Yes it is, The End.
Only joking, it isn’t the end. In fact this is only the start of the journey as we make our way to the Promised Land where PSN actually works 99% of the time, the download speeds aren’t pitiful and the hackers are locked out or thrown in jail with some big, burly men if you catch my drift.
Now this has been an ongoing problem for years now, the most famous example being the massive hack in 2011 that brought the whole network down for months and lead to the publishing of thousands of people’s account information, credit card details etc. It was a massive embarrassment during a period when Sony were playing catch-up in the Console War, after being well and truly humbled after the $599 debacle, and it cost them millions in compensation claims to people who suffered as a result.
This time it’s a little different, Sony are well ahead in the current generation of the Console War with PS4 outselling Xbox One massively and becoming the second best-selling console after the extraordinary Wii. Lizard Squad’s DDoS attack at Christmas last year only had PSN down for a few days which while annoying and inconvenient was nowhere near the scale of disaster of 2011. A few extra days of membership to replace the lost days and a PR disaster was averted.
But the underlying problems with PSN have continued and it’s finally starting to boil up and if Sony doesn’t act fast it could boil over and end in some sort of pitchfork and torches revolt by the players. The success of PS4 is adding a lot of fuel onto this potentially massive bonfire if someone or something decides to light it. There is a lot more paying customers on there now and that results in an expectation of the service to work and work well.
That is where the campaign for an improved PSN or PSN 2.0 comes in. It started on NeoGAF as a thread where suggestions for improvements that people would like to see could be shared and collated but now it’s turned into a full blown campaign. The top suggestions are adding stability, being able to change your status (Online/Offline/Invisible/Busy), changing Usernames or PSN ID’s (#pleaseshuhei), and improvements to the store and so on. Thousands have contributed to this so far and the campaign seems to be gathering pace.
Check it out on their website betterpsn.com, on Twitter @BetterPSN and tweet your support using the hashtag #BetterPSN with @yosp, @amboys, @andrewhouse_ps, @PlayStation in there to draw attention to the campaign and you can contribute, raise awareness of this campaign and hopefully get Sony to act soon to address these issues. #4thegamers was theirr big PR push with PS4 from launch, time to put that to the test.
I support the #BetterPSN campaign, I hope you do too.
Thanks for reading! You can find me here, on Facebook and Twitter @adamthomas1994. Feel free to use the #PlentyofLives hashtag and let me know what you think about the blog and all things Games, Gaming or Gamers.
Duckhunt!
P.S. I was going to post about Rocket League this week but thought I’d wait until the online component works and I’ve tried it out. So look out for that next week along with some videos on the YouTube channel if all goes to plan.
