Sony declares ApocalyPS3 is over

By Tom Bramwell Published 2 March, 2010

"Symptoms are now resolved."

Sony has announced that the bizarre events of the last two days, which culminated in the platform holder advising owners of the fat PS3 not to turn on their consoles, are over.

"We are aware that the internal clock functionality in the PS3 units other than the slim model, recognised the year 2010 as a leap year. Having the internal clock date change from February 29 to March 1 (both GMT), we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved and that users are able to use their PS3 normally," the publisher wrote on the official US blog.

"If the time displayed on the XMB is still incorrect, users are able to adjust time settings manually or via the internet. If we have new information, we will update you through the PlayStation.Blog or PlayStation.com.

"We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Eurogamer technology editor Rich Leadbetter had reported that the now-infamous "8001050F" error was impairing PS3 functionality including PSN connectivity, trophies and even some offline games.

Mercifully it seems that the passage of time has resolved the issue for various users, with many now reporting that their fat PS3s are working fine again, although some trophies were being awarded with the wrong date attached. Eurogamer's fat PS3 seems to be back to normal.

Slim PS3 owners were not affected.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (124) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • barchetta #1 2 years ago

    Last I read - approx 12:15am the 40gb model may still have issues. Anyone care to check - I'm now at work - and needing sleep..

  • DarkChronicle #2 2 years ago

    Bit of a storm in a teacup in the end wasn't it? Everything back to normal.

    Now back to playing Heavy Rain and White Knight Chronicles!

  • super_monty #3 2 years ago

    Can say I too bothered I am quite capable of living without my ps3 for a couple of days.

  • Agent_Llama #4 2 years ago

    Well, it may be over and my PS3 is working again - but it's reset my entire console. All my game saves are gone, everything.

  • super_monty #5 2 years ago

    OK resetting my gave save would piss me of big time I am 60 hours into dragon age.

  • Agent_Llama #6 2 years ago

    An entire weekend of White Knight Chronicles gone in one fell swoop, along with completed saves for Heavy Rain and Bioshock 2 amongst others. Thanks, Sony.

  • Loghorn #7 2 years ago

    Sony sure is lucky that this problem has been resolved on it's own. If it hasn't, things would've been far worse than it already is, like recalling all the pre-slim PS3 models. Their reputation would be even more damaged than what happened with E3 '06, & they barely managed to survive that. They can't afford to have any more screw-ups.

  • NegativeZero #8 2 years ago

    Thing is it's not even a difficult calculation. Every year that's evenly divisible by 4, but if it's evenly divisible by 100 it must also be evenly divisible by 400. They'd have to have completely screwed up to have 2010 marked as a leap year because it's not evenly divisible by 4, let alone 100 and 400.

  • SeesThroughAll #9 2 years ago

    Just wait until 2012, when a real leap year won't be recognized by your fat PS3!

  • saku_luk #10 2 years ago

    Sony got a big no from me now, they just waited 24h for the issue to resolve itself lol!


    Well at least I can go back to HR now >.
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 07:33

  • PlugMonkey #11 2 years ago

    Well, it may be over and my PS3 is working again - but it's reset my entire console. All my game saves are gone, everything.

    Faaaaark. That would upset me quite a lot. Really quite a lot.

    I mean, you could always restore them from the backups you keep but NO WAIT! Sony specifically introduced a 'feature' to stop you being able to do that.

    Class action suit?

  • noobjob #12 2 years ago

    this why i back up all my saves to a memory stick

  • secombe #13 2 years ago

    Bit of a storm in a teacup in the end wasn't it?

    Considering there are people out there who buy games at midnight on release, take days off work to play games, and not to mention the fact that people are losing save games...I would say a storm in a teacup falls a little wide of the mark for many PS3 owners.

  • Markusdragon #14 2 years ago

    To be fair, there's not much else they could have done.

  • 4thVariety #15 2 years ago

    So it was the Zune bug and those bastards just sat it out. What a disgrace of a company. Yesterday they were all "we are trying to fix this problem" when in reality they were just waiting for the storm to pass. What a deceptive way to treat the customer, when a simple statement asking the users to sit this one out would have sufficed and caused less anguish about all the DLC stuff people have on their console.

  • zuljin #16 2 years ago

    @Snedwan
    "So it seems as if they did nothing to resolve it other than let time pass."

    Even though it may seem that way, I'm sure they weren't just twiddling their thumbs. I mean I'm sure they had some fix in the lineup, but lets face it - if the changing date fixes the bug, why go through the risk of patching so rapidly to save people a few hours?

  • zuljin #17 2 years ago

    @NegativeZero
    To be honest, I don't think there is such a thing as an intelligent bug.

  • Les #18 2 years ago

    Discovered yesterday that my unit was in fact affected. Watched a Blu-Ray yesterday and checked this morning: everything is fine again though I have been using the system just like I always did the last two days (which didn't include any PSN activity so I didn't really notice the issue until I checked the clock after being alarmed for the bug).

  • Fab4 #19 2 years ago

    "To be honest, I don't think there is such a thing as an intelligent bug."

    That's because all bugs inherit characteristics from their parents :)

  • the_dudefather #20 2 years ago

    'From the moment the error arrived, choked our PSN access, corrupted our trophies, they were doomed. They were undone, destroyed, after all of sony's engineers and dev kits had failed, by the passage of time that God in his wisdom put upon this universe.'

  • phycus #21 2 years ago

    Some muppet divided by 2 didn't they, not 4.

    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 08:10

  • CaptainQuint #22 2 years ago

    Whilst I do feel sorry for those who have lost their saves. I can't help but find this whole debacle funny. It's nice when a big company's highly secure network and hardware is suddenly brought to its knees, in a reassuringly humbling kind of way.

  • saintedd #23 2 years ago

    Glad it is over. Like some say it was really never that big a deal in the first place.

  • midnight_walker #24 2 years ago

    It was front-page news in this morning's Metro.

  • Nazo #25 2 years ago

    Like most of life's problems, sleep on it and things seem better in the morning.

  • indafunkyhouse #26 2 years ago

    Glad its all sorted, however I can't help thinking that Sony were shitting bricks yesterday and have had a very lucky escape on this one. Take it thats the last we will hear of this from them and when it happens again they will have an instant fix....wait 24 hours and all will be fine minus a few lost trophies, game saves....

  • Caimbeul #27 2 years ago

    My animated thems all became corrupted then dissappeared. My items in little big planet are no longer available because it says i do not own them...Now i hear that people are losing savegames!!?? If I have Sony will be getting a piece of my mind for sure.

    Network outages i can tolerate, they happen at the end of the day but for something like this to happen and fcuk up content stored on my machine... >:-(

  • Negotiator #28 2 years ago

    Oh thank you Mr Sony, now what about compensation?

  • BritishBlue1 #29 2 years ago

    When I turned on my PS3 this morning some of my trophies were missing, specifically Command & Conquer:RE3, Dragon Age and Bioshock 2. I found that inserting the game, loading up my last save point then syncing my trophy collection worked a treat and I now have all mah trophies back.

  • suhawk75 #30 2 years ago

    Before you panic about save games and data make sure you reset your clock to the correct date and time.

    I'd "lost" Wipeout Fury last night and this morning, after a clock reset, all was fine. Hope you all get everything back (although I think any trophies gained yesterday will be lost).

    As for Sony "waiting it out" I suspect they knew what the bug was fairly early on in the day and letting the system sort itself out is safer than rushing a patch out to quieten the internet rage.

  • Yidarmyuk #31 2 years ago

    And this was front page of the Metro this morning?! Talk about mountains and molehills....

  • FooAtari #32 2 years ago

    This is a little glimpse into the potential problems the kind of DRM Ubisoft is introducing on the PC will bring.

    Sure it's only one day, if you can't live a day without your PS3 maybe you have some issues :)

    BUT, that's not really the point. The point is a large proportion of PS3 owners were unable to use their PS3 due to Sonys cock up, which is not really on to be honest...

  • FooAtari #33 2 years ago

    @XrustynutsX
    "To other comment's saying it was a disgrace that they rode it out for twentyfour hours to see if it would rectify itself. It's normal buisness practise".

    Really??

    Not at my work it isn't. We run a system used for logging drilling data offshore. If we were down for 24 hours all hell would be break loose and some. We would probably be heavily penalised by our clients financially and a lot of heads would role internally. As soon as the system goes down our engineers are all over it.

    Now sure, "consumer" tech is a little different, but I wouldn't say waiting 24 hours is normal business practice, far from it.

    As I said above, it being only 24 hours isn't really the issue in my opinion, it didn't effect me really as I didn't use my PS3 last night. But never before I have not been able to use a device under my TV (Sky, DVD, VHS etc etc) because of a cock up such as this by the company. I can understand their network going down or something, but to not be able to use my device at all is poor form.

  • Zidargh #34 2 years ago

    I did find this incident quite amusing. Friends on Facebook proclaiming 'SONY are c***s', 'I HATE SONY', 'I WANT TO PLAY MW2'. If anything it should've given people a kick up the arse to balance their hobbies a bit. Sure it was an inconvenience for me too as Im addicted to Dragon Age, but luckily I saw the sense in going to the gym, or making a few phone calls.

    Im glad they resolved it quickly (though I am nervous as to if Ive suffered any data loss :/)

  • patch #35 2 years ago

    It was front-page news in this morning's Metro.

    Really? That's pretty shocking. Of all the things they could report on and this story gets front page? Ok, it's news, but seriously front page? "Earthquake in Chile? nah. Election in the very near future? passe. Prudential buying AIA? pfft, boring! PS3 error? OMGOGMGOMG!!!!111!!oneone1one!!!"

  • Mart #36 2 years ago

    Has no one considered what will happen in 2014!!??!

    Who'll be the president??£!

    Aaaaaargh.

  • reeferchief #37 2 years ago

    Played a few games of FIFA on my 80gb model yesterday evening and did'nt take much notice tbh, but never saw/experienced any issues. Worried to turn it on now in case all my datas gone.

  • Caimbeul #38 2 years ago

    @ Footari - I agree on-line DRM is a fools game. It really should not have a nock on effect if you lose connection.

  • Carpathian #39 2 years ago

    I'm just impressed that Sony are seemingly taking credit for fixing things by letting time pass. They've 'resolved the situation' by watching the hands move round and crossing their fingers. That takes balls the size of King Kong to pull that one. Not sure whether to be dismayed by their gall or stupidly impressed by it.

    Does that mean that if they'd not been working on it then time would have stopped?

  • drumbaby #40 2 years ago

    Lots of people finally realising they can't live without their PS3s have got their PS3s back again without having to courier them off to repair.

    Epic win for Sony if you ask me.

  • kangarootoo #41 2 years ago

    "Considering there are people out there who buy games at midnight on release, take days off work to play games, and not to mention the fact that people are losing save games...I would say a storm in a teacup falls a little wide of the mark for many PS3 owners."

    Maybe these people have learned some perspective. And "many" PS3 owners aren't as obsessive as you suggest.

    Do we have a confirmation source of data loss?



    Anyway, hands up how many people rediscovered the joy of just going for a walk in the park yesterday. The weather in my part of the world was great. A bit nippy, but blue skies and sunshine. Lovely.

  • miiiguel #42 2 years ago

    Im glad they resolved it quickly

    Yeah, it only took them exactly 24h! I just wish Sony stopped working for a few years, that way we wouldn't age.

  • kangarootoo #43 2 years ago

    @Footari

    "Consumer tech" as you describe it is entirely different.

    Regardless, its inaccurate to say that waiting 24 hours is or isn't "normal practice". What SHOULD be normal practice is investigating the problem and applying the correct solution on a case by case basis.

    In this case, because of the nature of the problem, waiting 24 hours was the correct solution.

  • kangarootoo #44 2 years ago

    @Caimbeul

    I don't think the issue was related to online DRM.

    The problem was entirely local, but resulted in various symptoms, some of which affected online behaviour.

  • Retro_ #45 2 years ago

    Roll on *cough* 29th Feb 2014 ;-)

  • Zidargh #46 2 years ago

    Yeah, it only took them exactly 24h!

    So you couldn't function within those 24 hours? Christ I enjoy my gaming a hell of alot, and am fully aware that this was a pain in the arse for many, but 24 hours practically means overnight, when usually people... you know, sleep? My worst case scenario was that my PS3 would have to remain off for at least 3 days, so I was happy with 24 hours.
    Edited by 3 at 02/03/10 @ 09:52

  • miiiguel #47 2 years ago

    @ Zidargh: What? no. I just found it funny (genuinely) you saying it was good of Sony, fixed the problem so fast. I guess Sony didn't have to lift a finger for Earth to do its normal rotation, but hey..., I know nothing about astronomy.

  • Retroid #48 2 years ago

    It would've been far, FAR more helpful for Sony to have said* that the problem was simply the date, and for people to simply wait and their machines would be fine the next day there would have been a lot less PANIC and RAGE. As it is they didn't handle this very well at all.

    *Presuming, of course, that they figured this out

  • FooAtari #49 2 years ago

    @xrustynuts and kangaratoo

    Yeah, fair do's I suppose.

    Although I still stand by what I'm saying. A lot of people are arguing that it wasn't an issue as they can live without their PS3 for one night. I think most of us can, hell mine goes unused for weeks on end.

    I just don't think the duration has any real significance, I wouldn't expect such a widespread problem in the first place.
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 10:05

  • clockity #50 2 years ago

    Now will the PS3 recognise 29th Feb 2012 as a date or will it get all confused?

    Same thing again in 2 or 4 years...

  • mossychops001 #51 2 years ago

    "No news is bad news" Good work Sony, The Metro must be read by at least 1 million Londoners.

  • andywilkie35 #52 2 years ago

    Ah good to see that its resolved itself now that my day off work is over and I'm now stuck in the office.

  • LR100 #53 2 years ago

    I think they still need to patch this, even if it's not likely to happen again for another few years.

  • M_of_the_sys #54 2 years ago

    @Retroid

    So presuming they hadn't figured it out, did they handle it well?

  • Theorendil #55 2 years ago

    @Retro_: There won't be a 29th feb 2014, man! Haven't you watched Roland Emmerichs documentary "2012"? We're all doomed, doomed i tell you!

    Seriously now, yes, it may have proven to be a storm in a tea cup, at least if the claims of data loss remain unsubstantiated, but there IS an actual reason to be pissed off about this whole debacle! There was no official warning! From Sony's twitter messages it's clear that they were as puzzled by this as we were (it can actually be deduced from their tweets and posts that they found out that the Slims were unaffected by other PS users tweets). If there was even the slightest suspicion that this could cause the loss of trophies (now let me make it clear that i couldn't care less about trophies. In fact, the reason i was pissed off yesterday, was because i was locked out from my console because a feature i never cared about wasn't working. I still stand by my position that stopping gamers from playing games cause the trophy system isn't working is downright stupid), saves or DLC purchases (although these can probably be reclaimed because they are linked to your PSN account), they should have issued an official warning via email sayng that we shouldn't turn on our PS3s till further notice. I was on line for several hours before trying to turn on my PS3 and i didn't stumble upon any information on this problem, i found out there was a widespread error AFTER my machine was affected! They have our emails through our PSN accounts and they are much too eager to spam us with mails about PSN's latest offers or SCEE's release schedules, they could have and should have issued an official warning. Posting on some blog, even if it's official, doesn't count! I mean come on, is there any simple user who checks the PS Blog on a daily basis? I really do hope that the gaming press will bring up with them this lack of an advance warning.

  • Retroid #56 2 years ago

    Well, I find it doubtful that a load of people on GAF figured it out well before Sony engineers did. Especially as it took a lot of devkits down for the day too.

  • tiny_Eggy #57 2 years ago

    What a bunch of whiny little babies. Boohoo I couldn't play my games for 24 hours I demand compensation! Why don't you grow up.

  • Zidargh #58 2 years ago

    @miiiguel: I also find it funny (genuinely) how heated people like you get over issues like this. Did your PS3 explode? No. It doesn't matter how it was resolved, as someone said, issues like this do happen, but at the end of the day, it seems the vast majority of people did not suffer any significant losses and for that I am glad.

    I made no claim that SONY handled this well, technically or on a PR scale, for that is what your issue is about, and that is what you inferred.

    But what I find laughable is how you will make an issue out of this, but then say an article on the Haiti disaster, I highly doubt you took the time to make comments on the way that was handled. This really is, in my opinion, a storm in a teacup, and for that reason, people like you need to chill the fuck out.

  • M_of_the_sys #59 2 years ago

    "Well, I find it doubtful that a load of people on GAF figured it out well before Sony engineers did. Especially as it took a lot of devkits down for the day too.

    But there's a difference between figuring it out on a forum and being absolutely sure though isn't there? It's easy enough for someone on a forum to say "I did this and it worked!" When someone else tries it and it bricks their machine, they're liable, not the person on the forum. An official confirmation from Sony about a way to fix this would have to be tried and tested with no repercussions on any other part of the system. Even DF suspected they knew what the problem was but weren't sure.
    I imagine some sort of FW patch would have taken longer than waiting until midnight.

  • Bigglesworth #60 2 years ago

    @Agent_Llama
    I genuinely sympathise if you have somehow lost everything, but spamming the news wherever this subject is getting discussed is making me think you're trolling. Are there any other cases of this happeninig? It seems a bit more important than 24 hours of partial functionality.

  • jonbwfc #61 2 years ago

    I have to be honest and say I really wasn't all that bothered about losing PS3 use for the day. I mean, one evening, big deal. I did other stuff instead. However Sony making any sort of claim that they have any sort of responsibility for the restoration of functionality is just insulting everyone's intelligence. It's like the firemen turning up to a fire, waiting until it goes out and saying "There, we've done our job."

  • kangarootoo #62 2 years ago

    "An official confirmation from Sony about a way to fix this would have to be tried and tested with no repercussions on any other part of the system"

    Quite true. Though it actually seems to me that there WAS an official recommendation from Sony. And it was "chill out until tomorrow". And in the end, that turned out to be the right thing to do.

    What we seem to have here is a situation where people were crying out for a fix, and they were in the end given a fix, but they are still crying out retrospectively for a ficticious "better" fix than the one they were given, even though their PS3 is now working.

    What exactly are people asking for... a time machine?

  • kangarootoo #63 2 years ago

    @jonbwfc

    So this has now become some kind of issue of principle?

    The internet's record in that area is not strong I'm afraid. When it comes to issues of principle, the internet seems to ENJOY being upset, and will actively avoid any paths that lead to them not being upset anymore.

  • rprince #64 2 years ago

    Did anyone manage to get a Trophy on 29th Feb 2010?

    Sorry, nan-gatsu desu ka?!
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 14:11

  • M_of_the_sys #65 2 years ago

    "Quite true. Though it actually seems to me that there WAS an official recommendation from Sony. And it was "chill out until tomorrow". And in the end, that turned out to be the right thing to do."

    These are my thoughts also. I was commenting on people who seem to be annoyed because they got more information from the general community than from Sony. While I agree with people on this, I can also see why Sony gave out the information they did which, as you've said, was the right thing to do.

    "What exactly are people asking for... a time machine?"

    Who needs a time machine? I went back to December 1999 yesterday. :p

  • actionfitz #66 2 years ago

    Rofl @ 'ApocalyPS3'
    +1 EG :)

  • berryl227 #67 2 years ago

    @ M_of_the_sys

    ha ha who needs a delorean eh?

    Doc Emet Brown will be pissed!

  • Zidargh #68 2 years ago

    I also heard that if you reach 88 mph in Forza, then you can reset your PS3 to 1955! Its a pain in the arse if youre trying to play the game though. ;)
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 11:16

  • Bigglesworth #69 2 years ago

    @jonbwfc
    I wasn't aware they'd made any such claim, and I now wish to rain righteous indignation and vengeful wrath down upon them! Please indicate your source so that I can independently verify their hubris!

  • zuljin #70 2 years ago

    @jonbwfc
    I think the number of people saying its ridiculous Sony claims responsibility for the fix and actually did bugger all just shows how most people actually have no inside knowledge to any company. Even if the fix was to wait it out - noone here has any clue as to whether there was a shitstorm kicked off inside Sony and engineers woken up at all hours round the globe (or not as many seem to argue).

    For all we know they made preparations for a patch, updated their PSN to handle the date inconsistencies, and planned a recall in case the date changing didn't fix things.

    Not to mention, where exactly do they "take credit"? Twitter says service restored, playstation blog says "we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved and that users are able to use their PS3 normally."

    Lets just stick to the facts. There was a bug which affected a lot of people, Sony kept us updated, and ultimately the best solution happened to be letting the date tick over.

  • indafunkyhouse #71 2 years ago

    Just one question on all this...the silly clock which caused all this shit is now one day behind everything else on the machine? isn't this going to screw other things up say for timed releases (if they ever decided to do such things). Not bothered by it as the PS3 is hardly used as its more of an upgradeable blu ray player than a games machine to be honest.

    Whoever said Sony kept people updated, you are having a laugh aren't you? Their twitter account was updated minimally

  • miiiguel #72 2 years ago

    @ Zida:
    I made no claim that SONY handled this well, technically or on a PR scale, for that is what your issue is about, and that is what you inferred.

    I sugest you read your 1st page post, the non-edited version. Anyway, I'm not heated, I'm just having a converstion with fellow community members. And I'm not pointing fingers, hence you shouldn't be trying to raise excuses.

  • jonbwfc #73 2 years ago

    @kangarootoo

    I would describe it as 'an issue of good corporate governance'. There are methods for dealing with product issues and some are good and some are bad. In this case, Sony's weren't very good. A lack of good communication followed by a rather unseemly attempt to claim credit for a fix that they had no more control over than the initial issue itself doesn't come across very well.

    And I am aware that there are many bad examples of this kind of thing (both within the world of games and without) but that doesn't give anyone a get out of jail free card. Examples should still be highlighted/reported or things will get worse, not better.

    I suppose in this sense this particular aspect of it is an issue of principle. But it's not in any way something specific about the 'apocalyPS3' or Sony, because all corporations should be held to the same standards. I don't particularly want to single Sony out as this was, essentially, a fairly trivial issue - nobody was hurt, nobody lost their home or their job because of it but if we don't stand and say 'this wasn't good enough, you must do better' they simply won't do better.

  • Zidargh #74 2 years ago

    I'm not buying the "oh well, it was only 24 hours" tact. It didn't affect me, I haven't had access to my PS3 for a few months anyway. It's not as big an offense as an RROD or YLOD, but in no way should us consumers be accepting of these sort of cock-ups.

    So don't buy technology then. Don't buy a car. You should know by now that technology will fail at times - fact.

    Symantec have built a huge corporate empire within the backup and recovery market despite the fact that 60% of the time, Backup Exec with tape, will fail.

    I am not defending a faulty product, which in general, the PS3 is not. It serves its purpose. But what I have a problem with is the fact that people are acting as if they weren't supported at all through this. Us 'consumers' that you speak of, know what we are getting ourselves into, so unless you are incredibly naive accept that. No it is not ideal, but 99% of time, does the product entertain you? Good. Chill. Out.

  • Bigglesworth #75 2 years ago

    @indafunkyhouse
    Just do a clock update ('via internet', which works again now - or manually).

  • zuljin #76 2 years ago

    @indafunkyhouse
    The EU twitter account had 6 posts (including the service restored at the end). The US twitter had 5.

    Do you want a per minute update?

    14:02: Still looking into it.
    14:03: Still looking into it.
    14:04: Still looking into it.
    14:05: Got it!
    14:06: False alarm, still looking into it.

    @jonbwfc
    Again - please enlighten us by showing us where they take full credit for a fix?
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 11:20

  • Zidargh #77 2 years ago

    @miiiguel: The non-edited version? I haven't been around that long but as far as I was aware, Eurogamer makes note of any edits that have taken place to a comment. Nil pois. (Edited to prove point).

    I think you just need to learn to read things properly mate.

    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 11:21

  • miiiguel #78 2 years ago

    @ Zida: chill buddy, you seem upset and humorless. I come in peace and wish you no harm. Maybe later, huh?

    here have a +1!
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 11:23

  • Zidargh #79 2 years ago

    @miiiguel: Mate, everyone's entitled to their opinion, but don't twist someone else's words to fit your own view or argument. What are you... a lawyer? ;)

  • Bigglesworth #80 2 years ago

    A lack of good communication followed by a rather unseemly attempt to claim credit for a fix that they had no more control over than the initial issue itself doesn't come across very well.

    Okay, I joked about it above, but you are simply stating misinformation. There were several updates throughout the 24 hour period, and they have not claimed responsibility for the fix!

  • barkertron #81 2 years ago

    Because my PS3 wasn't working yesterday evening, I was forced - FORCED, I tell you - to start a new Oblivion game on my PC. Now I've got another 100 hours sat in front of my monitor in my pants to look forward to, while my real life goes to shit all around me. Thanks a lot, Sony.

  • zisssou #82 2 years ago

    I dusted off my N64 and played Perfect Dark and then felt sick.. it's like the fastest game in the world my EYES MY EYESSSSS
    Edited by 2 at 02/03/10 @ 11:55

  • kangarootoo #83 2 years ago

    @jonbwfc

    The lack of initial communication part I agree with you about.

    But as has already been raised by others in this this thread (Bigglesworth has stated it pretty clearly more than one), the "claiming credit" part seems to be wholly unsubstantiated.

    And you know, I doubt Sony care about "claiming credit" the way that many internet posters do. They are probably just glad it has been sorted, and don't much care who "gets the credit".

  • Skurmedel #84 2 years ago

    This incident has emotionally scarred me and my Slim; we were in bed crying last night, afraid of the clock bug.

    I demand compensation, preferably hookers and candy.

    (I'm kidding, do I need to fucking state that in my post?)
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 12:31

  • PlugMonkey #85 2 years ago

    XrustynutsX :"I have to laugh at some of the comment's on here, especialy Plugmonkeys."

    What? Why? Because I commiserated with someone who had lost all of their game saves? That wouldn't piss you off? I am well aware that gaming is only a hobby, but name me any other hobby under the sun and then imagine if something tore up everything that someone had done in relation to it in the last three years. I think most people would feel quite justifiably gutted no matter what the hobby was.

    The class action idea was a joke, by they way.

    Oh, and fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

    Have a nice day. ;)

  • dudefella #86 2 years ago

    Get back to playing Heavy Rain, everyone!

  • Carpathian #87 2 years ago

    @kangarootoo, not singled-out but more just picked randomly from amongst others along the same lines

    I think where some of us feel the 'taking credit' bit sits was Sony using phrases like "we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved". Yes, I realise that this is more inferred than outright stated, but it certainly gives that impression. In the absence of anything else there will be many that see the statement without digging further into it who will take this to be the case.

    The 'waiting 24hours' was the right thing to do and probably the only thing Sony could do initially but the wording they used to explain things today could have been better, that's for sure. People give a lot of credit to those that put their hands up to errors. Honesty is still worth a lot these days.
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 12:19

  • TonyHarrison #88 2 years ago

    I think it's safe to say they didn't do anything about it, as the problem still exists. Come 2014 it will happen again unless they release this patch that they were apparently preparing yesterday (yeah, right). We'll escape it in 2012 when it's actually a leap year, so there we go, they've got four years to actually fix it, and not just pray that it will fix itself. Needless to say, if they can't do anything about it by then, then it's a pretty big screw up...

  • Rodchenko #89 2 years ago

    Did your PS3 explode?

    I am pretty sure he doesn't even have one.

  • Moz #90 2 years ago

    Oh come on people really????? Its a freaking games console.

    As for people going "oh but my company get things working again in under 24 hour" your talking about criticle systems with companies paying millions in maintenance fees for a guarenteed up time.

    The only reason this is even vaguly a big issue is because it effected so many people. but from my own experience I have so far for life of the consoles been without my PS3 for 1 day where as i've had a total of month if not more without my 360.

    As for saves, content and trophies, Most games should re-populate your trophies when u load a save. Any paid for content can be re-download for free. Saves is a different matter maybe if you mown at sony enough they'll sort something out, but you really should back stuff up --- hard drives are prone to dieing without any warning so if u have a PS3 or 360 and your saves matter that much then BACK THEM UP!!!!!

  • M_of_the_sys #91 2 years ago

    @TonyHarrison

    "In the here and now, the problem has righted itself and a patch for the ARM controller can be incorporated at Sony's own pace into a future firmware update."

    Explained here.
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 12:40

  • indafunkyhouse #92 2 years ago

    @zuljin yeah cheers for your childish reply. My point being was that Sony didn't really keep anyone updated as to what is happening. Putting "we are looking into this" doesn't cut it when it comes to something like this as it appears they sat on their backsides and let time pass. My point being that Sony did not keep everyone updated as to what was going on, they made a comment they were aware of an issue and that was it. Would have been nice if they had said what they were doing the odd time as it does help keep the publics confidence in a company - as would Sony admitting they had made an almighty fuck up and not pass the back by saying its a random PSN fault!

  • TonyHarrison #93 2 years ago

    "@TonyHarrison

    "In the here and now, the problem has righted itself and a patch for the ARM controller can be incorporated at Sony's own pace into a future firmware update."

    Explained here."

    I've already read that, one bloggers opinion on what Sony can do doesn't translate to what Sony are doing.

  • canIdoyabombsforya #94 2 years ago

    "The essence of Playstation DNA is real change"

  • PlugMonkey #95 2 years ago

    hard drives are prone to dieing without any warning so if u have a PS3 or 360 and your saves matter that much then BACK THEM UP!!!!!

    Assuming you can. Many games only allow you to move the saves, not copy them.

  • Moz #96 2 years ago

    @Carpathian

    "we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved" Is a stand phrase that means exactly was it says on the tin.

    Is doesn't even slightly hint at how it was fix or who fixed it

  • M_of_the_sys #97 2 years ago

    neither does one commenters opinion:

    "I think it's safe to say they didn't do anything about it, as the problem still exists. Come 2014 it will happen again unless they release this patch that they were apparently preparing yesterday (yeah, right)."

    However, I trust DF more than one commenter.

  • kangarootoo #98 2 years ago

    @Carpathian

    "we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved"

    Seriously, if that gives someone the impression that Sony are taking credit, they need to update their dictionary or something.

    To my eyes it simply says that Sony are saying "yes, its fixed now". It is in no way giving me the impression that Sony are taking the credit for the fix.



    Its like going to the Dr and saying "my arse has gone purple", and the doctor drops your pants, looks at your arse and says "well its not purple anymore".

    Does that give you the 'impression' that the Dr has claimed to have fixed your arse? Or does it give you the 'impression' that the Dr has simply looked at your arse and told you what he saw?

  • Les #99 2 years ago

    "Assuming you can. Many games only allow you to move the saves, not copy them."

    AFAIK all game saves can be backed up on PS3 using either the back-up tool or the copy / paste function from the XMB. Can't speak for 360. Must admit I rarely back them up myself, though.

  • zuljin #100 2 years ago

    @indafunkyhouse
    Childish? Merely because I'm pointing out how easily to rebut your argument?

    My points still stand. You want them to keep you updated with exactly the details of what they're doing? You and I both know thats ludicrous.

  • Moz #101 2 years ago

    @PlugMonkey Assuming you can. Many games only allow you to move the saves, not copy them.

    Which is surely an issue that should be taken up with the devs as this has been the case on all consoles that have has a common save storage area.

    You can also do a full drive backup on the PS3 that believe will backup these uncopyable save - though been awhile since i last did that so can't been totally sure

  • Nighthaunter #102 2 years ago

    Wow Sony are finished after this, or perhaps not.

  • TonyHarrison #103 2 years ago

    @M_of_the_sys That's exactly my point, we're all speculating, DF included. Until Sony come out and say 'here's a patch that will fix the bug' or 'we're working on a patch that will fix the bug', the problem remains, as does the impression that Sony simply sat it out...

    Of course, the killer question is... Why not release the patch now if they were apparently working on one? I'm sure with their manpower and resources they could have knocked something together by now, 37 hours after the problem was first noticed... Why not even announce that the patch exists?

    Instead, we wait with baited breath.
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 13:04

  • Carpathian #104 2 years ago

    @kangarootoo - Fair enough, I guess the problem with this is that it's all semantics.

    My take was that if you took your car to the garage one afternoon with a problem and they told you the problem was "resolved" when you picked it up the following day then you'd almost certainly credit the garage with fixing it themselves without giving it a second thought. That was the angle I was thinking from - it wasn't posted to troll/stir but simply because that's how it felt to me when I read the story this morning.

    It's probably not an accident that Sony chose the word 'resolved' in order to give that feel to the statement. They have people that look after the PR and regardless of the rights or wrongs they do it well when they need to.

  • kangarootoo #105 2 years ago

    "Why not release the patch now if they were apparently working on one?"

    A counter question might be, why rush out the patch when it doesn't need installing until 2014 (as I am led to believe), instead of testing the shit out of it for a month or two?

  • M_of_the_sys #106 2 years ago

    @TonyHarrison

    Baited breath? You've got four years. I'll be glad if my PS3 lasts that long. The fact is, they have time to work on the patch now. If they can or can't patch it, we won't know for four years I guess. I read somewhere (can't remember where) that the slims aren't affected because they have a newer model of the Syscon CPU which has an update which has addressed this issue. If it is in fact an update then I don't see why this can't be rolled out to the older Syscon CPU.

  • kangarootoo #107 2 years ago

    @Carpathian

    If the garage in question said they had fixed it, and charged me for doing so, then I would indeed believe they were responsible.

    It is indeed down to semantics, but I think there is an important point to be made here. If company X makes a statement, that to the best of their ability, and using the existing rules of the language in which they communicate, states something to be the case.... it is NOT their fault if some person somewhere gets the false impression that company X were in fact saying something different.


    People have to take a bit of personal responsibility, but they also need to stop being so damn obtuse about this.

    1. People who got the impression Sony were taking credit were quite simply wrong. The words Sony issued did not in any reasonable way claim credit, so anyone thinking they did is mistaken.

    2. People who WANT to believe Sony were taking credit, in order to further fuel their anger fire, need to stop being mistaken ON PURPOSE. This goes back to my prior comment about people being angry on principle. Some people (not you, I know you are just making a counter point for discussion) will deliberately ACT MORE STUPID than they actually are, just to stay angry at something. We see it all the time on here. Bizarre and freakish is what I call that.

  • Carpathian #108 2 years ago

    @kangarootoo - thanks for being clear on the second part of that post. Much appreciated and very much agreed with. I don't mind being wrong, such is life, but I do think it's a bit crazy and somewhat self-defeating to do that on purpose.

    Besides, if I acted more stupid than I am I'd not be able to type these comments ;o)

  • drumbaby #109 2 years ago

    Par for the course is what I call that.

  • UKLL #110 2 years ago

    I must admit I was a little worried when I got an error code whilst browsing the PSN Store a few minutes ago...

    It seems to be ok though (well, if you consider the awful download times to be ok..), God Of War 4 will be out by the time I finish downloading the God Of War 3 demo.
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 13:46

  • darkmorgado #111 2 years ago

    Personally, I find it highly unlikely that Sony weren't aware of the problem or didn't know that it was a possibility beforehand.

    Think of it this way - in 2008 we had the whole Zune thing, caused by the internal clock. It was widely reported, so there's no way Sony wouldn't be aware of it. They then realise that the chip in the zune which caused the bug is also in all the existing PS3s around the world. So what do they do? When they next revise the model, they change to a different chip (hence why later fat models and the slim aren't affected).

    I find it absolutely ridiculous that they had no idea they could also potentially be affected by the same bug, in the same chip, in the PS3. I can understand that they would not necessarily be able to work out when the bug would hit, but by having knowledge of its existence they have had around 2 YEARS to have prepared and released a hotfix to correct the faulty code (and again, a fix that is already widely known - a missing else break in the code). The fact is that they didn't, and they didn't even warn people that the bug could occur. They basically sat on it, changed the chip on the quiet in a later model, and crossed their fingers that the bug wouldnt happen in the older systems. Then when it DID hit, they made absolute minimal communication efforts.

    Fucking Sony with their fucking arrogance are really starting to piss me off these days.

    EDIT: Oh look, a troll is going around negging every comment criticising Sony's handling of this. Does that make you feel big, little troll?
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 13:57

  • M_of_the_sys #112 2 years ago

    "Think of it this way - in 2008 we had the whole Zune thing, caused by the internal clock. It was widely reported, so there's no way Sony wouldn't be aware of it. They then realise that the chip in the zune which caused the bug is also in all the existing PS3s around the world."

    Shouldn't this have affected the PS3 in 2008 as well?

  • darkmorgado #113 2 years ago

    @M_of_the_sys

    It's my understanding that the bug is a bit random. Some years it will hit, some it won't. And it could be that the chip in the PS3 was slightly different. But really, if you were an electronics manufacturer, and you are aware that you are using a product from a company that has just had same product produce a glitch that rendered millions of devices unusable for a 24 hour period, wouldn't you run tests to make damn sure whether or not your own device was affected and hotfix appropriately? Either way you look at it, it's a massive cock up really. Either they knew the chip could be affected and switched the chip on the quiet in the next model, or they didn't even bother testing to see if the chip would be affected (knowing it could POTENTIALLY be affected). Either way, it's a major failing on Sony's part that has led to a massive PR disaster.
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 14:17

  • Les #114 2 years ago

    Fully agree with the general sentiment that Sony handled this situation terribly. As for the huge PR disaster, haven't heard much about it in the mainstream news TBH so outside the hardcore gamer circles, few people are probably even aware of it. I personally wouldn't even have noticed the bug if I hadn't checked the PS3 clock after the news was reported here on EG.

  • jonbwfc #115 2 years ago

    "Come 2014 it will happen again"
    I'm fairly certain that, despite what they may say, we will see the next generation of consoles by 2014.

    " haven't heard much about it in the mainstream news TBH"
    It was a very large headline on the front page of the free newspaper given out at most of the major train & bus stations in the country this morning...

  • Les #116 2 years ago

    @MattDamon

    Valid point. Level of reporting might vary from country to country. And especially in the smut-rich UK press they'll probably get hammered... ;)

  • Tangled #117 2 years ago

    @kangarootoo
    "we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved

    Seriously, if that gives someone the impression that Sony are taking credit, they need to update their dictionary or something."

    Well, some people seem to be getting it that way, the headline on the BBC news site read "Sony fixes bug with PS3" this morning. :) (it has since been changed to"Bug fixed on on Sony's PlayStation 3";)

  • FooAtari #118 2 years ago

    @jon
    I'm fairly certain that, despite what they may say, we will see the next generation of consoles by 2014

    Maybe, but there will still be many PS3 owners out there using it as their current games system. I would imagine that buy 2014 we will be 1, maybe 2 at the very most, years into that gen.

  • Les #119 2 years ago

    "(it has since been changed to"Bug fixed on on Sony's PlayStation 3";)"

    Which is also wrong as nothing was fixed. The change of date just stopped the bug from being harmful for now.

    Goes to show how bad the mainstream press is at reporting tech issues, even the Technology section of BBC News...

  • Moz #120 2 years ago

    @ UKLL
    It seems to be ok though (well, if you consider the awful download times to be ok..), God Of War 4 will be out by the time I finish downloading the God Of War 3 demo.

    You sure it's not your net connection? I get my full download speed off PSN ~1MByte/s (10Mbits/s in web speed speak)

  • MaxiSleep #121 2 years ago

    @kangarootoo
    Regardless, its inaccurate to say that waiting 24 hours is or isn't "normal practice". What SHOULD be normal practice is investigating the problem and applying the correct solution on a case by case basis.

    In this case, because of the nature of the problem, waiting 24 hours was the correct solution.

    ****
    Absolute bullcrap
    ****

  • Moz #122 2 years ago

    @FooAtari
    Maybe, but there will still be many PS3 owners out there using it as their current games system. I would imagine that buy 2014 we will be 1, maybe 2 at the very most, years into that gen.

    True though sony would be fools to have not fixed it by then, also any of the buggy systems will be 5 years old by then so most will probably have died or otherwise been replace by then anyway, it will have far less impact then this time around

  • GreyBeard #123 2 years ago

    Look, I'm sure this isn't going to end well but somebody has to say it:

    If you're furiously angry about losing service on the PS3 for a day, you have got ISSUES.

    Dependency issues, anger management issues, issues of self control!

    Annoyed and inconvenienced I can go with, but the level of fury and paranoia on show over this... pure madness.
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/10 @ 18:51

  • vizzini #124 2 years ago

    I would like to think, if this happened to any complex device I'd give the company a week, before feeling overly aggrieved.

    I was still able to use my PS3, almost like normal over the time it could get its' clock sorted. PlayTV's schedule was the main problem, but offline gaming like Sonic & Sega Racing still worked fine and the OtherOS functionality was completely oblivious to any problem at all.

    I did initially lose my Sonic trophies and wasn't bothered, but when PSN came back on last night they all came back, even the ones that hadn't been synced; I had over a minute straight of trophy notifications roll in. Now that's a positive reinforcement experience you don't get on Ps3 everyday.

    But trophies have now started to get in the way of my gaming anyway. Now I only buy games that either don't have trophies or will be a game I'm guaranteed to finish and get all the trophies for.

    I wish there was an option to opt-in or opt-out of trophies to suit everyone; seeing a quarter or half finished set of trophies on a poor or average game I quit, puts me off taking a chance buying some games.

    After completing Uncharted 2's trophies, I was really irritated when the list changed, it was effectively the regrading of an exam paper I'd got 100% on, downed to 84%, I would have rather opted out completely at that point.