Hey everyone, I’m Anand Agarwal, Product Manager for PlayStation Peripherals. Two weeks ago, we informed you about the Wireless Keypad for PS3, and today we want to tell you more about the official Bluetooth Headset for PS3 that we unveiled during SOCOM Media day.

This headset will be offered in one retail version of SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation this October, as well as a standalone peripheral this fall. It features a prominent Mute button and a Charging Cradle. It will work with not only your PS3 but with Bluetooth enabled cell phones. But this is information that you already know about. Today we want to talk about some really cool features of this Headset that we have been working on behind the scenes. These features will be unlocked by the PS3 through a firmware update that is scheduled for this fall.

• The headset will feature “High-Quality (HQ) mode” with PS3. In this mode, the headset will take advantage of advanced voice technologies and noise cancellation techniques to provide clear and wideband voice input to the PS3. The HQ mode will ensure a much better voice chat quality on the PS3.
• HQ mode will also enable accurate speech recognition required to support or enhance ‘Voice Command’ and ‘Voice Animation’ features. Voice Command was originally used in SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs for PS2 to administer the AI-controlled teammates using the WHO, WHAT, and WHERE format (example: Bravo, Attack, Nav Point Zulu). Voice Animation refers to the in-game character mimicking you during voice chat. With HQ mode, these features can be enabled on a much larger vocabulary in select PS3 games.
• PS3 will display an in-game status indicator exclusively for this headset that will show the headset’s connection status, battery charge level, speaker volume level and microphone mute status.
• Tired of wearing the headset during a long multiplayer gaming session or is your headset battery running out of charge? Just dock the headset in the supplied charging cradle, and the headset will work as a desktop microphone while charging.
• Last but not least, the headset will automatically pair with the PS3 by connecting with a USB cable.

SCEA was one of the first companies to popularize VoIP technology within a console videogame through SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs for PS2. As you can see, we have made a great effort to expand on this legacy and develop the most compelling headset for the PS3 community. We are really excited to bring it to market this fall with the SOCOM: Confrontation bundle ($59.99 MSRP) and as a standalone peripheral ($49.99 MSRP).

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I don't know if it had been announced before, but $50 for a headset sounds kind of steep to me. Still, it sounds cool and hopefully it will get more people talking online....

Sounds awesome. I'll probably pick it up with SOCOM. HQ mode sounds particularly interesting. Oh, and the fact that it'll display battery life and whatnot in-game is nice too.

EDIT:  Oh, and it's not that steep a price.  The official XBox360 wireless headset is $60.

I'm going to wait for the reviews on this headset.

I hate the jabra (because it cannot be used for other bluetooth items) and the MGS4 bluetooth looks cool, but is really uncomfortable and the sound/mic quality is probably the worst I've ever experienced.

Hopefully I can trade them in for this official one.

I'd like to as well, but I doubt that would ever happen.  I've just been using my old USB headset lately because I was sick of the Jabra one.  Kind of off topic, but is Confrontation push to talk or open mic?

HQ mode sounds interesting.

I'm definitely going to picking one of these up...if it launches in Europe.

dude!!! my question has finally been answered! and now SOCOM is a day one buy for me. i been waiting for the official sony headset and since its probably going to be cheaper to buy it with socom than by itselfs might as welll get an enjoyable game to use this fancy new headset with :]

By Jabra, do you mean the Warhawk one?

If that is the case, I've used mine with my cell phone the first day I opened the box.

I thought I saw that it would cost like $50, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Thus, it just might be a better deal to get it with Socom Confrontation. Though I haven't really been following it so I'm not aware with how it's progressing.

i'll get the bundle

if a review of the headset is good I will probably get it with Socom
Headset-$50.oo
Headset w/ Socom Confrontations-$60.oo

So I will probably end up getting it with Socom so I can get the game for like 10 bucks (or am I getting the headset for 20 bucks?).