Small XMB annoyances

[ceiling_fan]

I know I know, another complaining thread. But I rarely (if ever) complain about anything so don't tell me to suck it up I'd like people to share their minor annoyances with the XMB. The thing about minor annoyances is that they would presumably quite easy to implement into a firmware update. Hopefully someone from Sony reads this

Things I would love to be implemented at some point:

• Sorting PSN downloads by Name
  This one is so obvious I think it might actually be a mistake not having this. Might as well replace the 'Format' sorting option which is more useless than tits on a nun.
  
  
• Setting Notifications to "Messages Only"
  'blahblah is now online' messages are worthless since we've had ingame XMB, if we want to know if a friend is on... we check. At this point I've nearly tuned them out so to speak. You can choose to not view notifications at all, but you wouldn't know if you received a message.
  
  [*]Reducing the trophy popup delay
  There's generally a 5-10 second delay between completing an objective and getting the trophy popup. On 360 it's instantaneous so you don't have to wait to see if it registered.
  
  [*]Viewing trophy collections while using PS3 browser
  You can do it in game, don't see why you can't do it in the browser... Trying to asks you if you want to close the browser. "Well, no..."
  
  [*]Sluggish ingame XMB
  This is on the edge of being a minor annoyance, but you'd think (bear in mind this is coming from someone who knows nothing about the PS3's filesystem) they could reduce the 'spinning icon' duration by caching some of the icons. Say you wanted to view your Trophy Collection, so you press the PS button and you wind up looking at a bunch of spinning icons for ~10 seconds. Eventually the Game Data, Game Save, Trophy Collection etc. icons load. And I think (I need to confirm this) you can just guess which spinning icon is the one you want, so if so it's not really a loading issue.
  

Pretty minor things, but then again minor things are easier to fix!

 

[Mad Matt]

Well, these seem like good things to improve.

On your final point: Is it just me or is the in-game XMB faster on some games than others? Last night on Killzone I was sure it was much faster than, say, GT5P.

 

[Legendary]

Depends if the game is loading or not, its like a cache problem, say in GTA IV when its loading, the things take a while to load but once GTA has loaded it is much faster. I probably prioritizes things, games being top priority and menus being 2nd or 3rd.

 

[ceiling_fan]

I noticed while playing Assassin's Creed things were going waaay slow. Like 30 seconds of spinningness.

 

[Giancarlo]

Yeah, the sluggishness in-game sometimes gets to me, especially if i'm typing a message.

 

[Legendary]

especially if i'm typing a message.

Number 1 most big fail ever. If you dont use the keyboard and try to type with the controller with the lag, it is soo frustrating.

 

[Kryz11]

Well, these seem like good things to improve.

On your final point: Is it just me or is the in-game XMB faster on some games than others? Last night on Killzone I was sure it was much faster than, say, GT5P.

I think because some games use more ram or cell power (something liek that) then others. As well KZ2 is more polished game over GT5P.

Number 1 most big fail ever. If you dont use the keyboard and try to type with the controller with the lag, it is soo frustrating.

Exactly you can use any USB keyboard (and mouse) or this.

 

[Legendary]

I contemplated buying the keypad but it doesnt really matter, im fine with the DS3.

 

[FoolKiller]

• Sorting PSN downloads by Name
  This one is so obvious I think it might actually be a mistake not having this. Might as well replace the 'Format' sorting option which is more useless than tits on a nun.

• 
  I use album sort and assign each game to its own album. This is not an issue for me, but if anyone is wanting to sort by name then I can see this being an issue for them.
  
  

  [*]Setting Notifications to "Messages Only"
  'blahblah is now online' messages are worthless since we've had ingame XMB, if we want to know if a friend is on... we check. At this point I've nearly tuned them out so to speak. You can choose to not view notifications at all, but you wouldn't know if you received a message.

  I agree. I have missed messages and even game invites because I have gotten to where I just block these out. Also, watching movies off the hard drive gets annoying when I keep getting XXXX is online messages.
  
  To follow this up, an invisible mode. I want to watch movies, not get people sending me messages, but keep doing some background downloads or whatever. Or I want to play LittleBigPlanet online without other users, and would rather not have to deny every invite.
  
  

  [*]Reducing the trophy popup delay
  There's generally a 5-10 second delay between completing an objective and getting the trophy popup. On 360 it's instantaneous so you don't have to wait to see if it registered.

  I noticed a delay, but it never occurred to me that it was an issue. but then again, you get trophies more often than anyone else on this site.
  
  

  [*]Viewing trophy collections while using PS3 browser
  You can do it in game, don't see why you can't do it in the browser... Trying to asks you if you want to close the browser. "Well, no..."

  Yes, please. Also In-game browser that doesn't run Flash or something. It would save on paper when I am trying to find directions for that one puzzle (or missing audio diary ).
  
  

  [*]Sluggish ingame XMB
  This is on the edge of being a minor annoyance, but you'd think (bear in mind this is coming from someone who knows nothing about the PS3's filesystem) they could reduce the 'spinning icon' duration by caching some of the icons. Say you wanted to view your Trophy Collection, so you press the PS button and you wind up looking at a bunch of spinning icons for ~10 seconds. Eventually the Game Data, Game Save, Trophy Collection etc. icons load. And I think (I need to confirm this) you can just guess which spinning icon is the one you want, so if so it's not really a loading issue.

  I am not sure how important this is to me, but I do notice is is slow to load sometimes. Maybe if erverything that can't be done from in-game XMB could not be loaded up?
  
  

  but then again minor things are easier to fix!

  You would be surprised. I have seen thinsg that appear to be simple on a user side be a pain on a programming side. Sometimes little issues are there because they were too much hassle to fix in the first place. Like teh sluggish loading of the in-game XMB or trophy delay; they don't prevent it rom working, but are a minor annoynace. Sony likely noticed it, as did testers, but as the function still works it wasn't worth the time and money to fix it at rollout. And now as people constantly demand cross-game chat and whatnot it constantly gets bumped back to look at after all major functionality is implemented.
  
  
  I think that my only issue I have is that when I rip CDs it will acess the CDDB to get the info, but then when it makes my MP3s it doesn't add the cover art. I know CDDB will have cover art for many of them. This is also minor, and really just an aesthetic thing, but it would be nice. Fortunately it allows me to add my own album art.

 

[ceiling_fan]

FooKilla mentioned something in another thread that's a perfect example of a minor annoyance: if you want to know what time it is by pressing the PS button to see it in the ingame XMB, it's obscured by the controller battery status for a few seconds.

 

[Legendary]

^^I agree one hundred percent with that.

 

[FoolKiller]

FooKilla mentioned something in another thread that's a perfect example of a minor annoyance: if you want to know what time it is by pressing the PS button to see it in the ingame XMB, it's obscured by the controller battery status for a few seconds.

I'm just trying to figure out why my clock, when set Via Internet, still isn't reflecting the time change.

Fortunately, the battery icon is very minor for me, as I have a clock sitting near my TV.

 

[ASH32]

I'm just trying to figure out why my clock, when set Via Internet, still isn't reflecting the time change.

Fortunately, the battery icon is very minor for me, as I have a clock sitting near my TV.

The Daylight Saving option must be on/off when it should be off/on. That's the only thing I can think of. Have you tried changing the clock and the setting it by internet, is it still wrong?

 

[FoolKiller]

The Daylight Saving option must be on/off when it should be off/on. That's the only thing I can think of. Have you tried changing the clock and the setting it by internet, is it still wrong?

Well, the time was correct before the time change. It took a while in the fall to adjust as well, but not this long.

And yes, I have attempted to do it manually and then change it back, but it goes back to being an hour behind.

I am thinking that I might see if I can adjust my time zone settings just so that I don't see an odd time on the rare occasion I use it. Honestly, if Gran Turismo didn't want the clock set Via Internet I wouldn't even notice.

My best guess is that when daylight savings time changed dates this didn't get updated.

 

[ASH32]

Well, the time was correct before the time change. It took a while in the fall to adjust as well, but not this long.

And yes, I have attempted to do it manually and then change it back, but it goes back to being an hour behind.

I am thinking that I might see if I can adjust my time zone settings just so that I don't see an odd time on the rare occasion I use it. Honestly, if Gran Turismo didn't want the clock set Via Internet I wouldn't even notice.

My best guess is that when daylight savings time changed dates this didn't get updated.

You could just set it manually you know, Gt5p will not know the difference, just turn the daylight saving option on if it's off or add an hour, you shouldn't need to change your time zone. Set via internet works fine for me, but when the clocks changed I just turned daylight saving on, I didn't set via internet again and I haven't been of Gt5p since, but I see no reason why it wouldn't except the time.

 

[FoolKiller]

I haven't been of Gt5p since, but I see no reason why it wouldn't except the time.

If you have the clock set manually, GT5P will (or used to) say that the clock is wrong whenever you start it up. If that has changed in an update I am not sure.

Plus, using the system clock to organize racing with others doesn't work so well when you have it set manually.

 

[ASH32]

If you have the clock set manually, GT5P will (or used to) say that the clock is wrong whenever you start it up. If that has changed in an update I am not sure.

Plus, using the system clock to organize racing with others doesn't work so well when you have it set manually.

I have never had it say that to me and I used to have the clock set manually in the early days, if it says the clock was wrong it probably was, for example the daylight saving option was on when it should be off or vice-verse. The system clock is totally seperate to the GT clock aswell, you should just use the GT clock to organize a race, I know they are seperate as my system clock gained nearly five minutes once and yet the GT clock was still accurate. I will mess with my settings later to see if we can work out the problem and hopefully fix it.

Edit:- Ok the GT clock is not totally seperate, but is still seperate to a point, it seems to take it's time from the internet anyway and will change depending on your time zone settings ( includiung whether Daylight Saving is on or not ). It will allow your system clock to be a few minutes out somewhere between four or five and it will not come up with the error, any more though and it will. If you turn your Daylight Saving option to Daylight Saving ( On ) and then set via internet or set the clock via internet and then turn it on it should work either way as it does for me. I even set my time zone to another (Eastern Standard Time = GMT -5 hours ) and it didn't come up with the error.

 

[FoolKiller]

OK, I have fixed my clock issue. For some reason my Daylight Savings time thing was wrong. I do not remember having to change this in the fall.

Anyway, ignore me. It's all good now.


Considering going back to my old rant about the uselessness of Daylight Savings Time in todays world.

 

[ASH32]

OK, I have fixed my clock issue. For some reason my Daylight Savings time thing was wrong. I do not remember having to change this in the fall.

Anyway, ignore me. It's all good now.


Considering going back to my old rant about the uselessness of Daylight Savings Time in todays world.

I am glad you have got your clock problem fixed, I thought it must have been something to do with the Daylight Saving option. Just remember when it comes around to clock-changing time again, just change it back to standard ( off ), as setting the clock via internet doesn't change it, you'll have to do it.

 

[FoolKiller]

I am glad you have got your clock problem fixed, I thought it must have been something to do with the Daylight Saving option. Just remember when it comes around to clock-changing time again, just change it back to standard ( off ), as setting the clock via internet doesn't change it, you'll have to do it.

Perhaps I have grown lazy as every other automagicaly set clock I have does adjust for daylight savings time on its own.

I always thought that was the point of clocks that set themselves to an outside source, that they would always be correct to some form of official clock.

Oh well, just a minor annoynace that I need to remember.