PlayStation Network conveniently down for maintenance during Sony's press conference today

There's something very peculiar about Sony bringing down the PlayStation Network for "maintenance" today from noon until 2:00PM ET. Not only is that timeframe somewhat prime gaming hours for North America and Europe -- and arguably Asia, too -- but it also happens to coincide perfectly with the company's press conference at the gamescom expo in Cologne, Germany, the rumored site for the PS3 Slim's official debut and a price cut for the original. We've no doubt that Sony's got a handful of major announcements lined up for the event, revised console or no, and we wouldn't be surprised if the online store played into that somehow. Of course, the timing of the maintenance could all be some big coincidence, but if you ask us, the chances of that are pretty, well, slim. If we're really lucky, maybe Sir Howard Stringer will come out and explain that laughter-tracking patent.

[Via Joystiq]

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 18th 2009 5:57AM]

only ps3 game worth mentioning is uncharted, everything else was overated by the fanboyz

whats the next game u sony crabs wanna hype up? let me guess... MAG? Halo odst is gonna teabag that game into the dirt


i may buy a ps3 slim tho, its a hot bluray player!
































i wouldnt mind playing uncharted 2 tho... but thats our little secret ok?!?!

[ray k Posted Aug 18th 2009 5:00AM]

@yoyodyne...

ubisoft's e3 '09 was the worst there has ever been, by a country mile

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 18th 2009 9:57AM]

How is that a prime gaming period? Doesn't anyone work during those times. I don't know about you guys, but gaming time is afterwork....evenings and weekends for me. Unless you are jobless you wouldn't be playing games then....and if you are jobless....you still wouldn't be playing the ps3...cause you can't afford it.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 18th 2009 11:37AM]

Netflix or not, it would be nice to have the option to pay a monthly fee to get unlimited access to movies on PSN. $10 per film is a little steep. Don't get me wrong, downloading movies for free and watching thru my external hard drive is pretty convenient, but the quality of 1080p HD from the playstation store beats the hell out of dvdrips or brrips any day.