After reading around the net is seems that most of the problems were due to the download process rather than the update itself... the server was jammed and people kept getting booted off which may have resulted in them loosing bits (all the more reason to get it off the net in one whole piece and install from a memory stick)
As we're engaging in speculation......
I don't really see that downloading the Firmware to a PC is any safer in terms of being sure that the entire file is there. You can easily get a bad/incomplete file via ftp, for instance.
In fact I would speculate that the PS3 is doing an ftp in the background. Which means there is no difference between the two.
A common way to prevent this, or detect it, is to use some kind of checksum. I assum Sony does that, they'd have to be pretty daft not to.
That would lead me to speculate that the download process is fine, it's the install process which is causing the problems.
Well said, and I'm fairly certain Sony even made that clear a long time ago when many people were posting saying that they didn't trust downloading the system software directly to their PS3.
However, at least Sony gives them that choice, and if it makes those users feel that it is safer, then so be it. 👍
BTW: Here is the current official announcement from Sony:
Firmware v2.40 Status
Posted on July 2, 2008 by Patrick Seybold // Director, Corporate Communications & Social Media
As has been reported on many gaming blogs and websites, we have temporarily taken Firmware v2.40 offline. We’ve received a limited number of calls from consumers experiencing an issue with installing the system software update on their PS3. While our consumer services department has seen a low volume of calls on this topic, we are committed to providing the PS3 community with XMB access features delivered in the v2.40 update. We are working diligently to isolate the problem for those few consumers and to identify a solution before we put the firmware back up.
We’ll provide further information as necessary
here on the Blog.
Rightly so, I don't see why all stores don't get the same content
Various reasons, many around marketing and the publishers, some can be around launch dates, other can be to do with localisation issues (for example languages, America = English and Spanish while Europe = Many) and legal/rating issues (Germany has very, very strict issues with violence in games, as does Australia to a less degree).
You also need to be careful what you wish for, as I certainly would not want most of what is on the Japanese store, tons of bizarre Japanese release only games would not make the store better at all and that's what we would get if it went truly global.
We can create multiple accounts easily, background downloading works regardless of the source store and account you are in (strange how well that works if they didn't know about people doing it), so personally I have no issue with it at all.
In addition to what Scaff said, it is also extremely important to understand every region has it's own set of rules and standards, and almost all the content in the PSN stores MUST be rated by the governing bodies in that region. This is also why some content will be edited out of some videos in order to get past the rating boards.
Besides language barriers, licensing agreements, and other legalities, even when a video or demo passes all of these obstacles for all regions, it may take one region longer to get through the rating process than another.
As any company that sells and or distributes products, especially media content will tell you, trying to deal with all the different legal hurdles one faces in each region across the globe can be mind numbingly painful.
The fact that Sony has allowed us access to multiple regions is frankly amazing, as you won't find that with any of its competitors. In fact I would not be the least bit surprised if Sony shuts that access down in the near future. Especially if all they get are complaints from users in one region who are unhappy because they have to spend a few seconds logging in using another ID to get access to it.
*sigh*
If or when Sony decides to say it just isn't worth the hassle and shuts down multi-region access to stores, and like the XBL stores, be region locked, I suspect all the people that were complaining about the inconvenience of having to change IDs are going to wish they had maybe been a tad less vocal with their complaints.
BTW: For those that feel the need to complain about the PSN stores, there is a better thread for that than here, and in fact there has even been a recent discussion on why content is not all the same for all PSN stores:
