Bret? Present. Jemaine? Present. Murray? Present. PlayTV? ... Sony's PlayTV DVR add-on for the PlayStation 3 suffered through more than one delay before going on sale in Europe, and it appears thing will be no different in New Zealand, but at least with good reason - they're getting HD working this time. As it stands, the original version's dual HD DVB-T tuners are pretty useless since there aren't any Freeview stations broadcasting in that format in the UK and FreeSat HD support is still up in the air. David Hine from Sony revealed on the ButtonMasher podcast that a push back 'til the end of the year is related to the spread of high definition on the island, so that they can "work in" HD support before it launches, unleashing Remote Play and XMB powered HDTV watching upon the populace so they can catch season two of Flight of the Conchords as it was meant to be seen.

Hot on the heels of an 80GB Korean-bound (and US, too?) PlayStation 3 comes news that Sony is planning on seriously upping the abilities of the PS3 with a forthcoming firmware update. Compared to minor changes that have occurred in the past, this one looks to be fairly substantial, so we'll cut to the chase and give you the skinny. First off, firmware v1.80 will enable "upscaling of PlayStation / PlayStation 2 games and DVD movies up to a full 1080p when viewed on a compatible HDTV set." Of course, that "up to" bit frightens us a bit, but we'll take any progress we can get. Moving on, PSP users will enjoy Remote Play on their PSP across the internet, which will allow them to "access their PS3 anywhere in the world where a broadband internet connection is available." Additionally, owners can now view multimedia stored on a DLNA-enabled media center PC "seamlessly," and there will even be an option to print images stored on the console's HDD or inserted media to a "selection of Epson printers." The tough news, however, is that this attractive update won't be available until May 24th, so go dig up that original Twisted Metal disc in the meantime so you're ready to rock when the time comes.

[Via PS3Fanboy]