Is there any other explanation for a frozen screen in a PS3 MP game?

[dio3d]

This has happened to me about five times over the past few weeks: I've been merrily playing an MP Free-for-All on my PS3 when someone leaves and there are only two players remaining (me and the other player). Then, the screen freezes and stays frozen. At that point, if I just leave it on the frozen screen I will win a domination victory if the other player stops waiting around (sometimes this can take hours) or, I assume, I will grant a domination victory to the other player if I turn off my PS3 console. During this frozen screen none of my buttons work: not the toggles, not even the PS3 button in the middle of the controller.

I've seen elsewhere in these forums that a frozen screen on MP might be an indication of someone "cheating" you, but this has happened sufficient times in the scenario described above that I'm wondering if anyone else has figured out why these "freeze screens" happen.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated, particularly since this usually happens after I've put in a few hours of gameplay, and it's really irritating not to be able to go the distance.

Thanks.

ps. There have been earlier posts in this forum regarding similar experiences, but those were before the v1.30 patch, which I have. I'm assuming my online opponents have this patch as well, since it's my understanding that you can't play MP unless you have the latest game patches (although I could be wrong)