I'm going to make this clear from the onset...this is merely an observation I've made, nothing more.

I've been reading some exceptionally constructive, and deeply informed posts on this forum and I am very impressed. When it comes to the technical specs of the PS3 and this game, some of you really know your stuff.

I'm the exact opposite. I know nothing. But I do have a story that might interest a few of you.

PS3 Firmware update 3.73, released on October the 18th, is said to have fixed some "stability issues" with the system (whatever that means). All I know is, after I downloaded it, games started acting funny on me.

For starters, I had been noticing some strange "hiccups" in the audio of all of the games I was playing. It sort of sounds like a digital "squelch", or scrambling...only happens for a split second, sounding similar to a CD that has been scratched and skips. All of my games are PRISTINE, kept in a PlayStation CD wallet with soft pouches. I take extremely good care of my stuff. I had been noticing these strange little sound hiccups coming along every hour or so during extended play sessions. They were apparent in Batman Arkham City, Uncharted 3, and even more noticeable in the MGS HD Collection (due to all of the talking in the MGS games).

This started to bother me, as it became more and more noticeable. It wasn't happening all the time, mind you, but it was happening...

I begin to think that it's my 250GB slim model, which I've had for about a year. I decide to vacuum the vents, because dust is ever-present in my apartment (even though we clean regularly).

Not only am I noticing these odd sound hiccups...I'm also noticing frame rate dips where there weren't any before. Batman Arkham City seemed to be getting increasingly choppy, and MGS 3 (which was silky smooth when it was released as Subsistence on PS2) was showing odd technical blemishes that I never noticed before (and I played that game 6 times on the PS2).

I figure it's my PS3. My 250HDD has been used quite a bit, and I've been copying and deleting torrents of my favorite shows like crazy. My buddy is convinced it's not my PS3, offers to buy it from me for $200, I agree and put the extra $ towards upgrading to a brand new 320GB model.

I come home, set everything up, do a data transfer of my game data/saves, music, a few photos, vids...and I've got 200GB of free space to spare when all is said and done. In order to use the data transfer utility, I have to update to the latest firmware.

What do you think happened when I started playing those games again? I noticed the same little hiccups and technical stutters.

And I haven't even started playing Skyrim yet...

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Sony's latest firmware is bunk. I wasn't having any of these problems before the update, and I refuse to believe that two consoles are having this problem "just because".

Or...I could be totally wrong.

Again, just a thought. Thanks for all of the awesome contributions to the forum, people. It's been a really good read!

Millions of people own PS3s, if a firmware update was causing performance issues Sony would have responded to it by now.

No man ive got the same problems with some of my game like dead island was the biggest joke there is and uncharted 3 was really bad only with sound and cutscenes a few other games but nothing really serious

Yes, but as I've noted, these are really tiny little issues that only an OCD case like myself would notice. It's nothing game breaking or major. They're just...hiccups, and I know they weren't there before the patch, and I know they shouldn't be happening on a brand new console.

I'm just saying, is all.

I have noticed the exact same thing. I too had begun to think i was my 4 month old 320 gb PS3. I have been noticing other things like games crashing that had never crashed before, small fps issues and other annoyances.

I thought it was a faulty PS3 i had been given. I got this one in as a replacement for my 250 gb which had a broken HDMI port. I have an HD TV but had never connected my PS3 to it as it is the main TV for my house. My old SD TV was also a top of the range model and had served me just fine.
I decided to bite the bullet and got myself a BenQ 24" 1080p Monitor for ￡120. Hooked up my old 250 gb model to test it, it worked, moved it to its final position and suddenly it did'nt work.
I then faced a whole other story with Gamestation, where i bought my PS3, offering me a pre-owned model as a repacement for my bought-brand-new one as i did'nt, and i quote "have the original box".

Anyway, the point is that my 250 gb ran fine with no problems while playing any of my 100+ games, this one has annoyances that happen frequently that i have only noticed in the last month or two.

I don't know the cause but maybe you are right. Maybe Sony screwed up the firmware. It is possible, but its more likely my PS3 is faulty.