You can just see it can't you? A circle of Sony execs sitting silently with their heads on the boardroom table.
One of them begins to weep ever so gently. He got done for an out of date tax disc that morning, his wife (bless her) pointed out he was putting on weight just before he left the house and now... this. The confirmation that the PlayStation Network has been hacked to within an inch of its life by some faceless cyber-sleuth who potentially made off with the personal information of 77 million loyal fans.
Tubsy raises his head as if it's encased in concrete and manages, between sniffs, to splutter the words: "Is there any chance...they'll think...we're the victim... in all of this?"
'Fraid not ol' chum. Sony's slipping fast down Diarrhoea River and the only paddle on board is that right hand of yours. Best dig deep.
The hacking of the PlayStation Network and subsequent fallout has been nothing short of catastrophic for Sony in terms of PR, logistical and financial cost - and the final damage assessment is still pending with the platform holder not yet back on dry land.
If you were to saunter into that boardroom and tell the mournful that Sony Online Entertainment would lose the details of a further 24.6 million customers barely a week later, it would have been foetal positions all round.
You might ask what exactly Sony has left in its online canon? Why should anyone tentatively log back on to the PSN for any other reason than necessity?
If you ask me, the future ain't so bleak - and there's far more to Sony's cyber-service than the platform it's launched from. In fact, I'll even stick my thumbs on the line and say that it's Sony exclusive properties that are making the boldest moves forward online.
Think about it: It's Sony Online Entertainment that has brought the much-loved MMO genre to consoles successfully. Okay so the massive hack is a bit of a black cloud over SOE at the moment, I'll hold my hands up there, but DC Universe Online is a first and one that seems to be sustaining itself nicely even if it pales in comparison to the likes of World of Warcraft. You only need to look as far APB to know just how wrong it could have gone.
Then there's M.A.G, which is innovative as a concept alone. A first-person online shooter that supports 256 players at a time? Crazy talk, surely? It had never been done before on these humble bedroom boxes and there's no indication that it will be done again any time soon. Yet, while M.A.G is admittedly a bit overwhelming for some, a bit unbalanced at times and hardly holding a candle to certain pair of FPS titles, it has built up a strong, if not dominant, following and is here for the long-haul.
By far the most successful slice of online innovation for Sony, though, has been the creation of the 'Play, Create, Share' mantra, which spawned in the garden of Media Molecule for LittleBigPlanet and was the difference between a mediocre platformer and a revolution in online community that made every PlayStation 3 user a game designer.
The same concept has since been rolled out to a whole host of different games from ModNation Racers to Motorstorm Apocalypse and, most recently, inFamous 2 where players will be designing levels in a triple A title with real game of the year potential and integrating them directly into an rich open-world.
Comments
30 comments so far...
TheLastDodo on 6 May '11 said:
Nice feature.
When PSN returns, one of the first things I'll be doing is checking out what the LBP2 community has made since January, I had intended to two weeks ago but y'know what happened.
Play.Create.Share is the best feature of PSN in my opinion.
cult on 6 May '11 said:
Lazy flamebait Tom.
fadedskunk on 6 May '11 said:
How many more times, you get what you pay for..
Viralshag on 6 May '11 said:
Yeah that's a really great read and all...
What a shame Sony weren't so "innovative" with their online security isn't it...
ingy on 6 May '11 said:
Nice point, but the vast majority of online gamers don't give a monkeys about all that stuff, they just want to play COD and Battlefield (whether we like it or not) and shoot people in the face, and on that front Sony have screwed up big time.
Balladeer on 6 May '11 said:
So any time he defends either Microsoft or Sony it's flamebait, is it? CVG has ninety-nine flamebait articles but this ain't one.
Reegeee on 6 May '11 said:
Really?
Your username should have an 'n' in it.
EDIT - I know your watching Balladeer - but he deserves it.
It's a damn shame because just before it happened there was some great footage appearing with the Infamous 2 Beta level designer that Tom mentioned. It really impressed me that you could actually program the enemy AI. That's down the pan though at the mo'.
Balladeer on 6 May '11 said:
Quite frankly I'm more offended by your shocking grammar. My watching what?
Reegeee on 6 May '11 said:
Good God your (
) right!
Balladeer on 6 May '11 said:
http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz87/BenTheBikerMule/Rageguy.jpg
Paranoimia on 6 May '11 said:
Explains why the 360 is a cheap POS, then.
LordVonPS3 on 6 May '11 said:
@ Tom Pakinkis
I find your show of faith disturbing...
Master09 on 6 May '11 said:
I'm surprised the outage has lasted as long as it has with little customer complain. There should be a serious backlash that Sony has yet to face from its users.
ianson on 6 May '11 said:
@ingy I think the point he is getting at is that they aren't afraid to be innovative with online ideas rather than just making games where you shoot people in the face. Also, gamers wont want to do it forever, eventually they will want something new to consume. It would be a wee bit short-sighted to just focus on that...
cult on 6 May '11 said:
Really?
Your username should have an 'n' in it.
EDIT - I know your watching Balladeer - but he deserves it.
Why? I dont get how those 3 words got your handbag twirling.
Its an opinion piece not factual reportage.
Very_Silver_Ownz on 6 May '11 said:
'' How many more times, you get what you pay for.. ''
Is cross game chat really worth £40 a year ? Because thats why its pay to play.
Mark240473 on 6 May '11 said:
10 If good times goto 60.
20 s**t happens.
30 The media take that s**t, throw it into a giant fan and lets everybody else take a face-full of it.
40 Those with a face-full will either rant about it or wipe their face and get on with it.
50 Those who dodged the s**t will either sympathize or take the p**s out of everybody else.
60 Goto 10
LordVonPS3 on 6 May '11 said:
Tom Pakininkiskiskis wrote:
The future ain't so bleak...
There's far more to Sony's cyber-service than the platform it's launched from...
Sony exclusive properties are making the boldest moves forward online...
DCUO is a first that seems to be sustaining itself nicely...
MAG is innovative as a concept alone...
The most successful innovation for Sony has been the creation of 'Play, Create, Share'...
Sony is helping developers towards the world of modding you only find on PC...
There's plenty of innovation that's exclusive to the PlayStation Network...
I'm ready to see that innovative streak spread to online security...
Sony has proven itself capable time after time in online gaming this generation...
Sony has no other option but to return to battle with something water-tight...
The problem with all of that is it has nothing to do with PSN being down, the loss of over 100 million personal data records, Sony's failure to invest in online security when it actually mattered - nor what Sony WILL deliver when PSN comes back up.
What makes you think Sony WILL "return to battle with something water-tight"? Sony could just as easily come back with a cracked bucket instead of a sieve... They both leak water.
Seriously Tom, that's some opinion piece you're putting out there, I'm sure you hope you're right... The first thing anyone with any sense will do when PSN comes back up is check what details are stored and if there's anything honest in there - delete or edit it.
As for the new id protection scheme, it should be something along the lines of what the US is getting (i.e. All Clear ID), but - based on past treatment of EU customers - I'd not be surprised if the SCEE's new PSN Identity Protection Scheme is a pair of plastic glasses and a comedy nose. Now, spot the real LordVonPS3... If you can!
http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/news/2006/06/02/all-dressed-up/dvd_all_dressed_up_020606_1.jpg
HINT: I wasn't stupid enough to put a real picture of myself up in the first place.
Reegeee on 6 May '11 said:
Exactly, and so not really lazy like most of the cut and paste stuff that gets stuck on here.
flonig23 on 6 May '11 said:
Wow. Really? "hardly holding a candle to certain pair of FPS titles" I bet you're one of the people who go 1-19 and whine about how MAG a lot harder than COD. COD players amaze me...
equinox80 on 6 May '11 said:
If this is true then the king is surely dead. Or at least in a coma.
carlos123 on 6 May '11 said:
The way I see it.... 77,000,000 accounts taken. You'd wanna be very unlucky if they picked you. I just wanna play some COD.
Idgaf on 6 May '11 said:
2 weeks to rebuild their entire security system that is known to be under constant attack? Sounds like it won't truly be all that secure to me. I'm sure they have many competent people employed to do it but 2 weeks? Add in all of the PR nightmare they created for themselves, they have a long road ahead of themselves to fix and regain the trust of the public and investors.
How in the world could you even consider Sony to be an "online king" considering all of the crap they have pulled in the past in regards to online services? And they haven't done anything innovative at all, they have only tried to incorporate things that have been already done in the PC space. Game developers may be trying to innovate on their hardware but Sony isn't.
Ror1984 on 7 May '11 said:
Ooh... Martin's not going to like that
wyatt1124 on 7 May '11 said:
this is getting way out of hand how long it takes c'mon sony just get this over with. how many files have been hacked into is unreal these guys whatever there name is their group why psn what did they ever do to them and i cant believe that sony is losing in court i mean come on use good lawyers just get this guy so we can all have psn back. for how long this has been going on i think we should probably get something like a free month of PlayStation plus or something similar or better i mean they are the psn network and a couple grade B hackers got into the system what do u guys have gameboy security and since this is down for so long just resend trojan horsed to all their computers ya they may have more but at least it will slow them down.just get it done.
petrolhead on 7 May '11 said:
I'm not interested in this story at all.
All I want to see is the criminal convictions of all the hackers responsible for the attack.
The criminal damage cost's are huge.
Every hacker involved should be financially ruined for life as well as being given jail sentences.
Hacking is a criminal activity.
Do the crime, serve the time.
The Bossman on 7 May '11 said:
You must have missed all the news about us getting a months free PS+ then. Should have gone to Specsavers.
Ninja Wolfman on 7 May '11 said:
OMG, PSN an online king,
cult on 7 May '11 said:
Reegee is still an online tw @ - whether PlayStation Network is down or not.
voodoo341 on 7 May '11 said:
Oh dear... sounds like he left you a little raw.
Try this!
http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/images/ot/other-sudocrem-antiseptic-healing-cream-250g.jpg