Sony Releasing Fix for Bricked PS3 Consoles Thursday

Good news and bad news for PlayStation 3 owners. We'll start with the bad: If your system was the unfortunate victim of the less-than-ideal firmware update Sony released this past Tuesday, then you have a bit of time to wait before you're going to be able to play any games – or, really, do anything with your system as-is.

The good news? Sony's working on a fix! And that fix has a date: June 27. If you can hold out that long with your inoperable device, then all will be righted with yet another update.

"Hi guys, we have identified the issue related to PS3 software update (4.45) that impacted a small number of PS3 systems earlier this week," reads a post on Sony's PlayStation Europe Twitter feed.

"A new system software update is planned to be released on June 27 that resolves the issue. Thanks again for your patience and understanding and we apologise for the inconvenience," read two successive Tweets.

A follow-up reply from Sony's account indicates that all users will have to update to the June 27 fix – regardless of whether their PlayStation successfully handled Tuesday's patch or not.

Tempted as you might be to try and use the PS3's Restore File System or Rebuild Database recovery tools to get your system up and running again in advance of the fix, the greater likelihood is that you'll be forced to reformat your PlayStation 3's hard drive if you try to do so.

In the meantime, you'll want to practice getting your system into Safe Mode in preparation for the patch you'll ultimately have to download and install — probably manually, we surmise, but Sony hasn't listed out any of the details just yet for those with PlayStation consoles that now won't boot.

To boot into Safe Mode, make sure your PlayStation 3 is off and that the power light on the front of the console is glowing red. Hold down the power button until you hear a beep – keep holding until you hear a second beep about five seconds or so later, and keep holding until you hear a third beep that powers the PlayStation 3 off again.

Sounds strange? Stay with us – you're doing everything right so far.

Touch and hold down your power button once again – you'll hear two single beeps spaced around five seconds apart, just like before, followed by a third "double-beep" that indicates the system is just about ready to boot into Safe Mode. You'll see a message on the screen indicating that you should connect up a controller via USB cable to begin using your system. Following that, you'll get the six various Safe Mode options that you can use in various permutations to fix a fussy PS3.

If Sony's June 27 fix is indeed a manual update, then you're going to have to stick it on a USB key or flash drive and use option six within the Safe Mode Menu – "System Update" – to get your PlayStation 3 fixed up and happy.