Maintenance
Latest
PSN maintenance scheduled for a six-hour session on Jan. 27
Sony has announced it will perform PlayStation Network maintenance on Monday, January 27, beginning at 9:30 AM Pacific (12:30 PM Eastern). The downtime is expected to run for six hours, until 3:30 PM Pacific (6:30 PM Eastern). "If you've signed in to PlayStation Network any time since January 20th you will be able to play games online and access partner apps such as Netflix during this maintenance period," a forum post from PlayStation Senior Community Manager Paul Sullivan announced yesterday. The scheduled maintenance will disable access to the PlayStation Store, PlayStation Home and account management sections of PlayStation devices. Sony suggests players log into the PlayStation Network prior to January 27 to ensure they can access their favorite online content. If your favorite online content includes running Battlefield 4 issue-free, however, maybe throw a prayer to the gods of networking into the mix.
Grand Theft Auto Online down for maintenance tonight
The Grand Theft Auto Online multiplayer component of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 5 will be taken offline for maintenance tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and will not be available until tomorrow. A patch issued earlier this week for GTA Online targeted cash cheats and player progression exploits, framing the forthcoming maintenance as a likely byproduct. Rockstar reports that the maintenance period shouldn't last more than 24 hours, and the mode is expected to resume normal operation on Thursday, January 16.
North American, European eShops to close temporarily again [update]
Following the eShop's struggles with serving its global holiday traffic that resulted in a delay for the Western launch of Pokemon Bank, Nintendo's North American and European eShops will temporarily close again today. North American users are urged to wrap up any pressing purchases through the digital storefront before 4 p.m. EST. Nintendo of Europe's tweet states the European eShop will be closed from 10 p.m. CET to 10 a.m., which almost sounds like enough time for it to ... sleep. Oh no it's developing human-like needs Nintendo will have "more updates soon" concerning the NA eShop's status, presumably involving when users can expect it to reopen its imaginary doors. Update 2: Both the Wii U and 3DS NA eShops appear to be stable and fully accessible. A post on Nintendo's Facebook page explained that the outages were caused by an "influx" of new Nintendo Network accounts being created. Transfers of existing 3DS account information to new Nintendo Network accounts also contributed to the downtime. Update: Nintendo's Online Service Status page lists the planned network outage from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. specifically for the 3DS eShop. This is reflected in attempts to access the 3DS eShop itself, which result in an error explaining the temporary downtime. However, we're also currently experiencing problems connecting to the North American Wii U eShop. Several attempts to connect have all resulted in the initial eShop loading screen fading into a white screen that goes nowhere, though the home menu can still be accessed from this state.
Nintendo eShop going offline until tomorrow morning to fix connection woes
Nintendo is pulling its eShop services offline today starting at 4:00PM Eastern (1PM Pacific), the company announced on its Facebook page. The decision follows a rocky Japanese debut for Pokemon X and Y's Pokemon Bank service, which was part of the blame in crippling Nintendo's servers. The publisher postponed the launch of the Pokemon Bank and Poke Transporter services in Europe and North America for the time being. The Wii U and 3DS eShops will resume activity at 4:00AM Eastern (1AM Pacific) tomorrow morning, at which point Nintendo expects to have rectified the connection issues users are having.
Nintendo eShop down for maintenance until 8 p.m. PST tonight
Nintendo of America announced that its 3DS and Wii U eShop will be down for maintenance starting at 9 a.m. Pacific Time this morning, and extending through 8 p.m. PST tonight. The maintenance will likely lay the groundwork for an upcoming system update that will combine Wii U and 3DS account balances with a user-created Nintendo Network ID. Purchases and other downloads will not be available during the maintenance period. You might want to use this opportunity to reflect on the good times you've had with the eShop, to better your relationship with the service in the future. Putting together a wishlist of eShop purchases might also help to pass the time -- may we suggest starting with the Sega 3D Classics series?
PlayStation Network maintenance scheduled for tomorrow
Quick heads up for PS3 and Vita owners: Sony is performing routine maintenance on the PlayStation Network tomorrow, November 7. It's scheduled to take place between 8AM and 3PM PT (11AM to 6PM ET). We're sure most of you know the drill by now, but if you don't: As long as you've signed into PSN in the past few days, you should be able to play online and use apps during the maintenance period. Don't count on being able to use the PS Store, Home, or tinker around with your account details. If you're still unsatisfied, this gif should keep you occupied until the maintenance ends. Don't say we never give you anything, now.
PSA: Extended Nintendo Network maintenance today
There'll be an extra bit of Nintendo Network server maintenance this morning, but it's only scheduled for five more hours. Wii U and 3DS downtime regularly occurs between 1PM and 5PM PT (4PM to 8PM ET/9PM to 1AM UK time) every Monday, but today's maintenance begins early at 8AM PT (11AM ET, 4PM UK time). Some in-game and Miiverse features won't be accessible during the downtime, and disconnections from online games may occur. Nintendo hasn't said what the extended maintenance is for; we wonder if we'll find out in tomorrow's Nintendo Direct, billed for Wii U and 3DS games due later this year.
PSA: PSN maintenance scheduled tomorrow
Knock Knock! Who's there? PSN Maintenance! Ugh, you again. But I'm only here for six hours tomorrow, Wednesday, starting at 10:15AM PT/1:15PM ET. So I'll be gone by 4:15PM PT/7:15PM ET. Also, as long as you're signed into PSN before I start, you can play games online and use apps, although the PS Store, Home, and account doodads may be inaccessible until I'm gone. That's not so bad, right? Fine, fine I guess... Yay! So are we coo- I said FINE.
U.S. realm downtime for patch 5.4 Tuesday
Tomorrow -- that's Tuesday, September 10th -- U.S. realms will be going offline for maintenance at midnight, Pacific time and are scheduled to come back up by 10 in the morning. This downtime is, of course, for the launch of patch 5.4: so by tomorrow afternoon the Siege of Orgrimmar should be upon us. We think the schedule is on the optimistic side for a patch roll-out, but here at WoW Insider, we'll keep our fingers crossed for servers popping back online quickly so we can all get back to gaming. Not sure what all the fuss is about? Blizzard posted a roundup of patch 5.4 info to catch you up on all the news, but if you need to go more basic than that you can also check our rookie writeup on what WoW patches are.
Square Enix apologizes for Final Fantasy 14 headaches with week of free play
Square Enix will make amends to Final Fantasy loyalists who experienced difficulty logging in to its relaunched PC and PS3 MMO Final Fantasy 14 Online: A Realm Reborn with a free week of playtime, GameSpot reports. In an announcement on Final Fantasy 14's community website The Lodestone, Square Enix explained that player demand for A Realm Reborn "significantly exceeded our initial estimates," pushing server load beyond maximum capacity. Login and character creation restrictions were introduced afterward, leaving many players unable to log in for days after the game's launch. The free week of play will begin after a ten-hour maintenance period beginning at 5 PM (PDT) on September 3. During the downtime, Square Enix notes that it will increase the number of available worlds and concurrent server logins, while reducing stress on the Duty Finder servers. "Because login and character creation restrictions have hindered our ability to provide quality service, all Final Fantasy 14 service accounts will receive an additional seven days of free play time," Square Enix said. "Furthermore, users who have yet to enter their registration codes will receive an additional seven-day trial should they register before 11:59 p.m. (PDT) on September 9, 2013."
Final Fantasy XIV's Yoshida issues an apology to players
Final Fantasy XIV's Early Access period hasn't been a smooth ride if you're playing in North America or Europe. The server cluster dedicated to these players has had to undergo several periods of maintenance and unexpected downtime, with several players entirely unable to log in on Sunday. Producer/director Naoki Yoshida took to the official forums to issue a personal apology to players affected by these issues, explaining the problems faced by the team and the steps being taken to correct them. Yoshida states that several of the load-related issues are still persisting, so the team is currently placing restrictions on logins to try to relieve some congestion and better identify server failure points. He goes on to apologize to players for any wait experienced and asks for patience as the team strives to deliver the best possible experience for all players. There's no word on how long these restrictions will be in place or what form they will take, but with the official launch tomorrow, we can only hope that the issues are largely sorted out soon.
PSA: PSN maintenance scheduled for Thursday
Heads up, PS3 and Vita owners: Sony announced that the PlayStation Network will be undergoing maintenance this Thursday, August 22, closing off access to the PlayStation Store and other online features. The outage will begin at around 12:00 Noon PT (1:00PM MT / 2:00PM CT / 3:00PM ET) and will wrap up at approximately 6:30PM PT (7:30PM MT / 8:30PM CT / 9:30PM ET). The PlayStation Store will roll out an update later tonight, giving players a couple of days to queue up their downloads for the debuting Divekick and this week's new batch of PlayStation Plus freebies. It may help to think of Thursday's outage as an opportunity to hone both your jumping and your kicking skills in Divekick's single-player mode.
The Mog Log: Returning to your Final Fantasy XIV friends
Despite my best efforts, I was unable to throw open the doors and start demonstrating the wonders of Arcanist with my time in Final Fantasy XIV's open beta. I know, I'm disappointed too. I can offer a summary of what I saw from a glance at the abilities of the class, sure, but that's a little more speculation than I want to lay on people in lieu of real playtime. (The short version is that it looks interesting, and yes, there's a cure in there.) Instead, I'm going to offer some advice to my fellow players coming back into the game with older characters. Think of these not as strict guidelines but as suggestions, tips to make the path through beta and early access just a wee bit easier. I spent most of phase 3 preparing for the launch along these lines, and it might make the transition a bit more gentle for everyone.
PSA: PSN maintenance tomorrow
The PlayStation Network undergoes "routine maintenance" tomorrow, June 25, which of course means the PSN staff is hitting the beach and catching some rays while they still can (only kidding, PSN staff!) So, surf's down for PSN users starting 12.30PM ET tomorrow (9.30AM PT, 5.30PM Brit-time). Regular services are scheduled to return 7PM ET (4PM PT, midnight Brit-time). The PS Store, Home, and account management are off-limits during the downtime, but you can get online with games and apps if you log on to PSN before the maintenance begins.
PSA: Nintendo online maintenance today ahead of Wii U system update
Nintendo is performing online maintenance for all its systems today as it prepares the Wii U's spring system update. The update, which will introduce the Virtual Console proper (among other things), may be fully launched by tomorrow according to a Facebook tease by Nintendo of America.The extended maintenance is scheduled between 1PM PT today (4PM ET, 9PM UK) and 7PM PT (10PM ET, 3AM UK). The eShop and shopping channels for the Wii U, 3DS, Wii, and DS will be affected, so expect them to go down during those hours.
Building the perfect fortress in Camelot Unchained [Updated]
The Camelot Unchained team has just released a new video dev blog for Kickstarter backers outlining some fairly ambitious plans for mining and construction in the upcoming PvE-free sandbox. The system will involve combinations of custom and prefab cells in which players so inclined can build up the empires and trading posts and fortifications of their dreams. And in a nod to games like Minecraft, the construction mechanics are built on a foundation of supplies procured through co-op mining gameplay. Ahead of the reveal, we asked City State Entertainment's Mark Jacobs a few questions about the systems he's proposing, from the influence of Mojang's popular sandbox to whether mining will become my new part-time job. Read on for the complete interview! [Update: As of Monday, CSE has also released the document form of the housing plans.]
PlayStation Store update delayed by ongoing PSN maintenance
Tuesday's PlayStation Store update in North America is delayed due to extended PSN maintenance in some areas. The PS Store updates on Tuesdays usually, but this week's additions are in limbo while PSN maintenance runs over from Monday, April 15.When the update does come, it'll bring a Soul Sacrifice demo, Sacred Citadel, Mad Dog 2, and others to the Store. While you may be able to sign into PSN currently, you won't be able to acquire these games until the Store updates.
PSN maintenance on April 15
The PlayStation Network is doing some spring cleaning on Monday, April 15. The service is going offline between 11AM ET (8AM PT) and 11PM ET in North America. PSN's Euro side is evidently a bit filthier, as it needs a further 3 hours of sprucing; maintenance starts on that side of the ocean at 2PM UK time on April 15, ending at 5AM the day after.As usual, the PS Store, Home, and account management aren't accessible during the downtime, but online play is as long you've signed in prior to the maintenance beginning.
Patch 5.2: Maintenance downtime
In anticipation of patch 5.2 tomorrow, the servers will be brought down for a full period of maintenance while the patch is deployed. For North America, maintenance begins at 1 AM PST, Tuesday, March 5th and should last 8 hours. For Europe, it starts at 1 AM CET. Keep in mind, there's always the possibility that maintenance may get extended due to unforeseen issues. Start your client before you head out to start your day so that when you get home the patching process is already complete. In addition, don't forget to update your addons! Are you ready for the Isle of Thunder?
PSA: PSN undergoing maintenance today
There's PSN downtime scheduled today to allow those busy boys and girls in engineering to "upgrade the software for the PlayStation Store." The service will undergo maintenance between 5AM PT (8AM ET, 1PM UK) and 9PM PT.The store will be down during this period, but you may be able to play games and use apps if you've signed in to PSN prior to the downtime. For more details, head this way.
