After finally catching a break and making some strides in the sales of PlayStation 3 consoles, Sony stumbles over a major firmware update, v2.40, causing customers minor to extreme pain across the board. Some PlayStation 3 consoles are having small issues while others are simply locking up.
In the end, Sony has decided to pull the update from their site “temporarily” while they fix the glitches:
“UPDATE: 7/2/2008, the PlayStation 3 system software version 2.40 has been temporarily taken offline and will not be available for download as our engineers examine any possible issues with this update. The Knowledge Center will be updated with information as it becomes available; please check back here for further details.”
Sony’s only response is “we’re looking into it” while the only way a consumer of a fried box is to get back online is to format and start over (saving their content to some other media device first of course). Or, they can ship it back for a minor charge of $150.00. Or, they can do as others have been, light up the sony forums.
(Thanks, 1up)
Xbox 360‘s been seeing success in Europe, but nothing compares to the success they’ve seen since the recent price cuts. Sales for the 360 are up 214% which is pushing them past the two-to-one sales ratio against the more expensive PlayStation 3.
Famitsu Magazine is reporting the Nintendo console, Wii, has managed to sell 7-million units in Japan. This is roughly three times the number of Sony’s PlayStation 3, the console with superior graphics and power.
Sony’s been putting a lot of effort (read: money) into the PlayStation 3 product line with very little impact in the market. They’ve got this “10 year plan” but haven’t really executed a strong plan for their first two years of said plan. Sony’s plan seems to be “outlive the competition’s technology” while all of its competition stomps on their sales and market share with older and a bit “outdated” products.