Yesterday, around 4pm Sony began fielding calls from upset PlayStation 3 customers around the world who have been denied service to the PlayStation Network (PSN).  The outage seems to only affect older models of the PS3 and not the recently released slim models.

This may not seem like such a big deal at first.  “So, you can’t logon to the PSN.  No big deal.”  Not so.  In order to play any games that you’ve downloaded from the internet (or that use trophy support) you must first:

1. Have an internet connection.
2. Be logged into the PSN.

I was not aware of this tragic fact until I attempted to play a game of The Last Guy on my PS3 yesterday afternoon.  I have the  60GB Ps1, PS2 Software Backward Compatible unit.

Around that time I had also been trying to upgrade my UPNP client on my Mac.  The problem also started right around the time the PS3 was performing a fairly hefty file copy from my Mac.  The copy was halted for some unknown reason and my PS3 shut off all by itself.  In other words, I picked a bad day to fiddle with my PS3.  I thought the problem was something I had done.  I had company for a movie last night so I just decided I would call Sony the following day to see if there was anything they could do.

That’s when I discovered it wasn’t just me.

As of this morning, the PSN is still unavailable.  According to this article they have no idea what the problem is.  When calling Sony you will likely get an automated message stating:  “Unfortunately we’re unable to handle your call at this time. For faster service [paraphrased] go to our website.”  If you happen to get through to Sony you get this fantastic message, “Due to the popularity of Sony services and products, we are unable to take your call at this time.”  What a load of complete bullshit.  It should say, “Due to a problem with the PSN, we are unable to take your call.” not some snowy canned message that completely ignores the problem.

The thing that I find most frustrating though is that if you’ve downloaded a game like Braid or The Last Guy, you cannot play it unless the PSN is available.  This is a HUGE shortcoming of the platform.  I for one will think twice before downloading ANYTHING from the PSN again.

Sony is not taking calls and no official announcement is yet released telling customers what the real problem is.

So if you receive an error: “8001050F – Hardware failure. Cannot update Firmware or connect to Internet” type of message – – you’ll have to sit tight until Sony fixes it.  Afterward, please call 1-800-345-7669 and give them an earful about games YOU PAID FOR THAT YOU CANNOT PLAY.

I won’t bother to post any more links to other articles.  Just google “PSN Play Station Network” and search the News section for a plethora of articles explaining how customers are outraged.

UPDATE: 11:01 AM CST

I should also mention this affects your PS3 titles that require trophy support to play.  Games such as Burnout Paradise, Conan and many many more require the PSN to operate today.

BluRay, PS1 and PS2 games are not affected as they do not require the PSN to function.

UPDATE: 1:00 PM CST

Sony has released a statement which includes a warning to NOT play your PS3 until the problem is resolved:

As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3.

We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.

Errors include:

• The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
• When the user tries to sign-in to the PlayStation Network, the following message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”.
• When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install trophies. Please exit your game.”
• When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)”
• Users are not able to playback certain rental video downloaded from the PlayStation Store before the expiration date.

We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.

As mentioned above, Please be advised that the new slim PS3 is not affected with this error. We are doing our best to resolve the issue and do apologise for any inconvenience caused.

For the latest status on this situation please check either PlayStation.Blog, Twitter or PlayStation.com.