PlayStation Store returns! And only two days late! (or 50, if you go by Sony's original estimate) But don't go celebrating yet...

With online gaming already restored, Sony has announced this morning that the PS Store is now back up and running, just two days after its end-of-May deadline, and 50 afterSony's April 21st restoration prediction of "a full day or two". Can you smell the sunshine? Can you taste the overwhelming sense of justice and sense the incoming wave of world peace? Why, VE Day 1945 couldn't have brought as much cause for celebration and relief as this. You can buy things again! You can pay companies for digitally-delivered products! Oh blessed be!

Everyone back into the store for a celebratory spend then? Well er, not quite, maybe...

The Americas, all European and PAL territories, and Asia excluding Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea. That's who now has the full PSN. Japan is probably lagging behind because of the government's more stringent insistence on guarantees of safety from Sony.

All happy-good-times then? Not quite. There are reports at the moment that the PSN is suffering from a variant of The Digg Effect, whereby today's increased traffic is flattening it. Failed log-ins are happening a fair bit, and our friends atasister magazinehave just popped over to share some woes with online play. Probably a case of everyone rushing in to try to claim those free games Sony has touted as compensation. Which is a shame, because those free games aren't even available yet.

It should all sort itself out in the fullness of time though, as traffic stabilises. Just wait 'til later in the day if you're having trouble. And use the meantimeto considerwhy you're twatting around with the PSN mid-morning on a Thursday instead of being at work/school/college/university/the job centre.

June 02, 2011

David Houghton
Long-time GR+ writer Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.