PS3 OS/Interface

[Carl B]

I saw it today too. May be we were in the showroom at the same time also

That's what I meant, we can see individual users' photos under "User" but that's it. The rest of the "User" functions were not demonstrated (so we don't know what's in it really). He didn't even give concrete examples verbally.

Ok yeah, we're saying the same thing then. Man, I wonder if we were in the same room! Was someone filming it on a cameraphone in your session?

But that is interesting to think about - I wonder how often I may have walked by forum members, even Patsu here, without ever realizing it.

Which reminds me, maybe I'll put my DeanoC photo up on the blog.

PS - So Patsu, did you hear 'wave' sounds in the demo as well, or is that just in my head?

 

[Bad_Boy]

I know that the Orginal PS2 browser/OS has some kind of soothing oceanic wave sounds playing in the background, maybe a similar sound or the same sound? The waves in the background also seemed to be much more improved over the ones in the psp OS. Very nice touches.

I'm sure we will be able to change backgrounds with pictures and colors. It would be weird to have a psp handheld that does more than the ps3 in respects to customization.

I also remember the ps2 having easter eggs with the date/time relating to the blocks showing up on the screen, I wonder if the ps3 OS will have some minor easter eggs. I suppose they should finish the OS first before working about cool little things that dont effect the UI.

 

[Titanio]

Not sure if it's old or not, but the IGN Phil Harrison interview seems to confirm that you'll be able to record footage from your games, your achievements etc. as rumoured by PSM some time ago. You'll be able to store the video on your HDD or transfer it to your PSP to show to other people or whatever.

 

[Bad_Boy]

heres a very good video on the complete demonstration.
http://www.play-attitude.com/videosaffichage-36-Playstation-3-E3-2006---Dashboard-Playstation-3.html
*right click save as the " Télécharger la vidéo" part.

-to support 6-8 web browsing windows at a time in the final version
-buddy list (chat with your friends w/ keyboard or video chat)

Not sure if it's old or not, but the IGN Phil Harrison interview seems to confirm that you'll be able to record footage from your games, your achievements etc. as rumoured by PSM some time ago. You'll be able to store the video on your HDD or transfer it to your PSP to show to other people or whatever.

very cool news.

 

[Carl B]

Look at this crap, someone outright stole my photos and watermarked them for their own!

That really pisses me off...

XBD's random photo blog for the real deal, time stamps and all!

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Sue 'em for millions!

 

[rabidrabbit]

I also remember the ps2 having easter eggs with the date/time relating to the blocks showing up on the screen.

Did it? I've owned one from the launch and if it really did, then I've missed them completely!!! Then again, I don't think I've for a long time visited the setupscreen but to change the daylight savings time setting.

The PSP screen does change colour every month, which is cute.

 

[Carl B]

Ok I went over there (turned out to be ClubSkill) and basically went off. They have now added proper credit to their article. It's one thing to 'borrow' the pics, I mean obviously all of us do (though I wouldn't in an article), but to watermark them as your own...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

You'll have to take to marking your own pics I guess. Probably why they all do it!

 

[Carl B]

Yeah I was actually wondering if Flickr supported watermarks, but they don't it seems. I used Flickr anyway though since emailing from the show floor to the Flickr account would automatically go to the blog. Thanks for your support though Shifty! If I got a million from them, I'd buy you... a Toyota Yaris! (the vehicle being pushed at this years E3)

 

[patsu]

PS - So Patsu, did you hear 'wave' sounds in the demo as well, or is that just in my head?

I just got back from my E3 road trip. Wave sound ? I can't remember now 8^D
There seem to be some soft and vague background sound, but it felt like last year after the long drive.

 

[Asher]

I won't be able to judge til I use it myself...but I guess another word for "minimalistic" is "sparse" and that's the impression that I get.

There seems to be a lot of empty nothing-ness on the screen, whitespace if you will. I also don't like how stuff not highlighted appears to be blurry...

We'll see.

 

[Draikin]

Did they even try it on a middle-sized 480i TV ? everything is way too small.

 

[Carl B]

I won't be able to judge til I use it myself...but I guess another word for "minimalistic" is "sparse" and that's the impression that I get.

There seems to be a lot of empty nothing-ness on the screen, whitespace if you will. I also don't like how stuff not highlighted appears to be blurry...

We'll see.

Hmmm... well I guess that's a matter of personal preference, but my preference was that I like it.

Seriously it's basically 'PSP plus' UI on the TV.

PS - For those that do find it 'stark,' doubtless you'll be able to put up whatever wallpapers and such...

 

[aldo]

XBD,

One of your images is entitled:

"This ps3 is *real*! Its running warhawk in a private room"

The Inquirer says "they did not have one in a final box".

I sent them your link without any additional explanation and the author responded:

They are lying.

As I expected, a professional response from a top notch site.

It was swiped from a French site.

Also, it is kind of hard to run games with only a power and ethernet
cable into the back.

Lastly, that isn't a private room, it is a public demo box on the show
floor. I was there. In private demos, they don't have the things behind
glass bolted to the frame. I have been to a lot of private demos.

-Charlie

Anyway, just curious what the real story is on that photo.

-aldo

 

[Carl B]

XBD,

One of your images is entitled:

"This ps3 is *real*! Its running warhawk in a private room"

The Inquirer says "they did not have one in a final box".

I sent them your link without any additional explanation and the author responded:

As I expected, a professional response from a top notch site. Anyway, just curious what the real story is on that photo.

-aldo

LOL, well it's no French site it was swiped from - that's from my cameraphone.

(so now French sites have been stealing my photos also!?!?)

Listen, here's the deal as to prove the origins - first of all, no other site on the web will have that photo at a resolution higher than that on my photoblog - the same resolution as every other photo on my blog. If that's not enough, I'll upload the 2 megapixel shot of the thing later tonight (and such a shot will be the only one of it's kind, until it gets stolen as well). On top of that there's the time stamps. And if that's not enough, I'll upload the video footage I took where I walk around the console, take a shot of the power chord, the power strip, the receiver unit, the TV, the controller hooked up to the system, etc etc...

Now the video I took was of the Blu-ray demo booth, but whatever - same console.

Charlie doesn't know what he's talking about, as he so frequently doesn't.

I knew this was an important piece of news, coming from my forum background, so I went the distance to get the full deal on it, I can assure you.

As for the booths... man Charlie is such a fool, I just can't handle it any more...

The most recent addition to my blog - and granted it was a day after the fact - is of the exact booth where the PS3 was running Warhawk.

PS - Plus, I had several Sony reps confirm that the demos in those rooms were being run on the actual consoles, and had a Warhawk dev confirm the same thing. In my article on the matter, I go so far as to point out the exception to the booth demos being run on the console; the user interface demo that was running off a dev kit.

 

[aldo]

Thanks XBD. Great info.

Just as I thought. Those guys are such a joke.

 

[Carl B]

Thanks XBD. Great info.

Just as I thought. Those guys are such a joke.

It's ridiculous and infuriating all at once. I'm out for like five hours, but when I get back I'll be devoting the next several to the anti-Inquirer effort, and Charlie will be hearing from me personally on this. It's one thing to say that I'm lying - that I can handle - but saying the shot was stolen from a French site?

 

[aldo]

It's ridiculous and infuriating all at once. I'm out for like five hours, but when I get back I'll be devoting the next several to the anti-Inquirer effort, and Charlie will be hearing from me personally on this. It's one thing to say that I'm lying - that I can handle - but saying the shot was stolen from a French site?

LOL. You'll have to keep us updated on that exchange.

BTW, has anyone else broke the news on games running off actual PS3 consoles? If not, congratulations on breaking the story. Very cool.

-aldo

 

[patsu]

I won't be able to judge til I use it myself...but I guess another word for "minimalistic" is "sparse" and that's the impression that I get.

There seems to be a lot of empty nothing-ness on the screen, whitespace if you will. I also don't like how stuff not highlighted appears to be blurry...

We'll see.

I believe it is "sparse" and "empty" because it's also designed as a translucent overlay (on top of whatever screen you were on before you bring up the menu). I personally like it because such overlay arrangement can help to preview any config changes to the "original" screen. For other cases, just provide a default backdrop to the overlay to prevent confusion.

I have also heard some PSP users complain that overlays like this is hard to see on white background. I don't think we need to worry about this scenario because most background would be darker. White would be too glaring for a large TV screen. The icons are lit and shadowed at the same time. So it is viewable on black background (like my PSP).

The sparseness also helps in usability for layman. But you could be right. They should also provide an expert UI for quick navigation. I hope they allow us to customize the UI for quick access/short cuts.

Did they even try it on a middle-sized 480i TV ? everything is way too small.

This is an issue since we will be sitting 6 feet or more away from the TV screen. I think the icons should allow magnification (like Apple's Dashboard). The problem is too fundamental/obvious to be missed.

I hope they add:
(i) Mouse, keyboard shortcuts or any useful motion "gesture" to the interface.
(ii) Direct manipulation of the media (i.e., play currently selected songs at default sound level when the cursor pauses on the song for > 2 seconds, play all currently on-screen video thumbnails when the user pause the page for > 2 seconds, ...)