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By Raymon Narez / Opinions Editor
By Raymon Narez / Opinions Editor
PlayStation, live in your world, stay offline in ours, a much better motto at the moment, seeing as how Sony’s ever popular network has been down for quite some time now.
Since April 17 the PlayStation Network has been offline.
To the dismay of the legion of loyal Sony fans it appears that every time the matter is brought up, the company can only reassure that the network will be up as soon as possible, even though it has been weeks now.
At first Sony simply told its users that the network was down, and nothing more.
Only later did they fully reveal that their network had been downed by what Sony is calling a cyber-attack, which is one of the many problems the gaming giant is facing at the moment.
To make matters worse, Sony Online Entertainment is currently facing a class action lawsuit, filed by an upset individual who was not about to stand idly by as the incident occurred.
According to a press release, the attacker had stolen the account information of the online users.
Any information that had been filed on the network, be it credit or debit card information, was in the possession of the hacker.
For the time being, Sony says that none of the credit and debit card data that are on the networks files have been used, which does little to comfort the mass of angry gamers.
With so much hitting Sony all at once, the company’s stock has dropped by 10% and won’t be rising anytime soon.
Sony estimates that the hack will cost them over $24 billion, not including any damage done by lawsuits.
With such a steep estimated loss, it will be hard for the company to recuperate, especially when its competitors, Microsoft and Nintendo will more than likely pick up any Sony games who chose to jump ship.
But what does this mean for the gamer? How will this impact them for either the good or bad?
The company can only promises the network will be up soon, that everything possible is being done to have it back up, and that steps are being taken to prevent this kind of slip up again.
Any kind of gaming that involves access to the PlayStation Network is impossible at the time, while those who prefer their Wii or Xbox 360 can enjoy some of the various new title that have been released since Sony shut down the network.
Do those who have been putting up with Sony’s downed network have any grounds to be upset?
Of course, not only do the people not get their gaming fix that is met online, but to know that someone has your account information would be enough to cause even the most rational of people to flip their lid.
But what many don’t take into consideration is that when it comes to anything in life, nothing is completely secure, even a company like Sony is susceptible to problems, even if they are major.
Although the millions who use and play on the PlayStation Network want to point an angry finger at Sony, lash out in revolt and break out in a riot, one thing should be kept in mind. If it weren’t for the hacker, the cyber terrorist, none of this would be happening.
Because of one or possibly many individuals who, at the time are still anonymous, Sony has been in a never ending downward spiral for the last couple of weeks.
In response to what has been going on, the president and CEO of Sony Corporation has put up several press releases on the Sony blog, trying to inform the PlayStation nation of what has been going on.
In a recent post on the PlayStation blog, plans have been announced to take several steps to avoid such incident. “AllClear ID Plus” is a new program Sony Computer Entertainment announced.
This new program will include cyber monitoring and surveillance. Priority access to specialists including private investigators and identity theft specialists will be given as well, in case this sort of event were to occur again .
To top it all off, an insurance policy up to $1 million per user should be enticing enough for those who decide to stick with Sony.
Once the network is up and running the complany promises to give their valued customers a month free of Playstation Plus membership, another program Sony offers to the PlayStation customers.
For those customers who were already subscribers of the Plus membership Sony promises to extend their membership in length.
Although for the moment the PlayStation Network is still down, Sony promises that the major problems will be fixed soon.
Steps are being taken to not only make up for the attack and downed network, but as well as prevent any further attacks.
