PSN Is Up.....Well Sort Of

As you might have heard, the PSN is now back up, as of Sunday. So far, only the ability to play games online has been enabled (as of 11:00 PM, Monday, May 16, 2011). The store is currently down and nonfunctional. Though, once the store comes back up, you can download yourself two new free games to choose from (for PS3), to keep forever:

• Dead Nation
• inFAMOUS
• LittleBigPlanet
• Super Stardust HD
• Wipeout HD + Fury

If you have a PSP, then your choice of games are below:

• LittleBigPlanet (PSP)
• ModNation Racers
• Pursuit Force
• Killzone Liberation

Plus, the extras below:

• A selection of “On Us” rental movie titles will be available to PlayStation Network customers over one weekend, where Video Service is available. Those titles will be announced soon.
• 30 days free PlayStation Plus membership for non PlayStation Plus subscribers.
• Existing PlayStation Plus subscribers will receive an additional 60 days of free subscription.
• Existing Music Unlimited Premium Trial subscription members will receive an additional 30 days of free premium subscription.
• Additional 30 days + time lost for existing members of Music Unlimited Premium/Basic subscription free of charge for existing Premium/Basic members.
• To welcome users Home, PlayStation Home will be offering 100 free virtual items. Additional free content will be released soon, including the next addition to the Home Mansion personal space, and Ooblag’s Alien Casino, an exclusive game.

Plus, PSN users in the United States should soon be getting an email giving them a code to access free credit insurance and credit report checking for a year.

This seems to be a very gracious package, thus far. It covers all bases with identity protection, new games, and extensions of existing subscriptions. The "Free Playstation Plus" membership for non-Plus members may seem more of a ploy to get people to use Playstation Plus, but otherwise this seems like a solid package, as long as you do not already have the games in the list, otherwise, it is less exciting. However, access to the updated network requires PS3 update 3.61 and a password change. The network does seem a little slow for downloads, but the gameplay quality of the most part seems as good as it was before. It remains to be seen the full capacity of the new PSN and whether speed was improved, once the network is fully restored.

For now, it is on to some PS3 online gaming again! .... If you still have your PS3 and did not trade it in for an Xbox, or have discovered Steam and seem to enjoy it.

Source: Playstation Blog