8 more PS3 tricks Sony doesn't tell you

Need some PlayStation 3 trickery? We can help

November 21st 2007 | Tell us what you think [ 2 comments ]

Here's 8 more tricks that every PS3 owner should know...

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Just bought a Sony PlayStation 3? Then you've not maxed out the power of yournew uber-console until you've downloaded the latest firmware and dabbled with thefollowing techniques... Following on from our previous 10 PS3 tricks Sony doesn't tell you article, Digital Home brings you another batch of tips.

1) Customising your PS3

Try Googling 'PS3 .p3t theme' to find downloadable examplesof PS3's new Themes - the alternative desktops, menus and fonts for your PS3 that have been enabled since the recent 2.0 firmware update. Read on through this article for our tips on how to transfer them to your PS3. You can even make your ownThemes. All you'll need is Sony's PC-only design software, which is available for free here.

2) Make thousands of new PS3 Friends

Taken a shine to someone you've played against online?They'll be in your Players Met menu. Or if you just wantto make loads of new friends fast, then go to www.gamewith.us/ps3 and to findthousands of names to hit up and try.

3) Mastering removable media

The PS3 is compatible with many different file types,playing and displaying just about anything you can throw at it. The full list is as follows: (video) MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AVI, Motion JPEG, AVCHD, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC - DivX and Xvid coming soon; (audio) MP3, WMA, WAV, Audio CD, SACD (60GB version only); (photo) JPEG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, BMP.

Whatever format you want to access, the trick is to put your files in the right place so that your PS3 canactually see them.

Take anyremovable media - be it a USB stick, Memory Card or CD-R with files on it - and lacemusic, pictures and videos in folders called 'MUSIC', 'PICTURE' and 'VIDEO' in the root directory of the storage device. The caps are important. The quote marks aren't.

MorePS3-based files need to be in a folder called 'PS3' in the root directory of the storage device.Then, inside this folder make sub-folders called 'EXPORT' (this is the folder toput PS1 and PS2 game saves in that you find on the net), 'SAVEDATA' (for your PS3 gamesaves), 'THEME' (for Themes) and 'UPDATE' (see tip 8).