14 DAY TRIAL // The 2.40 firmware update for the Sony-made gaming console was one of the most expected in the history of the device. The main reason for that was a series of new features, such as XMB in-game support, which allows gamers to manage friend contacts while playing a game, and the introduction of Trophies, which are Sony's answer to the Achievements that Xbox 360 has been featuring for some time now.
Unfortunately, the firmware update was hit by serious problems and Sony forgot to pull it from its servers and investigate what caused the issues that users had been reporting. A statement on a Sony blog featured an apology for the botched launch and promised a swift replacement, but now a new blog post mentions the release of firmware update 2.41.
The blog statement reads: "As many of you know, we released PS3 firmware update v2.40 last week, but had to take it offline temporarily because, for a limited number of users, the XMB wouldn't display after the update was installed. We've been able to fix the problem, and I'm happy to report that firmware update v2.41 will be released shortly".
The people over at Sony failed to mention that there were a lot of PlayStation 3 users reporting that some consoles would not boot up after the installation of firmware 2.40. They also stated nothing regarding the promised solution to the boot up issues.
Initially, Sony had recommended that people who got issues following the 2.40 update should save their data on an external drive and then wipe the hard drive of their PS3 clean.
Let's hope that the roll out for firmware update 2.41 will be without incidents. Users haven't reported anything so far but, following the debacle of 2.40, nothing should be taken for granted.