It’s a happy day for PS3 fans. The PlayStation Network is finally back up and running. You can play games online, check out your trophy information, and even use Netflix without errors. It’s about time!
It’s been a hard week for PlayStation fans, worse for some than for others. The attack that forced the PSN shutdown and compromised customer data was a big blow for Sony and for fans unable to play online, buy new titles, or access essential services.
As of yesterday, the PlayStation Network is back up and running, if in a slightly limited state. You can sign in to your account, check your trophies, chat, play games with your friends online, and access third party services like Hulu Plus and Vudu. Netflix, which was functional but glitchy during the downtime, should now be fully operational.
The PlayStation Store is still down, and will likely remain that way until later this week. Sony says that it’s being worked on diligently.
In addition to the return of the network, Sony has instituted a new firmware update for the system that will force you to change your password. You can also change your password through a registered and confirmed email address if you prefer.
If you’re worried about identity theft, Sony has you covered. The company is offering free registration to identity theft programs like AllClear ID Plus. Company CEO Kaz Hirai says that Sony is dedicated to making customers feel safe in the wake of this attack.
Finally, Sony is going to unveil “Welcome Back” packages of free content to PlayStation users, the details of which will be revealed on each region’s site within the next few days. From the sound of things, the welcome package and the PSN Store will hit pretty close to one another.
The PlayStation Blog has put up a video detailing all of the re-launch plans further, as well as the cause of the outage.
It’s incredibly unfortunate that this happened. You can bet that Sony has lost some fans and users as a result. Generally, it seems like the company has done a pretty good job of getting back on track – especially in the last week, when communication picked up significantly. We’ll find out soon enough just how much this has affected Sony when the sales numbers for games and systems come out for May. It’s definitely going to hurt, but just how much is hard to say.
