Hope you have something to keep you busy for the next 7 hours, because Sony has just begun another period of maintenance on the PlayStation Network.
Until 3:00 PM PST / 7:00 PM EST, you may have problems accessing some features of the Network, unless you've signed in at some point in the last few days. As a post on the PlayStation forums reads, "If you've signed onto PSN over the past few days, you'll still be able to play online and access apps during this period, but you may receive a maintenance notification when attempting to access the PlayStation Store, PlayStation Home, and Account Management as these services will be unavailable. Be sure to sign in now if you wish to access the Network during this maintenance window."
Sony didn't say exactly what the reason is for such an extended period of maintenance, but let's hope this maintenance period is a bit easier than another lengthy scheduled maintenance session from last January. Originally scheduled for only 12 hours, that particular session ended up taking three days, with Sony never bothering to say what the reason was for extending the maintenance.
With the PlayStation 4 set to go on sale in a little over a week, it's not a huge jump to think that Sony is working on the final push for the next-gen console's launch.
Under the hood, the PlayStation 4 boasts Supercharged PC architecture, X86 CPU, Enhanced PC GPU, and 8GB Unified Memory according to the official specs.
It will support the same PlayStation Plus service as the Vita and PlayStation 3. However, a Plus subscription will be required for online multiplayer games, but not for additional media services like Netflix. Sony has also updated the Dual Shock controllers with a touch screen and improved shoulder triggers, and bundles the console with a headset.
Demo kiosks (as well as the system itself) have already started making their way to various retailers, with more and more rolling out the closer we get to the console's launch date.
The PlayStation 4 is set to release on November 15 in North America and on November 29 in Europe. Day one games available for the system include Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Killzone Shadow Fall,Madden NFL 25, Minecraft, NBA 2K14, Need for Speed: Rivals, and more. It will retail for $399.
The company has some last minute games to announce, but won't be doing so until the console gets a bit of its own "midnight madness." The night before it launches, at 11pm EST, GameTrailers TV is hosing a PS4 All Access event, with Sony set to take center stage with some world premieres for titles that have not yet been formally announced in a blaze of last minute hype for the console finally releases. So it's got that going for it, which is nice.
Be sure to keep checking back with Gamenguide for more of the latest updates.
