Starting late Saturday / early Sunday, as you probably already know, Sony starting bringing PSN back online, region by region. This calculated restoration wasn’t completely smooth, as there was some added downtime due to their system being flooded by change password requests. Things seem to be back on track now, although the PlayStation Store is still not available. No exact timeline has been posted for the return of the store, although they seem to indicate before the end of the month. Of course, without the store, planned PSN game releases are still being delayed and extra content and demos cannot be downloaded. Right now, friend lists, online play and video services like Netflix, MLB, Hulu are all functional again, so at least online dependent games like Brink are actually playable on PS3.
In the latest update from Sony, things that we’re still waiting for details on are what freebies (games or videos) will be offered to users in the “Welcome Back” package and when/how you can sign up for your 1 year of credit monitoring.
If you don’t feel warm and fuzzy enough about Sony and PSN, you can watch this heart-felt message from Sony’s Kazuo Hirai:
The common feeling that many people have now is that PSN has to be the most secure online entertainment network now. Taking almost one month to rebuild and fortify their security has to mean something, doesn’t it?
Well, at the very least, nobody smart will be attacking Sony again anytime soon – since the company is no doubt still working hand in glove with law enforcement agencies from multiple countries.
Apparently, Japan is not letting them come back online. Kind of ironic.