Friday, May 6, 2011

PSN Restoration in it's "Final Stages"

Yes indeed, you heard it. In the coming days, the service will be up and running.

Well I guess I will say it for all of us.

IT'S ABOUT TIME!

Now I know that Sony has been rebuilding the network from the ground up, and in two weeks.. Wow.. Talk about a lot of work to be done, but us gamers have a craving. And it needs to be tamed! You know, we can only hold off on single player games for so long!

But we can't just put all the blame on Sony ya know.. Because this could have happened to anyone. My guess is that Sony was targeted because of everything else that has been going on with them.. The whole thing with Anon and the earthquake.. They have been going through a lot. And someone just happened to see the window of opportunity, and took it. And they blamed it on Anon. Which anyone could tell most likely wasn't them. Why would they steal all of that information, and then leave behind a folder labeled Anonymous, with inside, "We are Legion"? They wouldn't leave evidence like that. Obviously, someone is setting them up. And trying to point the finger at someone else. Whoever did this though, will get whats coming for them. Just wait and see.

With the network being down right now, there is another thing that is on my mind right now. With the new map pack that just came out for CoD: Black Ops, double XP is this weekend. And right now, we cannot take part in that. BUMMER. Huge downer. For one, I have friends that wanna prestige. And this is the best opportunity for that. For instance, my friend Cory has been in the high 40's for.. What two weeks now? Unable to play. And now is the perfect time to get those last few levels outta the way. But alas, it's not possible. And for myself, I believe I'm in the mid 30's. I just need to hit 50, and I'm done leveling. I'll be 15-50. No need to get pro perks anymore, or anything. I'll be done. I cannot wait for that.

That's all for today though folks. Sony, please get  the PSN up this weekend. And if it's not up in time for the double XP, then lets just hope we will get our own double xp the next weekend. And if we don't, well, that just adds to the frustration of everyone on the PSN.

-j-

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

It's Tuesday.. But where is the PSN?

Well. If you tried to log in to the PSN today, you know that the network STILL is not up and running. Why is it you ask? I'm not quite sure. But it seems like they are taking their sweet time getting it back up and running. They said Tuesday that it would be up, but it's still not. I know it's still pretty early in the day, so as of right now, I'll cut them some slack. But it better be online by the time I get home so I can play!

Now there has been some people worried about the rewards we are receiving from this outage. About getting PlayStation Plus. Mainly because if you get games for free and such, they will go away once your 30 days is up of PlayStation Plus.Which means if you want to continue playing them, you'll either have to buy the game or pay for PS Plus. So this outage could actually make Sony money, instead of losing it. It's quite the clever tactic. Those who couldn't decide if PlayStation Plus was actually worth it will be able to test it out. And see if they want to purchase it or not. I know that I will be passing it up. Because I really don't use the PS Store all that much. Other people do, but not I. I'm not too concerned when we'll be getting the Store back online. What I am worried about.... IS ONLINE CAPABILITIES! I want to be able to play with my friends! And just to make matters even worse, Mr. Panisko has to rub it in that he gets the new Map Packs today for Cod: Black Ops. And he already is home playing it. Curse him! But on the bright side of things, he will be right up some strats and other things about the map packs to give us an advantage. For that, I will keep my enemy close! I want to have the upper hand when the new maps come out for the PSN. You know I was thinking about the store and everything now. It's nice that CoD has the store inside of the game. Even though Sony said that the store will be available by the end of this Month, you never know. And if it wasn't up and running by the beginning of June, well, the maps would be out.. But we wouldn't be able to get them. That would be a total bummer. So thank you 3arc, for giving us a store inside the game.

But most importantly....

I really hope it'll be up later on tonight. They said Tuesday. So lets hope.

That's all for today.

-j-

Monday, May 2, 2011

PSN Back Online Tomorrow (hopefully)

Well, I was right. Looking back at my earlier post and my scenarios about what features will be available when the PSN comes back to life. We will be able to play with our friends and such, but be unable to access the Store for a little while. At the latest, the end of May. Which is okay for me, I rarely use the PSN store anyways. I used to use it a lot when I was into Rockband and would download every new song that I liked. But that was before I moved outta my parents house.

Now honestly I'm pretty excited. PSN back up tomorrow. And we get some incentives as well since the Network has been down. Everyone will receive  a free 30-day PlayStation Plus membership. Nice! Except I'm worried about one thing.. Well. Yes we will get PS Plus for 30 days after the network comes online.. But we won't fully be able to use PlayStation Plus until the store comes back online. Because that's where you get the joys of having PS-Plus. Discounts on games, early start on betas, yadda yadda. I'm hoping that we can choose when we want to activate the membership so the days don't get wasted. No store = No points in having PS-Plus. At least in my book. Now everyone that already has PS-Plus will receive 30 days of addition service at no cost. Not too shabby Sony. I don't know about you guys, but I am pretty excited to give this a try. Might make me want to actually get PlayStation Plus.. But we will have to wait and find out about that one. Additionally, Music Unlimited subscribers will receive 30 days of free service as well. Sony is also working with the FBI to sniff out the smelly teenager who hacked the Network. Just look for the trail of Hot Pockets and Mountain Dew.. I'm sure they will find him in no time.... once again Sony did reaffirm that it does not believe credit card info was taken, but just in case, keep an eye on it. You never know.

Now when we get the Network goes live, users will have to download a new system firmware update and will make you change your login password. Only thing i'm worried about.. Well.. I got my ps3 back when it first came out. And haven't had to put in my password in.. YEARS. So hopefully they won't ask for your old password to change it to a new one. I have an idea of what it is.. But we'll see. That's the only thing that I am worried about. Sony will also do a "phased rollout" by region for PSN services. Tomorrow's (HOPEFULLY) initial rollout includes:

- Restoration of Online game-play across the PlayStation 3 and PSP systems. This includes titles requiring online verification and downloaded games


- Access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3/PSP for existing subscribers. Sony will have a phased rollout by region for PlayStation Network next week. The services that will be available include:


- Access to account management and password reset


- Access to download un-expired Movie Rentals on PS3, PSP and MediaGo


- PlayStation Home


- Friends List


- Chat Functionality

And as I mentioned before, the major service that won't be available right off the bat is the PSN Store.

And if the Network isn't up and running tomorrow.. I will be a sad boy. But that's quite alright. I have farming to do on Borderlands! I gotta get a jump up on my brother ya see. I can now solo the "Super Secret Boss" and I wanna find a pearlescent weapon and show it off! Now tomorrow is also the day that the 360 gets the new map pack for Black Ops. And we'll have all the details on that here in the next couple of days. Mr. Panisko will be giving you all the details. So make sure to check back daily here. Us PS users will have to wait an extra month, so if you want the jump on everyone else, we'll give you that little boost you need. Well. Panisko will.

Now back to the PSN being up and running here soon, I am pumped. I can't wait. Do you know how hard it is to get people together to LAN a game? It's almost impossible! I never realized how much we take for granted being able to hop on and join a friends game. With the network being down, I either had to go over to someone's house, or they had to come to my house. It's a pain, trust me on that one. I was only able to do that if the woman had to work in the evening. As many of you guys out there know, they don't like to be alone at home, especially if you are just going over to someone's house to play games. But, that's all fixed when the PSN is up. Cross your fingers it's up and running tomorrow.

That's all for today.

-j-