Sony’s 2.40 Playstation 3 firmware update was arguably the most anticipated by the studio to-date. It *finally* allowd the XMB bar to be accessed while playing a game, and introduced Sony’s answer to Xbox 360 Achievements by the name of Trophies.
The jubilation was short-lived yesterday after the update went live and Sony began to receive calls from customers claiming their PS3s either totally went dead or crashed while playing games like Metal Gear Solid 4.
Simultaneously, a massive thread popped up on the official Sony Playstation forums of PS3 owners complaining of similar issues.
Facing a PR nightmare, Sony was left no choice but to voluntarily pull the 2.40 firmware update off its servers until the issues can be isolated and resolved. Patrick Seybold, Director, Corporate Communications & Social Media for Sony Computer Entertainment, offered the following message on the official Playstation.com blog:
As has been reported on many gaming blogs and websites, we have temporarily taken Firmware v2.40 offline. We’ve received a limited number of calls from consumers experiencing an issue with installing the system software update on their PS3. While our consumer services department has seen a low volume of calls on this topic, we are committed to providing the PS3 community with XMB access features delivered in the v2.40 update. We are working diligently to isolate the problem for those few consumers and to identify a solution before we put the firmware back up.
Update: We wanted to clarify our recommendation as there was some confusion to whether it originated from Sony. Our recommendation to avoid using your PS3 if you’ve already downloaded firmware 2.40 comes from us, not Sony. The recommendation is based on user accounts of freezes and crashing while using the system with the new firmware. There’s no information available yet identifying which PS3 consoles are more likely to be affected, so it’s a complete crap shoot at this point.
If you’re comfortable risking permanent damage and the hassle of a lengthy return process for a $400+ piece of hardware, by all means roll the dice.
We’ll keep our eyes on this developing story and pass along updates as they are received.
