Playstation Network Australia not online - delayed

The Playstation Network is still offline in Australia and most of the world. It seems the earlier forecasts by Sony of having the network available again within a week have not been realised. Sony has been paying a lot of attention to the security of the network and earlier measures of the extent of the earlier intrusion were not fully understood until recently.

The latest press release by Sony is pretty clear that the security of the network and customers data is the most important lesson to be learned form this attack and the priority of the changes required to the network. There is no further information about when the network is expected to go live again but when it does it will be a much more secure environment.

An interesting piece of information about the outage of the Playstation network is that since the network has been offline HOTheadlines, and I am sure most of the internet, has seen a one thousand percent increase in the number of Sony Playstations browsing our site. It has been great having you here and I hope you choose to return soon.

Comments received from HOTheadlines readers after the earlier update show that they are prepared to drop Sony altogether and move to the Xbox live platform. Other comments are much more realistic and show that the users understand that Sony is doing all they can to get this problem sorted out once and for all.

Here are some of the comments received on HOTheadlines:

Tyler wrote: @jason calm down you nob, sony are doing everything they can, its not their fault. I think its funny how all these people are whining and going to XBL because they have no life so they cant wait a couple of weeks to come back online, your pathetic get outside once and awhile. I for one am 100% sony supporter for life, im never going back to xbox cause their shit. take your time sony and ignore these desperate no lifers who cant live without video games.

Jason wrote: Ive had ENOUGH of these delays ( excuse after excuse )and not sticking to dates..... it just goes on and on Go to hell sony....Im off to xbox live. You just LOST another person....

The Sony press release is as follows:

On 7 May 2011, Nick Caplin, head of communications at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, posted the following update on PlayStation.Blog

"As you may know, we've begun the process of restoring the service through internal testing of the new system. We're still working to confirm the security of the network infrastructure, as well as working with a variety of outside entities to confirm with them of the security of the system. Verifying the system security is vital for the process of restoration. Additional comprehensive system checks and testing are still required, and we must complete that process before bringing the systems online.

"As you've heard us say, our utmost priorities are the security of the network and ensuring your data is safe. We won't restore the services until we can test the system's strength in these respects.

"When we held the press conference in Japan last week, based on what we knew, we expected to have the services online within a week. We were unaware of the extent of the attack on Sony Online Entertainment servers, and we are taking this opportunity to conduct further testing of the incredibly complex system. We know many of you are wanting to play games online, chat with your friends and enjoy all of the services PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have to offer, and trust me when I say we're doing everything we can to make it happen. We will update you with more information as soon as we have it. We apologize for the delay and inconvenience of this network outage."