Regardless of when update 2.40 is re-released, Infinity Ward and 2K Games have become the latest developers to say they won’t patch previously released PS3 games to support trophies.

After a barrage of queries on its forum, the developer stated it has no plans to implement trophies or even Rumble in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, purely because Sony have left it too late to introduce them.

“At this time, we have no plans to patch in Trophy support for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the PS3,” said forum community manager Robert Bowling.  “Much like DualShock rumble addition to the PS3, the support for these new features have come much to late for us to add it to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare due to our current production schedule.”

A rebellion also seems to be underway on the 2K Games forums, where community manager Elizabeth Tobey told Civilization Revolution fans:

“Civilization Revolution will not support trophies. When we designed the game, before trophies were out, we did not plan on supporting the upcoming feature, and we are not going to add it.”

These announcements are a blow to the vision of PSN director of operations Eric Lempel, who told GameSpy that while Sony was not putting a deadline to developers, trophies would ultimately be supported in every existing game – though how Sony could possibly enforce this is a bit of a moot point. COD4 and CivRev join Resistance: Fall of Man and Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction in the pool of titles that won’t be patched, with Insomniac also citing current projects (Resistance 2!) as being more important.

At least Infinity Ward still love the idea of them for future releases. Bowling adds that they “would have loved to have these in the game at launch if the support was available, or shortly after.”

Call of Duty 6 a given then, but it seems like trophies are going to take a while to get widespread retrospective support. If at all.

Sources: Infinity Ward forum, 2K forum, GameSpy

The big one’s out now.  Firmware Update 2.4 can be found waiting for you on your Playstation 3.  At last you can now access the Cross Media Bar (XMB) in-game and message your friends! Follow the link for the full changelog and find out why I’m slightly bemused.

The Update weighs in at 130mb and with everyone hammering the network it might take you a while to download.  To save some time you could grab it from this direct link and gift it to your PS3 via a USB thumb-drive.

Now you can access the XMB in-game, though note, you cannot do so while watching Blu-Rays/DVDs, or while playing PS1/PS2 games.  A new mini music player brings the ability to play custom soundtracks in-game, though games will need to be patched to support it.

Trophies and player profiles now gives birth to new PS3 competitive features, also putting it into direct competition with the Xbox 360’s Achievements. You can watch a walk-through of the new functionality here.

Note: Games will need to be patched to support Trophies, and they will not be awarded retroactively, as this would allow exploitations via swapping game saves.  At this moment in time only Super Stardust HD supports Trophies, which will prompt a 255mb update.  The following Trophies can now be won:

Bronze Trophies

* Hero of Lave – Complete planet Lave
* Hero of Coventina – Complete planet Coventina
* Hero of Nemain – Complete planet Nemain
* Hero of Taranis – Complete planet Taranis
* Hero of Segomo – Complete planet Segomo
* The Tokenizer – Collect 5 tokens with a single boost in Arcade
* Scrooge MacBoom – Get 10 bombs in Arcade
* Extra Ships Optional – Survive 7 minutes without dying in Endless*
* Close Encounters – Survive 45 seconds without shooting or using bombs in Survival*

Silver Trophies

* Token Hoarder – Collect 15 tokens with a single boost in Arcade
* Well Prepared – Get 20 bombs in Arcade
* Shield Blaster – Collect 5 shield tokens while already having a shield
* Scenic Route – Complete a planet without using boost
* Late Boomer – Get 15 bombs in Bomber*
* Shock and Awe – Destroy 10 nukes in Endless*

Gold Trophies

* Multiplier Hero – Get 10x multiplier
* Split screen Co-op – Get 3 minutes of continuous Co-Op weapon boost on Segomo*”

Other 2.4 features include being able to launch other games while playing a different game, view the date and time from the XMB, and internet search straight from the XMB.

The XMB is fully displayed with all features in-game, but understandably not all features can be accessed.  You’ll be able to look through your photo thumbnails, but won’t be able to start a slideshow, nor can you watch videos. Instead, when you select these options you’ll be asked to exit.  Upon exiting the option you selected will be automatically launched.

Why am I slightly bemused?  Last year I ranted that PS3 users didn’t need an ingame XMB, but instead more desperately needed in-game messaging and cross-game voice-chat:

You don’t need or want to look at photos while you’re playing a game. You don’t want or need to watch videos/movies on your system while you’re playing a game. You don’t want or need to surf the Internet while you’re playing a game. You don’t want to go onto the Playstation Store while you’re playing a game. You don’t even particularly want to change your systems settings while you’re playing a game.

I’m glad Sony has taken my line of action; only supporting what is essential and even providing a quick and easy method for accessing these other features.  The new in-game XMB is certainly slick and runs smoothly – which is what we all hoped.

Sadly cross-game voice-chat is currently not supported, but Playstation Network Director of Operations, Eric Lempel, tells Next-Gen.Biz that update 2.4 isn’t the end of their efforts:

There are a lot of features that are still part of our roadmap. When we release new features we want to make sure that we have a baseline set of features to put out there and that they work properly. We feel that these new features are ready and that they offer consumers a great advantage over what they have today.

However, we’re not going to stop enhancing the features. Every time we do a firmware update we enhance old features as well as providing new features, so we’re taking a lot of the feedback very seriously. Going into this we knew there were some things that wouldn’t make it but there’s always time to fix those and get them in, but in the meantime this should keep consumers satisfied for some time.

I’m certainly satisfied, since with Firmware 2.4’s addition of an in-game XMB and Trophies I can now buy my cake and enjoy eating it too.  Here’s the full changelog, but remember there are a number of hidden features for you to discover:

Overall

*  Displaying the XMB™ screen during gameplay
You can now access the XMB™ screen while playing PLAYSTATION®3 format software.
* Searching the Internet from the XMB™ screen
You can now perform an Internet search directly from the XMB™ screen.
* You can now see the system clock on the XMB™ screen. The date and time that were set under [Settings] > [Date and Time] are displayed.
* When using a keyboard, you can now clear the entire text entry field at once.
* The Users icon is now displayed when you press the PS button for an operation that cannot be performed.

Users

* You can now turn off the PS3™ system from the XMB™ screen using the [Turn Off System] option.

Settings

* You can now set the PS3™ system to turn off automatically after updating the system software.
* [Reassign Controllers] and [Controller Vibration Function] have been added as options under [Accessory Settings].

Photo

* You can now print images from a playlist.
* You can now sort items that are grouped in a folder by month or year using the [Film Date date down] or [Film Date date up] options.

Music

* You can now use a mini-size control panel while playing music.
* You can now play music content encoded in MP3 Surround format.*
* MP3 Surround can only be used when playing music content in Linear PCM format.

Video

* You can now use the [Frame Noise Reduction] and [Block Noise Reduction] settings for video content that is saved on the hard disk or storage media.
* You can now play upscaled video content that is saved on the hard disk or storage media. When the video content is played, it is upscaled automatically to match the screen size.
* Upscaling of Blu-ray Disc (BDAV) video content is now supported.
* For DTS playback on DVD-Video and Blu-ray Disc media, DTS-ES and DTS 96/24 for DVD-Video and DTS-ES Matrix for Blu-ray Discs are now supported.

Game

* The procedure for quitting PLAYSTATION®3 format software has been changed.
* You can now collect trophies in games that support the trophy feature.

Network

* [Search] has been added as an option in the browse mode menu of the Internet browser.

Friends

* The number of Friends who can be added to a Friends list has been increased from 50 to 100.
* The [Information] screen has been redesigned and renamed as [Profile].

Happy Updating.

*Update* -  Sony has temporarily removed Firmware Update 2.4 due to reported problems.  Read more about this here.

World of WarCraft’s latest patch, dubbed “Fury of the Sunwell”, is alive and kicking as of right now. Jump on your epic mount and find out what’s new.

The official description of the patch is as follows:

The glorious fount of arcane energy known as the Sunwell empowered the high elves for millennia, until the death knight Arthas laid siege to the elven kingdom and corrupted its sacred energies. Seeing no other alternative, a band of survivors led by Prince Kael’thas destroyed the ancient fount. Over time the surviving elves fell pray to a crippling magical withdrawal.

Now, promising salvation for his people, Kael’thas has returned. Soon the Sunwell will shine once again, but whether the sacred fount will usher in deliverance or destruction remains to be seen.

A full list of the patch notes can be found here (good luck getting it to load within the next 3 days though). In addition to all of the changes (some for the worse depending on your perspective and/or class), Blizzard has dedicated this update in memory of Gary Gygax, one of the creative minds behind the epitome of dorkdom: Dungeons and Dragons.

It’s nice to see that Blizzard still remembers where all their inspiration came from — now they just need to set the record straight on how much they ripped off Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 (WarCraft and StarCraft, respectively).

A good many of you will be saddened to learn that the Human Illusion from the Noggenfogger Elixir no longer works outside of Old Hillsbrad. This, as you may know, is not the first time Blizzard has removed or changed something that people do just for kicks and has no real impact on the gameplay. Blizzard simply doesn’t like it if you have too much fun.