Here is the patent anyway. I assume they just found away around it. Haven't erally looked at the patent myself.

http://www.google.com/patents?id=mx93AAAAEBAJ&dq=gaming+soundtrack

That's so lame...streaming music from a hard drive shouldn't be a patent just because it's done in videogames.

Hmm, so it seems if a different 'method' and 'apparatus' are used, all good.

Check and check.

Really, this is like saying Sony or Apple patented the technology to send music to headphones while a digital screen is being displayed.  But no, that's not how it works.  They could only patent their own narrow 'method' using their own 'apparatus' so it can't be exactly copied without R&D.

that patent makes me laugh my arse off. a lot of ps3/psp games have custom soundtracks already. so going by that, sony should be getting sued by now

Yeah that seems like the case. The patent is all about the implementation, not the end result.

Sweetness. It's about damn time.

Finally! I have been waiting for in-game XMB for a long time.

I know I'm reviving this thread, but apparently there is another video out showing in-game XMB on a debug PS3. I have no idea what this means for the rumor, but at least the video quality is good as opposed to blurry, shaky, and close up like the last one was.

" The retail counterpart is rumored to be released during mid to late June, however, recently we had a chance to check out PS3 Debug/TEST Firmware v2.40 (116 MB - 122,268,311 bytes).

Below is a video of it in action, displaying some of the new features. As expected, we can confirm from 2.40 onwards, the system software can be called any time during the gameplay. It appears the in-game XMB does not work while playing PS2 titles, probably the same with PS1 titles as well although we didn't have a PS1 game handy to try.

The video is slightly better quality than the previous PS3 TEST SD Launcher 1.00 Video as video capture was used this time instead of our old camera... as there is no need to view the TEST PS3 in the video this round.

Anyway, more soon... enjoy the video!"

Still a rumour, let's wait for 12th June to find out

You do realize how awkward that looks when taken out of context (much like this post)?