PSN STILL DOWN

Well, its been eight days since the Playstation network went down and alot has transpired since then. There have been many updates and an email sent to all 77 million users of the PSN. According to Sony the network will be back up within a week from April 26th. they also stated that our billing info, username and password, email and secret question with answer was compromised and should take the proper steps to secure your credit. However they are not positive that credit card was taken which in fact was encrypted while the personal info was not. I for one are not worried about mu CC info however I did take Sonys' advice and placed a fraud alert on my wifes and my own credit file through equifax. This is a free service that adds an additional layer of security between you and the banks to confirm your identity in case someone requests credit in your name. This may add a few days to any application for credit. You only have to place the alert with one agency. The other two will fall in line once they see you have placed an alert with the first.

Easter

Happy Easter! Have a good day and enjoy your families! Play some old-fashioned multiplayer and get that nephew, cousin, son/daughter wife/husband, or mom/dad on the couch and pummel them! Although in the spirit of Easter it might be better to play co-op!

PSN Outtage

Well it's been 4 days since Sony pulled the plug and there is no clear time frame as to when it will be back up. Sony however, has not been quiet. They have informed us that it was an "external intrusion" and to do a thorough investigation and stop any security breach they had to pull the plug. The latest statement from Sony can be found here. on the Playstation blog According to this article at PSU.com  Japan's PSN will be restored today and if all goes well EU and US regions tomorrow.

Hopefully the cost of downtime, additional 24 hour support for last four days and repair of equipment doesn't encourage Sony to adopt Micro$ofts' pay for play scheme! With any luck these hackers will be cought and prosicuted to the fullest extent of the law.



Update: This downtime has not allowed me to take full advantage of all the features in Portal 2 or Socom 4. Both of my reviews will be posted as soon as the PSN is back up and I have had ample time to play! Will be using the Sharpshooter peripheral with Socom 4 today but only single player.

Fridays Update

Well the PSN is still down. No word on whether this is hacker, earthquake or new service related. The last statement is here.


I know I promised first impressions of Portal 2 and Socom 4 but I am busy with real life stuff and who is reading this anyways??? Maybe tonight but dont hold your breath.

Announcement: Socom 4 and Portal Reviews incomming!

Later tonight I will post my first impressions of both games.

PSN down. Hackers to blame!?!?!

Well for the last few days I have not been able to log in to Sonys' website or been able to link my Steam account to my PSN account. I looked on the forums and could not find anything relating to my issue. There were however, several posts about intermittent outages and some services that were unavailable for short periods. Some were also having issues with the auto log-in feature. Uncheck the "auto log-in" box and logging in manually sometimes resolved the issue after repeated attempts. 

This morning, reviewing my tweets from the late night hours I see that there are several concerning PSN outages. FINALLY, Sony has acknowledged the issue although, they claim to not know what is wrong and are working to resolve and maintain service. They hinted on their blog that this may be the cause of "outside parties" and if it is they thank us for taking the brunt of the attack. Last week Anonymous (a group of hackers) threatened to attack Sonys' website and other services but not the PSN. Seems as though they cant tell which is which. They cannot be winning any support with this attack, I for one will only support Sony on this issue. In the end we the PSN subscribers will be the only ones suffering. Unable to play three of the most anticipated games of the year for a few days.

Socom 4

Went to Gamestop last night at midnight to get Socom 4 and Portal 2. As luck would have it there was a drawing for Mortal Kombat, I did not win. Impressions after playing each game for a few moments were good however caffeinated I may have been.

Today is much different.  Socom 4 is missing the ability to group before you enter a match. Do developers not watch whats going on around them? Did Zipper not see what happen with Slant 6 and Socom Confrontation? It was added later but was a major point in the games ill reception. Do they think that this game is online friendly without this? To me, the ability to group before you get into a match is essential to team play and something that makes the elite titles elite.

The core game may be great but if I cant get hooked up with my buddies before a match then I probably wont play. There are so many games that make it too easy to group up.