Not every PS3 owner has the same set of game titles & the associated “save game” data. Different PS3 consoles will have downloaded different PlayStation Store content (videos, themes, wallpapers, music, and so on).

Some people may never have visited the PlayStation Network Store or even played an online game! Some consoles have had one (or more) Linux variant(s) installed. Some do not.

One PS3 console may only be used to watch Blu-ray movies titles (that store data on the hard drive), whereas another PS3 console may never have played any Blu-ray movies at all.

Not everybody has used the “Network” / “Information Board” &/or the integral Web Browser, or even the “Friends List” messaging functions. The content on any of the many millions of possible web sites available that could be visited may well still be resident on the console’s hard drive.

A number of consoles will have had PlayStation Eye, SingStar microphones, third party keyboards, PSP console(s), and/or any number of other USB devices, USB hubs, and/or memory card readers plugged into them. Each of these devices requires hardware driver support that will create different files on the console’s hard drive. Some consoles may never have had any USB peripherals attached (apart from the USB-to-SIXAXIS controller recharge cable).

Bluetooth device configurations may exist on one console, but not on another.

Consoles that may have ‘crashed’ previously may have left temporary system files on the hard drive that were not deleted as the system was not closed down properly.

All these examples of “system administrative data” form the basis of an extensive test plan that cannot possibly encompass all the permutations that may be encountered without taking many years to plan, formulate, execute, & review..

Sony will, I presume, engage a “best efforts” basis in testing a vast majority of typical installations with firmware revisions, but it is impractical to assume that they can make provision for absolutely every possible case of every perceivable combination of a console’s hard drive contents.

To their credit, they acted quickly in removing the offending firmware (2.40) update file. The decision to do so will not have been taken likely, not least due to the backlash they would receive & the impact to their reputation & revenue (having to re-visit the code, re-test to find the fault(s), re-code & provide remedial action, re-test, & re-issue the firmware to their download servers), but this has to be balanced against the damage to the organisation (and the associated costs in compensation) if they failed to take action.

The re-issue of the firmware (2.41) happened in less than a week (spread across a weekend & a national holiday period in the US), throughout all global regions (with issues relating to localised language support). I think they should be commended on their turn-around time instead of being harangued for the initial issue.

Granted, everybody remembers something that is faulty & everybody is entitled to criticise actions (or lack of them) if they are a consumer who has paid for a service that is not delivering as advertised. From my computer software testing background it is my opinion that it is better to deliver a week late & get the product right rather than deliver on time to the detriment of sufficient testing. In the long term the over-run of a week will be nowhere near as memorable as if the delivery schedule was kept but the product did not perform as expected. Nobody remembers a late product… Everybody remembers a broken one!

Cases such as this just demonstrates why local regions may differ in functionality or supported features as the PS3 brand diversifies. The risk of having all regions fail concurrently would be too much to cope with in an acceptable timescale, and releasing new functionality to a limited audience (with a limited number of potential failures) is good, practical business sense.

I would not be surprised if there is not a firmware release of this scale for some time as I would hope lessons were learned regarding ensuring adequate testing is undertaken. To some extent I hope Sony did not bow to consumer pressures about constant enquiries about “in-game XMB” being available as rushing to meet a deadline can mean mistakes are made &/or corners are cut.

I do think they could have improved on communications channels to each registered PlayStation Network Id though, but to date it has not been the case that Sony makes consumers personally aware of every new firmware revision so it may not be in their business plan to advise the same set of customers in the event of a problem.

This aside, it does make you wonder what is going to be available in the next firmware milestone of version 3.00, and whether this will be the collaborative selection of features from the next 12 months of user comments.

Again, with hindsight, it is easy to criticise the apparent after-thought of the provision of the in-game XrossMediaBar integration, and/or or the support for game achievement ratings in the form of “Trophies”. We do not know if any foundations were laid prior to the first firmware release, or within subsequent firmware revisions. It may well have only just been possible to deliver this functionality at this time due to the increased understanding of the set of tools the Sony representatives have had available to work with.

One thing is for sure, though… the PlayStation 4 is going to be worth waiting for!

BFN,

fp.
(1upGamers.com Blog Author & Forums Moderator)

What did Microsoft do? They had to get sued before they “willingly” helped replace RRODed 360s. By the way, did I mention a kid died from a fire directly caused by a 360 power supply? True story.

Everybody I know who has a 360 is slowly migrating towards the PS3 because of RROD, or poor customer service by Microsoft. I guess Xbox Live is not good enough to make up for this… and its not even free.

I have respect for the 360 and its owners. But you guys made me do this. ^_^

As for the use of ‘Xbot’ – well, it’s just another term for ‘Microsoft fanboy’, but it’s easier to type. Referring to me as a fanboy is exactly the same thing, so I can only assume you’re a fellow “butt nugget”.

Thank you, finally someone what can see the other side of things.

Xbot is for the now like ‘Nerd’ was for the 80’s; it rolls off of the tongue well.

Sony Sheep is too long to both say and type, so that’s a week insult.

Wii-tard is also very good, especially since you can find people with black-eyes from the Wiimote: it makes you seem so dumb that inanimate objects can kick your @$$.

Second, why would you post a second hand hearsay response from a fanboy and ask other fanboys what do they think. If you have any experience with Sony fanboys, you already know what the answer is.

Jeez

When a tiny minority of Microsoft console owners report any issue whatsoever it gets blown up as a massive issue damning the entire console. Update messed up the console? DEFECTIVE UNIT WRAP A TOWEL AROUND IT AND SEND IT BACK BILL GATES IS EVIL!!!

Sony borks what should have been the most monumental improvement to the console since launch, and no big fuss. Update messed up the console? Just reformat, try the update again, and check the forums. It’ll all be fine.

How many of the same people saying this issue is just water under the bridge were all over Microsoft when (insert issue)? You’re hypocrites, and you know it.

if anything check the PlayStation forums.. even when a tiny update is pushed someone immediately jumps on talking about the updates bricking their console

i was able to get my 2.4 update at 11:45 PM (15 minutes prior to the scheduled release) the night of the scheduled update

it downloaded, installed and to this date i have had no issues (knock on wood)

If you read the official PlayStation forums, there are people complaining about their PS3’s being “broken” – or claiming that something no longer works – after every single firmware update.

It may well be that a minority of people have been affected in some way, but I’d put money on a lot of the internet talk being from Xbots who have picked up on this minority and decided to blow it out of all proportion.