Overnight we posted about the then upcoming PlayStation 3 Firmware update, 3.70. That update has now been released for everyone to download, and presumably if you’re on PlayStation Plus you’ll have the notification that your PS3 has already downloaded it ready for you to install.
[drop2]One of the key features was what Sony were calling ‘Automatic Trophy Syncing’, a feature exclusive to PlayStation Plus. However, this isn’t what we expected – it basically just runs a full Trophy sync when the system’s off. Sure, this keeps your account a little more up to date than manually doing it, but it’s still nothing like the truly automatic nature of 360 Achievements.It’s odd why they haven’t really pursued this method – it’s much cleaner and quicker and means that your mates can instantly see which Trophies you’ve got. Presumably it’s a bandwidth issue rather than anything technical, but this new ‘auto sync’ really isn’t that impressive.
Of more use is the automatic save game upload for Plus subscribers, which will ensure that – once you’ve selected them – your save games will be pushed to the cloud in case you ever need to restore them, which is handy.
Apparently (the options are only available to Japanese owners just now so we can’t verify) 3.70 also includes menu options for PSP Remasters, the high def updates of classic PSP titles.  The options include the ability to switch from ‘normal’ to full screen (presumably some scaling), 3D on/off (with 1-7 depth adjustment) and Ad-hoc functionality.
Other features, available to all users, include the ability to send PSN Store recommendations to friends over PSN and a tweak to the US XMB layout to include the same ‘TV/Video’ column that European users will be used to. Other tweaks are rather techy – 3D support for Blu-ray 3D Java features and the ability to play back high-def audio like DTS-HD MA when viewing a 3D film.
Finally, 3D photos (in .MPO format) are viewable on the XMB and the Photo Gallery application, and they’ve reverted the Friends list back to proper alphabetical order.
Youles
I don’t really see the problem with this auto Trophy Sync thing, sure it’s not as good as the XBox equivalent but it’s an improvement, and will avoid delays for those that don’t sync very often as they can let the console do it automatically later on, and will be down automatically for those times when regular sync-ers forget.
Youles
* done not down. (Fail)
JesseDeya
Agreed. Having it auto-sync once per day is awesome and plenty for most people. The last thing you want mid online gaming session is to receive a trophy and then lag out as the system tries to do a full trophy sync.
Youles
Very good point about the lag…and most system crashes happen online (for me anyway), so it would be annoying for something to mess up during the sync and possibly lose the Trophy forever.
MrSpeedyGonzales
The PS3 gets lag when you get a trophy in singleplayer as well as multiplayer. I know this down to the developers, but it happens a lot more than on the xbox.
Youles
Oh really. Can’t say I’ve even noticed in my 1000+ trophies, they just sometimes take ages to appear.
DrNate86
I don’t see a problem with it either tbh. Syncing once a day is fine, and along with the automatic uploading of saves I think this is a very useful update.
beeje13
Same, i’m happy for any new features, at least its not a minor security or software improvement update.
Lewis Murray
I just hate how idiots are always comparing small differences between systems. Clearly the way PSN works and way Xbox Live work are architecturally different, when you sync your trophies on PSN, you are also dowloading any changes from all your friends lists. There is no way I want my game to lag because of this.
Sony solution is far superior, daily updates and downloads and installs when I am asleep.. PS+ is worth this by itself.
tonycawley
I think the issue with it is, that you’ll still have to sync to compare trophies with a friend if you’ve earned a trophy since the last auto-sync. Your ps3 decides if it needs to sync by checking if you’ve earned any trophies since the last sync. If you have, it will sync. So this update is useful, but not as good as it could be.
tom316
Don’t understand why the trophy sync thing has to be PS+ only.
nofi
So you sign up for PS+, I’d assume.
BritishBlue
Yes but it should be intrinsic to the console, as with XBL achievements, rather than some absurd form of PS+ “feature”. Cross game chat for PS+ members would be a worthwhile feature but auto trophy syncing? That’s just ridiculous.
theberzerka
Thank you nofi that made me chuckle.
JesseDeya
@BritishBlue:
I’d argue that online multiplayer should be intrinsic to the console, as with the PSN, rather than some absurd form of XBL Gold “feature”.
See what I did there?
This is just another nice feature of PS+ that adds functionality for subscribers without disadvantaging non-subscribers in any way.
Incidentally, cross game chat for just PS+ members would be stupid. Think about how that would fracture party chat (ie: the entire point of XGC) and you’ll see what I mean.
Workshed
@BritishBlue
I believe it’s only for PS+ as it’s part of the automatic update check that is only available if you’re on PS+.
tom316
This feature isn’t going to persuade anyone to sign up to PS Plus. IMO it’s kinda pointless, if it updated after each trophy then that would be useful.
tonyyeb
Means they get some income from their development work if more people sign upto Plus. I’m starting to think that any big new features might be coming just to Plus subscribers in the future. Thankfully for me I’m a paid up member.
Bilbo_bobbins
Thats what’s putting me off Sony now. If things start going that way, then I probably will be turning away from the PS3, I love Sony and the PS3, but I wont be paying for additional features that aren’t necessary. And to leave very loyal fans in the dark because they are too greedy, makes me annoyed.
JesseDeya
You’re hardly a “loyal” fan if you think £39.99 for £200.00+ worth of content AND a bunch of other benefits is Sony being greedy. PS+ hasn’t taken ANYTHING away from non-subscribers, it has simply added more for people who opt in.
tonyyeb
@Bilbo Thing is if you went to Microsoft you’ll be paying an annual fee too.
Workshed
@JesseDeya
Some of us don’t want to pay £39 when most of the content that becomes available on PS+ is stuff we’ve already bought, I don’t think that makes people less loyal ;)
tantalus_blank
@workshed
Exactly, I’ve already spent too much on the store for plus to be worth it. They are excluding early adopters of the store
Forrest_01
Not going to ‘@’ anybody here, but concur with the general opinion that not signing up to plus makes me no less loyal – It’s simply that outside of cloud saves (which due to the potential for YLoD should be available to all really IMO), plus offers nothing to me.
I simply have no use for games that I either own or have no desire in getting anyway (& that would ‘expire’ when my sub does), betas & demos don’t interest me in the slightest, I have not changed my avatar or home screen since owning my first PS3 & creating a profile, & the only thing of any interest to me in any way is the discounts (which is kinda pointless to pay for a plus sub just to get money off of stuff).
Additionally, my HDD does not have the spare space for the influx of crap that I wouldn‘t want every month.
Don’t get me wrong, I can see how it benefits others, it’s just not for me. & as mentioned above, that makes me no less loyal.
e8
@JesseDeya
I paid £425 for my ps3, some will have spent £500 at launch, is that not showing loyalty?
3shirts
It’s exactly what I feared PS+ would become. Instead of developing new features for all users, they use them to sell PLUS.
Watchful
But you’re not losing anything and as more network-based features are added, the cost of running the network (storage and bandwidth) goes up. That money has to come from somewhere, which I would suggest is one of the reasons cloud saves are, and will remain, PS+ only.
Buy a PS3, plug it in at home and you get a great set of network capabilities (including online multiplayer) for ‘free’. If at some point the PS+ features become something that for you become worth the subscription then you subscribe.
Bilbo_bobbins
I’ve unleashed something here. I am a very loyal Sony gamer, since the start, just because I don’t sign up to something and pay for it means I am anything less.
minerwilly
And yet again I 100% agree with you Mr 3shirts , i think PS+ is garbage and the free month trial thing only further confirmed my opinions of it .
I prefer to buy the PSN releases that i want on day one not have to sit and wait in the vain hope that it may be discounted or even given away “free” on PS+ . Does that make me less of a Sony fan ? I think not , ive had a PS in my living room constantly since 1995 and have never owned an Xbox .
a inferior race
We could be losing content though. Would this auto-update system been free for all if plus didn’t exist?
Lewis Murray
Microsoft give you bugger-all unless you pay for Xbox Live. Playstation already has loads for free…
mugsybalone
What’s the difference between the PS3’s automatic sync, and the 360’s? Does the 360 sync everytime you get an achievement or something?
Youles
I think so (not confirmed) however if you’re playing off-line then it’s no better really. I always sync before I switch off, and seeing as it’s not exactly hard work, don’t see what the problem is. Even though I am a PS+ subscriber, I won’t rely on this auto feature anyway…not if I’ve got some hard earned Trophies! :)
p9ul
The 360’s “syncing” is miles ahead of the PS3’s – you don’t have to wait or do anything yourself, its all done on the fly. Bringing up your own achievement list is also instantaneous when offline and I can’t understand why the PS3 is back is the stone age for this feature.
Trophy syncing and the in-game XMB need a serious overhaul, but yet again Sony give us an update that provide’s nothing more than half-arsed attempt features that very few are interested in or has been a staple of other consoles for years…. and don’t even get me started on cross game chat…
Youles
I see your point but I don’t have an XBox, so am not interested in a comparison – I mean, however this information is synced it would have zero bearing on me chosing either console. However, it is (albeit small) an improvement to the current system, so we should be pleased.
Although I’m a PS+ subscriber I do not think this should be exclusive to PS+ subscribers.
JesseDeya
Sony missed the boat in 2006 when they launched the PS3 without trophies already implemented. Although as an end user it might be hard to appreciate when trophy viewing and syncing seem a little slow, but it’s actually impressive all the extras they have added to the XMB and PS3 functionality over the past 5 years with only a small ram footprint allocated to the XMB.
It’s my understanding this is the main thing holding XGC back, the system wasn’t engineered to have that kind of overhead and for it to work well, something else would have to be sacrificed.
I imagine the PS4 won’t make the same mistake.
tom_lord
” Bringing up your own achievement list is also instantaneous when offline” it is on the PS3, doh!
“has been a staple of other consoles for years” – you mean console, singular, the wii doesn’t even have trophies/achievements yet you don’t have a go at them!
p9ul
The in-game XMB needs stripped back – there’s no point in showing us most of the contents when you’re told you have to quit the game before you can do anything else.
Another thing that really bugs me is why can’t the PS button close the in-game XMB on whatever page it happens to be on, rather than having to back out to the main page before you can go back to your game?
Youles
That’s a fair point…but not really related to the original Trophy discussion :)
Watchful
@JD “only a small ram footprint allocated to the XMB”
The 360 OS has only ever (to my knowledge) reserved 32MB of the 512MB available. The PS3’s GameOS (last time I saw reliable data) reserves 48MB of it’s more awkwardly arranged 256MB+256MB RAM (can’t remember if it all came out of the system RAM or a combination of both). That’s down from the >70MB it reserved at the time of its launch.
All outward appearances suggest that the PS3’s GameOS makes less efficient use of available system resources and network bandwidth. One obvious example, to bring this back on topic, being the amount of disk and network activity required to sync a single trophy.
mugsybalone
So, just to clarify, the 360 doesn’t actually have to sync, it’s just “there” when the achievement is awarded?
Watchful
Correct. For the user/gamer there is no notion of syncing Achievements; it happens automatically in the background at the time the ‘Cheevo’ is awarded or when you next connect to Xbox LIVE.
mugsybalone
Cheers. That certainly sounds like a better way of handling it. I really should get a 360 at some point, they seem to have the online side of gaming nailed.
moshi
Erm,whoop, now my meaningless trophies will be on show quicker for the world to see.
jason1971
not bothered
OllyBobs
Now not to be a killjoy, but that was a completely pointless comment wasn’t it? I think the trophy syncing is a decent update, although I really do wish that they would update the web browser, now that’s crap!
Bilbo_bobbins
another pointless feature for P+ in my opinion. Sony need to get their priorities in order and give us things people want.
ron_mcphatty
I just did the update the BBC iPlayer has vanished. I’ve heard about this on older FW updates, anyone know how to get it back?
Youles
Oh dear…not installed it yet but was hoping this update would show the improved BBC iPlayer App, not make it vanish!
ron_mcphatty
Ahh apparently the ps3 needs to confirm youre in the uk before it reappears again… God knows when this confirmation will take place! Oh well, to the pub!
Youles
Surely that’s a simple case of logging into PSN, no?
That can wait….pub you say?
job
done the update and have no iplayer 4od or itv ?
e8
You have to go to my channels, re-dload software & then it appears on list. (leaving my ch icon redundant. cant believe they sat at a table & came up with that.)
chall5
same here, no iPlayer, done the internet connection test and restarted and still don’t have My Channels – downgrade for me :(
moshi
Ooooh they have put all the iplayer/4od into one handy box
e8
but (like games) you should be able to press square & have apps go into my ch folder, or it has no purpose whatsoever.(which it doesn’t.)
wuntunzee
hmm, i don’t appear to have this My Channels column, only TV and Video, which has Love Film, MUBI, and iPlayer, and on Video all my video files. I used to have 4OD and ITV Player as well though…
e8
It’s the first icon in the tv/vid services column.
wuntunzee
thanks for trying e8.
If anyone else is missing the My Channels icon do an internet connection test and restart your PS3, this should trigger the My Channels icon to appear.
I think the main article should be updated with info like this, as I have seen quite a few people struggling like myself.
e8
I’m struggling to see why it’s there in the first place:)
e8
ps sorry wuntunzee, i misread you question, hence my lame advice.
tom_lord
I don’t get the beef with the auto-trophy sync, it’s an improvement, why the negativity? A step forward, no matter if its better/worse than a rival machine, is still a step forward nonetheless. No point berating which has the better features at this stage in their life-cycle and the PS3 does things that the XBox can’t so it’s all swings and round-abouts. We all the the differences.
tom_lord
*know
tantalus_blank
*sigh* I knew this would happen from the moment Plus was announced. I’d already spent crap loads on the store so it wasn’t really for me, but every new firmware feature from then on would be exclusive to it. I’m not sure if it’s worth signing up to a service to get £80 of stuff I don’t want, £80 of stuff I have, and £40 of stuff I might be interested in. Again Sony, just make a feature based plus subscription so I don’t have to waste my money
Youles
I know what you mean….I only really use the Cloud (which is awesome), background download and will activate the 2 new auto features for Trophy Sync and Game Save. The content & Minis haven’t been to my taste since PS+ started. HOWEVER, the last few months I’ve seen a difference, not with the content and Minis but discounts to things I would but like Limbo, KZ3 DLC etc. Starting to pay for itself now.
Youles
* “buy” not “but”. Godamn excitable fingers typing too quick.
e8
Agree upto kz3 dlc. If you have a game you enjoy & dlc comes out, you will buy it wk1, not wait on the off chance, that months down the road it’ll be p+ discounted. What they should do is either have a set time limit(made aware to p+ users) of when discounts will happen as sooon as dlc arrives, or discount it day1.
Youles
Yeah I do agree. I think that’s why I think PS+ content is only starting to be good now (for me). Previously they were discounting loads of stuff I already had! Perhaps that was part of it’s big launch discount.