The Guildmasters

Yes the playstation store is finally back online so if you had any money in there you can finally check to see if it is still there. Mine is, not too much but it’s still money all the same, i’m glad to see it wasn’t missing.

There are a few error messages, in fact quite a few error messages, i’ve had to go back and try again probably more than a dozen times and that was just to get my free game. I chose Infamous and it was a mega download, over 7000 MB which actually took around 8hrs to download and after that I had to delete a bunch of stuff so I could install it.

Totally worth it for me as I rented the game but never got all the trophies so now I can, I was going to take Little Big Planet also but to be honest I don’t have the room on my old 80Gig so i’ll probably leave it.

Again I got errors when I tried to get the playstation plus 30 day free trial as I think that will be worth it but as yet it hasn’t let me get it.

So the store is back up but with many errors, unless of course it’s just my machine, which it could well be, let me know how you do.

Tony:)

Hi all,
Just found this article this morning, enjoy:

Sony’s PlayStation Network is finally (mostly) back up on its feet, and now that gamers have had a chance to hop on, change their passwords, and resume some much-need online gaming, the attention turns to Sony’s “Welcome Back” program — the company’s way of apologizing for the downtime. The program offers a decent selection of free games and services to get Sony back in the good graces of PlayStation 3 and PSP owners.

If you own a PlayStation 3 and were affected by the downtime, you’ll be able to choose 2 free games from a selection of five, including:

* Dead Nation
* Infamous
* LittleBigPlanet
* Super Stardust HD
* Wipeout HD

PSP owners can cherry-pick a pair of games from this list of 4:

* LittleBigPlanet PSP
* ModNation Racers
* Pursuit Force
* Killzone Liberation

In addition to the free games, PSN users will also be granted access to a selection of PlayStation Network movies over an upcoming weekend, the specific titles of which will be revealed later. Also, gamers not currently subscribed to PlayStation Plus — Sony’s premium PSN service that grants game discounts and other perks — will get a free month to try it out, while existing Plus subscribers will get 60 additional days for free. Sony’s PlayStation Home virtual world will offer users 100 free items as well, so if you’ve never given it a try this will be your best opportunity. All of these freebies will begin flowing once the PlayStation Store is back up and running, the timetable for which has not been revealed.

In addition to Sony’s program, streaming service Hulu is offering users who have their Hulu Plus premium accounts synced with a PlayStation 3 a 25-day credit for the inconvenience of not being able to stream due to the network outtage. Hulu Plus subscribers will begin getting emails shortly that contain a link to redeem the credit.

Hi all,
I’ve just been notified of the latest update from Sony, although they are not online as yet it doesn’t look like it will be too long now.

They have been testing all week and you can now sign in to install the latest update which is required for when they do go live again, you can download and install this latest update now via the PS 3

As well as this latest news I also read that the attackers/hackers used Amazon ‘cloud’ to launch their attack from, this was not from Amazon themselves I must say, the hackers just used Amazon.

Hopefully we will be able to play again very soon. Also in the news was that many PS3 owners are trading in their systems for Xbox 360’s, 200% more trade-ins than normal in fact, it’s a shame.

Tony:)

Sony says 25 million more accounts hacked in security breach ahead of PlayStation attack.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sony Corp. said Monday that hackers may have taken personal information from an additional 24.6 million user accounts after a review of the recent PlayStation Network breach found an intrusion at a division that makes multiplayer online games.

The data breach comes on top of the 77 million PlayStation accounts it has already said were jeopardized by a malicious intrusion.

The latest incident occurred April 16 and 17 — earlier than the PlayStation break-in, which occurred from April 17 to 19, Sony said.

25 million more potential accounts? About 23,400 financial records from an outdated 2007 database involving people outside the U.S. may have been stolen in the newly discovered breach, including 10,700 direct debit records of customers in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, it said.

The outdated information contained credit card numbers, debit card numbers and expiration dates, but not the 3-digit security code on the back of credit cards. The direct debit records included bank account numbers, customer names, account names and customer addresses.

Company spokeswoman Taina Rodriguez said Sony had no evidence the information taken from Sony Online Entertainment, or SOE, was used illicitly for financial gain.

“We had previously believed that SOE customer data had not been obtained in the cyber-attacks on the company, but on May 1 we concluded that SOE account information may have been stolen and we are notifying you as soon as possible,” Sony said in a message to customers.

Sony said that it shut service Monday morning to Sony Online Entertainment games, which are available on personal computers, Facebook and the PlayStation 3 console. Its most popular games include “EverQuest,” “Free Realms” and “DC Universe Online.”

The company said it will grant players 30 days of additional time on their subscriptions, along with one day for each day the system is down. It is also creating a “make good” plan for its multiplayer online games.

On Sunday, Sony executives bowed in apology and said they would beef up security measures after an earlier breach caused it to shut down its PlayStation network on April 20. The company is working with the FBI and other authorities to investigate what it called “a criminal cyber attack” on Sony’s data center in San Diego, Calif.

The company said it would offer “welcome back” freebies such as complimentary downloads and 30 days of free service to PlayStation customers around the world to show remorse and appreciation.

PlayStation spokesman Patrick Seybold, in a blog post Monday, denied a report that said a group tried to sell millions of credit card numbers back to Sony.

He also said that while user passwords had not been encrypted, they were transformed using a simpler function called a hash that did not leave them exposed as clear text.

I’ll post more as and when I get it, it seems Trey was right when saying it could be a couple more weeks.

Tony:)

Hi all,
Not good news i’m afraid, i’ve just posted this on the forum but thought I better post it here too.

It has just been announced on one of our news channels that Sony and the playstation network were in fact hacked and 77 million users ID information could have been accessed, that means names, addresses, credit card numbers and so forth.

I’m more than a little pissed off about this because Sony apparently knew about this 7 days ago, their first priority should have been to notify their customers so that at least we could have had the chance to stop any security breaches on our cards. 7 days is too late to notify that many customers of a possible ID theft. They should have been responsible and notified their customer on day 1. By not doing that they have given the thieves 7 full days to get away with…well you only have to think about the possibilities. Now we have to cancel our bank card tomorrow assuming we haven’t been cleaned out.

As far as getting back online, it could be as long as another week or more.

Tony:)