It is not uncommon for Sony to release firmware with the release of a first/second party game. They most recently released fw 2.50 with Socom. This firmware enabled Sony's HQ voicechat functionality. There are currently rumors circulating that Sony has released fw version 2.51 to demo units (http://www.ps3news.com/PlayStation3/playstation-3-firmware-2-51-released-for-demo-units-only/).
The Resistance 2 beta includes a friends list party invite that can be sent to PSN friends from the Resistance menu even if they are not currently playing the beta. This "party invite" will show up in your xmb inbox as a standard message. Currently, you can only reply to the message from the inbox. Do you think Resistance 2 will be the first game to use Sony's version of cross game invites?
Thanks for the input, Jeff.
