A system software update (v. 2.20) for the PlayStation 3 game console became available to PS3 owners on March 24. The firmware step-up will enable a new profile (2.0) for Blu-ray Disc, known as BD-Live. (All PS3 consoles come with internal Blu-ray drives.)
BD-live is designed to enhance the advantages of next-gen disc interactive features—including games, ringtones, downloadable video content, and supplemental optional content for movies. The earliest such films are to be made available on April 8. Promised sophisticated interactivity for Blu-ray had been missing from a lot of early packaged content, and it only now starting to emerge at its full potential (especially now that Blu-ray, for all practical purposes, stands alone among next-gen disc technologies).
The PS3 firmware update also will affect such data as photo files and music playlists on a PS3, allowing them to be copied to PlayStation Portable units for mobility. Profile 2.0 will require at least 1 GB of local storage.
