Not every PS3 will contain the same files on the hard drive as everybody updates their firmware revision to a later release upon different days at different times & perhaps skipping one or more revisions along the way. You may well have upgraded to every subsequent firmware release, but another user may have jumped from, say, version 1.60 (or earlier) to 2.40, without anything in-between. Some users even visit the PlayStation Store in a different region [so I believe ;)] & download content that may contain characters & symbols not found on their native console that could cause issues.

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!

As I said previously, it 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 have. 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.

I think Sony were simply LUCKY with pulling f/w v2.4 quick enough from PSN, before it bricked everyone’s console!

“Planned PLAYSTATION®Network maintenance on:

Wednesday 07:00 - 13:00 BST”

Or, possibly “Wednesday 09 July, 05:00 - 11:00 BST”… depending on what was edited in that thread.

BFN,

fp.

[ http://duk01.ps3.update.playstation.net/update/ps3/image/uk/2008_0708_67c660325b0b97acdeda6c0913dc1f74/PS3UPDAT.PUP ]

BFN,

fp.

Fixed version of the pulled 2.40 release to come within days

The huge in-game XMB PS3 update that was pulled from PSN last week following technical issues will be re-released for download by Wednesday, CVG has been told.

According to customer support, firmware version 2.41, which should be clear of all errors, will out “midweek”, although Sony is yet to make an official announcement to confirm that.

In case you missed it, Sony last week was forced to pull the hotly anticipated update after widespread reports of it breaking PS3 consoles.

The firmware is available to download from various website on the internet, but to be on the safe side you’d be best to wait for the update from Sony.
===

BFN,

fp.

Although it would be reassuring to believe that Sony had tested every possible permutation of each & every title running concurrently it is improbable to expect that this has been done.

You may have just found a combination of titles that do not take kindly to sharing memory (or other) resources. I would certainly try to feed back this information to Sony in case there is a fundamental issue here they can address.

I know you will be reluctant to repeat what you did in case your hard drive does not come back online the second time, but if you could repeat the problem then this would demonstrate an area where the test team should devote some time.

Why not contact SCEE’s Customer Services team & ask for their advice. They may even offer to replace your damaged console if your assistance does lead to the resolution of an issue. The fact that you have three PS3 machines may well influence their decision if you are a dedicated customer.

Good luck in any respect.

BFN,

fp.

PS. @32 [TheShirts]

“@19 - This is confusing my tiny mind! You said “@14 [TheShirts]” but 14 wasn’t my comment AND 14 wasn’t anything to do with what you then went on to say”

My comment that is now #19 was at #15 when I submitted it. Since then other comments have jumped into the threaded responses (some may have be awaiting moderation, some may have been “ping back” comments that always seem to take precedence). This happens a lot here at ThreeSpeech.com.

The comment I made was in direct reply to the comment of your own immediately above it (”Comment by TheShirts — Jul 4, 2008 @ 9:04 am”). This is presently comment #18 with my comment (now) #19.

Sorry if that was confusing. It wasn’t my fault!

From what I’ve read Burnout Paradise always HAD locked down saves and WILL give retroactive trophies.

I assume more and more future games will lock the saves and therefore will be secure (otherwise what’s to stop you getting a save just before a trophy is issued then getting it)…what I don’t get is if this is the case, aren’t we going to see a backlash from the people who LIKE to download saves but don’t give a crap about trophies?