If you were hoping to get some online gaming in before you have to start a new work week tomorrow, you better get your fix in early. That is, if you're a PS3 gamer. Sony will be shutting down the PlayStation Network for more than half of the day. The company said this is for necessary maintenance on the network, so nothing is terribly broken. It's just going in to optimize things and clean up processes.
A new report suggests that gamers aren't shifting into a digital distribution model as quickly and massively as people in the industry might think. The report, from Wedbush Securities, looks at the world of downloadable games as more of a complement, not a substitute, to the long-running tradition of going out to the store and picking up a box. People just aren't ready to give up their packed bookshelves.
With cooperation from Microsoft, Apple, Sony, Electronic Arts, Blizzard, Warner Bros, and Disney Interactive, New York's top prosecutor has been successful in banning online gaming accounts of more than 3,500 registered sex offenders. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said the crack-down, known as "Operation Game Over," was a success. It was the first sting operation of its kind, and it could be the first of many.
Sony has teased that it will launch a new online video service through the PS3, but details very much remain a mystery. There is a lot of speculation, ranging from ideas that it could be a service on par with the Xbox 360's partnerships with Verizon and Comcast, to the notion that it could simply be another video-on-demand platform like Vudu and the PSN's proprietary video store that doesn't necessarily bring a lot of new and exciting content to the platform.
The latest patch has gone live for Bethesda's hot-selling role-playing game The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, but as to be expected, it is only available for PC players. For those playing on the Xbox 360 and PS3, the game remains at version 1.4. PS3 players in particular still have reason to be sore because that version still has some memory bugs. The PS3 version of the game game under increasing scrutiny.
According to the latest numbers from analyst group NPD, digital game sales are on the rise in a big way. In the fourth quarter of 2011, in the US and Europe - the regions that NPD normally deals with - the amount of revenue that was brought in from digital download sales in the gaming industry was $3.33 billion. In the US, sales in this growing segment were up by 9%. NPD does not have comparative data for Europe or for the US/Europe aggregate.
Sony has just announced the winners of the online poll that allowed gamers to choose which downloadable PS3 and PSP games were the cream of the crop over the last 12 months. The winning titles will be available at a 30% discount to all PlayStation Network members, or 50% to those with PlayStation Plus.
Worry not, gamers; the PlayStation Network downtime today is Sony's intended maintenance, not the signs of something nefarious. The scheduled inaccessibility for PS3 and PS Vita gamers is set to last fourteen hours solid - from just after noon Pacific until approximately 2am Pacific on Monday, March 5 - during which time any users signed in will be kicked out, and no new sign-ins will be allowed.
Attention, PlayStation gamers - the online PlayStation Network service will be going under the knife on Thursday, March 1 for nearly the entire day. This is to address bugs, optimize performance, and perform necessary maintenance. The service is expected to be down starting at around 11:00 AM Eastern Time and will not be back online until after midnight.
There was a little awards show in Hollywood last night, but no one really cares about that, right? We all know that Sony's PSN Gamers' Choice Awards are much more exciting. Beginning tomorrow, users will be able to log into the PlayStation Store and cast their votes for their favorite downloadable PS3 and PSP games. As a reward, gamers who vote will receive an exclusive XMB theme for their console.
Sony has announced that its PlayStation Network will be renamed Sony Entertainment Network starting tomorrow, February 7. The rebranding is only a name change and does not affect usernames and passwords. However, current PlayStation Network account users are encouraged to look over the new Terms of Service and User Agreement.
Sony's web-connected PlayStation Network has been taken down for maintenance today, a scheduled event ending at midnight PST. This event was planned well in advance and, unlike the break-downs and hacks of 2011, is nothing to worry about as far as gamers personal data and security on the whole goes. This maintenance began early this morning at 6 AM PST and will be fully complete by tomorrow.