What an annoying way to hit the middle of my Sunday. I haven’t played my Sony PlayStation 3 in quite some time now, but I heard there was a new game out called Heavy Rain that was pretty dope so I went out and bought it. Yeah, I bought a video game even though I usually get them for free from companies or Ty Rodriguez will hook me up. But this game was supposed to be intense like a murder mystery movie. I started playing it yesterday and it was really slow to begin with until you start setting up all the characters. Today, I was getting through another series of challenges when I realized that I missed something so I shut the PS3 console off so I could start that part over. When I turned it back on, I got an error message 8001050F saying that I was logged out of the server. No biggie, I’ll just log back in. Problem is, it wouldn’t let me. The PS3 just kept showing that same stupid error message. Not only that, for some lame ass reason I need to be logged onto the PlayStation Network just to play Heavy Rain. I can’t play it offline. When I try to load the game, it just displays the error message and quits the game.
I started panicking. Did I mess up my console by turning it off before it saved a part of the game? I looked all over Google and at first, it showed results of people having to restore their systems or having to send it in for repairs. What a pain in the ass. I kept searching then found a long thread from people who were experiencing the same issue. Turns out, there is either a problem with Sony’s server itself or it has something to do with the calendar because it’s February 28, 2010 and the so-called high tech system wigs out because it thinks it’s a leap year or something. Here’s some info that I found posted on a forum because, as we all know, forum people know everything (LOL):
Here’s what’s going on right now: something with the PS3’s internal clock has borked in some pre-slim models. This is not a PSN issue; it has to do with your PS3’s clock. This clock is NOT related to the OS clock. It seems to be a leap year bug. Setting your clock ahead will do nothing. All PS3s around the world were affected at the exact same time.
Does this affect me?
-If you have a Slim PS3, you’re good to go. Continue playing it as normal.
-If you have a “fat” PS3, you may be affected. Some fat PS3s have worked ok, but it seems a good majority have been bugged.
What does this bug mean?
-If affected, your date and time has been set to a random past date. This prevents you from signing into PSN, playing any PSN games, or using any DLC. Your trophies will also not display correctly or be able to sync.
How do I fix it?
-You can’t. Even if you don’t sign into PSN, it won’t help. This is a hardware issue.
So, what do I do?
-Wait 24 hours. Other products that have had similar bugs have corrected themselves after the “bugged” day. On Monday around 8pm central time, all PS3s will automatically correct themselves…maybe.
-If that doesn’t work, we’ll need a firmware update from Sony, which should be a pretty important priority for them right now.
Did I lose my data/themes/etc?
Your save data/games/dlc/themes are fine. They’ll be fixed when the PS3 is fixed. Trophies are uncertain right now, but they’ll be fine if you’ve synced them before the PS3 was bugged. Unsynced trophies are an unknown right now.
If I have a bugged PS3, can I still use it?
It’s probably not a good idea, as I have no idea what will happen to the trophies you earn during the bugged time. Movies/media will work fine.
So there ya go, my handy FAQ.
Ricky “RikDaddy” Chu
Follow Me: http://twitter.com/RikDaddy
Add Me: http://www.facebook.com/rikdaddychu
Friend Me: http://www.myspace.com/rikdaddychu
