At present time Sony is still quiet about the reasons that lead to this bonus feature, but it’s really not that hard to guess. Up till now, every firmware update had been plagued with reports of bricked consoles, so the menu will certainly have its use in the future.

PS3Fanboy reports:

“A recovery menu (pictured above) gives users access to a variety of restore features. It will even allow users to install a new firmware update, should anything go wrong during the installation process. To access the menu, you must hold down the power button to turn on the PS3 until you hear three beeps. Then the menu will show up.”

The recovery menu features the following options:
– Restore System
– Restore Default Settings
– Restore File System
– Rebuild Database
– Restore PS3 System
– System Update