Sony has begun to restore online gameplay and other services to the PlayStation Network and Station.com after more than three weeks of downtime. PlayStation 3 users are required to download and install a mandatory firmware update and change passwords, with the roll-out of services beginning in America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East. PSN and Sony Online Entertainment's Station.com have been down since April 20 following an attack that left over 100 million accounts compromised Read more... Sonny Yatsen writes "Sony has released the PS3 3.61 firmware update as a part of the phased return of the Playstation Network and Qriocity. The new update now requires all PSN users to change their passwords in order to sign back into the PSN service." And several readers are pointing to reports that the network is slowly being spun up. Snips one anonymous submitter: "Sony Japan told customers today that it would begin phased restoration of its services of its beleaguered Playstation Network which has been suffering from an outage for nearly a month. The company would start bringing back its gaming network this Sunday, on a country-by-country basis, and expects it to be completed by May 31." Read more of this story at Slashdot. Reports suggest that trade-ins for PlayStation 3 consoles are beginning to rapidly increase in the wake of PSN downtime, as online gamers in particular become more frustrated at the situation. Sony has offered no further update on the service since Tuesday, May 10, when it was warned that it would be "at least a few more days" before services would be restored - including Sony Online Entertainment MMOs such as DC Universe Online. A study of PlayStation 3 resale prices since the outage, by website Video Game Price Charts, shows that the average price of PlayStation 3 software in the U.S. has decreased by 7.4 per cent since April 20, when the PlayStation Network was switched off. At the same time Xbox 360 prices have increased by 0.7 per cent. Read more... Sony's PlayStation Network remains down after a hacker attack, despite the company's reassurance last Sunday that it would have the… **Firm says it needs to undertake further testing of the PSN network before relaunch** Sony is reneging on a promise to reboot its PlayStation Network and start bringing its 77 million customers back online anytime soon. Sony posted an update to its PlayStation blog Friday stating it was "unaware of the extent of the (network) attack" adding it needs to "conduct further testing of the incredibly complex system" before it can restart its network. Sony is reneging on a promise to reboot its PlayStation Network and start bringing its 77 million customers back online anytime soon. Sony posted an update to its PlayStation blog Friday stating it was "unaware of the extent of the (network) attack" adding it needs to "conduct further testing of the incredibly complex system" before it can restart its network. Sony's online service for its PlayStation 3 and PSP game machines as well as its PC online games remained offline Friday morning following the massive security breach that occurred in mid-April. Sony had originally said that PlayStation Network would be back up this week, but with not many hours left in the week, this is [...] On World Tech Update this week: Osama bin Laden's death breaks a Twitter record, Sony execs apologize for the PSN outage, Intel intros a new transistor, and the Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone shows up in Europe. An anonymous reader writes with an update to yesterday morning's news that Sony Online Entertainment's game service was taken offline to investigate a potential data breach related to the PSN intrusion. SOE has now said that they too suffered a major theft of user data. "... personal information from approximately 24.6 million SOE accounts may have been stolen, as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007. The information from the outdated database that may have been stolen includes approximately 12,700 non-US credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes), and about 10,700 direct debit records of certain customers in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Spain." Read more of this story at Slashdot. Two weeks since after Sony's PlayStation Network was hacked Kazuo Hirai, chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment, has addressed the issue in a press conference in Tokyo. Sony will turn on most features of the PlayStation Network within a week and offer its customers a selection of free downloads, it said early Sunday morning. The PlayStation maker's online service for its PlayStation 3 and PSP consoles will come back online this week following a massive security breach in which the personal information of [...] With the latest update on the official Playstation blog, Sony PR rep Patrick Seybold reports that the PSN could be back up inside a week. On Tuesday, Sony issued an update explaining the recent PlayStation Network and Qriocity outages. The company said it has discovered that between April 17th and April 19th, someone broke into its network and stole user information. In an effort to stop the security breach, Sony temporarily killed access to its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, hired a security firm to investigate, and started beefing up its security measures. However, the leaked information may be alarming to PlayStation network users. Here's part of Sony's statement: We believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible Over the weekend, we discussed news that the PlayStation Network had been down for days, with Sony saying little other than that it was caused by an "external intrusion" and that they were "rebuilding their network." Many of you have written to point out that the outage continues, with Sony saying they "don't have an update or timeframe to share at this point." One theory about the cause behind the network's downtime was recently espoused on Reddit by 'chesh,' a moderator at PlayStation-modding enthusiast site PSX-Scene.com. According to him, recently released custom firmware called Rebug allowed people to essentially turn their PS3s into dev consoles, though some features were missing. A different group supposedly used this firmware to get on PSN through the developer networks, and also found that fake credit card numbers were not being validated for game purchases, leading to what chesh called "extreme piracy." He acknowledges that this theory is speculation. Sony's handling of this outage is starting to draw attention from the government. Read more of this story at Slashdot. The Playstation Network (PSN) entered its sixth day of downtime today and Sony is still mum about when the online gaming network would go live again, which could spark an exodus of gamers and developers leaving the system to work on other online networks. Sony said the network would be down indefinitely as it rebuilt it to make it more secure after an external attack forced the company to bring its online network down. The downtime has hurt developers, who can't release new games or content for existing games, and gamers that cannot access new content or online components of their games. It's a massive blow to Sony because it might cause many developers and gamers to flock to other online gaming services like Microsoft's Xbox Live. To make partial amends, the company extended the online beta for its next blockbuster title inFamous 2 — a sandbox-style game about a guy with superpowers. It's a little token of appreciation for avid PSN users, but it probably isn't enough to sate some of the growing frustration with the downtime because there are many other online games users want to play — the least of which is the recently ... Six days after Sony first announced that its Playstation Network had been experiencing difficulties, the network remains down. Sony shut down bo… More news emerges regarding the state of PSN as Sony continues to struggle against hacks...
Key Words: psn update
References:
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Sunday, May 15, 2011
News Sony restoring PlayStation Network services Releases PS3 3.61 Update Ahead of PSN's Imminent Return 3 tradeins mount at retail Misses Deadline To Restart goes back on promise imminent reboot PSN service No Service Anytime Soon Says Latest Downtimeline Charting the Outage Sorry Intel Goes 3D and Twitter Sets New Record Breach Gets Worse 24.6 Million Compromised Accounts At SOE Compo return for customers Details Revival ‘Welcome Back’ Gift User Data Possibly Stolen in Hack hacked credit card numbers logins may have been stolen Continues Console Claimed Be Responsible Will Developers Gamers Flock to Other Consoles as Sony’s Remains Offline Down Indefinitely After Hacker Attack Day Seven [UPDATE]
