Sony announces PS Vita firmware 1.80 features

As mentioned at the Gamescom event, PS Vita firmware 1.80 is out at the end of August and will add PS One support, so start buying those cool PS One titles in the summer sale now to download later, with improved screenshot taking.

Other features include:

CROSS CONTROLLER The new Cross-Controller feature will allow you to use PS Vita as a controller to play compatible games on PS3, such as LittleBigPlanet 2. This feature lets you take advantage of PS Vita’s rich features including the touch screen, rear touch pad, six-axis motion sensing system, and cameras. To access the cross controller feature you need to launch the Remote Play application and then click on the Cross-Controller icon.

CONTROLS As many of you have requested, you will now have the option to control the home screen and some features of applications such as Videos and Music with the buttons on the PS Vita system. MUSIC Playlists will be supported in Music. You will be able to transfer iTunes (10.6.3 or later), M3U, and M3U8 playlists from a PS3 or a PC using Content Manager.

WEB BROWSER Rear touch pad operation will be supported by the browser, allowing you to scroll through and zoom out of pages without obscuring the screen.

GROUP MESSAGING Along with some new layout enhancements, you will be able to take photos to add as attachments when writing Group Messages.

MAPS The Maps feature has been improved by adding a button on the top screen to switch between “Search for Location” and “Search for Directions.” You can also touch and hold a location on the map and place a user flag.

“NEAR” “near” will be able to gather the information of surrounding Wi-Fi access points without an Internet connection and update the location data based on it later. You can get location data within the area covered by Wi-Fi location services.