Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Eric Lempel, Director of PlayStation Network Operations, has released a video demonstrating the long awaited in-game XMB (xross media bar). The video below shows how the XMB is accessed while playing Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and how you can switch to another game on your PS3 (saved on the HDD).
The in-game XMB will allow you to see friends that are online, check your download progress, activate your bluetooth headset (no more quitting a game to do that), shows the time and date, and allows you to turn off in-game soundtracks and set your own music as the background. A music player built in the XMB will allow you to switch up tracks as well. Finally, the Google Search function (Internet Search) on the XMB is included, which was updated on the PSP a little while ago. May be good for accessing tips online when stuck in a game!
Eric will show more videos of firmware update 2.40, the next system update which will include in-game XMB and trophies. The video concludes with a little teaser of the Trophy option under the Game menu. We’ll be seeing more on that in the next video.
UPDATE: Added the second video showing Trophies below. Read more on Trophy Support and the first games using it here.
From the PlayStation Blog
