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[Used-ID]

"Gamers again showed their entitled attitudes on Tuesday with angry forum posts at NeoGAF and elsewhere after Sony was unable to update the PlayStation Store due to unscheduled maintenance. Sony did not respond to our request for comments, as of press time.

In our opinion, It's sad when people don't take into account that things happen sometimes. After all, they're only video games. The games and demos will come, probably later today, and all will be well. So do something else for awhile. Go outside. Read a book. Things will be okay."

[Not an actual news story.]

I'm a nurse that works at night and live in a town that shuts down around 10pm. Not much to do at night other than game. Vita battery died early in the night leaving me the PS3... Is it wrong to ask for a global company that has no issues of this sort elsewhere in the world to act professionally?

 

[Z3M0G]

So I hear Vita firmware 2.1.1 became available yesterday, but is optional. This whole thing feels like a security hole was discovered in one of the new releases for this week and they are working to patch things up... then 2.1.1 will be pushed as mandatory at the time of the store update.

 

[AwRy108]

I'm a nurse that works at night and live in a town that shuts down around 10pm. Not much to do at night other than game. Vita battery died early in the night leaving me the PS3... Is it wrong to ask for a global company that has no issues of this sort elsewhere in the world to act professionally?

An even bigger concern for me is that SONY claims they can manage an entire cloud-based service when the PS4 launches, yet they can't even uphold the "day-one digital" mantra on the existing PSN.

 

[nailbombxx]

This sucks, yeah, but you know, to err is human. I really, really wanted to play Soul Sacrifice yesterday but ended up wasting hours upon hours of waiting to no avail.

All I can say is if you promise a hype demo of a game then you better be prepared to deliver it on time.

 

[semiconscious]

And it's not just this one specific instance that's drawing so much ire. It's the fact that this keeps happening. Microsoft, Nintendo, and hell, every other branch of Sony can keep a steady, consistent update schedule, but SCEA can't. And at a time when Sony is touting PSN as a major component of the Playstation 4, something like this reflects poorly not just on them, but on the potential reliability of one of the core pillars of their new system...

this. scea = dysfunctional family. i say it's 'intervention' time ...

 

[SolsticeZero]

this. scea = dysfunctional family. i say it's 'intervention' time ...

I think it's time to get rid of regional Sony entities and just go for a global one.

 

[george_us]

So the other three territories have this up yet the US team acts like it's never performed an update in its life?

Seriously, what's the hold up here?

 

[borghe]

This isn't about entitlement. Well, many people in here ARE behaving in an entitled manner. Still, this is about the way this thing is run and the perception to the public. In quality management you would say "there is a real 'opportunity' here".

Maintenance ran long. Why was maintenance run on a day of the week when a weekly update is scheduled to go live? If the maintenance was necessary for the update, why wasn't it installed or prepped prior to the update day? If it wasn't necessary for the update, why was it scheduled anywhere NEAR the weekly update day.

A lot of these SAME questions can be asked about the update itself. I feel it's safe to presume that Sony is t getting this data from the publishers minutes before it goes live. Why isn't the store prepped to go live the week before? Night before? Morning of? Why is NA the only region that can't stick to or commit to a schedule for the update when all other regions can?

I don't see it as entitled in the slightest to be asking these kinds of questions. On the contrary, these ARE the questions that SCEA VPs or SCEI VPs should be asking as of this morning. Is it the end of the world? Of course not. Are we talking about video games? Yes. HOWEVER, lets remember that video games ARE SCEA's business, and this part of their business is horribly ineffective in certain aspects. It's human nature to get frustrated when something you're waiting for gets delayed. However to ask these questions is simply genuinely wondering why the business is being run with people whose jobs it is to ask these questions aren't asking them.

 

[dallow_bg]

Just woke up.
Wow.

 

[Schobeleth]

I was hoping to download this and have it ready for my break in between a meeting at work and then my class but I guess not ... This is really embarrassing and it's making me really doubt my hopes/expectations of the PS4 working with the Vita, and all their cloud stuff as well.

 

[Moofers]

This isn't about entitlement. Well, many people in here ARE behaving in an entitled manner. Still, this is about the way this thing is run and the perception to the public. In quality management you would say "there is a real 'opportunity' here".

Maintenance ran long. Why was maintenance run on a day of the week when a weekly update is scheduled to go live? If the maintenance was necessary for the update, why wasn't it installed or prepped prior to the update day? If it wasn't necessary for the update, why was it scheduled anywhere NEAR the weekly update day.

A lot of these SAME questions can be asked about the update itself. I feel it's safe to presume that Sony is t getting this data from the publishers minutes before it goes live. Why isn't the store prepped to go live the week before? Night before? Morning of? Why is NA the only region that can't stick to or commit to a schedule for the update when all other regions can?

I don't see it as entitled in the slightest to be asking these kinds of questions. On the contrary, these ARE the questions that SCEA VPs or SCEI VPs should be asking as of this morning. Is it the end of the world? Of course not. Are we talking about video games? Yes. HOWEVER, lets remember that video games ARE SCEA's business, and this part of their business is horribly ineffective in certain aspects. It's human nature to get frustrated when something you're waiting for gets delayed. However to ask these questions is simply genuinely wondering why the business is being run with people whose jobs it is to ask these questions aren't asking them.

Well said. However, shit still happens sometimes. Let's all try to keep it a bit more real and not throw tantrums because our fucking videogames are running late.

 

[Number45]

Well said. However, shit still happens sometimes. Let's all try to keep it a bit more real and not throw tantrums because our fucking videogames are running late.

This is what I'm not getting. I understand there are inconsistencies with the update times (and that's not necessarily exclusive to the NA store, even if it's more frequent) but I can't remember the last time that the update didn't hit until the following day.

Disclosure: yes, I'm based in the EU.

 

[borghe]

This is what I'm not getting. I understand there are inconsistencies with the update times (and that's not necessarily exclusive to the NA store, even if it's more frequent) but I can't remember the last time that the update didn't hit until the following day.

Disclosure: yes, I'm based in the EU.

I can. The last time something like this happened was..... April 17 2011. And the same lack of communication, and the same vague "as soon as we can" updates.

I am still wondering, though the other regions have now updated. But the timing of this is all quite odd.

 

[buddha0991]

Did Grace Chen like forget to hit a switch or two or something?

 

[sakipon]

Europe officially went first: now the demo is up on the Vita store itself (instead of just the webstore).

 

[Ohnonono]

Marketing has got to hate these guys. Hype killers.

 

[LuchaShaq]

It's this type of shit that makes me not have faith in the ps4 psn.

 

[SolsticeZero]

It's this type of shit that makes me not have faith in the ps4 psn.

PS3's PSN is a fucking Jenga tower. A stiff breeze takes it down. I have no doubt PS4's PSN will be much more stable and forward thinking.

 

[UberTag]

Can't believe I am waking up this morning with no store update! I'm not going to be home for 12 more hours, I hope to all hell they can figure this shit out by then. How embarrassing. Certainly makes me rethink a PS4 purchase if this same crew is going to be running their online store.

When the slackers at Nintendo of America make you look bad you know there's a problem.
Then again, at least Sony has games to release... would probably be easy for them to maintain PSN if they only had the NOA release docket on their plate.

 

[Ryuukan]

Good thing the blog post says "out today", they don't have to waste time changing the title.

 

[semiconscious]

Well said. However, shit still happens sometimes. Let's all try to keep it a bit more real and not throw tantrums because our fucking videogames are running late.

there's 'sometimes', & there's 'repeatedly'. i suppose it's somewhat subjective at which point the one becomes the other, but for me & for others that line was crossed a while back. & the problem with shit happening repeatedly (as opposed to sometimes) is that it leads one to question the competence of those responsible...

3+ years of being incapable of doing 'same time as always' releases? something everyone else is capable of doing? that's not shit happening 'sometimes'...

Marketing has got to hate these guys. Hype killers.

yeah, ya gotta wonder ...

 

[le.phat]

virtue's last reward is free for plus ???????? ZOMG

 

[Takiyah]

I think it's time to get rid of regional Sony entities and just go for a global one.

I usually scream this out loud about once a week at the office.

It's like have triplets, do everything three times...

Oh, except one of the triplets is retarded

 

[Takiyah]

Did Grace Chen like forget to hit a switch or two or something?

Hit the red button instead of the blue, it gets confusing.

 

[btkadams]

PS3's PSN is a fucking Jenga tower. A stiff breeze takes it down. I have no doubt PS4's PSN will be much more stable and forward thinking.

I wouldn't get your hopes up. It's not like PSN is only fucked for PS3. The release of the PSVITA didn't change anything either.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Lame. I was hoping Dragon Fantasy would be up when I woke up this morning, and no dice.

 

[awilliams213]

No complaining,I just feel bad for the Dragon Fantasy guys. I met them at PAX and they were super nice people.

 

[SolsticeZero]

Lame. I was hoping Dragon Fantasy would be up when I woke up this morning, and no dice.

That was my hope, too. I'm super eager to try it out

 

[xKilltheMx]

O

I usually scream this out loud about once a week at the office.

It's like have triplets, do everything three times...

Oh, except one of the triplets is retarded

An insider :O

 

[jvm]

About 3.5 years ago Sony launched its first digital-only gaming platform: the PSP Go.

As regulars here will remember, the night that that system got its first big update of PSP games was quite similar to this. We waited hours and hours to get that first big influx of digital software for our new systems.

How little has changed. Updates are still late. Communication is poor.

Back in October 2009, Sony also launched the PSP minis line, a bunch of mobile-type games remade for the PSP, specifically the PSP Go. These were meant to be cheap and small, for bite-sized consumption. That line is basically gone now, replaced by the PlayStation Mobile line.

And, as kassatsu reminded us in this thread, the Mobile line has not been updated for two weeks.

Sony has pretty good ideas, in my experience. The PSP Go was a fine piece of hardware but it was too expensive, much like the PS Vita. The minis line brought us some great games, some of which I still go back and play, but it was never pushed outside of a strong movement in Europe. The PS Mobile software I've seen on the PS Vita store is a wasteland by comparison, but it didn't have to be that way.

And now Sony's going full-bore digital on the PS4?

Unless something changes, this is going to be a disaster.

 

[SmithnCo]

Haha... Wow.

So much for DLing that SS demo this morning.

 

[nikos]

This is madness!

 

[Number45]

And now Sony's going full-bore digital on the PS4?

Is digital mandated with the PS4 in the same way it is with the Vita?

 

[jvm]

Is digital mandated with the PS4 in the same way it is with the Vita?

Even if Sony doesn't require it, I expect most publishers will offer it anyway. It's in their interest to sell licenses, not discs. (My opinion.)

That said, if Sony's ship is such a mess that no one wants to sail with them, well...

 

[JJD]

Is digital mandated with the PS4 in the same way it is with the Vita?

Yeah, every game is going to be available digitally day 1.

 

[magawolaz]

Is digital mandated with the PS4 in the same way it is with the Vita?

Yep, confirmed by Yosp

 

[Number45]

Perhaps I've been spoiled, or it's because I'm a much less enthusiastic consumer of NEW digital content now, but I have virtually no qualms either with the PS3 or Vita as far as digital downloads go.

 

[borghe]

Is digital mandated with the PS4 in the same way it is with the Vita?

It's been said both ways... one exec has said that it's expected that all titles will be available digitally... another exec has said that there are plenty areas of the world where it's not reasonable to expect a user to be able to download a 25GB game.

I don't think the regions need to be dissolved.. but clearly there is room for improvement or restructuring at SCEA in particular. It's like the various teams have no knowledge or collaboration with what any other team is doing.

 

[jvm]

Perhaps I've been spoiled, or it's because I'm a much less enthusiastic consumer of NEW digital content now, but I have virtually no qualms either with the PS3 or Vita as far as digital downloads go.

Right, if you are less inclined to pick up new releases at release, then it's not a problem.

If we all just started the PS Store thread on Wednesday instead of Tuesday (or even Monday night sometimes), then we would almost never have something to complain about. Thread would go up and the store would already be updated.

This time of course...well...different story!

Also, I'd add that there are times when buying digitally later is a problem. For example, games are sometimes removed. I have Shift Extend, a PSP mini puzzle game that's a ton of fun. I can still download it. But it isn't for sale anymore because of publisher death.

Not every game is like that, but what happens when (e.g.) Square-Enix gets into dire trouble? Like we saw with THQ...

 

[RPGCrazied]

So, what are the chances this is up by lunch time?

 

[jvm]

So, what are the chances this is up by lunch time?

Lunch time in which region on which day?

 

[Ohnonono]

So, what are the chances this is up by lunch time?

If I had to guess I would say lunch pst. So around 3pm for east coast. Just speculation based on people getting to work this morning and getting it done. Couple hours added cause its SCEA.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Lunch time in which region on which day?

Oh, sorry. I'm CST. I mean today. lol

 

[AwRy108]

And now Sony's going full-bore digital on the PS4?

Unless something changes, this is going to be a disaster.

As a big fan of the brand, this right here is my biggest concern for the future of PlayStation.

As someone who has owned a PS3 since the beginning, I have a plethora of negative memories resulting from watching SONY's network going through years of growing pains and missteps. The Vita leads me to believe that SONY has become much better at developing feature-rich O/S's, but, as jvm said, their PSN service is still a jumbled mess that's nowhere near ready for the launch of an entirely cloud-based service.

SONY can't even stick to a timely content update (aka. REVENUE STREAM) schedule--does anyone honestly believe that they will be able to launch the PS4/PSN/Gaikai combo without years of missing features and sporadic downtimes? Microsoft is probably counting on the fact that SONY will over-promise and under-deliver, which is why they're not worried about jumping out in front of all the positive PS4 buzz.

 

[corrosivefrost]

I usually scream this out loud about once a week at the office.

It's like have triplets, do everything three times...

Oh, except one of the triplets is retarded

Ok, this is my new favorite post.

 

[Number45]

As a big fan of the brand, this right here is my biggest concern for the future of PlayStation.

As someone who has owned a PS3 since the beginning, I have a dearth of negative memories resulting from watching SONY's network going through years of growing pains and missteps. The Vita leads me to believe that SONY has become much better at developing feature-rich O/S's, but, as jvm said, their PSN service is still a jumbled mess that's nowhere near ready for the launch of an entirely cloud-based service.

SONY can't even stick to a weekly content update (aka. REVENUE STREAM) schedule--does anyone honestly believe that they will be able to launch the PS4/PSN/Gaikai combo without years of missing features and sporadic downtimes? Microsoft is probably counting on the fact that SONY will over-promise and under-deliver, which is why they're not worried about jumping out in front of all the positive PS4 buzz.

For the pedant in me "dearth" means a severe lack of something - I assume you mean "plethora", or "abundance".

Again I have to say, I don't get the bolded statement. We do get weekly updates. :/

 

[Dragon]

I think it's clear Sony needs to get better at communication. Regardless of why the content still isn't up, the hack and random store updates' communication is piss poor at best. They made a huge step with the web store though which I'll commend them on.

 

[corrosivefrost]

For the pedant in me "dearth" means a severe lack of something - I assume you mean "plethora", or "abundance".

Again I have to say, I don't get the bolded statement. We do get weekly updates. :/

What he means is that there's no schedule for it.
There's a reason Grace Chen Time (GCT) is a "thing".

It's because the SCEA PSN team is so incompetent, you don't know what time on Tuesday (if at all) content is going up. With other services, such as Steam or XBL, if content is promised on a given day, it's usually up at a specific time and without incident... his point being that the US store is a chaotic unpredictable mess that randomly updates whenever the fuck someone manages to get the content online. It's not like they've been doing this for, say, the past 3-5 years and they should have a repeatable process and procedure for the updates by now... one which is dependable and consistent so as to deliver content to consumers in a timely and predictable way.

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

I think it's clear Sony needs to get better at communication. Regardless of why the content still isn't up, the hack and random store updates' communication is piss poor at best. They made a huge step with the web store though which I'll commend them on.

Every store is updated except for North America! It's embarrassing and there are no excuses.

 

[pock3tmonster]

Why is the Injustice: Gods Among Us season pass unavailable on the EU store? It's availability is not mentioned at all on the Playstation blog. Is it not going to be made available here?