356 replies to this topic

[SpiceWare]

Latest Update on PSN Outage

Quote

While we are investigating the cause of the Network outage, we wanted to alert you that it may be a full day or two before we’re able to get the service completely back up and running.

[HatefulGravey]

Got Mortal Kombat and Portal 2 for the PS3. Thought I would spread the love over the PS3 and 360. I kind of regret that right about now...

[Reaperman]

I see hackers or hardware failures as 'best case scenarios' for this.

The worst case is naturally that PSN has become self-aware and is currently busy trying to figure out how to automate cyborg warrior production.

Happy skynet day.

Edited by Reaperman, Thu Apr 21, 2011 8:07 PM.

[HatefulGravey]

Google is clearly Skynet. Read the story, they are teaching computers to feel regret. Google already has the freaking planet mapped and GPS working like a dream, now computers are learning to feel things!

Ok, I'll stop jacking the thread now, sorry, but you've been warned.

[Mendon]

I tried to watch a baseball game on the MLB Channel last night and couldn't do so because of the outage.

First the Leap Year fiasco and now this.... what other undocumented features does my PS3 have, Sony?!?!?!?


Mendon

[Reaperman]

Still 'down for maintenance.' IMO, this stopped being cute a bit ago. I guess this will show all those wanabee hackers--sony's willing to down their own service for far longer than they will do it for.

I guess I'm not really drinking the koolaid on the worldwide network outage being entirely the work external forces. Sony's probably just using this as an excuse to remove some more major usability from the system, or ready PSN for the next firmware rape session. I'd be much happier if it were hackers, but I just don't buy it.

Either way, I don't get to play online, but I like the idea of sony crying themselves to sleep rather than being in control. What do they do on other forums? Blame everbody but the owners of this mess, I suppose.

[xg4bx]

This is a picture perfect example of why I will NEVER support a digital download based console. With all the drm and that you'd literally be unable to play any games.

[godslabrat]

xg4bx, on Sat Apr 23, 2011 6:50 PM, said:

This is a picture perfect example of why I will NEVER support a digital download based console. With all the drm and that you'd literally be unable to play any games.

But downloads are TEH FUTUR!!! Ppl who use CD's are stuck in the past, man don't u no tht?!?

</sheep>

[HammR25]

xg4bx, on Sat Apr 23, 2011 6:50 PM, said:

This is a picture perfect example of why I will NEVER support a digital download based console. With all the drm and that you'd literally be unable to play any games.

I wouldn't have a problem with it as long as the console didn't want to phone home to play a game offline.

[SpiceWare]

godslabrat, on Sat Apr 23, 2011 7:57 PM, said:

But downloads are TEH FUTUR!!! Ppl who use CD's are stuck in the past, man don't u no tht?!?

I'm curious - what do music downloads have to do with the PSN Outage?

Quote

</sheep>

And what's the "sheep" supposed to signify?

While I still buy the occasional CD, I now buy most music via iTunes because I can actually find the music I want to buy at the iTunes store. The same cannot be said at brick & mortar stores.

If you're thinking that iTunes music is full of DRM, then you're quite behind the times.

If you're thinking that iTunes uses "non-standard" music, because it's not MP3, you're quite mistaken - AAC is MP4, the successor to MP3, My PSP, PS3, 3DS can all play the AAC files from iTunes w/out any problems.

Edited by SpiceWare, Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:05 PM.

[godslabrat]

SpiceWare, on Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:04 PM, said:

godslabrat, on Sat Apr 23, 2011 7:57 PM, said:

But downloads are TEH FUTUR!!! Ppl who use CD's are stuck in the past, man don't u no tht?!?

I'm curious - what do music downloads have to do with the PSN Outage?

Not a thing, only implying that people who blindly choose to accept the download-only model often don't even understand the basic differences between a CD, DVD, and BD.

SpiceWare, on Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:04 PM, said:

Quote

</sheep>

And what's the "sheep" supposed to signify?

It's comparing people who adopt a trend without serious consideration for how it would personally benefit them to small hooved mammals who allow themselves to be transported in large groups from place to place without regard for their own safety.

SpiceWare, on Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:04 PM, said:

While I still buy the occasional CD, I now buy most music via iTunes because I can actually find the music I want to buy at the iTunes store. The same cannot be said at brick & mortar stores.

Unfortunate, but there is always Amazon.

SpiceWare, on Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:04 PM, said:

If you're thinking that iTunes music is full of DRM, then you're quite behind the times.

If you're thinking that iTunes uses "non-standard" music, because it's not MP3, you're quite mistaken - AAC is MP4, the successor to MP3, My PSP, PS3, 3DS can all play the AAC files from iTunes w/out any problems.

No, I wasn't thinking either of those things.

[moycon]

The PSN is FREE!
Quit bitchin!!!

Imagine the backlash if you were paying for the network.

[xenomorpher]

moycon, on Sun Apr 24, 2011 12:03 AM, said:

The PSN is FREE!
Quit bitchin!!!

Imagine the backlash if you were paying for the network.

I agree, and the main people who have the right to complain I feel are the people who are paying for stuff like Plus Members (though not sure if Sony will make up those days) and DC Universe Online. How I view it is Sony decided to go through a thorough maintenance instead of a major hacker attack. I'm more upset with the selfish self-righteous hackers than Sony.

[Bilnick]

SpiceWare, on Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:04 PM, said:

godslabrat, on Sat Apr 23, 2011 7:57 PM, said:

But downloads are TEH FUTUR!!! Ppl who use CD's are stuck in the past, man don't u no tht?!?

I'm curious - what do music downloads have to do with the PSN Outage?

Quote

</sheep>

And what's the "sheep" supposed to signify?

While I still buy the occasional CD, I now buy most music via iTunes because I can actually find the music I want to buy at the iTunes store. The same cannot be said at brick & mortar stores.

If you're thinking that iTunes music is full of DRM, then you're quite behind the times.

If you're thinking that iTunes uses "non-standard" music, because it's not MP3, you're quite mistaken - AAC is MP4, the successor to MP3, My PSP, PS3, 3DS can all play the AAC files from iTunes w/out any problems.

I still buy music CDs occasionally as well, but I cannot recall he last time I bought one at a B & M store.

It is interesting that when thinking of downloadable music, Itunes is the only service mentioned. There are other (and arguably better) services for music.

Admittedly, like people called all videogames "Nintendo" in the late 80s/90s, "Ipod" is pretty much the term people use for portable music player.

[Mendon]

Those who play MAG or DC Universe are probably upset as the games can only be played online and for the moment their purchase/fee is worthless. But in my opinion, the ones who really feeling the effects of the outage are the small time developers who are losing potential sales and profits of their PSN products. They depend on sales and with the outage, there aren't any.

And even Sony itself should be wanting to get the system back online as quick as possible as movie purchases/rentals are out the window on both PSN and Qriocity.

Yeah, I'm inconvenienced and it would be nice to have PSN online with all of its services. But life goes on and I'll survive.


Mendon

Edited by Mendon, Sun Apr 24, 2011 7:26 AM.

[Lord Helmet]

They're admitting to being hacked now:

http://www.pcworld.c...ork_hacked.html

[Lord Helmet]

godslabrat, on Sat Apr 23, 2011 7:57 PM, said:

xg4bx, on Sat Apr 23, 2011 6:50 PM, said:

This is a picture perfect example of why I will NEVER support a digital download based console. With all the drm and that you'd literally be unable to play any games.

But downloads are TEH FUTUR!!! Ppl who use CD's are stuck in the past, man don't u no tht?!?

</sheep>

It would be no problem if the downloads weren't wrapped in DRM. That's the problem, not digital downloads in general.

FWIW I don't buy CDs or DVDs ever. Haven't bought either in years. I wish I could never buy a physical game again, but due to DRM I have to. Sucks really.

[SpiceWare]

godslabrat, on Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:56 PM, said:

...

All I'm seeing is somebody who can't/won't explain their viewpoint call others names for not sharing it.

[Reaperman]

Lord Helmet, on Sun Apr 24, 2011 8:44 AM, said:

They're admitting to being hacked now:

http://www.pcworld.c...ork_hacked.html

I've seen stories like that too, and the sony quote in it can be read a few different ways. No doubt those words were very carefully chosen and I'm not sure that there is enough information to confirm a second attack.

They're also awfully vague about why they're down, except that sony themselves is responsible for the outage.

Edited by Reaperman, Sun Apr 24, 2011 9:23 AM.

[Underball]

Reaperman, on Sun Apr 24, 2011 9:22 AM, said:

Lord Helmet, on Sun Apr 24, 2011 8:44 AM, said:

They're admitting to being hacked now:

http://www.pcworld.c...ork_hacked.html

I've seen stories like that too, and the sony quote in it can be read a few different ways. No doubt those words were very carefully chosen and I'm not sure that there is enough information to confirm a second attack.

They're also awfully vague about why they're down, except that sony themselves is responsible for the outage.

They were Just DDOS attacked the first time. That just disables the network due to traffic. This time, they were hacked. The original version of PSN was completely trashed by intruders, and they are now in the process of rebuilding it from the ground up.

Corporations the size of Sony have nothing to gain and everything to lose by admitting as such publicly, which is exactly what they did. They will lose a shit ton of money on this fiasco.

You don't rebuild an entire online service that has to support several million customers from the ground up on a whim. Doing this short of it being absolutely necessary to get the service back online would demonstrate the worst level of customer service and BAD PR in the world.

[SpiceWare]

Bilnick, on Sun Apr 24, 2011 7:11 AM, said:

It is interesting that when thinking of downloadable music, Itunes is the only service mentioned. There are other (and arguably better) services for music.

I only mentioned iTunes because it's the service I use. What services do you use, and why are they arguably better?


For me the convenience of iTunes is the major appeal. When I'm listening to a song and wonder if the artist has anything new out I just select "Show Artist in iTunes Store". It's a feature I use a lot. No need to launch a browser, change to a web site and fill in search fields, then figure out how to put the downloaded files into my music library.

One of the bloggers at the Houston paper wrote something about that - Amazon MP3 vs. iTunes: Cheap music isn't enough

Quote

the real reason why Apple continues to stay ahead of Amazon is convenience. Apple's music store lives in the same software used to manage music on iPods, iPhones and iPads. Buying music is an impulse purchase in iTunes, but with Amazon MP3, it's active shopping. So long as the price for convenience isn't too high, people will pay more to get their music in a simple way.

Another thing I like is that AAC sounds better than MP3s when they're at the same bit rate (Amazon and iTunes both use 256).

Edited by SpiceWare, Sun Apr 24, 2011 9:54 AM.

[SpiceWare]

Penny Arcade chimes in.

[godslabrat]

Lord Helmet, on Sun Apr 24, 2011 8:47 AM, said:

It would be no problem if the downloads weren't wrapped in DRM. That's the problem, not digital downloads in general.

FWIW I don't buy CDs or DVDs ever. Haven't bought either in years. I wish I could never buy a physical game again, but due to DRM I have to. Sucks really.

DRM is part of the issue, but I have other objections as well.

SpiceWare, on Sun Apr 24, 2011 9:22 AM, said:

godslabrat, on Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:56 PM, said:

...

All I'm seeing is somebody who can't/won't explain their viewpoint call others names for not sharing it.

I've shared my views on this topic numerous times in this forum, I didn't think everyone would want me re-treading it. However, if you're genuinely interested... I see the push away from physical media as giving content publishers a great deal of control over their properties and giving the consumer very little in exchange. It is my view that over the long haul downloaded and streamed media will be of lesser quality (especially in video products) than physical, it will not be any cheaper and possibly more expensive, and will lead to consumers having fewer products, not more.

If you are a fan of download-only media, I don't make fun of you at all. Indeed, I respect your decision, provided you've considered all the implications of such a setup.

[SpiceWare]

godslabrat, on Sun Apr 24, 2011 10:15 AM, said:

I've shared my views on this topic numerous times in this forum, I didn't think everyone would want me re-treading it. However, if you're genuinely interested... I see the push away from physical media as giving content publishers a great deal of control over their properties and giving the consumer very little in exchange. It is my view that over the long haul downloaded and streamed media will be of lesser quality (especially in video products) than physical, it will not be any cheaper and possibly more expensive, and will lead to consumers having fewer products, not more.

If you are a fan of download-only media, I don't make fun of you at all. Indeed, I respect your decision, provided you've considered all the implications of such a setup.

Thanks, I may have seen them but don't recall.

I totally agree with that on video - all of the HD stuff online is at 1280x720 instead of 1920x1080. In theory the difference isn't that bad, but in reality the downloads suffer from a lot of visible noise due to over compression. I have purchased some video online, but it's typically music videos for viewing on the iPhone and shows like Outer Space Astronauts that were never released on physical media (that's a hilarious show that's sadly no longer available as far as I can determine).

Music downloads have improved in quality, everything was originally done at 128 bit and is now at 256. The difference between 256 and a CD is negligible, especially when your primary place to listen typically has the top down. If this improvement ever happens to video, I suspect it'll be quite some time away due to how behind the US is on high speed internet.

[HammR25]

Apparently this is also a free Gold weekend on Xbox Live. Funny coincidence.