After Agent Xray purchased The Beatles: Rock Band, he tells us his PlayStation 3 put up a speedbump on Abbey Road by requiring him to download the latest firmware upgrade in order to play the game.

The requirement was a time-wasting annoyance for most PS3 owners — the download can take 30 minutes or more — but for Agent Xray, the download was a regular Yoko Ono. He says the firmware rendered his system a shiny black paperweight. He summarized his talk with Sony customer service:

Me:
While this information is good to know, I think the phrase “The following Knowledge Center article may help resolve your problem” is not really accurate. The article is an announcement that acknowledges the issue but in no way resolves it. I remain rather upset that I’ve been “bricked” by this firmware upgrade.
Looking forward to an actual resolution to this mess.

Them:
We sympathize with your situation you are having with your PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system. Again, SCEA is aware of reports that PS3 owners are experiencing isolated issues with their PS3 system since installing the most recent system software update (v3.00). Rest assured that we are looking into the matter. I apologize for any inconvenience, please check Playstation.com for future updates.

Agent Xray is far from alone in experiencing his problems, although his case is the most extreme we’ve heard. Hopefully Sony will replace his PS3, even if it’s out of warranty.

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