Man, I haven't even brewed my first cup of coffee yet and here we already are with some piping hot news to start the week! We just got word from PSN director Eric Lempel via the PlayStation Blogs, and he's listed the features we can all expect in the upcoming system firmware updates for the PSP and PS3.

Rumored lists and other speculation have been around for the past couple of days now, and finally we get some solid evidence of what the system updates will carry.

PSP Firmware 5.00:

• Direct PSN access. Yep, the PSP finally gets its native PlayStation Store. With FW 5.00 you can access Sony's online network directly from your PSP via Wi-Fi - you can register a PSN account (if you haven't yet - SHAME!) or manage your profile and settings. This also means direct download of games, media, and content from the store - no need for the PC Store anymore! Just a note, the same wallet and account can be used interchangeably for the PSP and PS3; there's no need to create a new account for the PSP Store. Just so you don't get surprised, the PC Store will be under maintenance while they get the PSP Store online.
  
• Sleep timer option. Some of you have probably seen this many times before as a feature in some of the more ubiquitous music player homebrew projects in the community, but now, Sony's building it into the system already: the feature allows you to play music and set a sleep timer.
  
• Full screen keyboard option for text input. Self explanatory.
  
• Redesigned XMB background. 'Nuf said. (Wonder what it looks like though - they didn't show any screenshots...)

PS3 Firmware 2.50:

• PS3 Bluetooth Headset support. Just as predicted last week. FW 2.50 introduces High-Quality mode for online voice chatting. The update also adds icons for battery status, volume level, and if HQ mode is active.
  
• PlayStation Trophies interface enhancements. Comparing your Trophies with those your friends have collected is supposedly going to be easier. There's going to be a new "level symbol" that represents percentages of how much progress is needed to attain the next level.
  
• Friend status. New timestamp for how long your friends have been online.
  
• Scene Search feature in Video. Just like what the PSP got a few firmware updates ago.
  
• Redeem codes section in PlayStation Store. A new option to make PSN Cards and promo codes easier to access.
  
• Power Save Settings for controller. Self explanatory.
  
• Auto-shutdown for Background Downloading. Just as it says.
  
• In-game Screenshots. Self explanatory. But as an added note, this feature will only be supported depending on the game you're playing. Full list of games supporting this to follow soon enough.
  

Eric Lempel notes that this is not the full list of features. A more detailed list  (i.e. changelog) will be published once the updates have gone live. Unfortunately, no launch dates for North America have been scheduled for these system updates yet.

Thanks to eaferrari24 and Fadil for the smoldering tip!

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Related articles:

• Confirmed: PSP FW 5.00 required for PSP Store, may go live next week
  
• Rumor: PSP FW 5.0, PS3 FW 2.5 go live next week?