Gamers—well, PSN gamers, that is—get ready to rest those trigger fingers for a couple of hours next week.
Unlike the massive 2011 PlayStation Network outage, however, which lasted over 23 days and affected over 77 million accounts due to one of the largest data security breaches in history, this year's downtime will last just a couple of hours. Users won't be suffering too much separation anxiety from their favorite spot on the couch.
On Oct. 13 (or Oct. 14 depending on one's location), the PlayStation Network will be down for "routine maintenance and improvements" for approximately two hours, starting at 9:30 p.m. Pacific (Oct. 14, 4:30 a.m. GMT) and ending at 11:30 p.m. Pacific on the same evening (Oct. 14, 6:30 a.m. GMT).
If gamers haven't activated their PlayStation 4 as their primary console yet, then they should do so before they shut the network down by then. During these dark hours, users also won't be able to manage their account, watch movies on PlayStation Video, or make a purchase in the PlayStation store until the downtime is over.
Whatever maintenance and improvements Sony may be doing behind the scenes during that time, the company says, "Anyone who already has a PlayStation Network account can still sign in to their PlayStation Network profile, play games, and use most applications while this maintenance is carried out."
The move could be in preparation for the holiday buying season as Sony gets set to onboard more users onto the network, especially after slashing prices for its PlayStation 4 console.
Announced during the Tokyo Game Show, the ripple effect of the PlayStation 4 price cut, which started in Japan, is finally spreading out to the rest of the world. Originally priced at $399.99, the console is now up for sale for just $349.99, an equally competitive price against Microsoft's Xbox One.
That's $50 off the base price of the PS4, which will also be retained across almost all PS4 bundles except for the upcoming limited edition of Call of Duty: Black Ops III, which gets just a $20 discount.
If anything, Sony seems to be doing things right by letting users know ahead of time what is coming up with its network upgrades and making up for that with holiday rebates. It's a good time to be a gamer.
Photo: Fabrizio Sciami | Flickr
