PS3 3.41 Update
Nothing greatly interesting here. I heard there was a bug in this release when replacing HDD’s when using this version, which has since been updated but no version number increase.
The two changes I can see are;
- the beginnings of “You may like” which is going to suggest ways you can spend more money, based on the money you have spent so far.
- Incremental firmware updates, so you don’t need to download the full thing (about 160mb for 3.41) every time. I imagine this will only apply for some updates, an update for 4.0 would be the full thing…but who am I to say.
It has been a while
Well, its been quite some time since my last post, so I thought I would at least add something.
Due to my house move, I have used most of my spare time packing. After moving in I was without Internet and was forced to use my spare time for unpacking….great.
Either way, since I’ve been browsing today, I see there has been a PS3 update, PlayStation Plus updates announced for August & September, several PS3 store updates, uTorrent 1.0.something for the Mac, several anime episodes I have not yet seen, broadband usage now shown by my ISP (yay I get to see what I really use), a steam client update which at a glance seems to fix an obvious “bug” and I know there is more, but not for now. I’ll try and post stuff on the useful bits of the web over the last couple of weeks, just to catch up, if I think its interesting.
PlayStation Plus
Announced at E3, PlayStation Plus is a new subscription service to the PlayStation Network.
At release, I subscribed a year, costing me £39.99, the same as an Xbox Live Gold subscription for the year (from Microsoft directly). So, what did this get me (me personally, which I now own and have downloaded, not everything it offered)?
Free Games (usual price in brackets)
- Little Big Planet (£19.99?)
- WipEout HD – PS3 (£13.99)
- Destruction Derby – PS one (£3.99)
- Fieldrunners – minis (£3.99)
- Age of Zombies – minis (£3.99)
Game Packs
- Killzone 2 Game pack (£4.79)
Other stuff
- An orange icon next to my name
What would I have purchased even without the subscription?, well just WipEout HD. I would not have got the minis or PS one content att all, if I didn’t own a PSP though. I really don’t like looking at those graphics, stretched to 1080p on my 42″ television.
So far there have been no additions to this since release, however I do recall reading somewhere, this would not be a weekly thing like the rest of the games on the PlayStation store, but this would be a monthly update. Looking at what I’ve got so far it a bit meh.
Although the collection has been slim so far, I am still on the fence as to whether or not there will be a renewal, obviously being 1 year away things are likely to change.
Under the Account Management -> Transaction Management -> Services List, it seems to suggest that both WipEout and Little Big Planet expire at the end of the year, when my PS+ sub expires..really hope this is not the case.
What else?
Automatic updates. I find it strange this is a paid feature, but that’s not the point here. I downloaded WipEout HD and upon opening it told me there was an update. Instead of doing it then I decided to leave the update and turn off the console. 2 days later I come back and it asked me to download this update. I would have thought, during this 48 hour period, the auto-update might have done something.
Sony don’t want to take my money :(
It’s disappointing that it seems sony’s PlayStation 3 store can’t handle the demand of this weeks store updates. Here I am trying to buy the MW2 Stimulus package and being presented with an unhelpful “An error has occurred (80023103)”.
I, maybe, almost grabbed a free code thanks to GameTrailers on twitter/Facebook. The codes seem to have gone in under 5 seconds, I even plugged in a keyboard, never mind.
Lets hope this problem gets sorted soon, I really want to spend money on things that seem a little over-priced (old packs were £7.99, new is £10.99), and knowing my luck will decide I don’t want to use.
Update: After closing on 3 hours of trying, its downloading, although there are 7 versions to choose from, each different depending on your Disc ID.
