PSN restart misses its first deadline in order to strengthen security, but fear not. Free games are coming. At some point

Despite previous implication from Sony that the reboot of the PSN might have started by now, it hasn't. The roll-out of the new, stronger, more mightily fortified PSN citadel was always planned as a progressive process, with various services drip-fed until the beast fully returned in its new, more heavily-defended form. Sony had previously touted a date of May the 3rd for the first batch of restarts, with the caveat that operations would only be resumed once it was totally sure of the new PSN's security.

Well it turns out that it isn't yet, as there's still no PSN, and now no projected date for its return bar the goal of May 31st for the complete reboot. Want more detail on the whys, whats and whens of the current situation? Clicken sie onwards, and we'll update you with everything we know, including those all-important compensation deals we know you're clamoring for. It's okay. You can admit it. There's no shame in wanting cool free stuff.

As far as the PSN itself goes, the most important thing to know is that the end of the month is still the projected date for Sony to have the whole PSN back up and running. Not the first installment. Not the initial testing. The whole PSN. The worst case scenario is that we get nothing until then, but we don't believe that will happen.

Word from Sony is that the initial sevice roll-out will include online gaming, Qriocity's Music Unlimited Service, account management and password reset functionality, access to un-expired movie rentals, your friends list, and the PSN's chat functionality. Oh, and PlayStation Home. We mustn't forget PlayStation Home. That's the best bit.

The abovelist is scheduled for the PS3 and, where applicable, the PSP, and covers pretty much all the essentials bar the PS Store. When will it happen? We don't know for sure, but it'll be a pretty meaty first chunk when it appears. Sony is currently implying that it will turn up"far ahead"of the final projected finish date.

Above: But when?

Why the extra delay?Says Sony:

"As you%26rsquo;ve heard us say, our utmost priorities are the security of the network and ensuring your data is safe.

"We won%26rsquo;t restore the services until we can test the system%26rsquo;s strength in these respects. When we held the press conference in Japan last week, based on what we knew, we expected to have the services online within a week. We were unaware of the extent of the attack on Sony Online Entertainment servers, and we are taking this opportunity to conduct further testing of the incredibly complex system"

So, bad news for the right reasons then. As I said inmy appraisalof the whole PSN hack mess recently, the best way Sony can respond to this situation is just to be better in the future, plain and simple. Provided it's working to make that happen, I'm happy to wait a little longer.

As for that other thing it can do to respond, the customer compensation programme has been detailed further(for Europe at least), and it's sounding rather decent. In addition to the previously-mentioned free month of PSN Plus, PS3-users will get to choose two free PS3 games from a list of five. Whether they'll be full retail releases or PSN games is currently unknown. We'd guess the latter, but guessing is all we can do until Sony releases the official list. PSP-users will get a choice of two games from a list of four.

What do you reckon? Good enough for you? Happy that Sony is taking the extra time to fix things, or still angry that any of this happened at all?

May 09, 2011

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