September 1 and I was up late.  Very late.  You know how when things have a release date and they're generally held back until when it's about 5pm in California?  Well, not so with the firmware update for the PS3.  Version 3.00 became available at somewhere around 2am and I was alerted to it by Twitter.

So, I downloaded and installed it.  It is awfully pretty, but the problem with releasing the firmware upgrade on a Monday was that the premium software peripherals (animated, dynamic themes and new avatars) come out when the PlayStation Store is updated on a Thursday.  So you're left looking at the new PS3 wave with its sparkly particles, and can't really do a lot else.

The friends system has been remade and the info bar is gone, which is great because it was a bit shit anyway, and knowing how many online friends, mails and what-have-you is really helpful being there all the time.  I spoke to Xander about it and he said, "yeah, it's okay.  I haven't had a look at the TV thing though."  What TV thing?  Upon investigation indeed there is a new TV category in the XMB between the games and video sections.  Inside it has a link to the BBC iPlayer, which, for those who don't know, is an online service that allows you to watch BBC TV from the previous week or so.  Amezzin'!  The interface is reshaped for the PS3 and it works awfully well.  Nice work!

As for the rest of the stuff, we'll have to wait until those crazy new themes come out, won't we...