Power Outrage

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Sony Ponders Reward Offer As It Insists PSN’s Security Was Up-to-Date

3:00AM May 9, 2011 | Owen Good

Sony is weighing whether to offer a reward for information on the hackers behind the massive PlayStation Network outage, now in its 18th day, CNET reports. Its potential amount was not mentioned. More »

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Sony Scrubs Personal Data Published By Hackers

1:00AM May 8, 2011 | Owen Good

Reuters’ Japan bureau reports that hackers uploaded data they’d stolen from Sony servers during the PlayStation breach, but that Sony quickly had the unnamed website removed. The information concerned some 2,500 users and was at least 10 years old. More »

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PSN Outage Leaves One In Five PS3 Customers Considering Xbox Live

5:00AM May 1, 2011 | Owen Good

Lots of people vow all kinds of extreme things when they’re pissed off, especially at giant corporations. Many come back for reasons of convenience or simply calming down. But a survey taken this week, reacting to the PlayStation Network outage, suggests that 21 percent of PS3 owners are considering selling their consoles and fleeing for Xbox Live. More »

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Kaz Hirai To Address PSN Breach In News Conference Tomorrow

2:15AM May 1, 2011 | Owen Good

Kazuo Hirai, Sony Corp.’s second-in-command, in line to become its CEO, will brief the media on the catastrophic security breach in the PlayStation Network. The news conference will be held at 1 a.m. EDT (2 p.m. in Japan). Hirai will discuss Sony’s investigation of the breach, its information management system, and the schedule for bringing PSN back online, Sony said in a news release today. More »

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Sony Considering Make-Good For PSN Subscribers, Too

2:45PM April 29, 2011 | Owen Good

Sony Online Entertainment has already said it plans a “make-good” for D.C. Universe Online and Free Realms subscribers on the PS3. What about the rest of the 77 million PSN account holders? More »

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And The PSN Outage’s First Class-Action Lawsuit Is Already Filed

8:00AM April 28, 2011 | Owen Good

If the Great PlayStation Network Blackout is going to cost Sony $US24 billion, as some estimate, you bet some hunk of that is going to be paid to lawyers, and already they are lining up. A California law firm today filed a lawsuit that seeks class action status, alleging Sony didn’t follow industry practices to protect its 77 million PSN customers, who were harmed by “one of the largest data breaches in the history of the Internet.” More »

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Xbox Live Reacts To PlayStation Network Outage

6:00AM April 25, 2011 | Owen Good

Some have noticed that PlayStation Network is down and out at the same time Microsoft is running a free-to-play weekend for all Xbox Live account holders, across all of Europe. Electronic Theatre asked an Xbox Live rep how the company felt about the timing of such events: More »

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Does Sony Owe You Anything For The PSN Outage?

4:00AM April 24, 2011 | Owen Good

The PlayStation Network has been down for a solid two days. We don’t know when it will end. All we know, in its third day, is that Sony says an “external intrusion” is responsible for the outage. All multiplayer gaming is conked. Some downloadable titles are completely unplayable. (Those good old title updates are still being served, though.) Does Sony owe anyone anything for the inconvenience? More »

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Sony Confirms ‘External Intrusion’ Is Behind PSN Outage

1:25PM April 23, 2011 | Owen Good

Sony has acknowledged that the outage, since late Wednesday, of PlayStation Network is due to “an external intrusion on our system”. Patrick Seybold, PlayStation’s top spokesman, said the service was taken offline “to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services”. Still no word on when the service will be available. More »

In Real Life

The Lawyer-Mans Can’t Help A Gamer Out

11:20AM January 21, 2010 | Owen Good

A New York personal injury firm employs reverse psychology in this humorous TV spot, but it suggests that a power outrage forcing you to start over a level you were just about to beat doesn’t constitute pain and suffering. More »