Sony denies PS3 full retro-trophy support

As was announced Monday, yesterday saw the launch of the v2.40 firmware update for the PlayStation 3. The long-awaited update adds the ability to access the console's XrossMediaBar (XMB) and use select features from it in-game. (Players can also access other XMB features directly, but will have to quit gameplay.) It also came alongside a slight tweak to the PlayStation Store, which adds list views and caches images, preventing the need to load previously viewed art assets each time one visits the store.

The v2.40 update will also launch the long-awaited trophy system, the PS3's answer to Xbox 360 Achievements. Though every game for Microsoft's console bestows awards, only three already-released first-party PS3 games--PAIN, Warhawk, and Super Stardust HD--will get the feature this week in the form of patches.

Sony additionally announced this week that a spate of upcoming titles will sport trophies from the get-go, including LittleBigPlanet, MotorStorm Pacific Rift, NBA 09, PixelJunk Eden, Resistance 2, and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation. Speaking with CNET, director of PlayStation Network Eric Lempel also said that eventually, all new releases for the PS3--both first-party and third-party--will have trophies.

However, Sony has just refuted a spate of online reports claiming all past, present, and future PS3 games will one day get trophies, dashing hopes that Lair completionists will be rewarded for revisiting their efforts. As Sony previously stated, it is putting the onus onto both third-party publishers and its own internal studios as to whether they want to take the time to add trophies to games already on the market.

While Konami hasn't said whether or not it will add trophies to its multiplatinum Metal Gear Solid 4, Sony has confirmed that a pair of PS3 hits--Electronic Arts' Burnout Paradise and Sony's own Uncharted Drake's Fortune--will soon be patched with their own awards. No date for either update has yet been set, with Sony saying both will get patched "soon".