According to this article, a lot of people are experiencing the same problem with the same symptoms:
FAT PS3 (60/80GB), MW2, Firmware 3.10+, Console Death
 

It just goes to show how much awesomeness is on the MW2 disc that the PS3 and Xbox 360 can't handle it.
 
But in all of seriousness the fatality rate of consoles is probably more likely if a game sold 10 million copies than say a million.

There is a discussion about Firmware 3.15 over in the "Playstation Network" forums here on GB with many more links to more terrifying stories of suddenly dead consoles.  Firmware 3.15 Problems

it is funny to hear these types of things. it might because they are using it a lot more then they should. the ps3 ends up dieing from it being used a lot.

Not just the consoles but the controllers as well suck ass these days, im on controller number 4 cause the left analog stick is jacked, every game i play my character is slowing moving forward without me touching anything, quite annoying. 
A few months ago i actually dragged my n64 out of my dusty moldy closet and the the damn thing worked just as well as when i first got it.  Ah the good ol days when you could just blow into the cartridge and all your problems would be solved.
 
Oh and related to the article i have a fat ps3 and i have MW2, ive seen some problems like freezing and what not but i havent gotten a yellow light.....yet, good thing ive stopped playing for the most part i guess. Reading the article and seeing the words "dying of old age" about my ps3 thats FAR from old kinda pisses me off, shit my nes in the attic prolly still works and now my 600$ ps3 is "old" ugh.

but then I wonder how many people are playing on a fat PS3 with the latest firmware and MW2, without any problems.  I bet it's just the usual overheating problems that consoles face.

*yawn* another one of these.

I lol'd

Good thing my 80 gig Ps3 got a harddrive update so it's a 250GBer making me totally not applicable to this problem. 
 
Right guys? 
 
Right? 
 
Fuck.

OMFG! THE 12 YEAR OLD WILL GO MAD! MAD I TELL YOU!

'looks at mine' 
Nope, they're still kicking o.O

The thing I love about articles like this,
Is that they NEVER take into account the fact that people who play games like MW2 tend to put HUNDREDS of hours
into their system, And have probably been doing so since release. (Which is why the "fat" point makes sense here)
It's why old school systems last forever and new ones burn out, Disc Drives.  Old cartridge systems have very little to break, New systems have lots of parts that can crap out and fuck the whole system.
It's really just a matter of time. And since MW2 is what they have all been playing the last couple months,
Well thats a pretty big window of time for that inevitable breakdown to happen.
Theres a word for it, What was that word......     Oh right Coincidence

I had firmware 3.10 installed for awhile. Same with my lil brother. I have a 60gb launch model. He has an 80gb model. Both backwards compatible. Nothing wrong with them at all. We even updated to 3.15 and they still work. And we played MW2 online a lot (mainly spec ops).
 
I'm gonna go on a limb and say maybe just maybe (not putting blame) that the end user problem messed up somewhere. Maybe shutting off PS3 in the middle of an update on accident. Or something like that. But I hear a lot of horror stories on the consoles. Uncharted freezing, blu-rays not reading, backwards compatibility no longer there. But I haven't ran into any of these. So far just my 360 red ringing. Good thing its and easy fix since I'm out of warranty.

I'm honestly terrified to turn my PS3 on now. I got the update this morning and I don't even know what to do now. I got it, turned off my PS3 so I could play Bayonetta on 360 and then heard about it..

Don't play MW2.  Problem solved.

I'm still good.

i thought battlefield 1943 killed my ps3.   
 
then i realized how seriously fucking dusty it was, including dog hair. 
 
so whatever. shit happens, i highly doubt mw2 is to blame. 

My PS3 fat died with the latest update. Just as I found a copy of Valkyria Chronicles too

  These articles are garbage. A game does not kill a PS3. A firmware update does not kill a PS3. 
 
Just because the PS3 broke under the above circumstances does not mean it was the circumstances that caused it. Millions of PS3 owners have a 60/80GB model - they are old consoles which are more susceptible to dying at this age. You also need the newest firmware to play online, so they will obviously have that too. Lots of people also happen to be playing Modern Warfare 2. It's a coincidence.    

at least mine is still alive...
GOOD!
I HOPE I CAN 4EVER PLAY MY PS2 GAMES ON A PS3!