PS3 has turned so ugly

September 1, 2009 7:30 PM

PlayStation 3 firmware update 3.0 is truly a pile. Font size is ginormous on my 42" LCD (akin to going from 1024x768 to 640x480), icons are shilling for the PlayStation Network in every menu and there's a hideous update bar in the upper right-hand corner I can't figure out how to turn off. I wish I hadn't taken the plunge -- if you haven't, don't do it! Does anyone have solutions to mitigate this nightmare, which has turned the menus of my console and home theatre box into a janky-looking POS?
posted by porn in the woods to Technology (7 answers total)

I've got the same problem. You can, under the visual part of the system controls, turn off the "What's New" thing from being your first stop. Aside from that, I can't figure out how to turn off other things (like, say, the Store from being the dominant icon in games and video). On the other hand, to play online games, you pretty much have to accept each new firmware update, or you can't connect, it seems.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:45 PM on September 1, 2009

Best answer: There is no turning it off. There's no good way to downgrade even. And if you want to play online, or on games that come out in the next few months, you'll have to be fully updated anyway.

Bitch to Sony. It's pretty much the only option.
posted by Netzapper at 8:25 PM on September 1, 2009 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: the ps3 discussion boards are full of angry users so perhaps we'll see an update sooner than later. here's my message sent to sony:
--
What a crock of shit. PS3 now looks like cheap trash. Please roll things back visually to pre-3.0 firmware ASAP.

Your Faithful Toadie, PITW
posted by porn in the woods at 9:08 PM on September 1, 2009

If you don't like the sparklies, you can make a Japanese psn account and get the full-motion Afrika theme for free. The zebras will munch your desktop.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:26 PM on September 1, 2009

Under Themes in the settings, there's now a "Classic" theme, which, as far as I can tell, is the same as the pre-3.0 default XMB. Might help you.
posted by andrewcilento at 10:56 PM on September 1, 2009

Best answer: I'm using the Classic theming, and have dickered around with the colour and darkness settings so it's sleek and dark. I also do not connect automatically to the PSN, so all that junk isn't in the 'desktop'. The end result is a PS3 screen that looks a smidgen better than the old one.
posted by Jilder at 1:30 AM on September 2, 2009

Response by poster: Seems that there's no real cure at the moment and it's in Sony's hands to fix this fiasco, sadly - I can't believe they let this firmware out the door. The fonts are JUST TOO GODDAMN BIG and I dread browsing my 2TB movie collection because the menus look like arse. Thanks tho'.
posted by porn in the woods at 1:40 PM on September 2, 2009