Yep, it’s still down. But we’re still waiting patiently, and to pass the time (in between playing through Portal 2 and Mass Effect 2 again) we’ve come up with a series of steps you should take when the PSN finally pops its head up from behind the coffee table. If we’ve missed something, let us know. Please note: It’s been brought to our attention this list is quite similar to others on the web; let us assure you this is nothing more than coincidence and no disrespect was meant when writing this article. You might’ve noticed there’s a lot of PSN talk on the web right now, some slight overlapping is inevitable but entirely unintentional.
1. Change Your Password
You won’t get any say in this. Sony have already told us that users will be required to change their password when they first log in. Just make it something different to any of your other passwords – the last thing you want is this happening again and all of your online banking details to match your PSN account.
2. Give XBox Fanboys the Finger
While we, and most other gaming sites, see the benefits and drawbacks of both systems everyone is well aware of how vicious fanboys can get. Those gamers who can’t see beyond their favourite console are a pain in the ass, everyone knows one, everyone wishes they could punch them in the face but recently the 360 fanboys have been out in force. Yes, XBL is still working. Yes, it’s a better system than the PSN even when they’re both online. Yes, my mother probably did do that to you last night. It’ll be a relief when the PSN is online, just to see them try desperately hard to think of something else to pick holes in.
3. Look for New Stuff on the Store
Ok so there won’t have been any PSN Store updates during the downtime, but if you hadn’t been online for a few days prior to the attack you might have missed a few things. Maybe you hadn’t tried the Virtua Tennis 4 demo, or you’ve been desperate to try out Fancy Pants Adventures. Either way, it’s worth a quick hunt round to see what you missed.
4. Sync Trophies
Most of you will have been playing offline for the past couple of weeks, and racking up new trophies like there’s no tomorrow. So what better way to show your friends that you’re physically and mentally superior to them by syncing your trophies and showing off that Portal 2 platinum? Well, we can can think of many better ways, but even so those of you who love a bit of silverware next to your avatar will be gagging to get this done.
5. Play
The network went down teasingly after Portal 2’s release, leaving those desperate to try online co-op at a total loose end. Not only that but other recent releases such as Operation Flashpoint also offer brilliant multiplayer options, and you can’t help but feel for the COD crowd, those who couldn’t go 24 hours without their fix of gobby kids commenting on their parental upbringing. When the PSN is back, see what everyone else is on and join in.
6. Register Portal 2
Follow up our recent guides to Steam by hooking up your PS3 to your account. If you’ve got a decent PC or Mac you’ll be keen to register your copy of Portal 2 to get the free Steam version. While it won’t let you play against someone on the same Steam account, it does mean when the wife is watching Emmerdale you can bash through the co-op with a mate or just revisit the game for the excellent developer’s commentary.
7. Communicate
A lot of people have friends on their PSN list that they have no further contact information for. You might be missing LolZBunny69 by now (no idea if that account exists by the way, probably best not to try it just in case) so find them in the list and send them a cheerful message saying just how much you’ve missed them and how keen you are to shoot them in the face again. Online friendships are strange, aren’t they…
8. Download Some Stuff
Ok, so you might not have missed anything on the store, but it’s still been quite strange knowing that you can’t go and download anything should the desire arise. It’s perfectly possible that in the last couple of weeks you haven’t even wanted to download anything, but we’re inclined to find something to download, even if it’s just a free wallpaper, and grab it. Just because we can.
9. Claim Your Prizes
Some of you have prizes from our competitions waiting until you can get into the store and punch the code in. It’s been an agonising wait, but those winnings are within reach!
10. Try Out Home
PlayStation Home has come on in leaps and bounds recently, but right now it’s quieter than a Sunday morning in Chernobyl. If you haven’t been on for a while, I’d urge you to get on and have a look. We’re looking at giving Home a decent chunk of coverage in the coming months, so get in, pick and outfit and see what’s new. Most areas have games or activities so you won’t be short on entertainment.
Follow these steps carefully – it could be the difference between a happy PSN future and a life of misery. Maybe.
I’m having so much FUN playing Online with my friends on XBOX LIVE. and now i’m gonna go back ONLINE and play some more Gears 3 Beta lol 🙂
Haha nicely put. I refer you to point 2 😉
I tried Gears today and it was just as boring as it looks. Enjoy playing that one game you’ve got. And having to pay to play online. lol.
I have both consoles, but fags like you saying enjoy paying to play online is just retarded. At the end of the day what network is down? Do you not think paying for a service will therefore probably mean the service is better? While you are here reading articles about the PSN, xbox live users haven’t battered an eye lid. I have no idea why this article needs to mention xbox fan boys, its irrelevant and just shows that Playstation users are biting. So you can ‘LOL’ all you want about paying for online services…I’d rather pay for a decent service than have not pay and not play…douche.
Not taking any side but I think you’re the one who are being played. Now I know you only hit puberty but think about it? You own both console and you’re paying $60 bucks a year plus not to mention all the games you have geez talk about a total loser. get a life. all you gamer nerds!
Wow you are a terrible smack talker, you aren’t used to this are you JERKKILLER? I was given the PS3 that’s why I have it, it’s a great console but I prefer live because it is a better service, and I think that’s undoubtable. How do you know I have loads of games? Looks like you’re the pubescent douche who is making childish assumptions. I think paying an annual subscription is well worth the cost for the bonus you get to all the games you purchase. Go troll another user who doesn’t put you in your place. I think you are the loser my dear online trollface. The fact you are reading a PSN article puts you in the same ‘Nerd’ bracket as the rest of the people reading it, don’t be such a hypocrite and grow up.
Enough now. If you two want to carry on do it elsewhere please.
I love my xbox slim it plays online all the time yay , ( hey moron that wrote this article) I have both consoles .So I ain’t dum as some to not own the best of both or ummmmmmm one world hahahahaha
So at what point does owning both consoles make me a moron..?
yeah bc gears 3 is the only exclusive game xbox has this year
shut up you dont get 2 games for FREE and 1 month of playstation plus FREE
hey u should add change email since hackers got the emails passwords and security questions so all they do is use change password with security question so need to change email too
thats why they’ve added the security of only being able to change PW on the same ps3 or confirmed secure email
joeyisback with coments like that i doubt u were evin missed lol
Yea,me too. And im gonna enjoy my ps3 too. So f**k off with fanboy crap. Just cause you aint got money to buy ps3, doesnt mean that we cant.
I was actually lookin forward to gettin fancy pants adventures, cos i was on holiday while the outage started then i came back and it was down, and i saw fancy pants in the Whats new section
Lol Franko. Really? Don’t have a ps3 because I can’t afford one? Wrong you moron. Used to have one and sold it when I bought my 360. Not enough time for both consoles so picked the one I preferred. Is it better? No idea. I just prefer it and that’s all that matters to me. Enjoy your ps3 and calm down a little. Life’s too short.
LOL! I loved your Chernobyl reference. Good article! Informative, funny and important.
Swell job, chap!
How soon they forget about the XBox Live extended downtime a few years ago. Granted it wasn’t this long, but many people had trouble logging in for a couple weeks. Anyone on the Internet are constantly being probed for vulnerabilities by hackers – I see a hundred attempts or more daily on my Macs inet.log and I am just small fry, not a large company like Sony of Microsoft.
To be honest i haven’t even noticed that psn was down because I rarely use my ps3 anyway. been busy playing Fifa11, TopSpin4, F1-2010 and TW PGA 12 The Masters, all online of course. The only games i like on ps3 are heavy rain and uncharted2 and the only game i’m looking forward to is uncharted3.
Btw, Nr. 2 is a clear fanboy statement, how ironic.
HEX-BOX IS FOR THE HOMOS! I am half expecting Microsoft to be BEHIND these lewd LUDICROUS ATTACKS on the innocent Peace Loving and Game Loving individuals of which PSN is so beautifully FULL of. Take it back up SONY! And Take DOWN These HEXing Thugs.
P.S.: HEX-BOX is NOT a BETTER system! Get that out of your STINKING heads! Jeez louise!
@Christian – go to bed kid, you’ve got school in the morning!
@Stgeorge77 google Christian’s full name to get the joke.
Lol, very funny.
wow.. no. MOST other gaming sites have been laughing at Sony like it’s the red headed step child of gaming. I can’t think of ANY site aside from the Sony troll blogs like PSExtreme and the like that haven’t essentially implied if not outright stated their XBL allegiance.
Now everyone will try to deny it but 90% of gaming journalists prefer XBL. I get it. It’s a better system. A) I don’t have beef with that honestly I’m find with guys preferring XBL. but b) they need to at least be fair to PSN. Everyone acts like you can’t play on PSN because it doesn’t have features X, Y, and Z. I always hear how feature X makes XBL worth $50 a year. My point and i stand by this from day 1 till now is that MOST people would be perfectly happy to just play online games. If they offered a free version of XBL that let you play games online. Gold subscriptions would drop by 70-85% in 2 months. no cross game voice chat, maybe no party mode no discounts, absolutely none of the social media stuff like ESPN, facebook or twitter and everyone would eat that up.
That aside most journalists are XBL guys and I’m ok with that. Some of them are fair to PSN and I’m ok with that, but yeah almost noone sees any drawback in the xbox systems. I’ve still never gotten anyone to explain to me how you justify the full price for XBL when you live outside the US. No Netflix, no ESPN, those are the big “worth it” features and you don’t have any of that in say Mexico.
I did forget my prize I won.. I need to download that.