Destiny, currently one of the most popular games in the industry, has decided to extend the activities that it is holding for the weekend due to the downtimes that were experienced for both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live online gaming networks.
Both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live began experiencing connection issues on Dec. 24, with notorious hacker group the Lizard Squad claiming to be behind the DDoS attacks that brought down both networks on what would have been one of the busiest days for online gaming.
In light of the fact that Destiny players were not able to play much over the weekend due to the connection issues of the online gaming networks, a spokesperson for Destiny developer Bungie posted on the online forum for the game that Xur will be staying in the Tower until 10 p.m. PST on Monday, Dec. 29.
"We understand that Xur has been hard to reach for a lot of you this weekend, so we're going to extend his stay," the spokesman wrote in the post.
Xur is a merchant that has unique in-game items for sale every Friday to Sunday. Gamers see Xur as a valuable source of items that can help them in their quests around the Destiny universe.
The spokesperson added that Xur's inventory for the weekend will remain the same in his extended stay in the Tower, which will last until just before the game's weekly reset.
The spokesperson also said that Bungie will be monitoring the overall situation of the service disruptions on the online gaming networks, and will add more days to Xur's stay in the Tower if needed "for as long as is feasible."
After the extension period is over, Xur will be returning to his normal schedule with new items up for sale next week.
Destiny is not the only game that extended its weekend activities, as Rockstar also extended the Christmas gifts activity for GTA Online.
Between the two online gaming networks, Xbox Live recovered faster, as the network has already been up and running since Dec. 26. The PlayStation Network, however, continues to experience connection issues.
"PSN engineers are working hard to restore full network access and online gameplay as quickly as possible," wrote Sony Computer Entertainment America VP of consumer experience Catherine Jensen on the PlayStation blog.
"From time to time there may be disruptions in service due to surges in traffic, but our engineers will be working to restore service as quickly as possible," Jensen added.
