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Two words that can get customers excited are the words “new features.” That’s precisely what Sony has planned for the next system software update of its PlayStation 3 console. According to Sony, the update will add Blu-ray Profile 2.0 - otherwise known as BD-LIVE.

Scheduled for a release date later during this month, BD-LIVE will lay the following new features on PS3 owners’ laps:

• A variety of downloadable content, including bonus scenes, shorts, trailers, subtitles, ringtones that can be sent to mobile phones, images, and more.
• Interactive movie-based games that pit players sitting in the same room, or across the world and online, against each other.
• “Resume play” that enables the PS3 system to start playing a Blu-ray disc and DVD at the point where it was stopped, even if the disc had been removed. (Note that the BD-J format disc isn’t supported.)
• “Audio Output Device,” a new Remote Play setting, enables the PSP to serve as a remote control for music played through PS3.
• An enhanced PS3 Internet browser. Video files directly linked from a Web page will be able to be streamed, and the browser’s view speed will be improved.
• DivX and WMV format videos that are larger than 2GB will be playable.
• “Mosquito Noise Reduction” will be added as an AV setting in the control panel of the DVD/BD player for improved movie playback. (Likewise, the BD discs recorded with BDMV format aren’t supported.)
• Enhanced interoperability between the PS3 and the PSP. PS3 owners may copy music and photo playlists onto their PSP Memory Stick and enjoy the files on the go.

Sony said that BD Profile 2.0 requires an Internet connection and at least 1GB of
local storage. Also, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) has announced two BD-LIVE enabled titles for an April 8 release: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and The 6th Day, complete with exclusive downloadable content.