Sony Silent as PSN Outage Drags into Second Day
Sony Silent as PSN Outage Drags into Second Day
Posted 04/22/2011 at 2:44pm
| by Ryan Whitwam
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Sony's PlayStation Network (PSN) went down early Thursday morning. Usually, when a large scale service like this goes dark, it's quickly restored. This time, we're coming up on two days of outage without a resolution in sight. Perhaps more concerning, Sony has been silent on the issue since midday yesterday.
Users of the PlayStation 3 console were originally getting a non-specific error code when trying to log in, but that has since been changed to a notice of PSN maintenance. The last word on the outage was posted on the PlayStation blog over a day ago as of this posting. "… we wanted to alert you that it may be a full day or two before we're able to get the service completely back up and running," the post said.
Sony requires users to log into PSN to access many services, and to play games online. It's understandable many gamers are up in arms about the lack of connectivity, especially considering the recent release of Mortal Kombat and Portal 2. Some have accused hacker group Anonymous of causing the outage, but the loose association of vigilantes have denied responsibility.
The PSN is a free service, but could be called an integral part of the console people bought. Do you think users have reason to be upset? When do you think service will be restored?
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unitymind
April 24, 2011 at 11:29pm
It's completely stupid that I have to be logged into Sony to use my PAID Netflix account! It eventually let me in after 10 annoying login pop-ups.
Zelpo
April 24, 2011 at 2:34am
I learned the hard way that a using a PS3 for a home entertainment center actually relies on PSN. My timing couldn't of been worse: bought a new PS3 about a week ago, got subs to MLB.com & Netflix, had access for a day, and then PSN goes down lmao. Ended up getting a Roku just to watch TV as I circumvented cable by getting the PS3. Yikes, this was a hard lesson learned.
But PSN will be back up, and probably better for it. The only bummer for me is the games. Most of the games I like to play are only available via PSN. At least I have a PC/Steam to fall back on.
raven199009
April 23, 2011 at 1:36pm
ok so here it is. why must we all fight about consoles vs. pc. its stupid people. we are all gamers and all want the same thing from our games. yes sony is having a hard time right now with all the harrasment from hackers and all that kind of stuff. but come on there is no reason for gamers to turn on each other and fight. CHILL people. for the record i own an xbox, playstation 3 and a gaming pc. its gaming. its a brotherhood that we should all be banning together to help fix these issues. nuff said.
cpuking2010
April 23, 2011 at 9:48am
Man this xbox Live feels great, to bad I have to pay an entire $34 a year to use it. Man that price is just so hard to swallow. _sarcasm_
cpuking2010
April 23, 2011 at 9:54am
Before anyone asks, yes I am a PC gamer, and yes I play xbox also! OMG say it ain't so!!!!! tears from nerdland!
IFLATLINEI
April 23, 2011 at 11:18am
WOW! Can you say Douche bag? You must be Leet for sure. You are the man. You dont get shut out of online gaming. Your too good for that. You play your games on a childs toy and on a PC full of games made for the PS3 and/or childs toy you speak of. You look like a twelve year old with a receding harline. Could that be from pulling your hair out every time you red ring? Dont respond no one cares about you or your opinions.
kixofmyg0t
April 22, 2011 at 6:42pm
Personally I think someone DDOS'ed the PSN. *AHEM* ANONYMOUS *AHEM* FAGS *AHEM*
Either way it's not the end of the world. I don't even have my PS3 with me right now anyways. It's still in my shipment from Germany so I'm not really missing out on anything.
KrazyRussian
April 23, 2011 at 10:03am
THis is maximumPC so noone gives a shit that u play on a console
kixofmyg0t
April 22, 2011 at 8:11pm
Thx for the advice.
BTW just so you know I have some DR Pepper out in the trunk of my car. Oh and I left some games in Germany. Plus I got a leather couch coming in too.
Ridnarhtim
April 22, 2011 at 6:00pm
Uhm, this kind of stuff happens. Yes, you can be upset about it, but you gotta live with it, and the service will be up again sometime.
Roll Tide
April 22, 2011 at 4:46pm
well the thing is everyone can rant and rave about it but what can you do? Sony doesnt care about any gamer not being able to play Mortal Kombat or the UBER AMAZING MULTIPLAYER ON PORTAL 2. Sony only cares about what Sony cares about. Right now they feel that not giving customer service is beneficial to them. A class action suit would just cause Sony to make the network not free anymore.
IFLATLINEI
April 23, 2011 at 11:22am
Yeah there ya go. LETS SUE!!! How about refraining from spending money on Sony products if thats how you feel. Too bad all of you sheep cant keep your selves from buying the next shiny turd. So your lawsuits will never succeed and youll always be complaining about what you cant get or dont have because your all weak excuses for humans LOL. Im on a freaking roll today!
cepwin
April 22, 2011 at 4:17pm
I have both an xbox and ps3 and follow both platforms (in addition to steam/pc.) I can recall xbox live being a little wonky around Christmas but nothing like several days of no service. As you also said...you can play offline (eg. single player games or couch multi) quite nicely w/o logging into the internet on xbox. Finally, if something this major happened on xbox they have people like Larry Hryb (Major Nelson) who would be twittering away giving us status as much as he possibly could. I think that's the worst thing about outages...not knowing!!!!! That is one thing about PC...fewer moving parts...if your internet is up you can game on or off line.
Biceps
April 22, 2011 at 3:45pm
That's what you get, you console monkeys!
Sorry, someone had to say it. Look, anytime you have an integrated service that is hooked into the internet, there is going to be down time. Usually, the downtime is short, but sometimes it is not. Anyone who has played a MMORPG for any extended period of time has had issues logging in because of downed servers. Even Steam isn't perfect - I have issues with Steam on my PC at least once ever couple of months, and it usually takes anywhere from an hour to 24 hours to fix or to resolve itself. (Deny away, Steam - you know it's true! If it wasn't you'd have a damn phone number listed on your website!)
Yeah, you have every right to be pissed - the PS3 you paid for isn't working as expected; people don't purchase because of some fine print, people make purchases based on their expectations for how they'll use something. It is definitely not good that Sony isn't saying anything... bad sign. I do hope it gets fixed; it is just about Friday night, after all.
kixofmyg0t
April 22, 2011 at 6:33pm
You REALLY should read Sony's EULA before you spout your ignorance everywhere.
"the PS3 you paid for isn't working as expected"
Ohh jeez you act like it's the end of the world or something.
"That's what you get, you console monkeys!"
So wait a second, I...along with MILLIONS of other people are now "monkeys" because we bought a platform to play games on? We somehow deserve to be denied service because we have consoles? Your ignorant childish mind is SCREAMING "LOOK AT ME I'M BETTER THAN OF YOU!!"
Biceps
April 23, 2011 at 2:40am
.... I just really don't even know what to say to you. The console monkey joke was a joke, buddy, for what it's worth. I own a Wii. It was sarcasm. I think you really need to relax.
IFLATLINEI
April 23, 2011 at 11:25am
Whats with the labels? What you cant just be a freaking gamer? Cuz thats what you are. Just another gamer. Except me of course Im a Console/PC Elite gamer LOL Whatever.
TheeMC
April 22, 2011 at 3:39pm
I feel like part of the reason people buy PS3s in the first place is the promise of the free gaming service. To me this is like buying a lifelong TiVo and the service not working for a few days. I don't own a PS3 so this doesn't affect me as much, but I do feel some form of compensation should be due, especially since it can affect the offline functions of the console.
XBL service is a bit different. It's not *needed* for he console. Instead of a "one time fee" (which is included in the cost of a PS3), we 360 customers pay every year. Because of this (expensive) monthly, bi-annual, or annual fee, I expect consistent, quality service. However, even if the service is down, it doesn't affect my offline functions of the console. So in this sense, it's very different than the PS3.
ender42
April 22, 2011 at 3:22pm
While it may be a free service, it can lock us out of being able to use something we have purchased. For example, many of the games require online authentication in order to play, even if you are playing single player. Also, with new games like Mortal Kombat and Portal 2 mentioned in the article, big selling points for some people were the multiplayer functions that are currently unavailable.
While I do not feel like this is as big a deal as if XBoxLive were down since it is fee-based, this is still a major headache for many users and needs to be addressed quickly. That being said, I am still enjoying being able to play through single-player on the new Mortal Kombat so it does not affect me as much as others.
<sarcasm>Maybe this is another one of the PS3 "features" that will disappear like backwards-compatibilty and Other OS. They decided that letting people play online for free wasn't making them enough money and encouraging piracy.</sarcasm>
Hutif
April 22, 2011 at 3:01pm
It won't let me watch Hulu without without signing into PSN meaning I can't use the service I am paying for because of some silly added protocol. Netflix doesn't have this problem. Just Hulu.
michaelh
April 22, 2011 at 5:00pm
An excellent point and one I was going to bring up. I pay for Hulu Plus and can't use it at the moment. I can't use Netflix either since it's trying to connect to the PSN first.
Markitzero
April 22, 2011 at 2:51pm
My 3G has been crapping out and it will not even let me update my firmware or update my games. I am waiting for better internet in the Rural area were I live.
IFLATLINEI
April 23, 2011 at 11:27am
WHAT? What does your 3G have anything to do with the PSN network? Are you tethering your phone to PS3 to get on the PSN? If thats the case just keep trying. The PSN is down for everyone except those of us using 3G.
BETAnut
April 22, 2011 at 2:52pm
No for the simple fact that it is free to ps3 users, they have no right to complain. If this were to happen to Xbox Live, then they would have a right to complain. And for those that are complaining, remember that Sony was hit in the earthquakes and tsunami's in Japan, they have bigger problems than PSN right now.
IFLATLINEI
April 23, 2011 at 11:29am
Your an idiot. You pay for your PSN access everytime you buy a game. Just because Microsoft chose to charge you the same for the games plus rape the XBOX customer for more money to get online doesnt make the PSN free. Use your heads people you cant possibly be that stupid.
Slurpy
April 22, 2011 at 3:05pm
While my first thought was to agree with you, on further consideration I have to disagree. Even though it's a "free" service, the PSN was advertised as being an integral part of the system. The ability to play BR discs was "free," too, since it's not part of the single-player game experience, but you'd be pissed if that stopped working.
Now, with that said, I'd be MORE pissed if XBL was down vs. PSN, since, as you said, I'd *still* be paying for XBL. Luckily, though, I do all my gaming on my PC. Though Comcast does bone me from time to time.
BETAnut
April 22, 2011 at 6:43pm
Ah, but it is not integral as it is not hardware. The blu-ray feautre was not free as the initial $600 price tag hints at and is required to play games.
PSN is handeled by a seperate entity to the ps3 and it is not required to operate the ps3 nor does it hinder your ability to play games, just limits the number of people you can play with to 4 instead of the limit of PSN, that and they have to be in your house eating your cheetos.
That advertising is also just that, the warrenty doesent cover hardware failure of PSN, but it covers the blu-ray drive, as it is critical, but even then, it is Sony's perogitive to supply PSN and Sony has more important things to worry about, like the employees they lost in Fukushima or the plants they were working in, or, more embarrasingly, the PR debacle over that kid who modded his ps3.
<I cant spell>
iceman08
April 23, 2011 at 5:20am
games like warhawk and MAG rely on PSN to play. some dlc won't activate due to psn. Games that sync to other servers, such as AC; Brotherhood's Project Legacy sync require you sign into playstation before signing in to Ubisoft. While not every game has these issues, it still is an inconvenience. Many users rely on Playstation Network, as it is a service provided by Sony and coupled as a package deal with the ps3 which affects other programs such as netflix, hulu plus, MLB.tv, etc.
my ps3 is a part of my home entertainment system, and I want it working the way it was meant to. I didn't agree to have my service disrupted when I've updated my system in the past.
after reading what I've written, I sound off topic. my semi coherent rambling is done
EDIT: also, many people have paid for PLaystation Plus, which is a subscription service similar to xbox live. they have cause for anger
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