Sony says the widespread PlayStation 3 outages users have suffered since last night are due to a bug in the system's clock functionality, and that the company is working to fix the issue within the next 24 hours.
"As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today," says a spokesperson in a statement. "This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3."
As
reported this morning, earlier PlayStation 3 models such as the "fat" 60 and 80 GB consoles are unable to connect to the PlayStation Network, and many cannot play even offline games that require trophy functionality.
"We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system," Sony explains.
The errors users receive include the system's date being reset to January 1, 2000; forced sign-outs and error messages, trophy failures, problems setting system dates and times, and errors playing video rentals because of their expiration date.
The trophy error in particular disables recent chart-topper
Heavy Rain, for example. Users including Gamasutra's own staff, on attempting to boot the game, receive a failure notice that reads: "Registration of the trophy information could not be completed. The game will quit."
"We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours," says Sony in a statement. "In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data."
Concludes the statement: "We are doing our best to resolve the issue and do apologize for any inconvenience caused."
