PS3 2.50 firmware adds Flash 9 support

By Tom Bramwell Published 14 October, 2008

Plus some other unannounced details.

PlayStation 3's upcoming 2.50 firmware includes support for Flash 9 via the console's web browser alongside various changes announced yesterday.

Eurogamer has also been told that you'll be able to see optional EXIF (exchangeable image file format) information while viewing photos.

And finally for the things that weren't mentioned yesterday, the Y and Z and Q and A keys have been remapped for the German on-screen keyboard. Gut.

Things we already knew about firmware 2.5:

  • Pads and the PS3 itself now have tweakable power-save settings for turning off after a period of inactivity.
  • You can tell the PS3 to power down once it's finished downloading or installing content.
  • In-game screenshots can be taken in compatible games.
  • It enables high-quality mode for the official PS3 Bluetooth headset.
  • The Trophy interface has been improved, so you can see you and your friends' progress more easily.
  • Friends now have their last login time listed.
  • Videos now have a scene search feature.
  • There's a button on the PlayStation Store frontpage for redeeming codes.

Read more about all of that in yesterday's update, which also details PSP firmware 5.00.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (26) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bad09 #1 3 years ago

    Redtube FTW \o/

    *cough* er sorry *cough*

  • superjag86 #2 3 years ago

    Flash - woo!

  • tobsen #3 3 years ago

    "Friends now have their last login time listed."

    Brilliant, even less privacy - why do Sony think that I want each and every of my PSN buddies to be able to completely track my gaming habits? When is that "invisible mode" for PSN coming? That's the only thing that's really needed.

  • Uhohpolio #4 3 years ago

    Yay, a stalking feature, what is this? Xbox live?

  • Darren #5 3 years ago

    Nice that the PS3 will soon have the option to turn the console off after downloading something (useful if you have to leave for work) and that controllers will be turned off after a period of non-use but, especially in the case of the latter, I cannot believe that it took two years for someone at Sony to realise this was a "good" thing to have. I mean the auto-power off feature for the controller should have been there from Day One IMO.

    Also it's great that the PS3's browser will finally get support for Flash 9 as it means it should be more compatible with websites and finally play those embedded videos many of them use.

    When is this update out? Usually the time between Sony announcing them and the firmwares being available to download is really short... I'm assuming it's sometime this week... perhaps tomorrow?
    Edited by 1 at 14/10/08 @ 12:52

  • Dizzy #6 3 years ago

    >what is this? Xbox live?

    You can turn this off in Live BTW.

  • The_Inquisitor #7 3 years ago

    That's great about the tweakable power saving options. I've always felt the pad stays on too long when inactive for my liking. I'm going to cut it right down to something like what the 360 pads are currently... I dunno 10 minutes?

  • JohnnyWashnGo #8 3 years ago

    Flash 9?

    Hurray for a portable hand-shandy on the commute to work ;)

    But seriously, who the hell uses the PSP for watching flash vids?
    The browser is appalling and a memory hog to boot.

  • Beano #9 3 years ago

    "Brilliant, even less privacy..."

    I agree. Nice to see Sony continue to expand on the PS3 functionality, but we really need some kind of privacy settings like the 360!

    The "scene search" functionality is great on PSP... curious how it will cope with 1080p material over UPnP ;)

  • Beano #10 3 years ago

    "When is this update out?"

    My bet is also on tomorrow ;)

  • Psiloc #11 3 years ago

    Wow, it's now a very interesting update, I've wanted this for a while but assumed it would never happen. Hope it's out soon.

  • septimus #12 3 years ago

    If they are on your friends list, what does it matter if it shows your last login time? Never bothered me on Live, in fact it was sometimes quite useful.

  • Psiloc #13 3 years ago

    Actually, what's the source for this news? Can't find any mention of it elsewhere.

  • Arwin #14 3 years ago

    Aren't they usually out on Tuesday? Hmm. So either tomorrow then or next Tuesday?

  • Steroyd #15 3 years ago

    Brilliant, even less privacy

    Wait what why does this even matter in terms of privacy? o_O

    At least it makes it easier for me to chop people from my list when it gets full/filling up.

  • Chrono-Kun #16 3 years ago

    "Flash 9 means proper BBC iPlayer and YouTube support!"

    It does support youtube o_O Its just kinda annoying when it says 'not enough memory' when I'm in the middle of watching something.

    Still... at least I don't have to watch my anime on youtube now. Veoh here I come

  • frombrosis #17 3 years ago

    I mean the auto-power off feature for the controller should have been there from Day One IMO.

    Couldn't agree more... it's like all this "basic" stuff got lost in the Blu-ray, Full HD craze when they were making the damn thing. Anyway, this is a top update for increasing the useability. Can't wait to update my PS3 when it comes out.

  • thetaxman #18 3 years ago

    yeah for porn lol

  • FrankCannon #19 3 years ago

    Think I'm going to hang fire on the update for a week in case it corrupts the hard drive like 2.4. Although that did enable me to buy a PS3 for £200 from ebay. Fitted a £35 120Gb HDD and now i'm laughing

  • Darren #20 3 years ago

    The PS3's functionality is improving nicely, shame that it's taking so long to add some basic features but I guess that makes it easier for Sony to test them rather than adding lots of things at once. It'll be interesting to see how the massively overhauled Xbox 360 dashboard fares come 19th November...

    Anyway, dunno about anyone else but I use my PS3 to as a hub for listening to my music through a surround sound system so I'd love to see Sony add some graphic equaliser/bass enhancer settings to tweak the sound plus the option to output music through all six channels instead of just stereo like the Xbox 360 does by default. I can switch to Multistereo via my amp's remote but it would be nicer to have it built into the PS3.

  • Artefx #21 3 years ago

    All I really want at the moment is a proper sleep timer so my ps3 doesn't stay on all night whilst i fall asleep watching PlayTV.

  • BigD #22 3 years ago

    its out in wild now, downloading as i type!

  • Greebo #23 3 years ago

    Is there a special setting to have the PS3 switch off when a download is completed?

    All I can see is an option for how long the PS3 will stay on idle before switching off. It mentions 'special conditions' where it will stay on, but these don't seem to include downloads . . .

  • Dr_Wadd #24 3 years ago

    Now I've found the right firmware update thread, d'oh, this update has broken my PS3's ability to see meda files on my Synology box. Looking at the Synology forums I`m not the only one in this situation. Hopefully either Sony or Synology will release an update soon to fix this.

  • ploom2 #25 3 years ago

    thanks to the new update I can no longer sign in unless the server has died during download and install of the new firmware

    Excellent

  • Greebo #26 3 years ago


    Answered my own question. You can set it to shutdown after download on the Switch Off option on the XMB.