Playstation Network Back Online

Gamers, the time has come for online playing to commence.  The Playstation Network is back online!

April 20th, 2011,  was a dark day for gamers across the world.  The Sony Playstation Network had a major security breach and several users lost data and even credit card information.  Millions of gamers were pissed off at not only the interruption of their favorite online games, but the fact that their personal information could be at risk.

Fortunately for me, a month or so before, I had lost my credit card and so I had reported it lost and got a new one so my information in PSN was not affected at all.  So because of that, plus the fact that I don't play all the time anyway, it wasn't that big of a deal to me in the first place.  It just sucked that I couldn't jump online and school a bunch of kids in Black Ops. (That last sentence was a total lie - I suck at the game and I get my ass kicked on a regular basis, but it's still fun.)

This weekend on The Playstation Network blog, Sony posted this blog:

Thank you for your patience and encouragement over the last few weeks. As covered in the post from earlier today, you can now update the firmware on your PS3 and change your password. Kazuo Hirai just announced that we have begun the phased restoration by region of some of the services, starting with online multiplayer functionality.

Please note that these services will take a bit of time to be turned on and rolled out to the whole country. The process has begun and some states are being turned on now, so please be patient as we reach your city and state. We’ll be updating the map below as service comes online in individual states. It will take several hours to restore PSN throughout the entire country, so please keep checking back for the latest updates. In the meantime, now’s a great time to get your PS3’s firmware updated, which is required to get online.

So, if you haven't been back on PSN yet, there area  few things you have to do in order to do so.  You will have to download a software update and reset your password. Also, all users are eligible for a free credit protection service called AllClear ID Plus, which includes fraud insurance.

Sony has also promised a "welcome back" package. While Americans will need to wait for details, Europeans can get hooked up with two free PlayStation games, chosen from a list of five. More info to come from Playstation Network soon.

Restored operations are mainly limited to online gaming, chat and music streaming services. Sony said it aimed to fully restore the PlayStation Network by the end of this month.

(via playstationnetwork.com)