Last night during the Australian media launch for the PlayStation Move, Aussie PlayStation boss man Michael Ephraim made a throwaway comment that 75 per cent of the current functionality of the PS3 has been added since launch through firmware updates. Kind of makes you wonder how they could charge a grand for it at launch.
Having a look through the Wikipedia page for firmware updates, it’s really not an idle statement. From the Australian launch of the PS3 in March 2007, there have been continual upgrades, including things like the ability to play PSOne downloaded games, DLNA functionality, upscaling DVDs and Remote Play, all added before the end of 2007.
Version 2 of the software introduced in November 2007 added the PlayStation Network, and as version 2 continued to be upgraded, Blu-ray profile 2.0 became functional, DivX and XviD playback was added, as were trophies, VidZone, PlayTV support and Flash support in the internet browser.
And in the last 12 months or so, we’ve seen 3D support for games added, PlayStation Plus, Facebook integration, ABC iView and support for the Move motion controller, although we’ve also lost the ‘Install Other OS’ option.
As a whole, it’s a pretty huge change from the system that originally launched back in 2007. Ephraim claimed that it proved the PS3 was “future-proof”, and it’s hard to argue with the potential upgradeable firmware gives the console. It’s just a shame that it sometimes takes an age and completely screws up your gaming time…