Update: If you possess one of these bricked PS3 drives, please see
HERE.
Additionally, http://www.gamespot.com/news/6239189.html has reported of two gamers (one from Texas, the other Iowa) who also are suing Sony over these very issues.
A man from Florida has filed a law-suit against Sony over their recent PS3 3.0 Firmware update. The suit alleges that the Firmware update caused his PS3, like several
others, to malfunction and requires an "expensive fix."
To quote: "A complaint filed by lead plaintiff
John Kennedy, and originally unearthed by http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/10/05/Sony_Software_Update_Crashes_PS3_Class_Says.htm, claimed that 'thousands of Sony PS3 video game owners who downloaded a system software update required by Sony found that the update caused their PS3 units to malfunction and actually damaged the hardware on many units.'
The suit claimed that Sony is charging $150 to repair PS3s with 'sustained hardware damage' from the update.
Sony released a major update to the PS3's firmware in early September, which added some new functionality and features to the console. Days later, Sony acknowledged complaints from users who said that following the update, certain games would 'freeze' up, and controllers were not functioning correctly."
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PlayStation 3 News...