Over the weekend Sony began their phased restoration of the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services.
Like indicated before, it looks like Sony’s first priority was to get people back online and playing multiplayer once again. The restoration of services has come with two stipulations:
First, all users must update their PS3 firmware in order to get back online. Second, all users must change their PSN and Qriocity passwords. In the future, this password will only be able to be changed from the PS3 on which it was created.
The roll out process for online multiplayer began on Saturday and according to Sony, users should now be able to log on the the PSN everywhere in the U.S.
Sony announced the phased restoration commencement in a video featuring Sony executive VP Kazuo Hirai. In the video, he explains that online multiplayer, chat, music unlimited and trophy comparison are some of the first features that are being restored.
On Sunday, the PSN restoration hit a bit of a roadblock, as Sony once again had to shut down services for a brief time. This time is wasn’t hackers, but sheer volume of password resets that prompted the temporary shut down.
We’re currently experiencing an extremely heavy load of password resets, and so we recently had to turn off services for approximately 30 minutes to clear the queue.
As such, a large number of people are attempting to change their passwords at the same time, it’s taking longer than expected for all those emails to clear all of the ISPs.
If you’ve requested your password reset, please give it a bit of time to reach your email. Thanks for your patience as we work to get everyone back online.
As of this morning, it looks as though play should be restored throughout the U.S. as well as in Europe, as the EU PlayStation blog mirrors official PS blog. However, there seems to be one country where it is still not available – Japan. The Japanese government is still concerned about Sony’s counter-hacking measures that are in place and wants Sony to take further steps to ensure user privacy.
So, is everyone back online and able to play? Is anyone still unable to connect to the PSN? For those of you who haven’t jumped ship to Xbox, how does it feel to be able to play online again?
And considering all that has happened, what grade would you give Sony for their handling of the situation?
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