?

John S @ May 30th 2008 12:35PM

I don't know if it's just me but I saw the picture first, and I think it totally looks some masked dude with crappy graphics. Then when I read the title, I was able to make it out as a trophy with crappy graphics haha.

Robert @ May 30th 2008 6:22PM

no, you are not alone, read comment #6 :-)

B-way @ May 30th 2008 1:19PM

Did anyone ever think that the reason custom soundtracks were coming to Burnout in June is BECAUSE thats when the 2.40 update is getting released? Criterion's probably had access to the updated dev kit (just like most of the other devs) and their implementation of custom soundtracks won't work until the firmware update hits.

Devin @ May 30th 2008 3:28PM

That's what I was thinking. Who says it's an in-house thing? Unless of course Sony wouldn't let them announce it unless it was.......so who knows....I'll hope for the best......

grognard66 @ May 30th 2008 3:40PM

While XMB in game will be welcome this is too little, too late. These features (both XMB and Trophies) had to be in the design docs before launch to have any relevance. This late in the console cycle there is already an existing game library that is not compatible with these features which will lead to a segmented feature library and limited adoption by third parties. These developers are not going to go back and spend any resources patching their games when many of these titles realized disappointing sales.
Hopefully, Sony will have learned their lesson and actually have a fully realized feature set before launch for the PS4.

Meximan @ May 30th 2008 4:17PM

The PS3 is supposed to have a 10 year life cycle. It's only been a year and a half... There is no "too late" I'd rather have it "late" than never. This isn't going to "segment" the PS3's game library, In-game XMB isn't necessary to play games, it is a great feature, but nothing is going to stop people from playing PS3 games from the "Pre-In-Game-XMB" era.

KarlW @ May 30th 2008 5:29PM

Actually, developers have been pretty good at updating their 'old' titles so far. See Resistance and MotoStorm.

Quite a lot of what we have now with the PS3 was added in firmware updates, and it works fine. Besides, it's not like the PS3 is at its half-life: all games created from here on will probably support in-game XMB. The library segmentation will be small. Very small indeed.

flubba @ May 30th 2008 4:11PM

Or the devs has allready had access to the new library for some time and only had to wait for Sony to finish FW2.40.
I allways had a suspicion that Criterion waited with user music until Sony's FW update.

Coster @ May 30th 2008 6:11PM

What do you mean trophies?

CrazyCooling @ May 30th 2008 6:59PM

Well if this rumor is true ill be going back to some of the earlier titles like R&C and AC to collect them whilst i listen to BFMV IG-XMB FTW

Dominic @ May 30th 2008 8:35PM

What are these trophie things???

Mickey @ Jun 1st 2008 2:51PM

Trophies are like XBox 360 Achievements, you get them for doing certain things in games. For example simple ones like 'Complete the game' to harder ones like 'Kill 150 bad guys in 5 minutes'

Unlike XBox 360 however, these wont give you points to add to a gamer score, these are just for proof that you did something for bragging rights.

They add replay value to a game, because how many games have you finished and said 'I'm done' without getting 100%. There could be an acievement for getting that 100% which makes you replay it.

modelvillage @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:10AM

What a pointless enhancement not to mention a complete rip off of xbox achievements.

cliff @ Jun 8th 2008 1:04AM

if i was working for SCEA i would hav fired alot of people. thank goodness i dont work for them,. this is what i told my friend a couple of months ago i said if SCEA would have done this from the jump none of ths complaning would have took place at all the PS# would have been the next best commin thing next to the XBOX360 by having the in-game XMB. another friend hipped me to another great point somthing i havent thought of in this way before he says "Lets jest say that sony did do every thing to the ps3 ,the thing all the fans are talking about right to this day all he fetures . the ps3 would not have came out in 2007 it would have came in the holiday season . and i said that make sence. then i told him there is only one thing that the people are demanding. he said whats that? I said IN-GAME XMB. Everything else is agiven ,done deal. so why isn't something as simple as this not a standerd for the ps3. before i bought my ps3 i owned 3 xbox360s they all died on me so i purchased my neww ps3,

cliff @ Jun 8th 2008 1:06AM

i continue., so any way i thought i upgraded from dud to a stud but i tured out that the stud was jest ad duddy as the dud. told my friend the exact same thing if and when they do give us in game XMB that is the iceing on the cake thet item is going to shut up alot of people even me because its the only thing we all realy want.