Tag: SOE

DC Universe Merge: “I Think I Get It” Edition


DC Universe may still be offline in all areas, but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it, right? A few weeks ago, I mentioned an announcement by Sony Online Entertainment that the game would be merged into four “super servers,” each servicing one platform in one area (so PCNA, PCEU, PS3NA, and PS3EU). Sony mentioned in the announcement that the merge was unorthodox, and the exact details have been rather confusing up until late. Hopefully I’ll be able to explain it better.

Rather than having four traditional servers, DC Universe will operate much like Guild Wars or Champions Online. For instance, entering the PC North American server will place the player in one of several Metropolis’, based on factors including PVP preference, presence of league members, and other factors. The instance queuing system, however, will pool players from each instance, meaning my PvP character and your PvE character can be grouped up to fight Harley Quinn in her instance.

So the amount of servers is remaining the same, the only difference is that players will connect via a single hub (per area/system) and distribute from there. This system will also allow for cross-server queuing and will remove the need to reroll characters just because you discovered your friend plays on the PC, but on a different server.

So Sony was right in not calling this a “server merger” but rather a “server melding.” I wish they’d better explained it from the start but we all can’t get what we want.

DC Universe Merge: "I Think I Get It" Edition


DC Universe may still be offline in all areas, but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it, right? A few weeks ago, I mentioned an announcement by Sony Online Entertainment that the game would be merged into four “super servers,” each servicing one platform in one area (so PCNA, PCEU, PS3NA, and PS3EU). Sony mentioned in the announcement that the merge was unorthodox, and the exact details have been rather confusing up until late. Hopefully I’ll be able to explain it better.

Rather than having four traditional servers, DC Universe will operate much like Guild Wars or Champions Online. For instance, entering the PC North American server will place the player in one of several Metropolis’, based on factors including PVP preference, presence of league members, and other factors. The instance queuing system, however, will pool players from each instance, meaning my PvP character and your PvE character can be grouped up to fight Harley Quinn in her instance.

So the amount of servers is remaining the same, the only difference is that players will connect via a single hub (per area/system) and distribute from there. This system will also allow for cross-server queuing and will remove the need to reroll characters just because you discovered your friend plays on the PC, but on a different server.

So Sony was right in not calling this a “server merger” but rather a “server melding.” I wish they’d better explained it from the start but we all can’t get what we want.

SOE Compensation Details


While Sony expects to have services returned soon™, the company has detailed their plans for compensation on the official SOE website. As mentioned previously, all players will receive 30 days free game time, plus one day for every day the service is offline, plus the following items. These offers hold for both PC and PS3 users in their respective games.

  • DC Universe™ Online: Batman™ and Two-Face™ Inspired Masks and 30 Marks of Distinction
  • Free Realms®: Free daily items (7 to collect)
  • Clone Wars Adventures™: Count Dooku v2 Outfit
  • EverQuest®: A series of events, including Double XP, Double Rare Mob Spawns and Double Faction Gains
  • EverQuest II and EverQuest II Extended: A series of events, including Double XP, Double Guild XP, Loot Bonanza, and City Festivals
  • Vanguard: Saga of Heroes®: A series of Double XP events
  • Star Wars Galaxies™: Bounty Hunter Statue, a miniature model of Boba Fett’s ship, the Slave I™
  • Magic: The Gathering – Tactics™: Four of each of these spells: “Ivory Mask”, “Duress” and “Angelheart Vial”, plus 500 Station Cash
  • PoxNora®: Limited edition Carrionling, Welcome Back 5K Gold Award Tournaments and two Draft Tournaments, plus 500 Station Cash
  • For our lifetime subscribers, we’ll grant in-game currency; specifically 20,000 coins for Free Realms, 7,500 Galactic Credits for Clone Wars Adventures and 10 Marks of Distinction for DC Universe Online (in addition to the items listed above).
  • And finally, our Station Access subscribers will receive 500 Station Cash, in addition to the subscription time and items listed above.
Also, US based subscribers are being enrolled in identity theft protection through Debix, which you can read more about here.

PSN Service Aiming For May 31st.


At this juncture, I’m just waiting for Sony to pull a card from Duke Nukem Forever and just label the PSN service as being restored “when it’s done.” To those of us who do a lot of gaming on our Playstation 3, or to PC users who subscribed to one or more game on Sony’s Station service, it may feel like forever ago that the Playstation Network and Sony Online Entertainment services went down. The PSN has been down for almost twenty days, while Station service was pulled one week ago.

According to Sony, the service is aimed for restoration by May 31st, a date that does not specifically include the Station service. It is worth noting that this is “full service,” and that Sony has expressed intent on restoring partial service (online gaming, store) as soon as last week, so you may see bits and pieces of the PSN coming up before the end of the month.

You can read the Eurogamer announcement here: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-05-09-sony-psn-restoration-targets-end-of-may

More on Sony as it appears.

[DEVELOPING] The “Sony Hacked” Mega Article


I’ve decided to sticky this article and use this instead of creating more articles on the same issue. The most recent news will be up top, and to stop clutter, any previous news will be below the “read more” link.

[5/8/11]: PSN services remain offline due to a planned attack for this past weekend.

[5/7/11]: Sony Europe “Welcome Back” includes free games.

[5/4/11]: Sony has posted their response to the United States House of Representatives.

What we know so far:

  • Playstation Network: Offline until further notice.
  • Sony Online Entertainment: Offline until further notice.
  • PSN users will be compensated 30 days free game time, and nonspecific free downloads.
  • SOE users will be compensated 30 days free game time, plus various other items.
  • There are multiple class action lawsuits in the works.
  • The attack was carried out by Anonymous.
  • There have been no reports of credit card fraud as a result of this attack.

Continue reading “[DEVELOPING] The “Sony Hacked” Mega Article”

[DEVELOPING] The "Sony Hacked" Mega Article


I’ve decided to sticky this article and use this instead of creating more articles on the same issue. The most recent news will be up top, and to stop clutter, any previous news will be below the “read more” link.

[5/8/11]: PSN services remain offline due to a planned attack for this past weekend.

[5/7/11]: Sony Europe “Welcome Back” includes free games.

[5/4/11]: Sony has posted their response to the United States House of Representatives.

What we know so far:

  • Playstation Network: Offline until further notice.
  • Sony Online Entertainment: Offline until further notice.
  • PSN users will be compensated 30 days free game time, and nonspecific free downloads.
  • SOE users will be compensated 30 days free game time, plus various other items.
  • There are multiple class action lawsuits in the works.
  • The attack was carried out by Anonymous.
  • There have been no reports of credit card fraud as a result of this attack.

Continue reading “[DEVELOPING] The "Sony Hacked" Mega Article”

SOE Hacked: Important Information


So the chickens have come home to roost, or however that saying goes. Earlier today, I talked about how Sony Online Entertainment had shut down its entire service following an investigation that may have changed their stance on SOE’s database being safe from the hack that took down the Playstation Network last month and resulted in everyone’s information spewed all over the net. Sony has issued a press release, and the news is not good:

 Stolen information includes, to the extent you provided it to us, the following: name, address (city, state, zip, country), email address, gender, birthdate, phone number, login name and hashed password.

Customers outside the United States should be advised that we further discovered evidence that information from an outdated database from 2007 containing approximately 12,700 non-US customer credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes) and about 10,700 direct debit records listing bank account numbers of certain customers in Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Spain may have also been obtained – we will be notifying each of those customers promptly.

Sony originally believed that SOE was not compromised as part of the PSN hack, but investigations that concluded yesterday revealed that the system was indeed broken into by an unauthorized party. It is important to note that the main credit card database was not hacked, at least according to Sony. It may not be a bad idea to get a new card, however.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the attack and as a result, we have:

1)         Temporarily turned off all SOE game services;

2)         Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation into what happened; and

3)         Quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our network infrastructure to provide you with greater protection of your personal information.

If it makes you feel more comfortable, I suggest going to your bank/credit card issuer, and requesting a new card. You’ll have to live without the card for a week or so, but that’s a small price to pay if Sony’s database was stolen and they are able to get through the encryption. I’m not trying to cause undue fear with these articles, but any information regarding identity theft should be taken very seriously.

If you use your Sony password on other websites, I highly suggest you get a new regular password. SOE’s services remain offline.

Sony Station Offline Today Pending Investigation


Good morning, folks. Those of you attempting to log into any of Sony Online Entertainment’s games may be asking yourself, “why can’t I log into my favorite SOE game?” or “why am I asking a non-Sony blog why their services are offline?” Of course those of you who came here before checking Sony’s website will have missed the following announcement:

We have had to take the SOE service down temporarily. In the course of our investigation into the intrusion into our systems we have discovered an issue that warrants enough concern for us to take the service down effective immediately. We will provide an update later today (Monday).

I call the joke on Sony Offline Entertainment, it’s mine. I’ll be watching for further announcements later today.

Super Servers Sounds Better Than Server Merger


I have a new goal: Find the guy who writes Sony’s press releases, and hire him to the MMO Fallout team. In an announcement today on Sony’s website came the revelation of four “super servers,” to reduce queue times, delivered in a much more positive fashion than “we’re merging servers.”

We have heard your concerns about queue times on the servers. This game is about people playing and fighting together so we feel your pain. Sometime in the next month, we are going to test new technology to meld all of our US and European PC and PS3 servers into four Super-Servers, one for each platform in each region.

This news couldn’t have come at a worse time, what with Sony not only going through layoffs, but also the continued downtime of the PS3 DC Universe since the 20th.

This announcement takes me back to what I said in January:

Will this be one of the few MMOs whose population doesn’t crash one month after launch? I’m not holding my breath, but let’s hope for the best.

DC Universe is a fun game, but since launch I’ve had to question its long term viability. The leveling to end game is fast, and Sony really went off track in terms of the game’s social features.

Playstation Network User Data Compromised [UPDATE]


But you already knew this. In the ongoing Playstation Network saga, Sony has announced in today’s blog post that whoever breached the Playstation Network may have gained access to everything from names, addresses, emails, passwords, purchase history and more. Sony has since confirmed (since the publishing of this article) that credit card data was indeed encrypted, and is thus safe.

You can read the entire post here. There is still no ETA for the Playstation Network being brought back up.