Hey gaming readers!
If you are not aware, the PlayStation Network (PSN) which has been down for around 25 days is now officially back online, allowing 77 million gamers worldwide to play online once again!
In this post, we'll briefly look at the events that happened since it went down, and what to expect when getting back into online gaming via PSN. [UPDATED: PSN users have been offered gifts for the experience, see what this European user was given at the bottom]
What Happened?
As of the 20th March, 2011, Online PlayStation users attempted to play their online game only to receive an error. For several days no official word was given by the PlayStation group (to the anger of many), until finally it was admited that the PSN will be down for some time, and that they had been hacked (they believe by a hacking group called Anonymous) who also took details ranging from email addresses and passwords, to credit card details, further enflaming anger towards Sony for allowing this security breach.
This anger lead to the announcement of a lawsuit from a PSN subscriber from Alabama, USA, suing Sony for lax secuirty measures, slow notification from Sony, as well as informing the public to take security measures against the chances of their credit card details being in the hands of someone else. Gaming industry analyst Michael Pachter believed it will be in vain, telling Industry Gamers, “How much does it cost you to have your identity stolen? Especially if you can’t prove that it was used for any purpose whatsoever? Pain and suffering? Not appropriate for a class action. So the amount of the settlement would be very small, if anything at all.”
It took approximately 3 weeks to get PSN up and running again, in that time seeing many things including the wedding of a prince and the death of a bad guy - many who attributed this possibility to the going down of the PSN, jokingly, allowing people to focus on real issues at hand - before seeing the rise of online gaming once again, via PSN.
How to Use PSN Again
When I tried logging in, this was was my play-by-play of what happened, and the steps you can expect:
- Connect online (if not connected already)
- You will be asked to update the system.
- Sign is as per normal
- Expect a message informing you to change your password which will be emailed you (it is safe, despite the email's simplicity - the email address will be DoNotReply@ac.playstation.net. I cannot confirm is this is a regional email and if people in for example the USA will receive such an email from a different one)
- Log onto your email at a PC, to an email saying "To reset your PlayStation(R)Network password, please click on the link below. This link will expire in 3 hours from the time that it was sent. The link will direct you to a PlayStation(R)Network web page and allow you to enter and confirm your new password.To reset your PlayStation(R)Network password, please click on the link below. This link will expire in 3 hours from the time that it was sent. The link will direct you to a PlayStation(R)Network web page and allow you to enter and confirm your new password." Proceed to given link.
- Change password details, and any others which you may need to. Bear in mind the new password must a minimum of 8 characters which consists of letters and numbers, and it also doesn't allow two identical letters or numbers next to each other (eg, you cannot use the word "book" in the password as it has to two O's next to each other.
- You will receive an email confirmation stating "This email has been sent to you because the password for the relevant PlayStation(R)Network account has been changed. If you did not change your password, please contact Customer Support at the following address: networksupport@uk.playstation.com"
- Log in after changing the password, and voila! Online gaming continues.
So... What Now?
Though there is not much really stated about changed made to the PSN, the basic summary of new and additional security measaures are increased encryption levels and additional firewalls.My view: what's done is done. I could be annoyed as much as I enjoy online gaming, but I got on with life. Maybe I'm not annoyed because I never connected a credit card to it? There are some people who were very unhappy that they couldn't play online, but for me I still had invited friends over for multiplayer fun during this time, and will continue again playing online when time is available. I definitely look forward to getting new games to try online, like the new Mortal Kombat game and a strong recommendation of playing Portal 2.
So, reader... How do you feel about the PSN having been down for so long? What did you do with your spare time? Are you going to continue using the PSN again? How has it affected you?
-Harish, out
UPDATE (17-May-2011)
I received an email from Sony earlier regarding European consumers and their lack of being able to play online by putting out there "To thank you for your patience whilst PSN has been unavailable, we'll be rolling out a Welcome Back programme for all PSN users shortly; this will include free games to download and a month's free subsciption to PlayStation®Plus (or a free month for existing members). Once available, we'll publish a full list of Welcome Back offers in your country at eu.playstation.com/welcomeback"
Does this differ for other regions? Let us know what's going on where you're from...
References
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