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images/news/ps3.jpgSony's PlayStation 3 appears to be in the throes of an inadvertent global gaming lockdown, suffering from an unidentified glitch that prevents gamers from playing specific games whether online or offline. The issue appears to be related to the monthly turnover (February to March, last night) and occurs whether you're connected to the Internet or not. The company isn't responding to press emails at this time or detailing what the problem is, only that it's working on an "issue" and attempting "to restore service to all."
Are you affected? Here's what we've gleaned so far.
It only affects older "fat" PlayStation 3's. It also affects debug PS3s, i.e. those used by journalists and game developers. Newer PlayStation models--notably the "slim-line" version--are reportedly unaffected.
It prevents you from connecting to Sony's PlayStation Network as well as from playing certain games, whether online or offline. Which games? Games that perform a trophy-sync check at startup, e.g. Heavy Rain, White Knight Chronicles, and Final Fantasy XIII. Games that don't, or that don't use trophies, i.e. older PS3 games, appear to work fine.
It doesn't prevent you from downloading demos, surfing with the PS3's browser, or performing a 'system update'. Affected PS3s aren't forced offline, in other words. You're still able to browse the web, finish downloading demos you'd initiated prior to the glitch, and pull down firmware updates. The latter seems the likeliest route for a fix, should one be forthcoming from Sony.
The error codes vary by game but appear to be trophy-related. The most common error code judging from user complaints--8001050F--reads "Registration of the trophy information could not be completed...The game will quit." Another error message outputs "Trophy data failed to load...Please use the PS button to quit." Biz site Develop reports some PS3 debugs are also experiencing an 'endless loop' reboot error that seems to be related. My debug unit hasn't gone into a reboot--it simply generates the 8001050F error when I try to load Final Fantasy XIII--but then I'm not a developer, and I'm only loading official debug code.
The glitch occurs initially when you power on your PS3. It apparently happens whether you're connected to the Internet or not--disable your wireless and/or unplug your Ethernet cable before powering up, and you'll still experience it, in other words. The only way to avoid it, for now, is not to power on your PS3.
The glitch appears to be time and date related. When initially powered on, the glitch resets your system clock to 12/31/99 (it happened on both my retail and debug systems). Speculation is it started with the February 28 - March 1 turnover.
Manually resetting your PS3's time and date doesn't resolve the issue. I tried (and it failed). So it's obviously more complex (and less obvious) than just a wonky timestamp.
Some report re-seating the internal battery resolves the problem. These claims are unverified, but even if they were, I wouldn't touch this with a golden screwdriver or a no-fault insurance policy. Aside from voiding your warranty, it requires full disassembly and fiddling with the core internals of your system.
Sony hasn't said what the issue is yet, leaving us to puzzle it out based on the symptomology. All the company has said in a handful of Twitter updates and blog posts, is that they're aware something's gone wrong, and that they're working on it. The EU PlayStation Twitter feed is slightly ahead of its US counterpart here. As of 8:00am PT, the US PlayStation Twitter feed hasn't updated in over 12 hours.
(Update - 8:06am PT) Some users claim the glitch prevents you from watching Netflix movies. I can't verify this, unfortunately, since I don't have Netflix installed.
PC World
Are you affected? Here's what we've gleaned so far.
It only affects older "fat" PlayStation 3's. It also affects debug PS3s, i.e. those used by journalists and game developers. Newer PlayStation models--notably the "slim-line" version--are reportedly unaffected.
It prevents you from connecting to Sony's PlayStation Network as well as from playing certain games, whether online or offline. Which games? Games that perform a trophy-sync check at startup, e.g. Heavy Rain, White Knight Chronicles, and Final Fantasy XIII. Games that don't, or that don't use trophies, i.e. older PS3 games, appear to work fine.
It doesn't prevent you from downloading demos, surfing with the PS3's browser, or performing a 'system update'. Affected PS3s aren't forced offline, in other words. You're still able to browse the web, finish downloading demos you'd initiated prior to the glitch, and pull down firmware updates. The latter seems the likeliest route for a fix, should one be forthcoming from Sony.
The error codes vary by game but appear to be trophy-related. The most common error code judging from user complaints--8001050F--reads "Registration of the trophy information could not be completed...The game will quit." Another error message outputs "Trophy data failed to load...Please use the PS button to quit." Biz site Develop reports some PS3 debugs are also experiencing an 'endless loop' reboot error that seems to be related. My debug unit hasn't gone into a reboot--it simply generates the 8001050F error when I try to load Final Fantasy XIII--but then I'm not a developer, and I'm only loading official debug code.
The glitch occurs initially when you power on your PS3. It apparently happens whether you're connected to the Internet or not--disable your wireless and/or unplug your Ethernet cable before powering up, and you'll still experience it, in other words. The only way to avoid it, for now, is not to power on your PS3.
The glitch appears to be time and date related. When initially powered on, the glitch resets your system clock to 12/31/99 (it happened on both my retail and debug systems). Speculation is it started with the February 28 - March 1 turnover.
Manually resetting your PS3's time and date doesn't resolve the issue. I tried (and it failed). So it's obviously more complex (and less obvious) than just a wonky timestamp.
Some report re-seating the internal battery resolves the problem. These claims are unverified, but even if they were, I wouldn't touch this with a golden screwdriver or a no-fault insurance policy. Aside from voiding your warranty, it requires full disassembly and fiddling with the core internals of your system.
Sony hasn't said what the issue is yet, leaving us to puzzle it out based on the symptomology. All the company has said in a handful of Twitter updates and blog posts, is that they're aware something's gone wrong, and that they're working on it. The EU PlayStation Twitter feed is slightly ahead of its US counterpart here. As of 8:00am PT, the US PlayStation Twitter feed hasn't updated in over 12 hours.
(Update - 8:06am PT) Some users claim the glitch prevents you from watching Netflix movies. I can't verify this, unfortunately, since I don't have Netflix installed.
PC World
lol!
