http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/04/30/press-release-some-playstation-network-and-qriocity-services-to-be-available-this-week/
Sony will be giving away some things as part of their “Welcome Back” promotion. All PSN users will be given a free 30-day subscription to the PlayStation Plus and Qriocity services. Basically, this just stinks of a regular test trial promotion more than anything. Those users who are already subscribed to the services will get a month free. Sony is also offering assistance in enrolling into an identity protection service, which I recommend every take advantage of. Finally, Sony will have “selected PlayStation entertainment content for free download”. What this is yet to be announced, but full details to these promises will be coming soon.
Since this maybe the beginning of the end of this disaster for the PlayStation Network, it will be time to resume our season. After my last blog, I have read several responses from the members of the league. I’ve decided to do a combination of the first and second choices I originally outlined. The first choice involved finishing the season as detailed with the play-in, Invitational tournament, and Super Brawl II. The second choice was to only include those that wanted to finish the season.
I know this outage will cause a lot of problems for Sony and the PlayStation Network. Following that, I expect the members of this league to also follow their own path as to how each will react to this ‘exterior intrusion’. Some members may not return at all. SKRFACE did post his doubts about returning to the PSN. Others may play on a limited basis, perhaps just for this league. For me personally, I have considered moving the league to the Xbox 360 for a third season. My biggest challenge in doing that is the fact that I don’t own a 360. I’ve never wanted one before, but this situation has had me thinking about getting one for the first time. Who knows what the future of the PSN looks like, but I expect it to trail the Xbox Live permanently. I’m also not too keen on spending $300+ to get a new system. But the third season is something I’ll address at another time.
For now, I am ready to get back to league business. In combining the first two options above, I am focused in completing this season as is. I look forward to seeing the season play it out. However, due to the outage, we may have even more un-played matches than before. Some may not return at all while some may begin playing other games while others will be slow to return. All those things spell doom for the league. So, as part of option two, I will be very diligent once the PSN returns to contact each member of the league to find out if they are going to play their matches. I will send a PSN message and email to every member asking them to reply if they will be playing their final matches. If they do not reply back in 3 days time, I will forfeit their matches and let their opponents know. We could have a ton of matches forfeited, but at least those of us, including myself, can play out the season with other members that want to play. So be on the lookout for your message and simply hit me back with a “Yes”. I’ll then let you know who you have to play and we can hit the ground running….hopefully.
So start practicing! We will have a helluva ride until the end of the season. Good luck to all members.