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PlayStation Network is up … oh, no it’s not .. oh, yes, it is … oh, no …

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UPDATE: Despite saying I’d probably wait a day or two, I’ve caved in and have just turned on my PlayStation and am now downloading the 3.61 firmware. I’ll update you later on my progress – 8 per cent downloaded so far (the update will probably be  after my wife has finished watching Criminal Minds, or something, so bear with me.)

UPDATE 2: 16 per cent downloaded. Go you good thing.

UPDATE 3: OK, the firmware has finished updating, I’ve just signed into PSN but now prompted to change my password (I’ll do that in the next ad break of Criminal Minds once I’ve finished doing gaming-related stuff).

UPDATE 4: … and that’s all done. Password changed, then reentered, email sent to my nominated email account and PSN is up and running again. Congrats Sony that was a pain free experience which took much quicker than I expected. It was actually less painful that watching Criminal Minds.

Sony starts PSN rollout

ORIGINAL POST: So, the PSN was apparently rolled out in in New Zealand today, as part of the staggered worldwide rollout – but it seems there have been so many people logging onto the system that it’s been a little intermittent. According to Sony’s blog, the rollout started in the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.

You’ll all recall that the PSN has been offline for almost a month after a severe hacking attack that accessed personal information on 77 million PlayStation Network and Qriocity accounts, 90 per cent of which are in North America and Europe, and may have stolen credit card information.

Sony says it hopes to have the service fully operational by May 31, and in a video statement on the Sony blog today, Sony’s Kaz Hirai said, “I can’t thank you enough for your patience and support during this time. We are taking aggressive action at all levels to address the concerns that were raised by this incident, and are making consumer data protection a fulltime, companywide commitment.”

When you do manage to get onto the PSN, there’s new 3.61 firmware that you have to install and then a mandatory password reset. You can also change your password by visiting https://store.playstation.com/login.gvm on your PC.

I haven’t checked whether PSN is up and running again tonight – Twitter followers tell me it’s up one minute, then down the next  – but I might get around to it sometime tonight. Probably not, though, as with millions of people around the world trying to access it all at once,  I might just leave it a day or two until things settle down.

That’s fine with me: I’m not hanging out to play Black Ops like many people are.

Things you discover once you’ve finished a game

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<Warning, this post contains some spoilers in the third paragraph>

I finished Portal 2 up last week. It was fun. A lot of fun, in fact,  voice work that is second to none and put a lot of other so-called AAA games to shame.

Now, in my review of Portal 2, which is going in The Press’ Box tabloid next week, I said the game wasn’t a masterpiece,  despite the wonderful tones of Stephen Merchant as nice-but-dim AI Wheatley and the star turn by American actor J.K . Simmons as the voice of Aperture Science CEO Cave Johnson – but after replaying through some of the levels via the developers commentary option, I’m starting to reconsider that I might be wrong about the game, at least in some respects.

Not that I’m an achievement whore or anything (I played Portal 2 on Xbox 360 BTW) but there were a few achievements in the single player campaign that I didn’t manage to get on my first play through: the one with the vitrified doors, the Borealis one, the Lady in the Portrait one – and another one  <SPOILER ALERT> that features a whole lot of singing turrets <SPOILER ENDS> so I started working on some of those today. And you know what? Portal 2 is actually a much deeper game than I first thought: there’s some great little easter eggs hidden around the halls of the Aperture Science Enrichment Centre.

There’s been a lot of debate online over the value for money argument with Portal 2: the boxed PC version is about $100, the console versions about $120 and on Steam it’s around $US65 (what’s that? $NZ90?), and many gamers are complaining that they’ve finished the game in six hours. I can’t tell someone whether $120 is worth it for Portal 2 – you’ll have to make that decision for yourself – but the single player game took me somewhere between eight to nine hours. I haven’t finished the single player campaign but I hear that’s another six to seven hours, making it 14 to 15 hours all up. Is that value for money?

I always use the argument when it comes to value for money that I’d rather play a nine hour game that gave me enjoyment from start to finish than a 30 hours game that lagged in the middle and was padded out with repetitive content and fluff. Just my opinion, though.

Portal 2 is a great game with some flaws – the main one being that its  replay value is limited given that once you’ve completed the story campaign you know how to solve all the test chambers – but the game is fun from start to finish, mainly thanks to the excellent voice acting and the wonderful dialogue.

At the end of the day, isn’t that what gaming is all about, though? Having fun? I think it is.

What I’m reading at the moment: May edition of Edge magazine

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Max Payne 3: the hair's gone and the belly's got a little rounder but Max Payne is still out for vengence.

In this age where e-readers are popular with just about everyone, and gaming content is consumed online,  I still love reading Edge magazine every month. There’s just something about it’s visual style and art direction that I love.

The thing I like about Edge magazine is that it doesn’t try to compete with the online blogs and gaming sites – although the magazine’s publisher has its own online portal for up-to-date news  – and this month’s edition is particularly enticing, featuring a much older and more angst riddled Max Payne on its cover, psychotic eyes glaring out at the reader.

I take my time when I read a good magazine. I don’t flick through it like it’s tabloid trash then toss it aside but my magazine reading process goes something like this: pick up the magazine, scan the cover, flick through it, pausing on pages that grab my attention, then I start reading, starting with feature stories that have piqued my interest and am engrossed from there.

I still have the original Max Payne games for PC, and it was one of the first series to utilise bullet-time mechanics where the player could slow down time and have Payne performing weapon acrobatics as he pumped lead into the hapless foes. In the original, Max Payne was a New York cop on the edge, out for revenge. In Max Payne 2, a love interest came along but Payne was still a man fighting against the system. An angry man fighting against the system.

When in 2009 Rockstar announced that there would be a third Max Payne game, details were thin on the ground but Payne will be a few years older, more world wary and more cynical – as if he could be more cynical. It’s eight years on from Max Payne 2, too, and our anti-hero is no longer in the NYPD, instead working as a private security contractor in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In some images, Payne is balding and noticeably fatter than when he was in the NYPD. In a nice touch, actor James McCaffrey, who voiced Payne in the first two games, is returning to portray Payne – this time in a full acting role.

The rest of the current issue of Edge contains a feature about Prey 2, the sequel to 2006’s Prey, and a feature about why gamers are so transfixed by video game violence. I’m looking forward to poring over the contents in the coming weeks.

Who said print magazine’s were dead?

Save game … what I’m playing right now

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I loved the original Portal, the game that came out of nowhere and was the star of Valve’s Orange Box compilation.

Here was this game that was almost like “Here’s this little game as a thank you for buying Orange Box” and, personally, it turned out to be the star of the whole package. Almost better than Half Life 2 and Episodes One and Two and certainly better than Team Fortress 2.

So, I’ve been playing Portal 2 for most of this week. I finished it last night (Wednesday about midnight)  and it’s hard to describe how it compares to such a powerful game like Portal. It’s a brilliant, brilliant game. Perhaps not a masterpiece but one of the best games I’ve played for a long, long time and could well be a serious contender for Game of the Year when that time rolls around later in the year.

Portal 2’s concept is the same as Porta’s – solve a series of increasingly difficult tests by firing entry and exit portals from a special gun – but the story is much, much more interesting this time around and does a much better job of creating empathy for the game’s characters, except for mute Chell who isn’t developed much at all. The sections of the game that featured the voice of Cave Johnson, the founder of Aperture Science), are especially wonderful, too. Portal 2 is a brilliant, brilliant game that you all must play if you get the chance.

“It’s less of a death trap, more of a death option” – Wheatley, Portal 2

One of the highlights of Portal 2 for me was the voice acting, especially that of Stephen Merchant, the British comedian who voices new character Wheatley, and Ellen McLain, who reprises her role as the psychotic computer GLaDOS. The dialogue is just wonderful, and Merchant displays the typical trademark British humour delivery that makes such comedies as The Office, which he co-wrote with Ricky Gervais, so great.  I’ve heard some reviews complain that Merchant’s delivery grates at times (mostly American complaining, by the way) but not for me.  Not once. I thought he was delightful and the dialogue some of the best I’ve heard in a very long time.

While for me the game seemed to sag a little near the end, almost as if Valve was trying to pad things out with more puzzles, and the final boss battle was incredibly easy (despite the fact that I died a couple of times through my own stupidity), I enjoyed everything about Portal 2: the story, the voice acting, the concept and the feel, although once you’ve played through it I can’t see much replay value, unless Valve add speed runs via DLC or updates.

There are some nice achievements/trophies, too, especially one that harks back to the events of the Half Life series.

That’s all I’ve got to say about Portal 2  at the moment as I’m planning to give the co-op mode a crack over the weekend. Anyone else played Portal 2? What do you think?

Where I discuss Portal 2 with Glenn “Wammo” Williams

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Right, here’s the latest gaming segment with good guy Glenn “Wammo” Williams from the Radio Wammo Breakfast at Kiwi FM, which we recorded on Tuesday.

The eagle-eyed among you who regularly tune into the segment will notice that this week I’m restricted to audio only, not video as normal  – and pathetic audio via a landline phone at that too!

Ironically for a tech-related segment, my internet decided to shit itself a few moments before I was due to connect with Wammo over Skype, dropping our connection. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to reboot my PC to restart Skype, so Wammo used old technology and his digits to phone me on the landline.

Hopefully things will settle down and my internet will behave itself for the next time I speak with Wammo. Hear that internet? Behave.

I just spoke to Peter Molyneux, so there

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Peter Molyneux: before he made Fable, he made those great games like Syndicate and Populus.

Just this minute I got off the phone to British gaming designer Peter Molyneux. Really, I did.

Sure I’ve spoken to him before (twice before actually: once in Japan in 2008 and again last year at E3 – but who’s counting) but every time it’s a pleasure. He’s such a friendly, approachable chap  who isn’t afraid to say what he feels, even if it makes PR people squirm and fidget.

It was especially nice that this time it was just me during the interview – oh and the two PR people (one in New Zealand and one back in Britain. I could hear the British PR guy in the background telling Molyneux that time was up and that was the last question).

I recorded the interview on my shiny new Sony dictaphone so now I have the arduous task of actually having to play it back, listening intently, then write down every single word of it, then craft those words into a story  – and I’ve got to have it to the editor of the magazine that it’s running in by next Monday. That’s only five days away. Yikes!

Some things he told me: he’s working on “lots of new stuff” that he’s not allowed to talk about, that he’s been told by PR people that he’s not allowed to talk about Milo, that he drives PR people insane, and that he almost crashed his car the other day because he got distracted after seeing a squirrel bouncing around!

There’s loads of other stuff but you don’t think I’d be silly enough to tell anything else before the feature story is published, do you?

Of course you didn’t!

Partial PlayStation Network could be up this week

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Looks like Sony’s PlayStation Network might be up and running in some form this week.

Gaming site VG247 is reporting that Sony will partially restore parts of the PlayStation Network this week and while  an exact day hasn’t been given for when partial services will be back up and running, the  EU PS Blog says services to return include titles requiring online verification and downloaded games, restoration of online game-play across the PS3 and PSP systems, access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3/PSP for existing subscribers,  access to account management and password reset, access to download un-expired Movie Rentals on PS3, PSP and MediaGo, PlayStation Home, Friends List and chat functionality.

So, there’s some form of normality returning to the service which Sony has been forced to rebuild from the ground up. No word on when the PlayStation Store will come back up but it’ll be sometime this month.

This isn’t a hack that’s affected a few users – it’s affected millions of PS3 users around the world: 31 million in the US, 9 milion in Britain, 7 million in Japan and, closer to home, more than 235,000 New Zealand PlayStation users.

Sony has a huge disaster on it’s hands and many a PS user  is demanding some form of compensation so Sony will give all PSN users a “Welcome Back” pack, which will include 30 day subs to PlayStation Plus for all users  (current PlayStation Plus subscribers will get an additional 30 days), region-specific selected content for free (no word from Sony NZ on what that will be) and Qriocity subscribers will receive additional 30 day subs.

Sony also confirmed that out of the 78 million-strong user-base for PSN, at least 10 million accounts had credit card information. It added that there was no evidence credit card information was stolen, but urged users to “stay vigilant,” change other passwords and keep an eye on credit card statements.

This has turned into a nightmare for Sony and it’s been handled badly by Sony executives, especially given how long it actually took for them to tell PS3 users about the breach. Who knows how many PS users have had their confidence in the company dented.

Game Junkie talks with the Radio Wammo Breakfast: PSN breach

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This morning I got up really, really early to speak with Glenn “Wammo” Williams about the PlayStation Network breach and what it means for gamers and Sony.

I’d normally speak to Wammo on a Tuesday but being on holiday I was going to have a week off. Wammo’s powers of persuasion convinced me to have a chat with him this morning about the Sony PSN situation. It was a good call on his part.

Sony: credit card details may have been compromised

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Here’s an update on the PlayStation Network intrusion, for those readers who can’t read it on Stuff when using their mobile devices.

Sony has brought in an outside security company to do a a “full and complete” investigation following the breach of its PlayStation Network.

Sony’s blog has a Question and Answer update on the PlayStation Network outage that has phone numbers to ring if you have concerns over compromised personal details. You can find it here. The number to call in New Zealand is (09) 415 2447.

VG247 reports that Sony, after learning of the intrusion, began to “enhance security and strengthen our network infrastructure by rebuilding our system” in order to provide consumers with “greater protection,” of personal information.

The firm’s investigation indicated that all PlayStation Network and Qriocity accounts “may have been affected” by the security breach and there is the “possibility” that all users’ information could have been compromised. In order to inform customers of said breach, it is sending out emails to all registered PSN users.

On its blog, Sony said: “We believe that an unauthorised person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state/province, zip or postal code), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password, login, password security answers, and handle/PSN online ID.”

VG247 says that so far Sony has not received any reports of customers’ personal information being used in a nefarious manner but advises users to monitor their credit card billing activity closely.

The only credit card details I had used on the PSN was a work-issue credit card when I played DC Universe Online, but I cancelled the account about three weeks ago. I’ll be keeping a close eye on events, though, but plan on changing my account password and other crucial details today, just to be safe.

Has anyone made steps to change their PSN account details on learning of the situation or contacted their bank over their credit card?

PlayStation Network outage

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Here’s the post from today’s Game Junkie blog on Stuff, just in case you have trouble viewing the original on a mobile device (as one dear reader informed me).

Update:  Sony have released another statement about the breach and said that personal information such your identity, date of birth and credit card information may indeed be compromised, and you should be on the look out for any form of identity theft. You can read the full release here (thanks to VG247)

PlayStation Network compromised

Anyone trying to connect to the PlayStation Network over the Easter break would have had a bit of trouble. It’s been offline for the past five days due to an “external intrusion”.

Just in time for the Easter long weekend, the PlayStation Network struck problems late last week, and on April 21, Patrick Seybold, Sony’s senior director of corporate communications and social media, announced on its official blog that “While we are investigating the cause of the Network outage, we wanted to alert you that it may be a full day or two before we’re able to get the service completely back up and running. Thank you very much for your patience while we work to resolve this matter. Please stay tuned to this space for more details, and we’ll update you again as soon as we can.”

Sony decided to take the network offline and rebuild it rather than compromise its security. PlayStation users trying to log in to the network were confronted with a 80710A06 error. Games were still able to update if necessary, though.

Personally, I can see where they are coming from given that credit card details and the like are stored on the network’s servers. This morning, Ars Technica reported that Satoshi Fukuoka, a spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment in Tokyo, spoke with PCWorld and claimed the company “has not yet determined if the personal information or credit card numbers of users have been compromised, but that Sony would promptly inform users if it found that was the case.”

At 9.15 last night, when I tried to log on, I got a “PlayStation Network is undergoing maintenance” message. I haven’t tried this morning but clearly this is a major problem for Sony.

For you PlayStation 3 owners out there, has the length of the network outage dented your faith in the robustness of the Japanese gaming company’s PlayStation Network or do you think Sony has done the right thing by shutting down the network and rebuilding it from the ground up?

In other news, Nintendo has announced that its new console, codenamed Project Cafe, will be playable at this year’s E3 convention in Los Angeles in June, and be released in 2012. VG247 reports that one of the rumours doing the rounds is that the controller will have a touch screen.

Now that it has been confirmed, what are your thoughts – especially if there is a screen in the controller (if so, it’ll end the fight over the TV – just turn on the console and use the screen on the controller!).

Down and out? Sony's PlayStation Network has been out of action since late last week.