Okay Geek Farm
PSN Update: Free Games, No Deadline, Deal with it
Ricardo Trejo
As the days and weeks go by with PSN still down I wonder, will people who bought Portal 2 ever get a chance to enjoy its amazing Co-Op? Will Sony’s E3 press conference be nothing but an announcement as to when the service will be returning? Or will they skim over it and tease a new system just to get over this PR nightmare they’ve gotten themselves into? These questions have no answer but it’s easy to poke fun. Kevin Butler hasn’t shown his mug on tv in a while so we got to entertain ourselves somehow.
Besides vague language that give no promises, there’s still no definitive date for when the Playstation Network will come back up. Here’s what they’re officially telling us:
Patrick Seybold, Sr. Director, Corporate Communications & Social Media
“As you may know, we’ve begun the process of restoring the service through internal testing of the new system. We’re still working to confirm the security of the network infrastructure, as well as working with a variety of outside entities to confirm with them of the security of the system. Verifying the system security is vital for the process of restoration. Additional comprehensive system checks and testing are still required, and we must complete that process before bringing the systems online.
As you’ve heard us say, our utmost priorities are the security of the network and ensuring your data is safe. We won’t restore the services until we can test the system’s strength in these respects.
When we held the press conference in Japan last week, based on what we knew, we expected to have the services online within a week. We were unaware of the extent of the attack on Sony Online Entertainment servers, and we are taking this opportunity to conduct further testing of the incredibly complex system. We know many of you are wanting to play games online, chat with your friends and enjoy all of the services PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have to offer, and trust me when I say we’re doing everything we can to make it happen. We will update you with more information as soon as we have it. We apologize for the delay and inconvenience of this network outage.”
As for the Welcome Back program, we first heard of last week during the aforementioned Sony press conference, will go into effect, the SCEE (Sony’s European division) outlined a plan to give PS3 owners a choice of 2 game out of a line up of 5, and for PSP owners a choice of 2 out of 5.
Nick Caplin – Head of Communications, SCEE
“We are currently in the process of identifying how we manage this situation and once the programme is ready to launch, we will provide details of exactly which services are available in each country and explain how to sign up. We hope to do this early next week.
Also, look out for more information on the rest of our Welcome Back programme, including which free content you will be eligible for. We will be offering PSN users the opportunity to select two PS3 games from a list of five, as well as offering PSP users the opportunity to choose two games from a list of four. We will let you know exactly what games are available very soon.”
No details on if this will translate over to the US or other territories but it shows their heart is in the right place. When this actually happens is up to anyone’s guess. And again, as for when the service will actually be ready to go for everyone to play on again is also up in the air. We’ve heard talk that it might be ready a few days shy of June, but even if that’s true I doubt they’re going to go ahead and publish it. Even we know that’d be a too embarassing for them to admit.
