Abandonment

Day 387 of the Playstation Network outage... (online) friends have long since abandoned me, family member statuses are unknown, I haven't killed anyone - or even pulled the trigger - in Medal of Honor in so long I don't know if I even remember how (which button fires the gun? which button ducks? how do I toss a grenade?). Netflix seems to have resurfaced, despite the lack of PSN connectivity, leaving a slight glimmer of the former glory of online capabilities of the phenomenal black machines intact. Sony hasn't said much, although a minimal post on the Playstation Blog mentions that "an external intrusion" has affected the services. But we all know what happened...

Long ago, back when the Playstation 2 was still king of the consoles and Microsoft's Xbox was unable to turn around fully (rectified with the 360 release, of course), we saw the commercials (actually, this may have happened even before the PS2). Somehow, the execs at Sony - in the future - managed to send back, through some sort of time-portal-television-commercial interface, images of what was going to be taking place in 2078. Talk about phenomenal advertising - they're gearing up the past consumer to prepare the way for the future releases, virtually ensuring a monopoly on the video game market, altering their fiscal and technological landscape in ways unheard of by "regular" advertising. However, they didn't count on the repercussions of a whole industry. Unbeknownst to the future Sony execs, the now-relegated-to-minimized-community of alternative gaming platforms began working on their own devious plots. Since "mimic" advertising typically only serves to reinforce the originator, the "other guys" had to do something else. Something devious. Instead of their own time-traveling commercial ploy, they schemed and plotted a sinister attack on the very community that was going to be the driving force of the success of the Sony hardware. They sent back cyber-attacks on the Playstation network.

Crippling the network, they are attempting to destroy the loyal user base from which Sony will eventually rule the world. Fighting for their very survival, they are attempting to frustrate and infuriate the online community of Playstation owners and users to the point of rebellion, a rebellion without the rebels even realizing the enormity of the change being wrought.

Will they succeed? That's up to you, and up to me. Will the masses desert the Sony platform? Will they band together to support the now-struggling player in the gaming and entertainment industry? Will families and friends ever be reunited on Sony hardware, or will they have to turn to alternate platforms for social interaction? Only time will tell. If the video link above regarding Playstation 9 no longer exists, then you know that the vandals have won, and the Playstation Network may never be restored. As long as the video exists, however, there is a glimmer of hope for those of us who prefer a little "play" in our gaming and entertainment world.

...

OK, not really. It's been a little under a week since the network went down, and obviously there are other ways to communicate with our friends and family. And, as one article suggested, "Go outside for a while."

As for me, dinner's ready... I'm going to eat!