PlayStation Store Rises from the Ashes, Goes Live in North America and Europe

To quote a certain Whiskey colleague of mine, it's been a looooong roooooad for Sony lo these last several weeks. We, the collective gaming audience, have given the company a perhaps rightful amount of crap for how it handled communication with its customers during the fallout of the hack that sent the PlayStation Network into offline limbo for longer than anyone could have possibly expected. While the Welcome Back program and assurances of identity theft insurance did a little to help quell the masses, deep down, I think all any of us really wanted was just to get back onto PSN and start playing some damn games.

Today marks one of the final steps in that "get back to playing some damn games" initiative, as Sony announced via the PlayStation blog that the PlayStation Store has emerged from the ashen cloud of offline purgatory and returned to the online realm in both North America and Europe. Though you may run into a few errors throughout the day trying to access certain content, these are likely just creaks from the house settling itself, and soon enough, everything should be back in proper working order.

The blog entry lists an almost absurd amount of new content for players to sort through--seven weeks is a long time, yo--which I will skip out on re-posting here. Suffice it to say, there is a veritable smorgasbord of new games, demos, DLC, avatar crap, and the like available for your perusal. There's even a new episode of Qore, if you're into that kind of thing.

It's worth noting that none of the Welcome Back program downloads are available just yet. Sony's post explains that the apology downloads are currently going through the final phase of testing, and should be available "soon."

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some L.A. Noire PS3-exclusive content to finally download and dig into!

sweet 

WooHoo! Anyone linked that ewok victory video yet?

Finally!  I've been playing through L.A. Noire at a snail's pace trying to wait for the DLC.

Now everybody celebrate with the inFAMOUS 2 demo!

Finally back to playing some damn games.

Awesome! I was hoping I could play those L.A. Noire cases today...

Nothing I want to buy from the PS Store for now; not until SSFIV AE is released. It's good to see it back alive and kicking, though.

Good that its back for NA and EU, but what about the Asians?!

Unfortunately, i still have a lot of error messages popping up while going through the store...

KOTTER!

Anyone else still getting error messages when going into Account Management? I have some shit I need to re-download to my new PS3, dammit!

yay and my PS3 just died 3 days ago...awesome!!!

Unfortunately, i still have a lot of error messages popping up while going through the store...

But, where is my free stuff that I earned through slander and blatant insults? :( 

A quick question for other previous PS+ subscribers-  Have the expiration dates on your downloaded  games updated to reflect your new expiration date?   
 
Under account details, my + subscription expiration date has updated to properly reflect the added on 60 days.  Likewise, the expiration date of Wipeout (which is listed under services) updated correctly.  However, none of the other games (whose expiration date is listed under "information"  alongside their entry in the "games" section of the XMB) have properly updated. 

The Playstation Store is "live" in the same way that a cardboard box with four wheels glued to it is a car. There are a lot of errors popping up when I try to do just about anything, including changing my credit card info. In fact, the card I was attempting to add had a one dollar hold put on it three different times when as I tried (and failed) to get it added to my account. 

Weren't we supposed to get PS+ as well? Doesn't look like I have that.

Welcome Back Kotter is gold.  I still love that show.  Also love how the second the store comes up there are already massive amounts of people complaining about how they don't have their free stuff or PSN+. 
 
@whatthegeek: Plenty of people are getting in fine.  Just keep trying it and you'll be fine.

@xhavoc86 said:

Unfortunately, i still have a lot of error messages popping up while going through the store...

 Dude, those servers are probably taking a pounding harder than a pornstar's vag. Cut it some slack.

Unfortunately, i still have a lot of error messages popping up while going through the store...

Anyone else still getting error messages when going into Account Management? I have some shit I need to re-download to my new PS3, dammit!

Now if they could give me my free games. -_-

I want my free games! 

Ahhhh I love that song!

So they just released everything from the down time at once?  Oh man, some developers are screwed. 

Even better, Kevin Butler is back to Tweeting after a month absence! 
 
https://twitter.com/#!/TheKevinButler

yay and my PS3 just died 3 days ago...awesome!!!

You still can't even get into it without getting an error message. Its probably tons and tons of people downloading stuff and redeeming codes they have been sitting on for a month.

yay and my PS3 just died 3 days ago...awesome!!!

Anyone else notice the store looks different on the main page for the link to this article but is the same on this article.

Here in Sweden it seems to still be semi-down, not a lot of things that work.

Even better, Kevin Butler is back to Tweeting after a month absence! 
 
https://twitter.com/#!/TheKevinButler

free games!

I get the feeling the "real" reason the free content is not available is to sell some stuff as people will be chomping at the bit to get some content and if their was free new content for people some would hold off on buying any untill they played their free stuff, That could be my cynical nature kicking in and they really just need time to optimize, I would not blame them for it as its smart business they need to help 3rd parties make as much as possible to make up for lost revenue and hey sony gets a cut also.
 
Personally I am really pleased with the welcome back package as i planned on picking up infamous to play before 2 came out.
 
I think it would be in Sonys best interest to get Infamous online for people who have not played it asap as it would surely act as a good motivater for consumers to pick up infamous 2.

It's been funny reading on several different sites the comments of other users asking people to not log in for a few weeks to allow PSN time to get upto speed.
 
I am sure a minority of the people are saying this for selfish reasons hoping some may listen thus giving them a better chance of less error messages and enabling them to download some content.
 
This comment is not directed at one person so anybody who has said this please take no offence.

Got the new Fantastic Four table for Marvel Pinball, and quickly got the F out.

yay and my PS3 just died 3 days ago...awesome!!!

twice as bright

The welcome back stuff isn't working yet which is annoying.
 
Also download speeds still stuck compared to XBL. It's back alright.

I just want my free games

Ima download me some demos.

good luck LA noire download content store in game is broken still i think downloading from the psn store still works but i hangs when you go into the in game store.

phew! glad thats over with. 

I just want my free games