Sony is aware that it broke some PlayStation 3s yesterday with its latest firmware update for the hardware. It took down the patch and is really sorry about all of this.
“We are aware of reports that the recent PlayStation 3 system-software update — version 4.45 — has caused the cross-media bar to not display on a small number of PS3 systems,” a PlayStation spokesperson told GamesBeat in a statement. “We have temporarily taken 4.45 offline and are investigating the cause of the problem. We will announce when the system update is available for download as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
The cross-media bar (XMB) is the interface for the PlayStation 3. Without it, the console is nothing more than a big paperweight. We’ve asked Sony what steps affected users should take, and we will update with its response. PlayStation customer support is probably a smart place to start.
Everyone else should have no issues continuing to use their PlayStation 3s. In fact, it’s nice to start thing up and not have to update it for once.
We’ll have more info on update 4.45 as it is available.