Playstation Network: weeks on, but the service remains off

The outage which has affected millions of psn users of the last few weeks was the result of an external intrusion from an unknown hacker group – some say it was the group known as Anon yet as time went by they have denied involvement. The theft of personal details happened between April 17th and April 19th, yet Sony did not disclose the intrusion to its users until May 4th. An estimated 77 million accounts had personal details stolen from them surpassing previous hacks of any kind on any records. Its no surprise that Sony have had so much negative press through the incident, many governments and agencies accuse Sony of mishandling personal information and lacking to keep its users safe. On April 20th Sony turned off the network and its Qriocity services, stating that it would be back within the week – now on May the 9th it still all remains offline.

At the moment Sony claim they are aggressively trying to track down the hackers who perpetrated the attack, yet even with various law enforcement agencies on the case they have not been found and the service remains offline. Sony have stated that the attack is a criminal cyber attack and that it will remain offline until they have completed extensive security tests. When asked to report to congress Sony had the following to say about the on-going attack on their network.

“Sony Network Entertainment America is continuing its investigation into this criminal intrusion, and more detailed information could be discovered during this process. We are reluctant to make full details publicly available because the information is the subject of an on-going criminal investigation and also the information could be used to exploit vulnerabilities in systems other than Sony's that have similar architecture to the PlayStation Network.”

The real concern comes from the way Sony has dealt with the issue, it took Sony almost a week to notify its users that their had indeed been a theft of information and personal details. The information available to the hackers were highly identifiable and included usernames/passwords/emails addresses/home addresses and even credit card information. The circumstances surrounding Sony got even more controversial when their was strong evidence to suggest that Sony failed to encrypt personal details/held on to older information and made it too easy for external attackers to steal. There are even a number of lawsuits being filed against Sony on behalf of its users, each one addresses Sony’s lack of power to protect private information. Since the initial attack Sony have failed to meet set deadlines and some users have had their personal information openly posted on websites controlled by the hackers.

In response to the outage Sony have released information about what they are calling their “welcome back” program. The idea is to compensate its users with a number of offers including free downloadable content and the use of the Playstation Plus service for 30 days. For many users its not enough, they see Sony’s gross negligence as a betrayal to gamers everywhere. Sony are now saying that it could still be a number of weeks until they are fully back up and running though some services should be restored before then. Many are pointing to May 31st as the day when services are fully restored but as the outage continues there really is not telling when it will be business as usual.

When I first heard about the outage I had serious doubts that it would affect me personally but recently my email account has been compromised. It occurred when my details were stolen and then used to access the account, upon noticing I contacted my email provider and explained what happened. It turns out that my details and password were changed and so I have no chance of recovering the account, a harsh lesson when it comes to using Hotmail . As far as I can tell when the network does come back online I should be able to verify my account through my console, but I'll believe it when i see it.

Sniper: ghost warrior (ps3/360/pc)

Its not every day a game gets exclusively released on the xbox 360 that i really wanted but sniper: ghost warrior was top of the list. originally the game launched on the xbox in june 2010, it went under the radar pretty well and didn’t create much of  following. i don’t usually keep up on xbox games but after seeing it online i really liked what i saw of it, i love sniper sections in first person shooters so a whole game dedicated to sniping sounded really original. luckily a ps3 version packed with extra content has just been released (may 6th 2011) and i made sure to get it on the first day, I've been playing it for a few days now and here's what i thought of it.

The story is set on the fictional island of el trejon, a place that has seen violent civil unrest by the countries tyrannical ruler. you play sergeant tyler wells, a marine sniper kitted out with a high powered rifle and a ghillie suit. the story may be brief enough but the action is far from it, your skills and ability to blend into the environment make you the perfect weapon in this covert operation. during the game you get to know a bit more about what’s actually going on but a lot of it is predictable enough, that said there are a few surprises especially in the extra missions.

The thing that first impressed me about the game were the extremely realistic graphics. the island is full of jungles/beaches/mountains/temples/drug plantations/enemy camps, all feature at one point in the game and all look amazing. i’m used to seeing appealing graphics in games and it does seem like a lot of games are really stepping up to fully optimizing what can be done with a good engine, this game seems to have gone further although i have heard that the ps3 features upgraded graphics and visuals. it really seems like the developers did their home work on what sniper fans would actually be looking for in a game. there are so many missions where they give you the perfect map, and there you are in the perfect hiding place with a view to die for populated with enemies that can’t see you! all this of course follows with the perfect headshot.

One of my favourite features in the game was the bullet cam, it sounds simple enough a bullet travelling from the rifle is tracked with a game camera. its been done before but its never looked so good, when you do take that perfect shot the camera will track the bullet as it whiz's through the air (often covering 100’s of yards) coming to a definite halt as it embeds itself in your unlucky target. i joked to my boyfriend that i’d never get tired of watching the bullet cam in action and after playing through the whole came i can honestly admit its too good to really tire of. so much work has been put into the visuals that its almost jaw droppingly beautiful, and the best part is you don’t have to charge through because if you do you will almost certainly end up getting shot.

The weapons in the game are really well thought out and you never have to ask yourself why you have something you don’t need. at first i wondered why i was given explosives when the main aim was to be stealthy in taking down the enemy, then i realised you could find the best hiding spot and rig the perimeter so that approaching enemies who have compromised your position would be taking out. the sniper rifles you get in the game are as follows:

AS 50 – .50 BMG antimaterial rifle, it packs a punch and holds 5 rounds. (very modern warfare)

MSG90 – militarized version of the PSG1 (used in metal gear solid) lighter with better accuracy

SR 25 – semi-automatic 7.62x51mm Nato caliber

Dragunov SVD – used by enemy snipers, reliable soviet rifle with good accuracy

High Powered L96 & the Super Long Range CheyTac M200 Intervention (both are extremely accurate/deadly and exclusive to the ps3 version of the game)

Along with rifles the player gets to carry a silenced pistol and throwing knives. the ground enemy usually carry assault rifles (probably a variant of the Ak47) while watch towers and other positions are patrolled by sniper rifle wielding soldiers. the AI has apparently been worked over too giving for a more fluid experience of combat. i didn’t notice many glitches with the AI and for the most part they were sharp enough.

There were a few times where i wondered if they had 100% accuracy at long range.. with an assault rifle, i couldn’t see a sniper at the time but its only happened a  small number of times. i don’t know what the AI was like in the original version of the game, i heard it was bad but i’m assuming it was all ironed out. the bullet dynamics and ballistics are all top notch, bullet drop is a huge part of sniping at long range and your bullets trajectory will be affected by things like weather/heart rate – breath can be controlled to slow down what’s seen through your scope so that you are one step closer to the perfect shot. 

As for playability and lifespan there is a lot on offer. when you finish the main game there are a host of extra missions and challenges, in challenge mode you are given limited ammunition and a limited HUD so it all feels the more genuine and the more exciting. the story missions all feel fluid, fun and rewarding. some of the missions will involve sneaking a great distance through enemy forces in order to take out a target while others will have you eradicating enemy camps, others still might be gaining intel or backing up another force fighting alongside you. its all very well put together and each mission lasts anywhere from about 40 minutes to just over an hour. i do think there is replay value in the game because so many of the missions are very entertaining and for fans of sniping it never gets old.

So it has many positive points but it also has a few negative ones too. the auto saving can be a bit of an annoyance at time, though it doesn’t exactly affect your experience it can take you out of the zone. the graphics engine handles weather extremely well yet there are only a few levels that feature rain/fog the rest are bright and sunny, they could have implemented the weather effects more. for a sniping game you would think the developers might add in some mini games such as target practice but they didn’t. the music is a little depthless at the time but i can understand not really needing it when you are trying to concentrate on taking a carefully planned shot.

Finally there seems to be a glitch or glitches in the way that trophies are collected, this could be down to the fact that the options menu features a trophy section. at one point i was trying to get a trophy called “fallen eagle”, all you need to do is shoot 10 eagles – easy to do really and the trophy list on the menu crossed it off as completed yet the trophy itself didn’t activate. its these little negative points that stop the game from attaining a higher score, its a shame really because if all the little issues were dealt with it would be almost perfect.

I really enjoyed the game and i will probably be replaying through the various missions for some time to come. sniper: ghost warrior is a game of patience and finesse as is of course real sniping, if you are expecting fast paced running and gunning action then i’m afraid you won’t find this here and anytime you do its the enemy chasing you down. if however you like the idea of sneaking around the jungle using your environment to pull off your shots with pin point accuracy then i strongly recommend this game. i’m giving the game a 7 out of 10. no other game offers as much high powered long range sniping action, if there is ever a sequel released i’ll definitely be getting it.

Unfortunately i could not test the multiplayer as the playstation network is still down. the ps3 version features new multiplayer maps and game modes such as capture the flag. when the network comes back online i will add a multiplayer section to the review.