In-game XMB, "trophies" coming to PS3

Good news for PlayStation 3 gamers: In-game access to the "XrossMediaBar" navigational menu, along with what's looking to be Sony's answer to the Xbox 360's "achievement" system, have been confirmed for a future firmware update.

That's the good news, anyway. The bad news? Custom soundtracks may not be part of the package.

Sony's PlayStation.Blog has just announced that firmware v.240 will let you pull up the XMB (a.k.a., the XrossMediaBar) while you're gaming—a feature that Xbox 360 gamers, who can pull up the 360 Guide at any time, have long taken for granted.

Calling up the XMB in-game will be good for checking messages and sending invites to buddies, not to mention tweaking system settings.

Also on the way: "trophies," a long-promised feature for the PS3 that (I'm guessing, as details are still sketchy) will be the equivalent to the cross-game achievement points on the Xbox 360. (The fact that some kind of system-wide award system wasn't part of the PS3 platform to begin with still amazes me.)

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear likely that custom soundtracks—that is, the ability to replace a game's soundtrack with your own tunes—will be included in the upcoming in-game XMB functionality.

As gaming blog Ripten reports, Microsoft actually owns the patent for in-game custom soundtracks—and not just the particular method used in the 360, mind you, but (apparently) the very concept itself.

Ripten blogger Patrick Steen goes on to note that while Microsoft's patent might have some wiggle room allowing for custom soundtracks in individual games (such as Super Stardust HD), the patent may block Sony from ever adding platform-wide custom soundtracks to the PS3. Ugh. (Check out the Ripten story for more details about the patent.)

In any case, no details yet on exactly when PS3 firmware v2.40 will arrive—and while I'm on the subject, there's no new word on a PS3 video store or the long-delayed Home, either.

Related:
Firmware (v2.36) coming soon, (v2.40) to include trophies, in-game XMB [PlayStation.Blog, via Wired]