Santa came early for those affected from the PSN outage... were you naughty or nice?

Both Kazuo Hirai and Sir Howard Stringer have stated that we will be offering identity theft protection for those affected by the malicious attack on PlayStation Network and many of you may have seen the details of the service available in North America.

As I have explained previously, creating a similar offering for the many countries within the SCEE region is a very complicated process. Each country has a different way of handling identity theft; some offer relatively sophisticated services whilst others are much more modest.

We are currently in the process of identifying how we manage this situation and once the programme is ready to launch, we will provide details of exactly which services are available in each country and explain how to sign up. We hope to do this early next week.

Also, look out for more information on the rest of our Welcome Back programme, including which free content you will be eligible for. We will be offering PSN users the opportunity to select two PS3 games from a list of five, as well as offering PSP users the opportunity to choose two games from a list of four. We will let you know exactly what games are available very soon.

Please be assured that we are continuing to work around the clock to have some PlayStation Network and Qriocity services restored and will provide you with specific details shortly.

Spring Fever Spotlight Week: 4/5

PlayStation Plus Members

Featured Games

• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Free and exclusive to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
• Duael Invaders minis (Free and exclusive to PlayStation Plus subscribers)

Featured Qore Episode


• Qore April Episode 35 (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers, regular price $2.99)

Discounted Games

• StarDrone (PlayStation Plus price $4.00, regular price $7.99)
• Hamsterball (Reg Price – $9.99, Sale Price- $4.99, Plus Price $3.99)

4/5 Sale Offers

• Lara Croft: Guardian Of Light (now $7.49, regular price $14.99)
• Angry Birds (now $1.99, regular price $3.99)

     Yep, this is a very sweet deal, I grabbed the Lara Croft game from PSN: "Guardian of Light"

Also Angry birds its really fun to play in the PS3 and don't forget you can also send a copy to your PSP if you have one. And let me tell you, you will not be disappointed. For half price? You are taking a lot. I will highly recommended.

-VipSphinx

I got an invitation for the Playstation Rewards Beta !

"Dear Vip_Sphinx, As a G.A.P. member and PlayStation®Plus subscriber, you've shown unrivaled passion for PlayStation®. That's why we're inviting you to be one of the very few to help us test out PlayStation®Rewards while it's an invitation-only beta. This brand-new program rewards our most die-hard fans like you just for doing what they love. And we need you to help us test it out and make it even better."

PlayStation Network Scheduled Maintenance Today

     Yes, I'm pretty sure this maintenance is for the new addition to the Playstation Rewards that it supposed to go live today for selected Playstation Plus & G.A.P. members. I belong to both memberships so I'm really hoping I get selected.

"PlayStation Network will undergo maintenance, October 28. Maintenance is expected to start at just after 7:00 am Pacific and will last for several hours, until approximately 3:30 pm Pacific. During this time, users won’t be able to access the PlayStation Store, PlayStation Home or Account Management, and may encounter difficulty while signing in to PSN.
Please stay tuned to the PlayStation Twitter feed for a notice when PSN is fully back online.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause." - Playstation Blog

PlayStation Rewards – A New Way to Earn Exclusive Status and Recognition

Today, we’re excited to share news of the launch of PlayStation Rewards, a new program that recognizes and rewards our users for simply doing what they love – playing games and interacting with the entertainment content that PlayStation has to offer. We really wanted to create something that says, “thank you” for being a loyal PlayStation fan.
If you’re a GAP member or PlayStation Plus subscriber in the U.S., who is opted-in to marketing as of October 24th, be sure to look for your invitation and sign-up for PlayStation Rewards.

In its initial launch tomorrow (Oct. 28th), PlayStation Rewards will be an invitation-only beta to all eligible PlayStation Plus and Gamer Advisory Panel (GAP) members. We’re kicking things off as a beta so that we can get feedback from our most loyal fans in order to make it the best possible rewards program it can be. It’s also worth noting that during the beta phase, the program will be focused on PlayStation 3 owners, but we hope to include PSP users as well not too far down the road. Oh, and one more thing: PlayStation Rewards will be free – there is no fee to join!

Now, to give you a bit more details on the new loyalty program… PlayStation Rewards is designed to give you the opportunity to gain exclusive status, recognition, and rewards as a thank you for your continued interest in PlayStation. And, the best part is that you don’t have to do anything different. Keep playing new games, buying content purchased from PlayStation Network in the PlayStation Store and PlayStation Home, download movies and TV shows, or just communicate with us by taking one of our surveys, for example, and you’ll now be recognized for it.

The more you play and participate, the more progress you’ll make through our three reward tiers — “Select,” “Pro,” and “Legendary.” As your status increases, so do the rewards. And if you want to check out your current status level, simply go to your private profile page and look at the reward progress meter.

So what do you get? Right now, rewards include things like…

• Exclusive PSN avatars that display member status in the program
• Exclusive dynamic themes and PlayStation Home content
• Opportunities throughout the program year to participate in members-only sweepstakes and giveaways for experiences and merchandise you won’t find elsewhere (The first of which is an all expenses paid trip to the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, as PlayStation’s guest).

LBP2 Beta invites coming your way.

If you've bought previous downloadable content for the original LittleBigPlanet, are a big community contributor or subscribe to PlayStation Plus, don't take your eyes off your email inbox as you could be in with a chance of playing the beta.

Good news…the 2nd phase of our online beta will be ready next week. This phase will be a small phase, with invites going to a special mix of LBP contributors, DLC owners and PlayStation Plus members, so be on the lookout for an e-mail soon with your beta code. Don’t worry: there are more beta phases in the works, so if you don’t get in next week, we’ll keep you posted on following phases.

Sadly the current beta doesn't have support for Move, but with the promise of more phases on the way there could be some aspect of the controller in a future release. Stay tuned for more.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood- Multiplayer Beta Available for PS3 Users

     Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood Multiplayer Beta is now available at the Playstation Network (PSN). The only requisite to download this beta is for you to be a Playstation Plus Subscriber. Depending of how hardcore gamer you are, make sure you don't miss this opportunity.

Street Release Date: November 16th 2010
Platforms: Xbox 360
                Playstation 3
                PC DVD