According to anonymous sources of the shadow ninja variety, Sony is planning to unveil their newest PlayStation 3 firmware, version 2.4, sometime right around this year’s E3 Media and Business Summit.
The major improvements expected to be a part of this update include a "trophy system" to rival Xbox achievements, improved integration of social networking features, and in-game access to items in the PS3 Xross Menu Bar (XMB).
As you can see in the following leaked screenshot of what appears to be the PS3 trophy page, awards will be arranged in a tiered structure, and will consist of bronze, silver, gold, and platinum types. Platinum trophies will only be awarded after a player has collected all other trophies for a particular game. The other tiers are likely to correspond to achievements with varying degrees of difficulty, such as collecting 10/20/30 items or defeating 50/100/200 enemies, for example.
To go along with the new trophy system, firmware 2.4 will add user profile information, similar to Xbox Live’s Gamercard. The image below shows a user picture, trophy count, and player level (Sony’s substitute for Microsoft’s gamerscore), among other things. The final product will likely include a user’s PlayStation Network ID, as well.
Finally, a number of new XMB features will be accessible during gameplay. Here is a full list of those items:
* Friend category
* View, send, receive messages
* Manage downloads
* Set the vibration feature of the controller
* Sign in to PlayStation Network
* Register friends
* Manage Bluetooth devices
* Terminate the game
* Music category
* Use the system BGM (play custom music in-game)
* Work the system BGM operation panel
* Settings category
* Assign controllers
* View profiles
* Game category
* Set audio devices
* Use the voice changer
Remember, none of this has been confirmed or denied by Sony, so there is no way to be sure how much of the above information is accurate. I’m sure E3 will reveal everything, however.
