PlayStation Network services restored by end of week

Except in Japan, Hong Kong & Korea

All services on the PlayStation Network are finally going to be restored by the end of the week (Friday 3 June)... Unless you live in Japan, Hong Kong or South Korea that is.

European and PAL regions, the Americas and the rest of Asia will be able to access the PlayStation Store for the first time since the hacking scandal began (20 April) and?Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity will also be available to subscribers.

However, other Qriocity features will still be disabled for the time being. Sony promises that a full restoration, and Japanese, Hong Kong and South Korean services, is coming, but there is no time scale at present.

For the rest of us, the other services we can get our hands on by the end of the week include in-game commerce, the ability to redeem vouchers and codes, and full functionality on Media Go.

According to the PlayStation Blog, the company has "implemented considerable security enhancements to the network infrastructure," and is now clearly happy that its new infrastructure is better protected against further attacks.

Kazuo Hirai, executive deputy president of the Sony Corporation, is hoping that this will signal the end of a bad 6 weeks for the company:?“We appreciate the patience and support shown during this time,” he said.

The restoration of service will be followed by roll-out of the Welcome Back compensation package for PSN and Qriocity subscribers. It includes free games and PlayStation Plus membership, but there is currently no confirmed time frame for it implementation.

Tags: Gaming Sony SCEI SCEE PSN PS3 PlayStation 3 Playstation Network Hacking

PlayStation Network services restored by end of week originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 31 May 2011 10:23:00 +0100

Natasha Bedingfield Audrina Patridge Simone Mütherthies Carrie Underwood Rosario Dawson