Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2010 > March > 01 > Entry
Sony PlayStation 3 users weather the PlayStaypocalypse
Update, Monday evening: It looks like the PlayStation Network is back to normal and things are working again. It seems safe now to turn on your PlayStation 3 and the data-loss we feared didn’t come to pass.
Now, where’s that “Heavy Rain” disc?
Usually, companies send us video games to review, but in the case of the new PlayStation 3 game “Heavy Rain,” we didn’t receive a copy.
Based on some very positive reviews and the recommendation of my brother, who had already bought it and beat it, I took a trip on Saturday to a place of retail and paid $60 for the chance to play it myself. That night, I played the first hour or so and liked what I saw. It’s a solid game that does some very new things very well.
Imagine my surprise last night when I tried to play the game and couldn’t because something was wrong with the PlayStation Network, which the game connects to (even though it’s a wholly single-player experience). Imagine my further surprise when I found out that I was not alone. EVERY PlayStation 3 user whose console accessed the network was having the same problem. It started early evening yesterday and as of this writing, continues.
What did I do instead of playing “Heavy Rain?” I fired up the Xbox 360 and played “BioShock 2” instead.
A blog post on the official PlayStation Web site warns users of the older PlayStation 3 non-Slim systems (like mine, which I purchased the day the console launched) not to even turn their console on. That’s how serious the situation is — you could corrupt data on the console simply by trying to use it.
Truly, we are in a bold new chapter of the console wars where even turning on your system might ruin hours and hours of game saves.
My complaints with Sony over the years are too numerous to name here, but as a corporate entity, they are the Charlie Brown kicking the football of consumer electronics. Every time something good comes along to save the PlayStation 3 brand since its problematic launch (say, a game like “Heavy Rain”) some marketing faux pas or titanic network problem keeps the PS3 name mired in the thickets of pain for users. There’s a reason the console trails behind the Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 in this generation of consoles after the PlayStation 2 dominated the last gen — screw ups like this one. Many of them. A $600 launch price of the PS3 didn’t help, either.
I’ll let you know when the situation is resolved, but as of right now (and possibly for as long as another day), PlayStation 3 systems across the world are now malevolent black bricks. Curvy, hulking, useless.
Oh, Sony.
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By article reviewr
March 1, 2010 7:16 PM | Link to this
PSN working now
By CincyMatt
March 1, 2010 7:01 PM | Link to this
I can accept 2 failures in 2 years for a better console system and free online service. The wii is for kids and the xbox had harware issue and charges a monthly fee. It's a software issue, not the end of the world.
By Jacob
March 1, 2010 5:24 PM | Link to this
Doesn't surprise me. My blu-ray player on my Sony laptop didn't play all blu-ray movies. Took Sony about 6 months to roll-out that fix. You would think Sony could fix two Sony products for a major player like Blu-ray.