Sony confirmed that it has withdrawn the latest firmware update for PlayStation 3 from its website due to customers' reports of problems Wednesday.

Sony released firmware 2.40 Tuesday, and reports of problems started flowing in soon after on the official PS3 message board.

"I downloaded version 2.40 ... and I get a black screen forever," one customer wrote. The problem was first reported by the video game site Joystiq.

A Sony spokesman confirmed that the company pulled the firmware off its servers while it investigated the problem.

"In order to further assess the issue, we have temporarily taken the firmware offline for further testing," the spokesman said, though only a "limited number of consumers" experienced the problem.

Key improvements in the latest firmware are in-game access to instant messaging to communicate with other players and other PS3 features, such as checking downloads, changing settings, and playing music from the user's library.

In addition, the firmware introduces a trophy system to award players for game performance.

Source:Xinhua/Agencies