Joystiq are reporting that the Playstation Network is currently down, with users experiencing some unusual issues with the service.
The site says that “A wide rash of game-crashing errors is spreading among the PS3-owning community at the moment, most of which can be chalked up to a 8001050F error code. This has led to a variety of unfortunate side-effects for those affected, including corrupted trophy information and an inability to access the PSN. When combined, those two issues prevent players from launching certain games, such as Heavy Rain, without being kicked back to the XMB”.
Perhaps what is more worrying is the comments on the site, with one user saying that he couldn’t play Demon Souls,
There was a problem loading trophies and it said I should quit/reload game, but it makes no difference. Demon Souls trophies have disappeared from trophy list and I’m unable to log in to PSN or sync.
Meanwhile another user said,
When I got disconnected, I was like eh. Fourth time today. So I finish playing Darksiders, and guess what? None of my single player games will boot. Apparently, if you can’t sync for trophies or contact the PSN for data, many games either revert to demo mode or refuse to boot at all.
This all sounds like a worrying development, although for now at least it only seems to be affecting those in the US, which is perhaps something to do with the redesign of Playstation.com.
If you have been affected by this in anyway then please let us know in the comments field below.
Update.
Sony have now made a number of official responses via Twitter.
- We’re aware that many of you are having problems connecting to PSN, and yes, we’re looking into it. Stay tuned for updates
- PSN status update: We’re narrowing down the issue and continue to work to restore service to all. Updates as soon as we have them.
- PSN status update (part 2): Readers/followers are confirming that “slim” units (120/250 GB models) are connecting normally.
Over on their official forums they have also posted:
Some consumers are experiencing a network connection failure when signing into PSN and may receive the error code 8001050F.
We are aware of this issue and it’s currently under investigation however at this time there is no estimated time to fix. Please refrain from calling your local PlayStation call centre and keep watching this space for further updates…
Obviously TheSixthAxis team are tracking the progress and we’ll bring you any news as soon as we have it.
Update 2.
There is growing evidence that the problem isn’t related to the PSN at all, but instead could be an issue within the PlayStation 3 itself. Looking at the explosion of problems being mentioned across social networks where people are reporting that machines which aren’t connected to the network are suffering from the same issues.
If like me you’re playing it safe by not turning your PS3 on then it doesn’t appear to make any difference because as soon as the PS3 is booted up it is becoming affected by the same problems. The Digital Foundry even found one of their machines to suffer the error after not even being plugged in to the mains, this would seem to suggest that the operating system, firmware or BIOS running on the 60/40/80GB models contains the flaw which kicks in as the machine is booted, even pre-login.
The current best guess is that either the PS3 hardware, firmware or operating system of effected models changed its date to 29/02/10 instead of 01/03/10 knocking it out of sync, both with itself and the network as a whole causing the 8001050F error to occur when the machines boot up.
Update 3
Sony have just posted the following update on the Official Playstation Forums,
As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3.
We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.
Errors include:
* The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
* When the user tries to sign-in to the PlayStation Network, the following message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”.
* When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install trophies. Please exit your game.”
* When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)”
* Users are not able to playback certain rental video downloaded from the PlayStation Store before the expiration date.We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have one of the above listed models, 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.
As mentioned above the new slim PS3 is not affected with this error. We are doing our best to resolve the issue and do apologise for any inconvenience caused.
For the latest status on this situation please visit this thread.
We will also continue to keep you informed so make sure you keep an eye on this story.