2.40 firmware is bricking PS3s, has been pulled by Sony

Man, yesterday was a crazy day for PS3 owners. The big 2.40 patch that everyone's been waiting for finally arrived. This is the one that included the in-game XMB feature that has been strangely absent since the console's launch. While it seemed like it was going to be a good day for PS3 owners, it turns out you were better off not downloading the patch.

Apparently a large number of users that downloaded the update are finding their console of choice bricked by the update. The only apparent solution found thus far is to take out your hard drive, install it into a PC and format. I seriously hope that a better workaround is found, else you'll be losing all of your saved data.

In response SCEA has removed the 2.40 firmware so it cannot be downloaded by any other users. Sony is apparently trying to "isolate the problem" and "identify a solution". How long have they been working on this update again?

[via Joystiq]