All Articles: PS3

Brace yourselves PlayStation 3 owners, Sony has some bad news about the PSN outage. Shigenori Yoshida, a Sony Japan spokesman, has told Bloomberg that the company is “uncertain” on when the PlayStation Network will be back online.

Oh, it gets worse.

Yoshida went on to say that the target date for the restoration of all services is May 31, nearly six weeks after the service first went down on April 20th. While that’s the deadline, it’s still very possible Sony will have the PSN back up and running sooner than that. Though they previously expected online play to be ready by Friday, May 6.

And there original estimate of the outage on April 20th was “a day or two” so perhaps we shouldn’t hold our breath for May 31st either.

Here we go, PSN users, Sony has announced (via the PlayStation.Blog) that the PlayStation Network restoration has entered its final stages. No timetable for the network’s return was revealed, but an open letter from Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer stated “In the coming days, we will restore service to the networks and welcome you back to the fun.”

So, in other words, don’t expect the PSN to be turned back on tomorrow. And I wouldn’t hold my breath for this weekend either.

In a final PlayStation.Blog post, Sony announced that they have partnered with Debix to offer their AllClear ID Plus identity theft protection service to PSN users at no charge for a year. Redemption codes will be sent via email over the next few days and more information is available at the link.

It may be slow going, but it looks like ApocalyPS3 2011 may finally be coming to an end.

As promised, Sony held a press conference on the state of the PlayStation Network and announced that the PSN/Qriocity music service will be back online next week. An exact date for the service’s return was not revealed, but the initial phase of the rollout will include restoration of online play, Qriocity’s Music Unlimited service, account management options (including password resets), PlayStation Home, the Friends List and chat. It looks like the PlayStation Store will come back online later.

Sony spent the last week examining the network infrastructure and investigating how the breach occured. In order to prevent something like this from happening again, the company has created a new position: Chief Information Security Officer. In addition to a new executive that reports directly to the highest levels of Sony, the gamemaker has beefed up the PSN’s security with automated software monitoring to defend against attacks, tougher encryption and new firewalls.

A mandatory PS3 update will also require all PSN users to change their passwords before logging in to the restored system. To further enhance security, this password change can only be performed on the same PS3 in which that account was activated or through a validated email confirmation.

To apologize for gamer’s patience during The Great PSN Outage of 2011, Sony has launched a “Welcome Back” program. The “Welcome Back” program will supply PSN users with free “entertainment content” (specific content will be announced soon) and a 30-day subscription to PlayStation Plus (or a 30-day extension for current subscribers). Current Qriocity users will receive a 30 days of free service. Sony plans to announce additional “Welcome Back” offerings over the next few weeks.

The full text of the press statement can be read at the PlayStaton.Blog.