PlayStation Network could be down 'a day or two'

The PlayStation Network is currently experiencing outages, which Sony corporate communications director Patrick Seybold says could last "a full day or two."

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[Update 10:10 am] The PlayStation Network outages may take longer than expected to fix. In an update on the PlayStation Blog corporate communications director Patrick Seybold said it might last "a full day or two."

While we are investigating the cause of the Network outage, 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. Thank you very much for your patience while we work to resolve this matter. Please stay tuned to this space for more details, and we'll update you again as soon as we can.

It's hard to imagine worse timing for Sony, as this comes during the launch of multiplayer-focused SOCOM 4, the cross-platform Steamworks debut of Portal 2, the Infamous 2 beta test, and the fighting game Mortal Kombat. Sony's servers are probably being taxed to the bone, but the word "investigation" seems to imply there's more at work here. We'll keep an eye on the situation.

[Original Story] The PlayStation Network has been suffering outages last night and into today. In a near superhuman display of vagueness, Sony senior director of corporate communications Patrick Seybold has issued a statement. "We're aware certain functions of PlayStation Network are down," he said. "We will report back here as soon as we can with more information."

The problem seems to be affecting more than one region, but Sony is staying mum across the map. Kotaku reports that Sony Help Desk employees were given a memo claiming that the outages are due to "emergency maintenance."

Though it could be unrelated, the hacker group Anonymous staged a series of denial of service attacks only a few weeks ago, in retaliation for its case against PS3 hackers George Hotz and Graf_Chokolo. The group halted the attacks and apologized for negatively impacting users when the target was Sony itself.

Sony ultimately settled the suit with Hotz, but Anonymous promised to keep its anti-Sony campaign going. The group's latest public effort was a sit-in at Sony stores.

Editor-In-Chief
From The Chatty
  • reply
    April 21, 2011 8:30 AM

    Comment on PlayStation Network suffering sporadic outages, by Steve Watts.

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 8:35 AM

      No kidding anonymous is butt hurt (and desperate) that nobody likes them anymore so they are attacking psn now.. Basically hurting all the millions of users trying to just play on their PS3's.. Congrats to the lost cause guys! I'm sure Sony will fix it just a minor inconvenience.... :P

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 8:36 AM

      pancake humper's fault

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 8:40 AM

      wouldn't be surprised if it was anonymous again anyway. the halt could have been one anonymous guy claiming to speak for other anonymous guys

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 8:40 AM

        also, explains why i had a connection problem last night

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 8:45 AM

      Summary: The PlayStation Network is currently suffering outages, and the company has called it due to "emergency maintenance" to Help Desk employees.

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 8:49 AM

      There goes portal 2 co-op

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 8:55 AM

        You get a free copy for the PC! Go for it... PSN will probably be down for just a bit, they just have to setup tighter security thanks to morons ddos attacking psn...

        • reply
          April 21, 2011 9:00 AM

          Or maybe they're just getting hammered because of Portal 2, Mortal Kombat, and SOCOM4 all landing on Tuesday.

          • reply
            April 21, 2011 9:53 AM

            Actually an update: The psn store got compromised and we allowing free dl's so someone is attacking Sony's store and they are shutting everything down to fix it...

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 10:25 AM

      hmmmm i havent fired up MK yet, i wonder if i will be able to activate my preorder DLC this afternoon?

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 10:33 AM

        should be able to, if the outages are just sporadic

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 10:29 AM

      Well.. you get what your "pay for".. PSN blows

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 10:32 AM

        360 fanboi, eh?

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 10:39 AM

        OMGWTFBBQ, I haz free internetz and blu-ray, i'm cooler than you!!

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 10:41 AM

        Guess you don't remember Xbox Live Dec 07?

        • reply
          April 21, 2011 10:45 AM

          Actually that was when xbox live became cool ;) Discontinuing FTW!

          • reply
            April 21, 2011 11:35 AM

            enjoy xbox live if you can keep a junkie xbox working long enough to play

        • reply
          April 21, 2011 11:22 AM

          ? 07? I thought it was 08... when CoD MW and Halo 3 were out. Damn nearly 3.5 years ago already. It's all relative.

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 12:40 PM

        no wai d00d, Sony Rulez, Xbox droolz!

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 1:04 PM

        / Epic Facepalm

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 10:33 AM

      So this is why my PSN is down. I would not be shocked if this Anonymous again, the fact that they promised to continue and that this week been big for PSN with Steam being rolled out... yeah this would be a prime time for an attack. Its sad too, i had some respect for them after they went after Westboro Baptist Church. Now this Sony thing is just childish, stupid, annoying.

      Hurt the people that you are trying to fight for.... GENIUS!!!!

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 11:23 AM

        Wait, I thought Anon made a public apology after going at PSN a couple weeks back? Masquerade?

        • reply
          April 21, 2011 11:27 AM

          how can a body composed of unknown, anonymous people officially claim anything?

        • reply
          April 21, 2011 11:27 AM

          you're expecting wayyyyy too much organization from anon, this is the dregs of the internet, the biggest egos

          • reply
            April 21, 2011 12:04 PM

            I'm just stating somewhere there was mention that Anon wasn't going to stop, and I didn't see a report about it is all...

        • reply
          April 21, 2011 12:58 PM

          Possibly no proof, I just would not be shocked, considering i trust apology as much as I trust another public apology.

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 11:40 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 12:38 PM

        it's gotta suck being a sysadmin in charge of something that's getting DDOS'd. what do you even do to combat it?

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 1:02 PM

        Hey I'm not too stressed about, just give me update about wrong not telling me anything is annoying but o well. i will go about my day. Hell its nice day outside any might sit on steps and read for a bit. I' m not going to lose my like the rest of world. Man check out the PSN facebook page its ppl are acting like its the end of the world.

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 11:41 AM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 12:22 PM

      Does this mean I can't access Netflix via PS3?

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 12:29 PM

        Netflix seems to still work even without connecting to the PSN.

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        April 21, 2011 12:33 PM

        Oh fuck no. I better be able to watch Twin Peaks when I get home. Or bricks will be shat.

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 2:41 PM

        Not working for me since it expects me to sign in. I guess if your ps still thinks it's authenticated you can get by it.

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          April 21, 2011 11:04 PM

          Yeah, it even tries to get into an infinite loop of trying and failing to sign in. I had to be quick to sneak in another button press to quit out of the application.

          Bummer, but whatever... I'm just looking to watch an old TV show, and I can do that on my laptop.

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 12:41 PM

      Some of Amazon's stuff is down too. Not the actual amazon site but their servers for other stuff, such as Reddit, which has been in read only mode with no posting/logging in for pretty much the entire day.

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 12:41 PM

      you get what you pay for

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 1:31 PM

      All I wish the Sony should get the anonymous bannedhammer! I hope the PSN server would be too much better after this one.

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 1:37 PM

      all the online games are down too, swg everquest, maybe dc online?

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 3:22 PM

        Some offline games too, thanks to DRM. Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 requires a PSN connection to be able to play it.

        • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
          reply
          April 21, 2011 10:10 PM

          Which is why I passed on that one, even though I own what feels like every other PSN game.

          • reply
            April 21, 2011 10:53 PM

            And if they put that DRM in the RE4 re-release THERE WILL BE STABBINGS

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 2:28 PM

      I twittered to them this morning, they are fucking retarded to do maintenance before a long weekend what assholes.

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 3:26 PM

        I know! Can't they plan their emergencies in advance like everyone else?!

        • reply
          April 21, 2011 3:27 PM

          It was a regular service down time this morning that switched to an emergency, or did I read something wrong?

        • reply
          April 21, 2011 3:31 PM

          You know that Seer they have in the basement at Sony HQ is going to get the early retirement option.

          • reply
            April 21, 2011 3:57 PM

            I called this shit at 9 am do I get a promotion?

            • reply
              April 21, 2011 4:03 PM

              You do but if your wrong... you know what happens... THE early retirement.

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 7:22 PM

      I just bought MK for the PS3 I can live without PSN for awhile now... Story mode and lots of extras! It's good Sony is getting attacked like this that way security will be beefed up in the future...

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 8:16 PM

      amazon web services is experiencing serious outages as well :(

      • reply
        April 21, 2011 10:04 PM

        The whole internet is taking a shit on itself.

    • reply
      April 21, 2011 10:38 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      April 22, 2011 11:42 AM

      What Assholes, thanks sony for not letting us play this easter weekend!

    • reply
      April 22, 2011 3:24 PM

      The crying you hear is me hugging my PS3 copy of Portal 2 while my laptop is elsewhere to be fixed.

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      April 22, 2011 5:45 PM

      No more purchasing Sony products.

    • reply
      April 22, 2011 9:02 PM

      http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/04/22/update-on-playstation-network-qriocity-services/

      just posted on the Playstation Blog... "Outside Intrusion"

      why am I not shocked at all.

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