Even though Sony still hasn't managed to incorporate any in-game XMB functionality, I've been otherwise pleased with the PlayStation 3's most recent firmware update. Although I don't use the Remote Play functions, I love the added user customization options. Unfortunately, according to an Official PlayStation Forums thread, quite a few people are having problems with the new firmware version. The reported problems range from disc-read errors (remember the PS2's disc read problems?) to lagging performance and even problems booting the console at all.
These reports are a bit disconcerting, especially considering Sony's recent denial of reported high hardware failure rates among the new 40GB PS3's.
Of course it's impossible to know what percentage of PS3 owners are experiencing these problems. Personally, I applied the update the first day it was available and since then I've watched Ratatouille on Blu-Ray (which looks great btw) and played a lot of Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction with no problems...knock on wood! Now that firmware upgrades seem to be a standard part of console maintenance, problems like this are likely to arise, at least once in a while.
