Amazon Black Friday/Thanksgiving Deals

- Amazon have setup pages for their Black Friday deals and some great gaming bargains are expected.
- Infact, they have announced the 40GB PS3 could be yours for $139 on Thursday November 22nd if it is the most popular choice in the "Customers Vote" promotion. Make sure you get there and vote!
- Amazon Black Friday Deals
- Amazon "Customers Vote" Deals

PS3 Firmware 2.00

- The Official PlayStation Blog brings word of the new 2.00 version of the PS3 firmware:

Hi everyone. Here’s a preview of the next PLAYSTATION 3 firmware update (2.00) scheduled to release within the next few days. This update contains features that will allow you to receive news directly from us on everything PlayStation, enhance the way you access and organize your media, and allow you to customize your XMB in new ways.

Here’s a closer look at the new features:

You’ll notice [a new] icon in the Network category of the XMB. This is the Information Board.

Once activated, you’ll notice scrolling headlines in the upper right-hand corner of your screen. We’ll be delivering the latest news on new games, PLAYSTATION Store updates, hardware, accessories and lots more through the Information Board. Click on the Information Board icon and you’ll be able to see all of the headlines and click through for more detail. The headlines and associated stories will be updated on a regular basis. You can choose not to display the Information Board, but you never know what you might miss, so I’d recommend keeping it on.

We’ve added a nice enhancement to Remote Play called Remote Start, to use Remote Play locally or from a Wi-Fi hotspot, you needed to make sure that your PS3 was on. With Remote Start this is no longer necessary. As long as your PS3 is in standby mode, you’ll be able to turn your PS3 on remotely via the PSP. You can then use Remote Play to access media on your PS3, and when you’re finished you can put your PS3 back into standby mode.

Another feature we’ve added with this update is the ability to set themes on your PS3. Themes will change the whole look of your XMB; the background, icons, and in some cases sounds on your XMB will completely change. We will be providing themes on PlayStation.com and through the PLAYSTATION Store. Once you have downloaded a theme, under Settings go to Theme Settings, select Theme and then choose a theme to display or install a new theme. We are also providing the ability for you to get creative and make your own original themes.

We’ve also added a new way to organize your photos and music on the PS3 - you can now create custom playlists for all of your music and photos.

Finally, regular readers of this blog may have noticed that I’m using a new avatar. You will see that logo above on your XMB representing the new PLAYSTATION Network category. You’ll find the PLAYSTATION Store and Account Management in this category.

We’ve added several other features in this update. I’ll soon be back with more details with a quick video demo of some of the new features.

As always thanks for all of your support and feedback.

PS3 Firmware 1.90

- From Joystiq:

"Firmware 1.90 is infecting Japanese PS3s as you read this. Symptoms of 1.90 - helpfully deciphered at NeoGAF - include:

* XMB backgrounds
* Move games in XMB up and down
* Eject games, CD's and movies from XMB by pressing triangle, and selecting "Eject Disk"
* Force 24Hz output for Blu-ray over HDMI
* Change the frequency of music to either 44.1, 88.2, or 176.4 kHz
* Change the PS3 video settings in-game
* Change the output settings - like the upscaling options and smoothing - while you're playing PS and PS2 games
* Bookmark function in the file menu of the web browser

Emoticons and XMB backgrounds all in one day? While that's great for Japanese PS3 owners, ThreeSpeech says the update will be available in Europe tomorrow, SCEA's Patrick Seybold has said we can expect news on the firmware "early [this] week", and PSN's Eric Lampel said the update is "coming soon." We'll be sure to give you a full rundown of the (real) release notes as soon as we find 'em."

PSP Plays Nice (Remotely) With PS3

- From Engadget:

"Just released in Japan, Sony's 3.50 firmware for the PSP should making the global rounds soon enough. That, coupled with the latest PS3 firmware update, means you've just scored "Remote Play" functionality -- access to videos, music, and pictures on your home PS3 running 1.80 -- over the Internet. In other words, you can stream media but can't actually play games remotely. The update also includes an RSS Channel Guide but we know it's the remote play you want. The new firmware should already be available via your PSP's Network Update option even though many of Sony's download sites are still pegged at version 3.40."

PS3 Firmware 1.8 Tomorrow: 1080p Upscaling

- From Engadget:

Hot on the heels of an 80GB Korean-bound (and US, too?) PlayStation 3 comes news that Sony is planning on seriously upping the abilities of the PS3 with a forthcoming firmware update. Compared to minor changes that have occurred in the past, this one looks to be fairly substantial, so we'll cut to the chase and give you the skinny. First off, firmware v1.80 will enable "upscaling of PlayStation / PlayStation 2 games and DVD movies up to a full 1080p when viewed on a compatible HDTV set." Of course, that "up to" bit frightens us a bit, but we'll take any progress we can get. Moving on, PSP users will enjoy Remote Play on their PSP across the internet, which will allow them to "access their PS3 anywhere in the world where a broadband internet connection is available." Additionally, owners can now view multimedia stored on a DLNA-enabled media center PC "seamlessly," and there will even be an option to print images stored on the console's HDD or inserted media to a "selection of Epson printers." The best part: it's out tomorrow.

The Game Onion: Gaming Stories That Fell Through The Cracks

- Weekly World News a reliable, infallible source of fact? The Colbert Report full or Truthiness? If you believe that then you'll love the in depth reporting over at The Game Onion.
- Go check that bad boy out.