Service interrupted – MMO Fallout

Good news and bad news for PS3 users on Massive Action Game and DC Universe Online. The good news is that Sony is still working around the clock to get the Playstation Network back up and running. The bad news is this involves rebuilding the system itself, and there is no further information on when the service will be back up and running. On one hand, Sony has officially admitted that the service break is due to an external intrusion (ie: hacker) that broke through the network’s security. As stated on the official blog:

Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure. Though this task is time-consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security.

Hopefully there will be better news in the days to come.

Amidst the disaster in Japan, what with the body count rising and the ongoing threat of even greater problems stemming from the nuclear power plants, it’s easy for us westerners (and more likely easterners) to forget that Square Enix fully suspended services for Final Fantasy XI and XIV last week Sunday. In a new lodestone, the team settled in to offer us an update on the situation.

As the original shut down was to conserve energy, the team at Square has been working on conserving their own energy usage, in order to bring the servers back online. This includes, as the lodestone states, shutting off air conditioning and reducing the lighting (they could also reduce lighting costs by switching to compact fluorescent, but I won’t go into that as I can already smell the angry mob forming outside my house). So when are the servers coming back on?

With these energy saving measures in place, we will be able to bring our servers back online and restore service to FINAL FANTASY XIV, FINAL FANTASY XI, and PlayOnline on Mar. 25, 2011 4:00 (PDT).

It is important to note that Square’s promise of not billing players through April (especially on Final Fantasy XIV, wink wink) is still in effect, as the company reminds its Japanese players that the services may have to be shut off again if the energy situation worsens.