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Sony aiming for May 31st PSN service restoration [Updated]
Sony's network security woes continued over the weekend, and the light at the end of the tunnel still seems like a distant pin prick for the embattled gaming giant and its displaced customers. Bloomberg reports that Sony spokesman Shigenori Yoshida indicated the company plans to restart Playstation Network services by May 31st, which would bring the total downtime to a whopping 41 days. Nick Caplin, head of communications for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, posted an update to the European PlayStation blog hinting at the reasons for a longer delay. "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," he wrote. While the PS3 versions of both Free Realms and DC Universe Online fall under the PSN umbrella, no word has been forthcoming as to a restart date for the rest of SOE's MMO stable, which includes the PC versions of the aforementioned titles as well as EverQuest and EverQuest II. [Update: CNET is reporting that Sony is considering a reward for information leading to the capture of the hackers. Meanwhile, Sony is apparently contesting reports about the May 31st date, suggesting no such hard deadline for PSN resumption exists.]
The Daily Grind: What do you do during downtime in the game?
MMOs, especially older ones, often suffered or benefited (depending on whom you asked) from having a somewhat more sedate pace of activities. Even in the most action-oriented games, there are periods of downtime, whether they come from travel times or waiting for the other two players in your party to come back from the bathroom. It's not enough time for you to think that you should just log off and do something else, but it is enough time that you start to find your attention wandering at least a little bit. So what do you do during the brief downtime in an MMO? Do you read books while you wait for your World of Warcraft raid to get underway? Do you have the television on in the background while you play World of Tanks (preferably tuned to the History Channel)? Is it a simple matter of tabbing over to read another site while you warp around in Star Trek Online? Or do you just entertain yourself with emote spam, jumping, and various inventory toys? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Tuesday Morning Post: Gnome appreciation edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! As we settle into the first full week of patch 4.1, I feel we should take a break from all the headers full of trolls and troll dungeons to appreciate the other semi-homeless race of WoW, the gnome. The Alliance loves them because they provide the technological backbone we need to fight back the orcish war machine. The Horde loves them because they're bite-sized and puntable. Plus, apparently, they're pretty good at music. If you aren't much into the whole gnome thing, don't worry, there's plenty of news to go around. There's a bunch to discuss about patch 4.1, as well as news about patch 4.2, all waiting for in our usual nice tidy roundup. Downtime this morning is from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT, so you should have plenty of time to read up.
Verizon's LTE network takes the night off, leaves a bunch of Thunderbolt users bewildered
Is your fancy new phone lacking that certain extra G that makes it special? Worry not, it's not just your device, Verizon's entire LTE network seems to be having problems as outages have been reported from across the US. We tested our own Thunderbolt in San Francisco this morning and it was indeed making do with only 3G connectivity. It's important to note that Verizon's 3G network seems to be ticking along quite alright, it's just 4G service that's down at the moment. Some folks have reported losing both 3G and 4G connectivity, but that's owing to a documented issue with 3G provisioning on the Thunderbolt -- we've noted the way to overcome that problem in a previous post. For now, just enjoy your regular-speed mobile internet until the super-fast stuff is fixed and back up. Update: The Verizon Wireless Twitter account has confirmed the issue, and that the company's network engineers are "working to resolve quickly." Update 2: As of 4:13pm ET Verizon has determined the cause and is "working with major vendors to restore connections." Still no ETA for a fix. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Tuesday Morning Post: Maybe soon edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. With the Rise of the Zandalari trailer out and an official release of the patch notes and major feature descriptions, it seemed pretty obvious that patch 4.1 was dropping today. Then we got an ominous blue post: The PTR is still up. Testing will end "soon." It's unclear what exactly that means, but by the time you read this, hopefully we'll know for sure. In the meantime, we do still appear to have extended maintenance going on from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific, so regardless, you'll have time to catch up on the news. There's a lot of juicy patch 4.1 stuff to keep you busy until they finally give us the patch, as well as other stuff, including a few fun interviews and a look at some of our favorite old content. Take a look at it all after the break.
Extended maintenance announced for Tuesday, April 26
Barring force majeure, it looks like patch 4.1 lands tomorrow, folks. Not only is the 4.1 trailer out, Blizzard has also announced extended maintenance for all realms for Tuesday, April 26, beginning at 3 a.m. PST and ending at 11 a.m. PST. Expect it to last longer, as patch day maintenance usually does. While servers are down, check out our Guide to Patch 4.1, including class analysis, dungeon previews, UI additions, and more. Stop the machinations of the Zandalari! WoW Patch 4.1 is on the PTR, and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you -- from previews of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new valor point mechanics and new archaeology items.
SOE acknowledges "external intrusion" responsible for website downtime
Sony Online Entertainment has acknowledged an issue that has caused its MMORPGs and game-related websites to be sporadically unavailable since Thursday, April 21st. SOE's Linda "Brasse" Carlson posted on the EverQuest II forums late last night, attributing the trouble to "an external intrusion." Users have experienced connection issues in everything from Vanguard, to EQII, to Free Realms, and EQII's main website remains inaccessible as of press time. Station Cash and account services appear to be working normally. "As a result of an external intrusion on its system, SOE interrupted its services on April 21. Promptly upon learning of the intrusion, SOE initiated an investigation and took corrective steps to bring its games and other services back up," Carlson explained. "We are working hard on bringing all of our player sites back online, but have no ETA at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for bearing with us."
Tuesday Morning Post: Please release me edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone. With the words "release candidate" allegedly showing up on some versions of patch 4.1 over on the PTR, we're all waiting more impatiently than ever for the drop. There are new dungeons to run, there's new loot to grab for the casuals, and there's so much more. Alas, it doesn't look like this is going to be the week. Scheduled maintenance is only from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific time, far too little for a patch. Luckily, that is more than enough downtime for you to catch up on all the latest WoW news. We got a lot of stuff to cover, from patch 4.1 news and loot drops to BlizzCon tickets and new official lore. Check it all out after the break.
Tuesday Morning Post: Call to Arms edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. By now, I'm sure most people have heard this week's biggest WoW news: Patch 4.1 will bring with it the dungeon finder Call to Arms, which will provide BoA goodie bags to those who fill the most needed role in the dungeon finder queue. I call it a tanking stimulus package. Many of my colleagues prefer to call it a bribe. Whatever you call it, it's the hot topic of the hour and is bound to stay that way for the near future. If you're getting tired of all the hubbub, though, don't despair. There's plenty of other news to review and discuss as well, and we have the usual roundup ready to go. This week marks a return to server downtime starting at 5 a.m. Pacific and continuing until 11 a.m. Pacific, so you should have time to read it all.
Tuesday Morning Post: Entire team is hipsters edition
Well, it happened. I was dreading the day, but here it is. On this Tuesday morning, the unthinkable has occurred. According to a Breakfast Topic commenter, the entire WoW Insider team are hipsters. Now, far be it from me to hide away from such accusations. No, I am not the type of man to deny such things. Thus, in interest of full disclosure, I present to you the picture above, which was taken at a concert attended by myself and a friend. I will freely admit that yours truly did, in fact, consume the contents of more than one of the cans shown above. Take from that what you will. That said, you did not come here to investigate the inner life of this humble blogger; you came here for the latest and greatest in WoW news, delivered to you by the finest group of video game hipsters to set hands to keys. This week, we have another round of rolling restarts starting at 5 a.m. Pacific. While you're waiting for your server to cycle, why not check out the news? We have our usual roundup after the break.
Tuesday Morning Post: Rearrangement envy edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. This is a banner week for every WoW altoholic. After years of struggle, a new dawn is upon us. We have learned that patch 4.2 will herald the greatest change ever to grace us in these 6 years. That's right: We get the ability to reorganize our character list. Finally, my poor death knight will not be banished under loads of mules and rarely played or abandoned alts. He can take his rightful position at the head of my list. You hear that buddy? Everything's going to be okay. There's plenty of other juicy WoW news to be had, both from the PTR and elsewhere, and we have a quick roundup of the latest stuff for you as usual. You can check it out while you're waiting for the rolling restarts to get finished. They'll start at 5 a.m. Pacific time and last about an hour. Me, I've decided to spend the downtime watching Gnome Fukkireta over and over again, so I'll see you on the flipside.
Tuesday Morning Post: Valorous edition
The biggest news to come down the pipe this week is probably the valor points change. Have you ever wanted to just get all of your heroic dailies churned out on one lazy Sunday afternoon instead of forcing yourself to queue after a long day at work in the middle of the week? You'll be able to, come patch 4.1. Not only that, but if you queue for the new Zandalar dungeons, you'll come away with 980 valor points when all's said and done, which is nearly enough to purchase one whole piece on its own. If you're not big into the whole heroic-running game, there's plenty of other interesting stuff to catch up on, including some new WoW insights our team dragged out of PAX East 2011. With scheduled realm maintenance lasting from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific time, you should have plenty of time to read it all.
Black Prophecy blasts off in Europe today
T-minus three, two, one... and that sound you hear is the latest space-based MMORPG lifting off the launch pad, heading for the stratosphere and the stars beyond. At least, that's what gamigo and Reakktor are hoping when it comes to Black Prophecy, which officially takes a bow in Europe today. Beta characters, clans, and clan sectors will be wiped for the kickoff, and Black Prophecy will initially feature both an English and a German server. Snowcrash (no, not that one) has posted a note informing customers of impending forum downtime and has also let us know that game updates will be available via the launcher application while the launch-day forum restructuring is in progress. "This is not an end. It's a beginning; the foundation is laid and we will now move forward with the continued development of Black Prophecy after its release," says assistant production manager Chris "Snowcrash" Schutt. While you're waiting to log in -- or stuck at work -- check out our coverage roundup after the cut and get caught up on the biggest Black Prophecy news items from the past few months.
Tuesday Morning Post: Meanwhile, in WoW edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. I have a confession to make. I pretty much logged onto WoW the minimum possible amount of time last week. Now, don't get me wrong, I had a lot of stuff going on in real life too, but my main reason for playing hooky was because I was obsessed with Ezekiel Hawke, the dashing, roguish champion of Kirkwall you see above. That said, having now defeated Dragon Age 2, I am ready to get back into the game and eager to check all the new patch 4.1 goodies being discovered on the PTR by the day (and, of course, reported by us). If you're tired of patch 4.1 news, have no fear, we have some pretty sweet non-patch news too. We had a contingent at PAX East 2011 and got a chance to sit down with Cryptozoic, the makers of the WoW TCG. The developers also recently held a forum Q&A, and the first round of questions and answers was released yesterday. Me, I'm most excited that they didn't completely dismiss the idea of an appearance layer on gear like they have in the past. You should have some time to read up on this and all the rest of the week's news, as we have our usual scheduled maintenance from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific time this morning.
Tuesday Morning Post: I'm (not) on fire edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone! Probably the biggest news this week is the state of patch 4.1. Not only will it not include the Firelands, it won't have any raid content whatsoever. Of course, if our first runs are any indication, the new heroics may be epic enough to make up for it, and patch 4.2 will supposedly show up on the test servers almost immediately after patch 4.1 goes live. I'm pretty sure the delay is so Ragnaros can work on toning up his lower body a bit, though, so the delay's for a good cause. We'll only have to deal with rolling restarts at 5 a.m. Pacific time today, so you should be able to hop back on WoW pretty quickly. Still, while you're waiting for things to settle down, you may want to catch up on the latest happenings in and around the World of Warcraft. Check our usual roundup after the break.
Tuesday Morning Post: In the still of the night edition
We weren't expecting it, but it came just the same. Dropping in like a thief in the night, the patch 4.1 PTR showed up early last week and began slowly worming its way into the news cycle and into our hearts. There's a lot of pretty amazing stuff coming in with it. Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman are back as heroic dungeons. You can walk right into Old Ironforge. Hunters can tame hydras. The Wintersaber mount grind is getting easier. There's a whole ton of new pets and mounts, along with achievements for collecting more of them. There's a new looking for guild feature. We may even see a caster legendary. There's also hints of a new Hallow's End, and with it, new lore for the Forsaken and the worgen. That's just the tip of the iceberg, of course. You can check out more articles on all the latest changes behind the break. With realm maintenance lasting from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. PST this morning, you don't have anything better to do, right? Be sure to stayed tuned throughout the day and coming weeks for more news as well.
Vodafone's UK network taken down by a break-in (update: some services restored)
Some of our UK readers have woken up to the less than awesome discovery this morning that their phones have lost all connectivity to the outside world. 3G, 2G, SMS, and BlackBerry services on the Vodafone UK network are all down for what seems like a significant proportion of its user base -- an issue the carrier has since identified as being caused by a break-in at its Basingstoke exchange center. No further details have been provided, though work is naturally underway to repair the damage done and we're assured customers' private data has remained so. We can't imagine quite such a service disruption being caused by a random act of vandalism or burglary, perhaps a disgruntled employee felt the need to vent his or her frustrations in grand style? Or has O2 gone gangster on the competition? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Update: Vodafone got in touch to say that 2G and 3G voice connectivity has been restored as of lunchtime in the UK and text and data services should be up within "the next couple of hours." The company estimates the issue has affected "a couple of hundred thousand users", though it expects that number to drop to zero before the day is through.
Tuesday Morning Post: The love is gone edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! It's been another hectic week of bugs, balance issues, and hotfixes, all of which you can read about after the break in our usual roundup. Other than that, Love Is In The Air is gone for another year. Hopefully, you got what you wanted out of that. On the downtime front this morning, we have rolling restarts beginning at 5 a.m. PST, with all realms expected to be ready to roll again by 6 a.m. But hey, before you leap back into action, why not check out the latest headlines? You never know what you might have missed.
Tuesday Morning Post: Bugged about titles edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone. Hope your Valentine's Day was awesome. Patch 4.0.6 has been out for a week now. Despite a few nasty bugs early on, Blizzard seems to have ironed out most of the kinks, and hopefully by now we've gotten used to the newness. Besides, the ups and downs of patch 4.0.6 are nothing compared to the furor that erupted over the moving of The Exalted title. Blizzard later reneged, of course, but it was a pretty huge storm while it lasted. If you're still trying to get your head wrapped around all things patch 4.0.6, fear not. We have you covered. You can check out our initial guide to the 4.0.6 patch, as well as all the other articles we've been writing this week, after the break. Maintenance this week is from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific, so you should have plenty of time to get caught up.
Tuesday Morning Post: Daniel mostly talks about patch 4.0.6 and maybe a little bit of RIFT
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. I heard you were all tired of seeing pictures of Alex's RIFT characters, so I figured I'd break up the monotony by showing you a picture of my RIFT character. But yeah, forget what I said in WRUP. I spent my entire weekend playing RIFT. Specifically, I was playing a ranger/bard/marksman who looks suspiciously like Kevin Sorbo. My opinion of the game is pretty close to Alex's, so I won't say much else except to note that I want Blizzard to steal rifts, and I forgot how much I missed playing a bard. That said, I'm not too bummed that the beta is over (for now), since we got plenty of juicy new stuff coming after today's extended downtime. Patch 4.0.6 should be dropping today, and you should definitely read over the patch notes. There are long-requested (or unrequested) buffs and dreaded nerfs a-plenty. In other news, Love is the Air on the live servers as well, along with quite a few bugs related to said holiday. Luckily, most of those bugs should be fixed in this patch, and we'll be able to stop obsessing over Cairne and Magni's deaths again. We also got a surprisingly early announcement for BlizzCon 2011. All these stories and more await you below. With today's extended downtime of 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific time, you should have plenty of time to read it all.
