Xbox Live and PlayStation Networks Downed By Apparent Attack

Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 09:22 · Score: 0

I was looking forward to testing out my new keyboard but no I have to wait for the attention whores to get their fill :(.

Re:Bunch of knobs by davester666 · 2014-12-25 09:45 · Score: 5, Insightful

If only the games for these systems didn't depend on Microsoft's and Sony's servers to be accessible for them to work. It's almost as if it's some kind of crazy DRM scheme.
Maybe eventually we will have the technology to make a console and games that don't depend on a server that is not in the purchasers control.

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Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Re:Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 09:55 · Score: 0

you are relatively dumb...
Sony and it's arch enemy Microsoft are protecting me from evil...
Re:Bunch of knobs by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2014-12-25 09:57 · Score: 2

That's crazy talk. We'll probably never master the time-machine technology required to go back a couple of decades and obtain samples of such systems for study!
Re: Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 09:59 · Score: 0

Ironically, I just rented The Interview on Xbox Live last night and now I can't watch it. (Or maybe that's not irony.)
Re:Bunch of knobs by Free+Censorship · 2014-12-25 10:04 · Score: 5, Insightful

Maybe eventually we will have the technology to make a console and games that don't depend on a server that is not in the purchasers control.
That's impossible. Everything has to be done in The Cloud, and must be a black box to the user. Anything else is pure heresy. Control in the user's hands? What are you smoking?
Re:Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 10:18 · Score: 0

Ah right, so these hackers are actually saving us from DRM. Such noble people! And there I was thinking they were a bunch of immature dicks causing inconvenience and upset to kids on christmas day for no reason whatsoever. Just because their balls haven't dropped doesn't mean they have to take it out on others.
Re:Bunch of knobs by tecak · 2014-12-25 10:23 · Score: 0

And maybe someday those of us that want to play online games will be able to do so without self-important tools throwing a tantrum.
Not all console games are single player, twit.
Re:Bunch of knobs by Forbman · 2014-12-25 10:23 · Score: 1

well, we had bnetd back in the day... Thanks, Blizzard. I think for more people, though, if it's horked up accessing Netflix via their XBox or PS (because you have to "authenticate" to XBL or PSN first before using Netflix), that's gonna be a bigger pita. At least it is for me.
Short term annoyance only, I hope. C'mon, Microsoft. Is this only what we get for your $80 Billion cash on hand? Don't know what to say about Sony & PSN, except perhaps it's just a pathetic q.e.d.
Re:Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 10:27 · Score: 0

That's already been done. People build their own gaming rigs and play games that rely on open source servers all of the time.
Re:Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 10:29 · Score: 5, Insightful

Not all console games are single player, twit.
They don't need to be. Being able to run your own servers would solve this problem most of the time. Sadly, what you get from greedy companies is just locked-down, DRM-infested proprietary software.
Re: Bunch of knobs by Fwipp · 2014-12-25 11:01 · Score: 1

You're right, the proper term is "Poetic justice."
Re:Bunch of knobs by Cabriel · 2014-12-25 11:21 · Score: 1

Hmm... maybe it's just me, but I've been playing my Xbox One all morning (since 4:30am local time, actually. My usual work-day has me leaving the house at 5am, so this is normal for me). Guess at least one company didn't screw themselves over.
Re:Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 11:39 · Score: 0

Then write your own game, design your own server..... oh wait you can't ? too hard ?, takes too much time ?
In fact, I contribute and follow many free software products. I imagine a number of Slashdotters do the same. But hey, don't let that stop you from making assumptions about people you don't know.

Oh I see what you are saying is you want to have the work someone else has done for free because these commercial games are so much better.
No, I said no such thing, and I don't even use these games. It's all well and good to pretend you're me and answer the questions as if you're me, but keep that shit to yourself; it looks crazy when you start posting it in comments.

No one is forcing you to buy anything
That is irrelevant. Regardless of whether you're forced to buy something, a company's decisions can be immoral. This is just awful, awful logic on your part. I see this kind of thing with free marketeers all the time.

That however does NOT give you the right to dictate to anyone else.
I don't recall suggesting anyone do that.
And what is it with mindless drones who act as if it's just awful when someone criticizes a company's decisions? I'll give you a hint: There is an alternative besides *just* voting with your wallet, and it happens to be making your criticisms known to the company and to others. Don't give me that "vote with your wallet bullshit"; I'll do that *and* criticize the decisions of the companies. Criticizing criticism is fine, but at least make sure it fucking makes sense.
Re: Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 11:55 · Score: 0

Since the large PSN black out in like 2011, you only need to attempt to sign into PSN to get into Netflix. Even a failed attempt provides you access. This does nothing to those of us who watch Netflix on our consoles. I'm watching Netflix right now on a ps3.
Re: Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 12:05 · Score: 0

Dumbass.
Nobody cares about who owns the design. You think MS owns the PC architecture Xboxes are built on?
No, they don't.
Re:Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 12:07 · Score: 3, Insightful

But they are NOT criticising, they are removing the rights of other people to play the game they bought.
They are saying that THEIR opinion is the ONLY opinion and they have the right to deny anyone else to ability to play the game they bought.
What you are suggesting is that it is OK to make your protest known to the government by burning down someone else house/ business after all this is what seems to happen. YOU have assumed that YOU have the right to create damage to innocent people who don't happen to share your world view. Perhaps Afroamerican protesters can go around burning down the properties of white people to voice their protest about the unfair/illegal treatment they receive.
YOUR criticisms can be voice online in forums, letters to new papers/gamers magazines, that is called free speech. You can write to the companies themselves, you can make submissions to government departments, you can even compete with your own product. But its not done this way is it, these "protesters" break into other peoples computers so they can hide and not be identified, thats not protest, thats cowardice.
Re:Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 12:20 · Score: 0

But they are NOT criticising
We're not fucking talking about the ones DDOSing the servers. Try to keep up.

What you are suggesting is that it is OK to make your protest known to the government by burning down someone else house/ business after all this is what seems to happen.
No, I'm not. Come back to me when you grasp basic logic and don't spew forth straw men.
Re:Bunch of knobs by garyok · 2014-12-25 12:34 · Score: 1

Never say never. If you do, start your sampling with an IBM 5100. That'll be the best for debugging the big UNIX problem coming up in 2038. That model can read all the old IBM codes.

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One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors - Plato
Re:Bunch of knobs by thunderclap · 2014-12-25 13:10 · Score: 0

You are confused. Every console until recently was unattached to servers. This is simply their greed and the reminder that they can't control their systems. If Lizard inconvenience you, thats the goal. Most people are sheep and won't complaint about hackers. No they will attack Sony and Microsoft. That's what they want. They want anyone that doesn't bow to their whims to die. Remember this.
AND for the love of all this Holy, quit buying Sony shit. I don't care how you want to play that game. You want internet freedom or this? Everytime you buy Sony crap, you empower them to be more shitty and this emboldened the hackers to attack them. Both are urinating on you and you are dancing in it like Gene Kelly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
If everyone, simply stopping buying Sony products for a year, This would end. (for them anyway)
Nothing Sony or its subsidiaries sells is necessary for life. They don't sell food, or shelter. Others sell clothes, and music Until we as the purchasers put our foot down, nothing will change. Any more to them enables them. Same goes to Microsoft.
Re:Bunch of knobs by FlyHelicopters · 2014-12-25 15:20 · Score: 1

Amen...
My kids got a PS4 for Christmas, they are 4, 6, and 9 years old, they just want to play some fun games like LEGO Batman 3 and Little Big Planet 3 (we got the Black Friday bundle with those games)
Yea, they'll live, they did other stuff instead, but this is really a dick thing to do.
Re:Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 15:35 · Score: 0

A few games require connections to their servers. But no, the vast majority do not require their servers to be up in order to play them.
Re:Bunch of knobs by dbIII · 2014-12-25 15:56 · Score: 3, Insightful

I'll compare that to Sykrim on Steam. No internet connection means just not being able to sync character data with their server and not being able to get updates. So long as it's on the same computer you played it on last time a lack of connectivity is completely ignorable.
I think that's a far better approach than needing to log onto the server before you can play.
Re:Bunch of knobs by donaldm · 2014-12-25 18:05 · Score: 1

If only the games for these systems didn't depend on Microsoft's and Sony's servers to be accessible for them to work. It's almost as if it's some kind of crazy DRM scheme.
Maybe eventually we will have the technology to make a console and games that don't depend on a server that is not in the purchasers control.
Well actually there is. It's called a non-online game and they have been around since the advent of computer/console games and there are more of them than on-line games.

Actually some on-line games may not require Microsoft or Sony systems however you are still dependent on your ISP and the site(s) that host the particular on-line game you want to play.

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There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
Re:Bunch of knobs by donaldm · 2014-12-25 18:20 · Score: 1

That'll be the best for debugging the big UNIX problem coming up in 2038.
Ah you mean the 2^31 problem. Well in-case you have not noticed we do have 64 bit systems now so maybe in about 300 million years from now we may have another problem although I would assume by then we will have at the very least 128 bit machines and by the time we have a 2^127 problem our sun will be a while dwarf.

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There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
Re:Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 21:16 · Score: 0

Where do you get these numbers from? 2^64 seconds comes out to ma as something just belowe 58 billion years. Even if we assume use of sligned integers that still works out as over 20 billion years. The sun is expected to last a maximum of 8billion years or so which means that 2^64 should be fine for life on earth as we currently understand it.
Re:Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 21:54 · Score: 0

If only the games for these systems didn't depend on Microsoft's and Sony's servers to be accessible for them to work.

They don't, if you are talking about the main campaign.
The problem is the producers don't care their product isn't ready for consumption and will have day 1 patches waiting it you are lucky. The public are now too me-me-me orientated and would rather have something broken right now than wait a few more months for a working product. The US market has a fixation for Holiday season launches, and now the likes of Amazon are trying to bring that hype to Europe, meaning it'll only get worse.
There's little Sony, Microsoft et al, can do when being hammered by a massive DDoS attack, millions of new consoles coming online on the very same day, and even more new titles being installed at the same time requiring day 1 patches.
Re:Bunch of knobs by Tukz · 2014-12-25 23:05 · Score: 1

Do they need PSN to play those games?
I've played both Tomb Raider and GTA:V yesterday just fine without PSN connection.

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- Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
Re:Bunch of knobs by Tukz · 2014-12-25 23:09 · Score: 1

My PS4 games works fine without PSN connection.
As with your Skyrim, I can't synchronize save data or trophies. It's saved local untill servers are up, and obviously can't play multiplayer, but beyond that my games works just fine.
I even installed a new game without PSN connection, without any problems.

--
- Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
Re:Bunch of knobs by Tukz · 2014-12-25 23:11 · Score: 1

If only the games for these systems didn't depend on Microsoft's and Sony's servers to be accessible for them to work. It's almost as if it's some kind of crazy DRM scheme.
They don't.
At least not any of those I have, they work just fine without PSN.
Even installed a game from disc without PSN validation.

--
- Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
Re:Bunch of knobs by Tukz · 2014-12-25 23:14 · Score: 1

I've played on my PS4 most of yesterday without a hitch.
Sure, no multiplayer or any online functions, but my single player games worked fine.

--
- Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
Re:Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-26 01:33 · Score: 0

That might be feasible if you want to make Atari style games, but good luck making a console with high performance gpu capable of modern graphics.
Also the problem here is what people, people buy stuffs for the brand name (Playstation, XBox, etc).
Let's dream, and even you or someone else made a interesting console full open source with powerful hardware, no one would be interested except nerds. The console top titles would be Tux 3D racing and a port of the original Doom.

Jokes aside, there's stuff like the OUYA console who tried a different approach to consoles, using Android as base OS (so I guess it can count as open source). By having Android it was easy to port existing games or create new ones, however the console is not really sucessfull at all.
Re:Bunch of knobs by AmiMoJo · 2014-12-26 01:34 · Score: 1

Out of interest, what happens if you play on a different computer to the one you were last logged in on? Obviously you character and progress will be at the last point it was online for, but now you have two different versions of the character and game world.

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const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Re:Bunch of knobs by AmiMoJo · 2014-12-26 01:38 · Score: 1

Playing devil's advocate for a moment, a protest is basically a DDOS attack. A large number of people all go to the same place at the same time, preventing others using it. Roads get blocked, squares occupied. It's temporary and the area becomes useable again afterwards.

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const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Re:Bunch of knobs by Free+Censorship · 2014-12-26 03:14 · Score: 1

The government already stops people from protesting in real life. Your protests can't inconvenience anyone or you're in trouble.
Land of the free, home of the brave.
Re: Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-26 03:26 · Score: 0

I have an intellectually handicapped son who plays online, I have friends with physical disabilities who play online.
Sounds like my raid group. What server do you all play on?
Re:Bunch of knobs by Loconut1389 · 2014-12-26 05:27 · Score: 1

My last of us won't start up unless I turn the network off, but it's definitely affecting some other things.
Re:Bunch of knobs by FlyHelicopters · 2014-12-26 05:43 · Score: 1

Little Big Planet 3, yes... since it is just a code in the box to redeem a digital copy of it...
LEGO Batman 3 they probably can play, I'll have them try it today, since it is on a disc...
Re: Bunch of knobs by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-26 09:41 · Score: 0

You're an idiot. Several games can be played in offline mode. But the bulk of gamers WANT to play the online multiplayer portion of their games.
Re:Bunch of knobs by Bust0ut · 2014-12-26 13:52 · Score: 1

You got that right with the "host your own thing". It is like the how Netflix is the worlds' problem when all of the worlds' movies come from one place. Unlike starvation. the internet can/will fix itself.

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He is crazy if you think about it; I am not.
Re:Bunch of knobs by dbIII · 2014-12-26 18:20 · Score: 1

That's good to hear and a credit to Sony. Maybe MS should learn from the other examples.
Re:Bunch of knobs by dbIII · 2014-12-28 12:39 · Score: 1

That is likely.

It was because of .. by burni2 · 2014-12-25 09:25 · Score: 2

1.) North Korea (has cyber warfare caps)
2.) "new" Russia (has cyber warfare caps)
3.) The United States (has cyber warfare caps)
4.) The U.K. (has cyber warfare caps + someone chatted with offensive language insulting Prince Charles about buying female hygene products)
5.) just some non state hacking group (has cyber warfare caps)
6.) foreign -hacking- legion (everyone can by cyber warfare caps)

I think I will be right with at least one or two of the guesses!!

Re:It was because of .. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 16:56 · Score: 0

Or...
This happens almost every Christmas on both platforms, because of the massive load - especially the second christmas after launch of two new consoles on both networks, resulting in them simply being overloaded, but hey the cool thing to do these days is blame your failures (or simply glitches) on cyber warfare.

Hmm gaming servers DDOSd by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 09:27 · Score: 0

Maybe someone took a "your mum" joke to heart :(.

Sure. DDOS. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 09:31 · Score: 0

Yes. I'm sure it's a DDOS and not just major companies being unwilling to spend enough money to deal with the surge of demand coming from gamers with new consoles and a day off.

Re:Sure. DDOS. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 09:50 · Score: 1

Its not just those networks though, they just happen to be the highest profile ones so they get reported. EA's battlefield servers also got ddos'd offline as well, and I figure probably some other high profile games. In BF4's instance its basically been taken down on all platforms, sony and MS's networks are down and on the PC side those got dos'd as well
Re:Sure. DDOS. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2014-12-25 10:03 · Score: 2

Isn't 'outage includes other gaming-related servers' ambiguous at best(an attacker hitting XBL and PSN wouldn't need to be a rocket surgeon to add a few other high profile gaming related services to the list, unlike an attacker hitting a single service using some tailored vulnerability) and actively evidence in favor of 'not really DDoS, just all the legitimate paying customers having a lot of new consoles and games and extra free time right now' at worst?

If the problem is under-provisioning, the expected symptoms would be broad-based DDoS-like outages among all popular gaming related infrastructure. If the problem is DDoS attacks, the expected symptoms would be comparatively dramatic havoc on targeted systems, no disruption elsewhere, with the number of targeted systems limited by the attacker's resources(and by how close to failure those target systems were running under holiday load).
Re:Sure. DDOS. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 10:42 · Score: 0

Why bother spending hundreds of thousands for servers who will only see utilization on launch day? By the time you're ready for another launch, the hardware will be obsolete. I had this same debate on battlenet when Blizzard launched the Hearthstone expansion and the massive load took their billing and account management servers offline. (Everything went back to normal within 24 hours)
Re:Sure. DDOS. by lgw · 2014-12-25 11:30 · Score: 1

Why bother spending hundreds of thousands for servers who will only see utilization on launch day? By the time you're ready for another launch, the hardware will be obsolete. I had this same debate on battlenet when Blizzard launched the Hearthstone expansion and the massive load took their billing and account management servers offline. (Everything went back to normal within 24 hours)
Maybe you've heard of "the cloud"? It lets you do this nifty thing where you rent servers by the hour - quite cheaply, too. Other companies manage to handle holiday surges just fine. Need, say, an extra 1,000 servers for a day? Won't even be that expensive.

--
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Re: Sure. DDOS. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 15:26 · Score: 0

Microsoft has so many server resources that they rent them out. That isn't the issue, at least not for them.
Re:Sure. DDOS. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 18:26 · Score: 0

Yep, and lesser known game companies like Nexon have been under attack, too. It really blows when a few asshats can just mess up holiday gaming for many.

NK the moive is on google play as well by Joe_Dragon · 2014-12-25 09:35 · Score: 1

so you missed 1 of 3

Lizard squad by ozduo · 2014-12-25 09:38 · Score: 0

becomes the grinch!

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I got to the chocolate box before you, that's why the hard ones have teeth marks.

Error U.S. can't be .. by burni2 · 2014-12-25 09:40 · Score: 1

.. because (Obama Voice On) "It's in the nations primary interest that the average hard working american can relax from his hard work."

(opium for the masses, xbox for americans)

Re:Error U.S. can't be .. by Forbman · 2014-12-25 10:26 · Score: 1

seriously? only for a few. opium for the masses in the US = NFL on Sundays, Budweiser beer and throwing pennies at homeless people. (UK is probably Premier League Soccer, Rugby Union, shin kicking, and trying to follow up on what Kate Middleton is wearing today).
Re:Error U.S. can't be .. by thunderclap · 2014-12-25 13:18 · Score: 1

As an American this is the only time I am trying to follow up on what Kate is wearing: http://cdn.thedailybeast.com/c...

I have such a console. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 09:58 · Score: 0

I have such a console.

I keep my useless electronics in it.

The flat top is excellent for playing great games like chess, scrabble, monopoly, go, and literally millions of variations of games using 52 hand-sized cards. Each one, if you can believe it, about the thickness of a couple of pieces of good-quality paper.

Modern technology is really impressive.

Re: Some day you children will have a REAL problem by donaggie03 · 2014-12-25 10:02 · Score: 3, Insightful

It might not matter as much as some things, and it might not matter at all to you, but that doesn't mean it doesn't matter.

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Three days from now?? Thats tomorrow!! ~Peter Griffin

Re:Some day you children will have a REAL problem. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 10:02 · Score: 1

Then you should have no problem if someone slapped you in the face, because there are starving children in Africa.

Hint: Problem X is worse than problem Y != Y is not a problem. I consider it a problem if people aren't able to really play the games they bought in some cases.

Re: Some day you children will have a REAL problem by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 10:04 · Score: 0

Hmmm can't play bf4. If that's not a real problem I don't know what is.

"Notorious" hacking group by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 10:07 · Score: 0

For "notorious", read sad immature losers. If their pathetic attacks ever reach the courts you can bet these losers will invoke the "boo-hoo I have aspergers" defence.

Re:"Notorious" hacking group by jklovanc · 2014-12-25 11:10 · Score: 1

the "boo-hoo I have aspergers" defence.
Which will not work. I have Aspergers and know right from wrong. I too am fed up with idiots who have fun screwing up other people's fun. Go pick on another group.
Re:"Notorious" hacking group by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 11:30 · Score: 0

I say that you can't hack anything until you get laid with a willing real live girl...... no a relative does not count, so tell your mum not to bother.
There fixed it, no one will be hacking again.

Re: Some day you children will have a REAL problem by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 10:12 · Score: 0

Says the guy wasting time online with the rest of us.
Hey guy, if you don't care the STFU.

Real Actual DDoS by russotto · 2014-12-25 10:12 · Score: 0

Or "DDoS" caused by everyone trying to get their new Christmas toys on line at the same time, and Sony damage control claiming an attack?

On and off since yesterday. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 10:14 · Score: 0

I tried to play yesterday around midnight CET (yes I have a busy social life) and could barely reach PSN. I tried again tonight - it's simply off now.

Re:Some day you children will have a REAL problem. by burni2 · 2014-12-25 10:14 · Score: 1

It's the amount!

people need a bit distraction, as they need sleep, but if you are distracted too much, you will get stressed and unable to focus on the real things.

You think about economy, even economy isn't a "real" problem, because it's a "virtual" ruleset that get's only real because a sufficient amount of people follows these rules.

Lizard squad? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 10:24 · Score: 0

Sounds like Bush Senior's and Rumsfeld's secret flock of script kiddie double agents.

It's quite obvious the NSA and CIA are behind these DDOS attacks, using them to further justify taking away our internet freedoms.

North Korea my butthole.

Except Game Servers Aren't Down by magusxxx · 2014-12-25 10:24 · Score: 5, Interesting

The thing is, the game servers are just fine. If we didn't have to go through the Playstation Network we'd be playing the games right now. In fact, some of us were playing this morning after the attack occurred. But since we were already logged in we could keep playing. After the game servers went down for daily maintenance, and we then tried to log back in, did we realize there was a problem. This then brings up the big question: Why do Playstation users have to first get recognized by the PSN? It has been asked many times over the years with no good answer. When something like this occurs, why not just let us bypass the PSN and play the games. Yes, we won't be able to add money to our accounts, redeem codes, or buy updates. But so what. We'd still be able to play.

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Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 10:47 · Score: 5, Insightful

You seem to not understand what you own. These devices were not DESIGNED for playing games.
They were built to take money. And they do that job very well.
And if they can't take money there's no point in the system working at all.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by magusxxx · 2014-12-25 11:06 · Score: 1

I do understand what I own. A game system where I pay a monthly fee to play an online video game. PSN is merely a portal to get to the game. The game server is independent. It's exactly the same problem people have with always-on games. Except for one thing...If Always-on games can't reach the game server, they can't be verified as users and can't play. If the PSN is down, the game servers can still verify we are players. The only thing we can't do is real-world currency transactions. But we could still do everything else. Because we already paid for the service. They have our money. Please let us in.

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Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by jklovanc · 2014-12-25 11:12 · Score: 1

And if they can't take money there's no point in the system working at all.
And if people leave your system because they can not play then it is not good either. Nice rant against making money.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by magusxxx · 2014-12-25 11:14 · Score: 1

BTW...forgot one thing... In the past, the PSN Marketplace has gone down for voluntary maintenance. And guess what, we've still been able to play the game. There's no reason for users to jump through a hoop that isn't always there.

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Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 11:17 · Score: 0

Great logic.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 11:29 · Score: 0

Steam is no different. Bullshit DRM.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by SeaFox · 2014-12-25 11:45 · Score: 1

Uh, no it's not.
When Steam client fails to connect to the server it will (after a long timeout) let you play your games in its offline mode. I've done it before.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 12:58 · Score: 0

Ask me how I know that your weight is approximately 320 pounds.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by _xeno_ · 2014-12-25 13:26 · Score: 1

How long a timeout? Because Steam was down just the other day and the way it reacted was dumping me to the login screen, requiring me to re-enter my Steam password despite it being "saved", and then failing to connect because it was down, at which point it quits.
To get Steam into Offline mode, you must first connect to Steam.

--
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 13:36 · Score: 0

Ask me how I know you've never had a real job or had to support a family.
Ask me how I know you are a total, complete Asshole who totally missed the point. So I will clarify.

Today is the day the Xbox team is launching its invitation to the world to join the Xbox One launch on November 22. Designed to celebrate the fans, the campaign will showcase Xbox One as the only all-in-one entertainment system that brings together content loved by gamers, movie buffs, sports fans, and TV lovers, all in one place. “To celebrate the launch of Xbox One we have designed one of our most integrated and comprehensive global campaigns ever. The campaign is a celebration of our fans – an invitation to a new generation of games and entertainment. And it showcases experiences that only Xbox One can deliver,” said Robert Matthews, General Manager of Consumer Marketing, Xbox. “Through the authenticity of the ads, to a massive 75 city experiential tour, to social campaigns that encourage their participation, to creative media executions that let fans become directly involved – we are inviting the world to celebrate the launch of Xbox One.”

This was pulled from the xbox website for its launch last year. It was marketed NOT as a gaming console but a entertainment platform. So Other AP, (as I am NOT him/her) statement

You seem to not understand what you own. These devices were not DESIGNED for playing games. They were built to take money. And they do that job very well. And if they can't take money there's no point in the system working at all.
Is very accurate. They were designed to show movies and music from the cloud and discs. They were designed to surf the internet but only limited locations that they can control. (hense no keyboards) Since previous incarnations were designed for games, those designs were brought over and added in as secondary items. However, since most of the game buyers won't buy it for the entertainment because we are still smarter than that, they use games as the selling point. They don't make money of Destiny as much as they do when you pay for that online subscription. While out that, those boxes aren't money makers, they are liabilities.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by thunderclap · 2014-12-25 13:40 · Score: 1

No. Why? because there, just like in the 1860s, is a sucker born every minute. Then it was circus curiosities for a nickle. Today its $20 for Xbox live.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 13:54 · Score: 0

Actually, most games won't work if that happens. You have to have entered offline mode while still connected to the server for that to reliably work.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 15:21 · Score: 0

You're not going anywhere.
You'll take the big steaming load and ask for more like a good little consumer.
Just like last time. And the time before that.
Right back to the start when they sold you a 'computer' they control completely.
You'll leave... hilarious.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 15:26 · Score: 0

Micropayments!
Light on the micro. Heavy on the payments.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by aliquis · 2014-12-25 15:46 · Score: 1

There's GOG.
Which doesn't have any such system.
Is usually cheaper than Steam.
Often have extra content over Steam.
Give away games not given away in other places.
Also have Linux client.
And so on.
But it doesn't give Steam keys and don't have as much client software. So if you want to brag about your Steam games or Steam achievements or take part of the Steam community whatever that really is it won't cut it.
But if you only want games and want to be able to play them without problems and cheaply it's likely better than Steam.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by dbIII · 2014-12-25 16:11 · Score: 1

To get Steam into Offline mode, you must first connect to Steam.
Very wrong.
I was changing between net connections a few months ago - three weeks with no internet, and due to hot weather I had my computer turned off when I wasn't actually sitting in front of it, so no persistent data from a login. Maybe a minute or two after startup in MS Windows a message about Steam being unable to connect would come up. I played Skyrim ten to twelve times offline during that time.
I had connection problems last week, once again no internet but I could play Skyrim.

So are you sure Steam was down and it wasn't just an authentication problem? I suggest as a learning exercise that you unplug your network connection and have another try. You'll see then what we are talking about here.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by _xeno_ · 2014-12-25 17:05 · Score: 1

I checked. Steam doesn't have a status page, so you have to rely on Reddit threads. Steam was definitely actually down since other people couldn't get online either. You most certainly cannot start Steam in this state, there's no way to do it, it will be unable to authenticate because it can't contact the servers, so it'll demand you reenter your password. At this point there's now no way to get into offline mode because Steam can't get past the login.
In my past experience with Steam, the only way to get into Offline Mode is to first be online. Apparently you're supposed to know ahead of time when your Internet connection will die for a week.

--
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 21:57 · Score: 0

Prat. It's a device, a near generic intel machine. It's the shitty software that's fucking these things up. Game developers releasing broken titles, game journalist given them a free ride rather than working on behalf of their readership, corruption in the industry to push broken games on consoles and PCs (Win, OSX and Linux). The whole gaming business is rotten, that's where the problem lies, not any particular lump of hardware.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by kbdd · 2014-12-26 01:28 · Score: 1

" Yes, we won't be able to add money to our accounts, redeem codes, or buy updates. But so what. We'd still be able to play."
That's the problem. They don't really care if you play. The game is only a pretext for you to spend more money. If you have no way to spend money, the game does not matter to them.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by GrBear · 2014-12-26 01:58 · Score: 1

Really? Because PSN is free. The only thing I'm paying for is the games.
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by JackieBrown · 2014-12-26 02:05 · Score: 1

That's the problem. They don't really care if you play. The game is only a pretext for you to spend more money. If you have no way to spend money, the game does not matter to them.
And farmers don't really care if we eat. The food is just a pretext to get me to spend money. (I know the analogy can be destroyed fairly quickly but honestly what for-profit company doesn't make their product to get money?)
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by CronoCloud · 2014-12-26 04:11 · Score: 1

Free only on Sony machines that aren't the PS4. PS4 requires* PS+ for multiplayer.
requires* = not-required for asynchronous multiplayer (a la a chess game with a send-turn feature), F2P titles, and MMO's.
For example, you can play DCUO or War Thunder online without PS+
Re:Except Game Servers Aren't Down by CronoCloud · 2014-12-26 04:13 · Score: 1

When Steam client fails to connect to the server it will (after a long timeout) let you play your games in its offline mode.

That's how it works on the PS3/PS4....but...there are games that are online only and don't have offline modes. Destiny, DCUO, FFXIV

Re: Some day you children will have a REAL problem by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 10:30 · Score: 0

I'm a bit frustrated. I was looking for the rare moment away from (over-) work and family obligations of this time of the year and though it's crappy relief it was helpful. I ended up being powned by kids who mastutbate on tweeter and Sony's online-mandatory DRMs

Re:Some day you children will have a REAL problem. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 10:31 · Score: 0

Yes because every act of dickery must be measured by some "real problem" standard and people can't complain if it falls short.

Re:Some day you children will have a REAL problem. by Hartree · 2014-12-25 10:32 · Score: 1, Insightful

Ah, so you aren't surrounded by a set of kids all unhappy and whining cause they can't play with their new xbox etc.

Re:Some day you children will have a REAL problem. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 10:44 · Score: 1

With his attitude do you really think he's even had sex?
(that wasn't for money)

Nope. He does not need to worry about children.

Effing Grinches That Spoiled Christmas by BBF_BBF · 2014-12-25 11:07 · Score: 1

These "hackers" just made Christmas a lot less Merry for many children that just got some nice new Christmas presents.

They've already made their point that they can bring down the gaming networks of two evil empires, they should just stop DOS attack and let the kids (and the not-so young gamers) have their fun on Christmas.

Re:Effing Grinches That Spoiled Christmas by Scryer · 2014-12-25 12:26 · Score: 3, Interesting

Less merry for adults, too. We got an Xbox One for the grandkids, and I tried to help my son get it sorted for a couple of hours. The situation was magnified by inappropriate error messages from Microsoft pointing fingers at our cables, our network, our ISP's network, and, in short, everything except their own darned servers! A single approximately correct error diagnosis from them (like "Our servers may be knackered. Check back later.") would have redirected our efforts more appropriately.
When I finally stopped checking Microsoft's website and got around to looking at news sites, I told them about the DOS. One of my grandsons said "Think of the children!"
Re:Effing Grinches That Spoiled Christmas by PopeRatzo · 2014-12-25 13:30 · Score: 1, Insightful

These "hackers" just made Christmas a lot less Merry for many children that just got some nice new Christmas presents.
Screw 'em. Take a day off gaming. If they can't find something else fun to do besides play on their XboxOne or PS4 for one single Christmas Day, then you've been a shitty parent. Next thing you know they're gonna start talking about ethics in game journalism and SJWs and then you have to drown them.
Better they learn now that not all gratification is instant, and an online first-person shooter whenever you want it is not a basic human right.
You'll thank me later.

--
You are welcome on my lawn.
Re:Effing Grinches That Spoiled Christmas by PopeRatzo · 2014-12-25 13:31 · Score: 1, Insightful

Keep board games handy. Everyone can play and interact like a real family and your kids won't end up as pedos on 8chan.

--
You are welcome on my lawn.
Re:Effing Grinches That Spoiled Christmas by aliquis · 2014-12-25 15:48 · Score: 1

I tried to come up with "why?" too.
Is it simply because they want to extort Sony and Microsoft for money?
I assume it's not revenge for TPB raid or "PC master race! Console peasants!"
Re:Effing Grinches That Spoiled Christmas by aliquis · 2014-12-25 15:52 · Score: 2

Yeah, it's just nasty.
But games can be played offline too. But maybe not when it's new and one want to sign up and such?
Gift day is the 25th in the US?
As for board-games I thought about that when I was over at a friend who have an Xbox One and we were supposed to play some and it wouldn't connect for us either.
He don't play them but I do and I had just got Dungeon Lords Anniversary Edition from backing it on Kickstarter and there's little chance that "wouldn't run" if you had anyone to play with.
Then again didn't the Xbox One go for as low at $299 or something? I think the US price of that game was $90 so.. Whatever one want to pay that for some card board, paper, wood and glass pieces (+ plastic insert! How modern!) is up for everyone to decide I guess :)
Much more variation and more single player content, dexterity and story to be told on the Xbox One than the board game.
Re:Effing Grinches That Spoiled Christmas by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 16:23 · Score: 0

Thanks microsoft! Seriously the problem is the ammo for these attacks is a combo of the parents crappy infected windows boxes, along with almost every windows system in china, vietnam, etc.
As long as windows exists, its gaping holes will be exploited. Bottom line...little jimmy ain't gettin a happy xmas ever again.
Re:Effing Grinches That Spoiled Christmas by Scryer · 2014-12-25 17:36 · Score: 2

That sounds charming, but there was no clue during the setup of the new Xbox One that the problem was due to their network failure. The error messages presented to us as we were trying to figure out the setup were that our cables, local network and ISP DNS server were not working. There was no suggestion offered by the box that a server outage was a possibility. Yes, we did go on to other things, but it took us two hours to decide it was likely the problem was not in fact ours.
Your smug superiority is misplaced.
Re:Effing Grinches That Spoiled Christmas by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 17:40 · Score: 0

Screw 'em. Take a day off gaming. If they can't find something else fun to do besides play on their XboxOne or PS4 for one single Christmas Day, then you've been a shitty parent.

Yeah, fuck those kids who gotten a new toy they've been excited about all Christmas season and now can't play it because a bunch of other people are being assholes!

Next thing you know they're gonna start talking about ethics in game journalism and SJWs and then you have to drown them.
Yeah! Fuck those people who want journalists in their hobby to act with even a slightly ethical fashion! It's just like how #BlackLivesMatter is now a bunch of murderers trying to get all cops killed because of that guy who murdered two cops in New York City!
Re:Effing Grinches That Spoiled Christmas by PopeRatzo · 2014-12-26 01:01 · Score: 1

Yeah, fuck those kids who gotten a new toy
It won't kill you not to play your sociopath simulator for one day, cuck.

--
You are welcome on my lawn.
Re:Effing Grinches That Spoiled Christmas by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-26 04:45 · Score: 0

Sociopath simulator? Is that what consoles are?
I always knew the people against gamer's improving their industry where nuts, but, thank you for proving it.
Also, "cuck"? Really? I thought you sided with the SJWs, which would make cuckolding a "bad" term, but I guess it's OK when you use it against people you dislike.
Re:Effing Grinches That Spoiled Christmas by PopeRatzo · 2014-12-26 07:14 · Score: 1

I thought you sided with

I don't side with. I side against. Against 8chan pedos. Against rape apologists and definitely against anyone who harass women or condone sexual abuse of children. Against #GamerGate.
And definitely against anyone who would shit all over my long-time preferred pastime of video games the way GamerGate has done. More damage has been done to the gaming community in 2014 than in any time since I've been gaming. And sonny, I've got game cartridges that are older than you are. I've got cheetoh crumbs in my couch that are older than you and your fucked up microscopic cadre of sociopaths.

--
You are welcome on my lawn.
Re:Effing Grinches That Spoiled Christmas by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-26 17:52 · Score: 0

Against rape apologists and definitely against anyone who harass women or condone sexual abuse of children.
Oh, so you're anti-GamerGate and anti-anti-GamerGate at the same time? Because I'd hate to break it to you, but anti-GamerGate has harassed far more women than GG has (namely, any) and anti-GG is shielding a sexual abuser, so...
Re:Effing Grinches That Spoiled Christmas by PopeRatzo · 2014-12-27 01:11 · Score: 1

" but anti-GamerGate has harassed far more women than GG has (namely, any)"
That's really how they talk.

--
You are welcome on my lawn.

Announcement by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 11:33 · Score: 0

"This is definitely 100% the work of those evil North Korean hackers."
--President Obama

Not completely certain... by thegreatbob · 2014-12-25 11:48 · Score: 1

... but I'm pretty sure that mindless packet floods still aren't 'hacking'.

--
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...

Re:Not completely certain... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 18:45 · Score: 0

No, but the mindless packet floods are coming from hacked machines.

Alternate theory. by Vegan+Cyclist · 2014-12-25 11:51 · Score: 2

Maybe it was Nintendo? ^.^

Hmm by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 12:13 · Score: 0

Around this time last year Nintendo had similar-ish problems with their service due to everyone using it at the same time.

Looks like they haven't had the same problem this year (either demand or they have learned from the mess last year).

Policy Decision by GeckoMonkey · 2014-12-25 12:14 · Score: 1

In my opinion, the issue at hand is not whether this is a first-world problem or not; it's not the level of disruption. It's the fact that an organization, no matter the origin, both had the ability and will to adversely affect the normality of so many people's lives. This act of ability and resolve indicates both a lack of corporate and governmental defense against such attacks and a distinct lack of trepidation of reprisal. The latter is more disturbing than the former. The more often these various organizations are able to carry out these attacks without ramifications, the larger, bolder, and more frequent they will become, eventually hitting "things" that matter, things that have life or death ramifications. I realize that this may not be a popular opinion, but at its basic level, these organizations are criminal organizations. They are committing illegal acts. Blaming the victims and indirect victims for not building their houses out of brick instead of straw or because they are too first-world and should find real things to complain about is not germane. Criminals should be prosecuted vigorously by governments with resolve both to punish for past criminals acts as well as to provide a deterrent against future criminal acts. It is distinctly the lack of perceived ramifications for these actions because of lax policy that I find the most disturbing about this. Just one man's opinion.

Re:Policy Decision by yahwotqa · 2014-12-25 12:47 · Score: 1

Another issue is why the mentioned "normality of so many people's lives" are so closely tied to services of two corporations.

And nothing of any value was lost by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 12:29 · Score: 0

leave 'em down

Can't let them generation gap you by FreeRadicalX · 2014-12-25 12:49 · Score: 1

The Panther Moderns strike again.

Good by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 13:01 · Score: 0

Perhaps people will learn that 'leasing' your games suck ( and other 'services' ).

Not Xbone owners... by Lumpy · 2014-12-25 13:10 · Score: 1

If you were given an Xbone for xmas you will not be playing anything today. It will take at LEAST 6 hours to update the box, then any game you buy will have a 20-40gb "patch" that will need to download.

It's the biggest SUCK there is about the Xbox One.

--
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.

Re:Not Xbone owners... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 15:38 · Score: 0

The AC Unity update was bugged to 40GB for some people. Most patches are 1-2GB.
Re:Not Xbone owners... by JackieBrown · 2014-12-26 02:09 · Score: 1

I haven't used the PS4 but this was a problem for the PS3 as well (in addition to the fact that their update server seemed to run at dial up speeds)

Re: Some day you children will have a REAL problem by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 13:22 · Score: 0

... kids who masturbate on tweeter ...

You mean Lena Dunham? http://www.thedailybeast.com/a...

my GOG games all working fine. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 14:48 · Score: 0

Even the latest first run titles I bought on GOG? Working fine. Will remain working fine after the company that made them is long gone, or GOG gets hit by a meteor.

DRM: Just say no.

Re:my GOG games all working fine. by Ash-Fox · 2014-12-25 14:56 · Score: 1

And yet you are on Slashdot instead of playing them. They're apparently not that great.

--
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Re:my GOG games all working fine. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 19:53 · Score: 0

Sometimes you have to take a little break from gaming, and see if something interesting is going on.
It seems there is. Loads of people that did not care about DRM are now bitten by it.
Sad, but that's what you get if you don't care about DRM.
Re:my GOG games all working fine. by Ash-Fox · 2014-12-26 04:41 · Score: 1

Sometimes you have to take a little break from gaming, and see if something interesting is going on.
I'll be frank, I honestly don't buy that you've been playing any GOG games recently. Maybe it's because I can't be bothered with 'old classics'..

Sad, but that's what you get if you don't care about DRM.
It wouldn't matter if the infrastructure of xbox live was open. It still depends on a central point of failure. This is an architecture and design issue. DRM can be implemented without the use of a central point of failure. Please stop spreading lies about how DRM is the cause of this.
I could architect a decentralized peer2peer design backed by central servers (that are not necessary to keep the service running for gaming purposes) while using certificate signing to verify signed code verses unsigned code among multi layer signature authentication schemes in hardware layers to detect tampering.

--
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Re:my GOG games all working fine. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-26 04:47 · Score: 0

How bad is going to have to get before people wise-up to this unnecessary online-requirement control fetish the game companies have? Do they have to lose entire libraries of games before they get pissed off enough to just say "no"? Because this WILL be happening to people. It's already happened to people on steam where they've been accused of misconduct, with no reasonable recourse to the "guilty till proven innocent" attitude.
You'd think shit like this would open some eyes. Instead, we just see more apologists for steam coming out of the woodwork. Do these people get a free game on steam after 25 shill posts? Stockholm syndrome abounds.
Re:my GOG games all working fine. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-26 04:55 · Score: 0

What a stupid, illogical comment. You really assume that any game is so great that people would spent every waking hour playing them and doing absolutely nothing else? Even people with heavy drug addictions do the occasional non-drug related activity.
More likely, you're just hand waving and trying to desperately create a distraction to take the focus away from the road-to-hell that's being paved in the commercial gaming sector.
Re:my GOG games all working fine. by Ash-Fox · 2014-12-26 05:12 · Score: 1

You really assume that any game is so great that people would spent every waking hour playing them and doing absolutely nothing else?
Of course not, I just don't think that you would spend your free time on Slashdot if you had that good of a game. You would play your game instead. I am not saying you don't go out to a Christmas party, go eat foods etc.

More likely, you're just hand waving and trying to desperately create a distraction to take the focus away from the road-to-hell that's being paved in the commercial gaming sector.
No, you're just trying to read too much into the motives of my post rather than applying common sense to my comment.

--
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Re:my GOG games all working fine. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-26 05:23 · Score: 0

You can argue until you see blue, but it is -in fact- completely caused by an DRM scheme.
It does not matter what kind of DRM it is at all. What matters is that you cannot play an game (or can use hardware you payed for) if that DRM verification mechanic is interrupted (by an DDOS attack), or that the company selly you the goods say: "sorry - we not longer feel the need to let you use your stuff". In fact, your stuff is not "your stuff", but something you can use as long as the company would like you to use it. If they become greedy an say: "from now on you pay $500 an month to use that stuff", there is absolutely nothing you can do about (apart from pirating).
Now - the stuff that you buy on G.O.G. is usable on any capable machine, at any time you like, and without any verification. You can play that game 10 years after now if you like (providing you have the right hardware) and there is no "kill switch" that will ever prevent you from doing that. I would like to see of that is possible with an (by then) ancient XBOX or PS. I have an very strong feeling that will not work at all..
So yes, having an game from G.O.G. is far better and consumer friendly than all that DRM infected hard- and software..
No doubt about that...
Re:my GOG games all working fine. by Ash-Fox · 2014-12-26 06:50 · Score: 1

You can argue until you see blue, but it is -in fact- completely caused by an DRM scheme.
It's caused by central architecture design that has a single point of failure. It doesn't matter if it was DRM or not. You could do similar things in the opensource world. Take out the DNS servers for ubuntu.com and now you can't access the default repositories that are all subdomains on ubuntu.com, you can't install software and by extension, use that software the normal way now through just opening your package manager.

What matters is that you cannot play an game (or can use hardware you payed for) if that DRM verification mechanic is interrupted (by an DDOS attack)
Certificate signing through certificate authorities do not require the authority to even be online to operate. In fact, this is how signed code works with offline xbox systems. It's also how software is validated through Linux repositories identify they come from the genuine source.

--
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.

They are no hackers by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 14:50 · Score: 0

They are naughty little boys and girls using scripts. It is about time mummy and daddy turn the computers off and told these little children to go outside and play.

Lucky me by Snotnose · 2014-12-25 15:09 · Score: 1

Decided to see if my Fallout New Vegas DLC I'd purchased a few years ago was bugfixed. It was not. The goal is 60 fps? Try 1 frame per minute, or less. grrr

/ Seems if your save file is >10 meg you lose
// forgive me for enjoying the game, completing all side quests and the game before the DLC came out
/// Game is on craigslist, I'll never even start 2 of the 4 DLC I bought
//// Be a long time before Bethesda gets any money from me for anything
///// I'm on a PS3 YMMV

Re:Lucky me by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 16:56 · Score: 0

///// I don't know what /////// this //// crap is all about, ////////// but try using a PC. ///////////// Fallout 3/NV works fine there.
Re:Lucky me by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-26 04:37 · Score: 0

PS3 had all kinds of problems with that game engine due to the amount of memory it uses to keep track of everything and the way PS3 segments its memory.

not sure what to blame by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 15:40 · Score: 0

the now-inevitable use of DRM servers or some kids with no ideology other than boasting their ego and calling for attention just coz, you know.

I followed the whole sensation on Twitter - the Lizard Squad and its purported opposing hacker groups, some apparent "intervention" from Anonymous and in the end Kim DotCom who saves the day (and makes his Mega service well promoted). Sounds like an uterly weird tv comedy.

Script Kiddies Gonna Script... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 15:53 · Score: 0

And Sony and Microsoft gonna just weather the DDoS cos whatcha gonna do...set up your own game network? Hell no, you'll bitch and moan and go back to playing when the servers are up. No point bothering to do anything more than they have to to maintain it, cos the situation won't change. People will complain when it doesn't work and shut up when it does.

Yet it works for me - and you if you try by dbIII · 2014-12-25 17:23 · Score: 0

You most certainly cannot start Steam in this state

Bullshit. You can start the games without any network connectevity at all which IMHO is what they should all fall back too apart from the obvious multiplayer ones where the actual program needs a network to function.

So now I'm getting curious - I know that you are wrong and I'm betting that you know as well, so what is the motivation for you pushing the bullshit? Is this some fanboy thing where you have decided you have to claim that team B suffers from the same problems as team A that you are cheering for?

Apparently you're supposed to know ahead of time when your Internet connection will die for a week.

In my recent experience, nothing like that at all. All it takes is for you to pull your network cable out for a couple of minutes to demonstrate - but of course you are not going to do that becuase it ruins your story.

I really don't care about steam one way or the other but lying pricks deliberately misleading the kiddies here just for the purpose of cheerleading really gets my goat. You really should be ashamed of yourself _xeno_ since this is no innocent mistake, it's deliberate deception.

Re:Yet it works for me - and you if you try by _xeno_ · 2014-12-25 17:35 · Score: 1

I can guarantee you that the last time I tried to start Steam without any network connectivity it tried to connect, couldn't, and refused to start in that state. That was a couple of years ago, but it definitely used to be the case that the only way to get Steam to go into offline mode is to already be online. So now whenever I get ready to leave for vacation I make sure to take the laptop offline.
Likewise when Steam was offline this weekend (and it was only down for like a half hour), I would start Steam, it would go to "Connecting...", it would fail, it would bring up the login window with an empty password, and that was that. No way to login, no way to switch to offline mode. So it's possible that it saw the working network connection and decided that since it couldn't contact the Steam servers it wouldn't go to "offline" but I most certainly couldn't do it while it was out. (I think Steam was out in a weird way where the update servers were up and a few game servers were up, but the authentication and store servers were down.)
But I can guarantee you that there was no way to get into offline mode at that time. I suppose I could have tried unplugging my Internet connection but why would I have tried that when it's their servers that are down, not my Internet?

--
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
Re:Yet it works for me - and you if you try by dbIII · 2014-12-25 17:58 · Score: 0

But I can guarantee you that there was no way to get into offline mode at that time
Since you called me a liar with your "Apparently you're supposed to know ahead of time when your Internet connection will die for a week" what sort of value do you think I'm going to place on that guarantee? You appear to be scum that take politeness as weakness. I should have just called you out as a liar to start with instead of politely giving a real example to counter your deliberate misinformation.
Re:Yet it works for me - and you if you try by _xeno_ · 2014-12-25 20:25 · Score: 1

Unless something has changed since less than a week ago, if you try and connect to Steam while Steam is down for any reason (say, a DDOS attack, like in this article), you will fail to authenticate and be left in a "logged out" state. At that point there's no way to activate offline mode because you can't connect.
If you were already logged into Steam and attempt to "go offline" it will attempt to authenticate with the Steam servers, and again - if Steam is down, that's the end of that.
This happened less than a week ago. That's not misinformation, that was me trying to open Steam on Saturday to check out the holiday sale.

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You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
Re:Yet it works for me - and you if you try by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-26 01:48 · Score: 0

Listen up both of you, here's how it is and has been for quite some time:
When Steam can connect to its servers it starts in online mode and you can enter offline mode from there.
When Steam detects no network connectivity AT ALL (e.g. pulled cable) it instead offers to start in offline mode
But between those extremes is a whole range of other situations that can be described as "some form of network connectivity but not to the steam servers". E.g. "internet connection but steam servers down", "no internet connection but connected to some other network", " internet connection severed not between pc and router but further down the line: e.g. router-isp, isp-internet, internet-valve", ... . In most of those situations steam will not offer to go to offline mode and instead demand that you log into its servers.
While pulling the cable and disabling the network card and such things are common ways to simulate a network outage almost nobody will do such things when they already have a (partial) network failure. Which explains the difference between those experiencing it and those trying to simulate it.
tl:dr: pull the cable, then you can enter offline mode.
Re:Yet it works for me - and you if you try by ganjadude · 2014-12-26 03:01 · Score: 1

might not be able to start steam, however you can run the games, I had no problems with civ 5 in the downtime. Sure I could not run it on a new machine, but i didnt need to

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Re:Yet it works for me - and you if you try by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-26 04:32 · Score: 0

Steam fanboy alert. Butthurt when negatives about steam are pointed out, lashes out and tries to deny them.
Re:Yet it works for me - and you if you try by qwak23 · 2014-12-26 09:10 · Score: 1

My experience has been that unless you are already in Offline mode (or put the computer in sleep vice shutdown), Steam and most of the games (some older games and indies will still run directly from executable) will not work unless you have a network connection and can connect to Steam. I travel a lot for work and am often without network connection, so this has been a huge deal for me, especially when offline mode decides it needs to authenticate and prevents me from accessing my games for the remainder of my trip (work around, sleep mode). The button "Start steam in off-line mode" that pops up when there is no network connection/steam unreachable has NEVER worked for me.
Unless they've changed how the system works with a recent (past couple months) client update, I'm sure these issues persist. Maybe it works for you, great if it does, but I wouldn't doubt _xeno_'s post either as their experience has been similar to mine.
Re:Yet it works for me - and you if you try by dbIII · 2014-12-26 18:26 · Score: 0

However you wrote:

the only way to get into Offline Mode is to first be online. Apparently you're supposed to know ahead of time when your Internet connection will die for a week.
That is both deliberate misinformation and calling me a liar over my account of how it behaved above.

Service back up due to Kim Dotcom by Nuke+Bloodaxe · 2014-12-25 20:48 · Score: 2

Curiously, Kim Dotcom saved the day: https://twitter.com/LizardMafi... https://twitter.com/KimDotcom

Re:Service back up due to Kim Dotcom by drinkypoo · 2014-12-26 00:47 · Score: 1

Kind of makes you think he was behind the attacks to begin with, huh? Otherwise, why negotiate with terrorists?

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"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"

I must post another fact: by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-25 22:11 · Score: 0

That PSN network was down whole day yesterday, 25th Dec., Euro time zone. No Destiny all day long. Some games had limited access success on on-and-off basis, and yet, SONY's network status was blaring green ON into late night. So SONY is caught red-handed once again, and once again, caught directly lying about facts. Time to replace SONY president with Kim Yong-Un president.

Re:I must post another fact: by CronoCloud · 2014-12-26 04:17 · Score: 1

and yet, SONY's network status was blaring green ON into late night.
SCEA's PSN status page showed PSN being OFFLINE, no if's and's or but's. Perhaps SCEE forgot to update their page?

Happy New Year 2015 Animated Images by HariniHari · 2014-12-26 07:55 · Score: 0

great website and it is very helpful for us Happy New Year 2015 Animated Images

72 hours down and counting by Anonymous Coward · 2014-12-26 22:57 · Score: 0

I will demand extended subscription for all these missing days. And dare SONY not to say no!

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Xbox Live and PlayStation Networks Downed By Apparent Attack

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