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Sony says PSN to return in "a few more days", gamers skeptical

By | May 10, 2011, 12:34pm PDT

Summary: On the Playstation Blog today, Sony communications director Patrick Seybold said that the company was still uncertain on when the PSN service will be restored.

With the PSN outage now in its third week, Sony customers have been itching for any indication that the service will ever return.

And Sony isn’t helping. On the Playstation Blog today, Sony communications director Patrick Seybold said that the company was still uncertain on when the PSN service will be restored.

“I know you all want to know exactly when the services will be restored. At this time, I can’t give you an exact date, as it will likely be at least a few more days,” he said.

Seybold’s statement comes after what appears bit of a miscommunication between Sony spokesman Shigenori Yoshida and Bloomberg. In a story published on Sunday, Yoshida indicated that Sony planned to completely restore the service by May 31st, over a month after the initial outage.

Apparently the statement, which spread to many other news sources, was not entirely true. Instead, Sony says it is focusing on beefing up its security before restoring access to its services. While Seybold maintains that the service, won’t return for another few days, Sony has already missed its previous restoration deadline of May 8th. This makes many skeptical of the company’s promises - and rightfully so.

How about you, readers - how much stock do you have in Sony’s restoration timeline?

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Sony Corp., Eye, Ricardo Bilton

Ricardo Bilton writes for ZDNet's The ToyBox. His work has appeared in The Japan Times, The New York Observer, and The International Business Times, among other publications.

Disclosure

Ricardo Bilton

Ricardo Bilton has no investments that may conflict with his work with ZDNet. Similarly, he has not worked with any companies that he may write about in his technology coverage.

Biography

Ricardo Bilton

Ricardo Bilton writes for ZDNet's The ToyBox. His work has appeared in The Japan Times, The New York Observer, and The International Business Times, among other publications. He lives in New York, and is a graduate of Amherst College.

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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
El Crunch 12th May 2011
El Crunch
I heard sony plans on changing the name PlayStationNetwork to PlaystationDoesNotWork
View in thread
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
markarchuleta108 10th May 2011
Although I feel that this newest blog is just another repeat of previous blog posts using different wording, I just wish Sony would be just a little more specific, like how the testing is doing.
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Contributr
RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Ricardo Bilton 10th May 2011
@markarchuleta108 That's not far from the truth. Still, it's significant that there is so much uncertainty regarding the restoration - even from within Sony itself.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
GrOoVEy3802 10th May 2011
Ill believe it when i see it, but im in no hurry. Make sure its right. I'll get back to my Old School CoD: Modern Warfare meanwhile on my X-box until then.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
dtraser 10th May 2011
The reality is people are angry at the lack of information. Being a PS3 owner myself I am more upset by the lack of communication than PlayStation Network being down. If they would provide some details such as percentage of completion, step X of steps XYZ they are on or something that would indicate what they are up against, people might have more empathy for them. The repeated PR babble is what is so annoying.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
GordonShumway 11th May 2011
@dtraser Exactly.

The majority of gamers are not stupid. We know that things go wrong, networks get hacked. What most people don't like is not getting reasonable updates and explanations. There have been a few PS Blog posts that are reasonable, but most of it is bad PR by a company that really needs to engage better with its users.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
FlNightWizard 10th May 2011
If this was any other company, they would have been out of business by now. Sony's deep pockets have kept it afloat.
Does anyone else know of a web based company that was down for a month without any kind of access at all, and survived?
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Belizian Uebon 10th May 2011
@FlNightWizard
No one knows of a company like that cause it hasn't happened. and if it did we haven't heard of it, and that's exactly why. NONE HAVE SURVIVED.
All I know Sony is really feeling their wallets getting empty now :/
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Aeon Locke 11th May 2011
@Toque_3D
Xbox live was not down for 2 weeks straight. It would be up then it would go down. It was never continously down like the PS3 has been.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
elrayess 10th May 2011
@FlNightWizard Just to clarify, Sony isn't a web based company. They are an entertainment mogul. The PSN is just one of the services they offer. Besides, we really don't have a choice. If you've got money to spend on an X-Box, go for it. How realistic is that, though. Will anybody really be buying an X-Box because the PSN is down for a few weeks? Possible, but highly unlikely that people are going to jump on that bandwagon. We love the PS3 too much to even consider that. Let's not forget all the reasons we all chose the PS3 over the X-Box in the first place (those of us who only have one console). Big deal, it's down for a month. Go find something else to do... something outdoors even. Or you can replay games that you've played before offline. Our world does not have to revolve around the PSN. Besides, you folks don't realize they are doing this for our protection. I am sure they are working around the clock to figure out how this could've happened, and are taking more than appropriate measures to prevent this from happening again. So guys, lighten up a little and cut Sony some slack. This isn't the first corporation that ever got hacked. As long as there's something online that's being guarded, there will always be hackers, and they will just keep getting smarter. There's always going to be hackers out there that can penetrate the most highly guarded electronic information. We may even be looking at an ex-employee of Sony that knew exactly how to get around the system. Anyways, I'm rambling here... but it gives you guys something to ponder. Happy gaming everyone, and stay loyal!
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
hopp64 10th May 2011
@elrayess
Wow, kiss Sony's butt much...

I bought the PS3 as a Blue Ray player and own one PS3 game, XBOX 360 and XBOX Live make PSN look like a dial up game playing service. Sony blows.
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@hopp64
Toque_3D 11th May 2011
Enjoy your Xbox experience, then. Sounds like you're a little butt hurt over the fact that Sony makes more money in a day than Microsoft makes in a week. XD
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I think you forgot...
Toque_3D 11th May 2011
That Sony also builds hardware and not just software. I think these Xbox/Microsoft zealots would be angry to know the Vaio is made by Sony and has Microsoft Windows on it. XD It really does amaze me that everyone thinks that if the PSN never came back that Sony would be losing money and be completely bankrupt. While this may be true about Microsoft... This isn't true about Sony. They own, create, and do too much... Sony... It does just about everything. While Microsoft makes software, and is a web mogul with the only 2 offerings of hardware being a Windows phone (which is less then shining when compared to other phones... Iphone and Droid phones), and the Xbox.

So Xbox zealots can keep paying for live, because Microsoft knows dumb people live by the mantra of "if you pay for it then it has to be better". But they seem to have forgotten those two weeks over X-Mas where Live was down. And everyone will forget about this outage after a couple years too.

Rock on, man!
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
rdawson@... 11th May 2011
@elrayess Actually, I'm ready to ditch the PS3 in favor of the 360 at this point. The total lack of communication is the number one biggest issue I have.

@hopp64 Financial figures to prove that statement please. Not saying it isn't true, but I have a problem believing that Sony (mostly hardware) is making more profit than Microsoft (mostly software - less overhead).
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Ez_Customs 11th May 2011
@rdawson

There is no way there is more preofit in MS. Shoot right now MS is only making 12% profit because of Vista and Mostly yes xBox360 hold more losses then anything else MS has. it is the xBox that about killed MS till Windows 7 came out. it is Windows 7 that is saving MS. xBox360 dam near bankrupt MS. Sales over head doesnt' count when buyers are buying more then one system. Yes MS offered to repair and or replace the 80% defective hardware, but how many of those 80% knew intime about the replacement and or repair. I am willing to bet in the beginning of the Founding problems in xBox that cannot be fixed, contribute tot eh total Sales margins. At least 60% of the First people probably went out and got new xBox's, because MS didn't understand the problems yet, in that they were Microsoft's and ATI's poor design! Everone of you xBox Fans fail to identify this. the reality is that the two systems are dam near par with one another, each one having its pro's and Con's. One thing is for sure Sony definately has more security in presence then MS, and if not it isn't that much below. We do know that the profit margins are higher at Sony then MS, this is fact. Balmer has and still does say they are not out of the Losses yet, and he does this on the confreres on occasions, in defense. MS isnt' safe till Windows 8 is out. It is a Win situation they have to profit Windows 8, he also says that Windows Phone isn't intended to Save MS too, but they hope it helps sustain the Depression of the company.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Abrogate 10th May 2011
Players: Bring back PSN!
Sony: YOU GET NOTHING!
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Belizian Uebon 10th May 2011
Can Sony ever give us a final date??? I'm okay with the Network down, I'll just go out and to stuff, but with the lack of info, and the amount of insufficient info at that is antagonizing. Come on Sony, your one of the best for a reason, act like it. Hurry I wanna play FIFA 11 and Black ops.
Still love ya though Sony
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
whereone1976 Updated - 10th May 2011
i lost respect for sony...the lack of communication and preparedness to prevent this from happening is unacceptable...they shouldve learned from microsoft when an attempt to breach their system was done a few yrs ago...their actions show that the consumer isn't its first priority and i now am actually contemplating giving up on the company altogether and taking my money elsewhere...since thats all sony cares about is the profit!
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
rrvillan Updated - 11th May 2011
@whereone1976 Your mistaken to think any company cares about anything else than profits. Sony, MS, Google. $$$$, first, shareholders second, consumers may come in third somewhere.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Ez_Customs 11th May 2011
@whereone1976

If you think that any of these Comanies cares about you, you are crazy if you died (Yes I know this is Low) you wouldnt' matter one bit to them. The business model is like this Hey as long as there are millions of potential buyers, there is reason. if there are thousands then care about customer relations. as long as our Customers are buying that is important. Money is all about business, not you, businesses don't care if you buy there stuff or not. Companies like MS don't make there money on you directly Wake up, then make money on the New PC purchases, they make money on teh Prepaid live cards, they make money on advertising, but they dont' make money on you directly, and this is why they don't care about you. Sony yes they make money differently, but again, they want your money, they don't' want you!! the only thing any company cares about is your attention, and sorry that doesn't include you as a person, but only you as a community, because communities bring numbers! If businesses worked on loving relationships there would be to much drama, and a company woudl fail!!
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
gster713 10th May 2011
Funny how sony can have new advertisement daily on its website but can take days for news updates . Thanks sony i see where the time is getting spent. "buy the new offlinitized ps3 now in stores".
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Ez_Customs 11th May 2011
@gster713

There advertising department is totally separate from there hardware and Development departments nitwit! They have nothing in common, nothing at all. Shoot most likely Sony doesn't employ the people advertising for them, or even designing the ad's. Companies will frequently outsource that stuff. if not then well 10 minutes to buld a new add isn't' that much profit to company stressing on security and isn't' going to do anything to help teh process. Your prioritizing the negative wrong looking for excuses to be mad at them! Yes Sony should, or you would think should let you know whats up better, I wont' disagree on that, but at the same time the more they keep quiet the more secure the patches are going to be. Isn't that what you want. Life isn't' about online gaming, Gaming is a life style yes, but it is a life style you integrate into your Real life, not teh life you live in some imaginary world behind a Controller device. Sony does care abotu you more then MS does though that is for sure. MS only makes about 10% profits on stuff like xBox. There main money source is OEM Computers, and other OEM products used in bundled OEM Sales. Honestly MS probably relies a lot on intel actually as much as they do there OEM resellers
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
shiloh55 10th May 2011
I think this is all bull ****!!! every week they say, "just a few more days" and every week is the same old pack of lies! "We are doing all that we can" and " I know you all want the PSN back up, but we can not give a specific date at this time". If you can't give a specific date, just say that you don't know when it will be back up. don't keep telling us that it will only be a few more days, when really it isn't!
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Bates_ 11th May 2011
@shiloh55 Relax. It is a damn video game service. Sony had their entire network hacked, who knows what the extent of the damages are, and how long it will take to fix it. Give me them time, when they are ready to give a proper update they will. Any update or form of communication is better then nothing. Oh and also, I don't own a PS3 lol.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Ez_Customs 11th May 2011
@Bates_

yeah no kidding, the less known about this sort of attack the better. For all we know they have 4 versions of this new service being built to test which is stronger. You dont' know and that is better then knowing. Security doesn't work when you talk about it, or even preparing the people who caused the problems with a date to get back to work. Better to leave everyone in the dark, and surprise. Set your PS3 to auto login and eventually you will stop seeing the error message. To me that is what you whinners with no lives should do, and stop crying about Sony and there actions to keep the people in the dark. They are doing it because Security works better that way.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
BoobsNBush 10th May 2011
So I guess were going to start paying for our internet services????, I sooo can see that happening. This is the most ridiculous piece of news that I heard with the lack of info "Gives sony the finger" .......out
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Ez_Customs 11th May 2011
@BoobsNBush

You got a internet service just to read this and cry? WOW! Big lie
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Mattallyc 10th May 2011
This is cheesing us all off, no doubt, but look at it from Sony's point of view. If on the first day that PSN went down they came out and said it won't be back for another 6 weeks a lot more users would have jumped to Xbox. By drip feeding information it's like fishing, we all hope that it'll be up and running in the next day or two so are happy(ish) to wait. (I know Sony wasn't aware of the extent of the problem initially, this is only mentioned now with hindsight). Lets not underestimate the job that Sony has to undertake here. Screw it up again and that'll be the end of playstation and that'll be bad for every gamer. Imagine only having a choice between Microsoft and Nintendo - that's what we'd be left with...
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
gster713 10th May 2011
dont forget about onlive gaming lol!!!!
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
novalife818 10th May 2011
@Mattallyc
I know what you mean but IM GETTING A BOX because they have never had the same problem.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
iarebrandon 10th May 2011
@novalife818
actually yes it has. they were down for 2 weeks for the same problem. xbox has been hacked tons of times and is lightly hacked on a daily basis to get free items. google it. it took them 5 years to successfully hit sony.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Ez_Customs 11th May 2011
@Mattallyc
Playstation gamers have always been loyal. Many of them have teh xBox as a second choice, or they have the xBox because the PS3 doesn't have a game because it is an exclusive but this goes both ways. I am thinking the people who only have PS3 arent' going to go buy the xBox just because of this, or they would have done it already. The System is half the price and has more games. What is more likely to happen is tha txBox will get more sales to sustain the losers that think that they have to be online all day playing ghey games like CoD. PS tends to have a more intellectual crowd of gamers, who can actually find other things to do, Actually Sony attracts that sort of consumer in all areas of Sony
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Not Just the PSN
Grimrod Updated - 10th May 2011
This affects all SOE games as well. Everquest, DCUO, Vanguard, SWG and so on. SOE has a pretty big subscriber base for PC games. SWG hasn't told the player anything while DCUO players have been getting more information. There seems to be a real problem of who is control of the information and how it is getting to the players.
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re:
teamSudhish 10th May 2011
How much stock? 0 percent. a few more days actually means around a week, plus whatever delay they intend to add onto it right this moment.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
novalife818 10th May 2011
I don't belive anything Sony says anymore. Why? First, they said noon May 8th What a lie 2 days over due thanta an 80% going on 70% on their score card. Scond, I don't belive that they are going to give us 2 or 3 free games. It was a couple weeks ago that I got this message that said something about a free $50.00 I did evaerthing it said and did it again and I ended up with $0.00. So thats why I don't belive sony. Thanks a lot SONY= PHONY
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
xSteven777x 10th May 2011
@novalife818 Sounds like you got scammed...lol. Sony never sent out emails promising 50 dollars....seems you got played twice.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
novalife818 10th May 2011
We'll see. We will see.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
novalife818 10th May 2011
I don't belive anything Sony says anymore. Why? First, they said noon May 8th What a lie 2 days over due thanta an 80% going on 70% on their score card. Scond, I don't belive that they are going to give us 2 or 3 free games. It was a couple weeks ago that I got this message that said something about a free $50.00 I did evaerthing it said and did it again and I ended up with $0.00. So thats why I don't belive sony. Thanks a lot SONY= PHONY
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
GordonShumway 11th May 2011
@novalife818 Are you sure that it wasn't just a scam? I haven't heard Sony say anything about a "free $50.00".

Perhaps you'll be the first person in their world to actually get their identity stolen. Imagine, 99,999,999 people didn't fall for the scam, but your identity is now being used by Yemeni terrorists for their ammo purchases.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Infamous gamer 10th May 2011
I will always be a loyal customer of sony ps3 and psn UNLESS and its a GIANT UNLESS..unless its never up or in any case up by some ridiculous date like september or worse in that case sony can go to hell because I will be there waiting for them
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SONY DOWN
Infamous gamer 10th May 2011
If it returns in the fall they midas well not return at all everyone would have turned into the hulk with anger by then and comepletely walked away
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
Infamous gamer 10th May 2011
Theres a serious amount of pissed off people over 80 million ps3 ONLINE users and if sony doesnt hurry the hell up it will soon be down to 10 not 10 million just simply 10 maybe 0
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
kris_stapley@... 11th May 2011
@Infamous gamer
80 million ps3 online users?? Are you kidding? They said 77 million accounts were hacked. Guess what? I was one of those accounts because I had purchased a game for my psp through the PSN. I don't own a PS3 and will never purchase another Sony product again. A large percentage of those accounts are completely inactive, just like mine was.
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Ridiculous
presstoplay1 10th May 2011
This should never have happened in the first place. And now that over 100 MILLION people are at risk for identity theft, I have NO sympathy for Sony at all. Enough of this "Keep up the good work" BS that people are throwing at this company. The fact that it's taking a company of this magnitude almost a MONTH to get it's crap together is absolutely ridiculous. They've lost my trust. I just bought an XBOX 360 for $129 bucks yesterday. Microsoft is cashing in on this - and so they should. Last week, every store in Toronto was sold out! I'm not the only one that has jumped to the other side. My new XBOX is working GREAT!
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
GordonShumway 11th May 2011
@presstoplay1 Without knowing all the details, I wouldn't be so quick to point the finger.

Sony are apparently moving their servers to a new building and starting the network again from the ground up. It is no small task, and I'm sure that there's going to be teething trouble with not only getting the network running, but getting it running as securely as possible.

Without knowing the details of how each system works, who's to say that Xbox Live won't be the next victims? Of course, we can say that this has never happened to Live before, but we could have said the same things about PSN until a few weeks ago.

I'm not saying that you're wrong to buy a shiny new Xbox, but I myself am at least going to wait to see what Sony offer on PSN's return, and what they announce at E3 next month, before considering jumping ship. Perhaps Sony's unannounced "make good" plans and network upgrades will deliver something interesting.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
GordonShumway 11th May 2011
I used to work in IT back in the 90s, and I do feel sorry for Sony as sometimes it's almost impossible to give people a fixed time when everything will be up and running. That said, I wish they would sort out their PR. Not being able to give a firm date to customers is one thing, but not being able to appease the fans because of bad PR is another.

On the technical side though, I would like to know why I can no-longer access the PS Blog from any device in Hong Kong without going through a US-based proxy server. Are Sony's new security settings blocking access from some countries? Perhaps they're trying to prevent another "DDoS" attack.
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Network expected to be restored by Thursday
Mike'sloft 11th May 2011
I heard from a friend who works at Sony here in New Jersey that internally they believe the network will be up by Thursday. Part of the problem is the slow auditing being conducted by their external consultants, who are concerned about hackers looking to take out the network using the stolen information as soon as access is restored.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
dimonic 11th May 2011
Bah. Zack Whittaker should do a take over here about whether the generation of "entitlement" is real or not.

Sony isn't saying because Sony can't accurately say. Determining whether a network is ready for the hackers to start beating on it with everything they have is an uncertain task. Most likely Sony now has a black team that beats on whatever their white team has produced, and each time, the white team has fallen short. How long before the black team cannot breach security? If someone here can show a way to measure that, I will show them an excellent job in ANY modern software company.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
ricksterd6 11th May 2011
@dimonic How can it ever be a certainty? if hackers are determined enough in my opinion they will get in. So we get delayed so sony can take the time to make sure of something that is mathematically impossible to make sure of
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
lbaltodano 11th May 2011
Is it really that dificult to understand that Sony wants to make sure everything is covered from now on?.. and you "writer" dont help with such tone on your half star article.
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Official Communications
Dr_Zinj 11th May 2011
I'm a Sony On-line Entertainment customer. E-mails from Sony, and notices on their web site splash pages have no ETA for restoration of service. So news and blog postings have zero reliability; they're all guesses by the blind, at night, in a coal mine, at the bottom of a black hole.

Regardless of inferred or promised restoration dates; my estimate is that Sony is permanently losing 10% of their internet connected customers for every week that goes by. (That's in addition to losing 30 to 50% of the people who are sure their credit card accounts were hacked.) Folks are migrating to WoW, XBOX, and other games, or totally breaking their playing habits for other RL activities; rather than twiddling their thumbs bovinely staring at a blank screen.

Which means that if service isn't restored until the end of May, Sony internet-based enterainment will have taken what amounts to a death blow. It will take years to recover from it. I'm REALLY glad I don't own Sony stock right now.
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RE: Sony says PSN to return in
El Crunch 12th May 2011
El Crunch
I heard sony plans on changing the name PlayStationNetwork to PlaystationDoesNotWork

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