Playstation Network Placed in Glad Bag, Tossed Off Pier with Concrete Block

He describes those trading in their PS3s as “the hardcore online shooter crowd” – players who spend most of their gaming time playing the same game online, and who are therefore greatly impacted by the outage.

All I can envision are 13-year-olds with Justin Bieber hair"cuts" who get the shakes when they can't login to CoD for an hour.

I was really hoping that PSN would be back up before I got internet at my new apartment, but oh well. At least I can still watch Netflix.

slumping sales of PSN points cards

You don't say.

New firmware available to download now!

It's been announced, the restoration begins NOW.
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/14/play-on-%e2%80%93-psn-restoration-begins-now/

If the firmware patch turns out to be a malicious hack that turns the Playstation Network into a bot farm - I won't know whether to laugh or cry.

Or Cry Laughing.

Clonehunter said:

Or Cry Laughing.

That's what I was just going to say.

Ha

What if Morgan Freeman is hired to trace all anonymous members to their mask purchases? :(

'voting with your wallet'
Joe Sixpacks, the asshole who cloned himself until he commanded 99% of the population, can't be persuaded to vote with his wallet or even understand what that means because he's too busy eating slim jims and drinking six packs. He's the reason the only options for buying popcorn are butter, extra butter and super butter, why all new movies are called 'batman ++1' and why voting with your wallet is made irrelevant. Even though he can't be communicated to, he can be exploited like some stupid ant-herded aphid- both by corporate america via selling him homeopathic water, and by those against corporate america via installing botnets on his machine to attack corporate america.
INTERNETS WARS V: THE 3MPIRE STRIKES B4CK!!111

Hmm, was able to download the new firmware, but I still cannot access PSN, and I was not asked to change my password. :/

http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Sony-begins-restoring-PlayStation-Network-1243130.html

Article said:

It appears that Sony have been working with Symantec to assist with securing the network.

I'm not quite sure where he got this information, it scares me though. More for the players than the company, since after spending a few hours trying to find out (futilely) to install Linux onto my friend's PS3, I've found myself hating Sony even more. I'm sad it never got to the point that Sony had to kiss player ass in order to make it up to them.

Someone told me Sony was considering giving out some free games to make up for it, actually. I guess that's not happening now?

I was able to get the firmware and log in, by the way. Seems OK so far.

I guess that a lot of you will have your copy of this e-mail that I received today but...

Dear PlayStation®Network user:

As you may have heard, PlayStation®Network was suspended worldwide on 20 April 2011 following a criminal cyber attack on our servers. We're pleased to say that we have now started restoring some PlayStation Network services. Over the coming days, more services will be back up and running and you should keep an eye on eu.playstation.com/psnlatest and PlayStation.Blog at blog.eu.playstation.com for the very latest developments.

Before you start using PlayStation Network again...

In restoring PSN, we have introduced a safety measure which means you will need to update your PlayStation Network account password before you can start using PSN again.

If you've got a Playstation®3, you can do this by updating to system software version 3.61 and then signing in to PlayStation Network from the XMB (XrossMediaBar) Menu. Find out more at eu.playstation.com/ps3psn. Otherwise, you can change your password by visiting https://store.playstation.com/login.gvm on your PC. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes and if you'd lke more help you can follow the step by step guide at eu.playstation.com/psppsn.

Free games on us...

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.

Again, we would like to thank you for your patience and support whilst our teams worldwide work to get PSN back up and running. Remember, for the very latest updates, you should visit eu.playstation.com/psnlatest, PlayStation.Blog at blog.eu.playstation.com and follow us on twitter.com/PlayStationEU.

We look forward to seeing you online soon,

The PlayStation Network team

I am puzzled over how their response to this problem seems to be a new firmware revision. AFAIK the breach didn't have anything to do with the firmware and had everything to do with a complete lack of security in the way they store server-side data.

Probably while being on the lookout for PSN goodies we should also be on the lookout for even more asinine actions out of Sony, such as lobbying for crazy new IP and hacking laws that strip away our freedoms, or somehow layering even more ineffectual DRM on top of their products which will only piss off legitimate customers.

Quasar said:

I am puzzled over how their response to this problem seems to be a new firmware revision.

I would guess that their client-side app was coded to connect directly to a database, with all of the unsecured connection methods hard-coded along with it.

Enjay said:

I guess that a lot of you will have your copy of this e-mail that I received today but...

*stuff about the Welcome Back package*

Details on the welcome back pack here (For Europeans, at least). I'm actually surprised that SCEE at least put some decent games among the list of free ones.

well god damn it

It sounds like Sony didn't get hacked this time, but just took service offline to fix some security holes. That might not stop Anonymous though, but it's all they can do on the technical side. The real problem is fixing their reputation, and that might only happen if they change their business/legal practices.

I just don't understand why these motherfuckers have to shit on everyone else's parade because they don't like how a company conducts themselves.

Damn sucks, I've heard of and know many people having this problem. Everything has been smooth for me since it came back online.

We are pleased to confirm that our services are now back online and more secure. We deeply regret the inconvenience this cyber attack has caused.
We take this issue extremely seriously and want to assure you that the protection of the data you have entrusted to us is of the utmost priority. As a result, we require that you reset your Station Account password as an added security measure, and recommend that you do this immediately if you have not done so already.

To show our gratitude for your patience and support, SOE is offering a Welcome Back program. As part of this program, you will receive 45 days of game time (30 days plus 1 day for each day of the outage), added to your Station Account. This game time applies to any game you have currently or previously activated on your Station Account.

Thanks Sony! Now I'll receive 45 days of extra gameplay on a free to play MMO! Awesome!