CNN) - Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming networks experienced widespread problems on Christmas Day as a hacker group claimed responsibility for what it said was an attack.Hundreds of users took to Twitter to report problems with the systems, which lasted much of the day."With the #Xbox hacking shutdown going on I'm watching my 15 year old nephew meltdown: 'I've got nothing else to do!!!!'" Jim Crilley Jr. wrote on the social messaging site.The problem persisted for hours, but Thursday night Xbox Live briefly posted a message on its support website saying: "Were you having a hard time signing in to Xbox Live? If so, we're glad to say we've reached a solution! You can once again sign in without any issues. Thanks for hanging in there while we worked. We appreciate it!"But many PlayStation users were still having difficulty logging on to their network.
Gamers were able to play games offline, but couldn't communicate with other players or make use of network functions.
The hacker group Lizard Squad said earlier it was "smacking" the two systems, apparently one of several attacks in December. The group took responsibility for keeping each network down earlier this month on separate occasions.
On Thursday, the group asked for retweets in exchange for ending the problem, which could be a distributed denial of service attack.
That's when hackers flood networks with illegitimate traffic, overwhelming the ability of the servers.
The problem might be exacerbated by video gamers who received new systems for Christmas and were adding to the potential traffic on one of the busiest gaming days of the year.
I think gamers rely on online connections too much. Most games work offline. 1 day without XBL or PSN isn't a disaster.
The game companies, both in hardware and software, are trying their damnedest to herd gamers into being online-dependent. That's what the industry wants desperately.
With all the online issues (download limits, down servers, hacks, etc), you'd think the gaming industry would rethink this dependence on online. They're not ready.
I don't think they really care about whether they're ready, or whether we're ready as long as we're willing to pay them. Remember, the Xbox One was originally designed around the premise of requiring constant online tethering. They only backed down after a huge public outcry, and you can bet it's not the last you'll hear of the idea, either from Microsoft OR Sony.
And that's just from the hardware front of things. On the software side, Ubisoft has tried repeatedly to require online tethering for its games, and EA had the Online Pass in 2010 and has tried to shoehorn online into all of its games since then in the hopes of keeping you and your debit/credit card tethered to Origin, as well as a persistent fear that the reason for their poor profits is folks reselling their games.
You're right. It's looking like a depressing future. The second it happens I'm out. A few of my friends have said the same. I don't see the point in buying a product I don't actually own. Why would anyone purchase a console that dosn't work unless it's online? Crazy! Hopefully, we can hold it back as long as we can.
The DDOS attack while annoying is not a hack. It's the lowest form of network terrorism and can be pulled of by any group of 12 year olds or trained chimps for that matter.
Hacking involves cracking network security and accessing sensitive information. All they did was create a bunch of noise.
It's really sad that this Idyit Squad claims responsibility like it's something to be proud of.
Lizard Squad probably is a bunch of 12 year olds considering their target is always gaming and their method is always DDOSing, but is there a way to stop their shenanigans so the networks don't go down like this?
MS has a team of Ninja's battling these kinds of problems. They'll figure it out. I'm just mad they made a bunch of programers probably come to work on Xmas.
There not even doing that they are over running the servers with floods of hacks so really they just have a bunch of people over using psn.
No Rodney there were no hacks of any kind. What they did is cripple the servers by flooding them with bullshit packets so that the servers could no longer process legitimate requests for service. Hence the name denial of service.
Think of it as if there are a bunch of morons standing around you screaming nonsense making it impossible for you to hold a conversation with anyone who actually wants to talk to you. Denial of Service has nothing to so with hacking. You could show a bunch of grandmothers how to do it in about 10 minutes given the right tool.
Lizard Squad are not hackers. They are low rent morons with noise generators.
Well that makes more sense lol!! Lizard Squad might in fact be a bunch of grandma's ha ha!!
At this point, it happens often enough that it doesn't surprise me. I just find other things to do while it gets fixed
Its sucks but I'm not shocked. I expected it, they showed that movie so I knew something was coming. I don't believe it was lizard squad, I think it was the ones who hacked Sony Pictures. It's just too much of a conidence that when they show the movie everything starts going haywire.
All Lizard Squad seems to do is DDOS, which as mothman says, really isn't all that special.
Sony had e-mails hacked, which is legit scary, by a group calling itself Guardians of Peace.
Yea, the actuall hacking is much scarier. Stealing accounts is no joke.
People who do this crap need an ass kicking. Many people pay to use both PS+ and Gold, and it pisses me off when I can't use something I'm paying good money for. The only people it hurts are the honest consumers. And yes, I'm in a crappy mood and this is not helping.
I totally agree with you although its not the account there still keeping me from buying Digital games and downloading them I mean 6 freaking times I have downloaded Black Flag tge the site goes down and I have to start over total crap and I hope you get in a better mood sorry your not in a good mood ;)
Although not a major threat there still shutting down psn and xbox live and making it hard for thoughs of us who have got new gifts requiring downloading for an example I snagged Black Flag for $12 on psn and because they keep shutting down the site I have had to re download my game 6 times since I bought it so it is a pain in my ass.
Shame for that, hopefully this gets resolved soon enough for you and the rest to continue using the online services.
I was just playing WiiU and Steam, so I wasn't aware of the attack. Sucks for new console owners that maybe needed crucial updates to their firmware or games. I'm surprised that Microsoft was affected as well. I thought they had tons of cash invested in their network to avoid these types of things?
This isn't the first time this has happened and it won't be the last. The tech will just have to get better, which it will.
My first thoughts in a nutshell:
It made me glad I wasn't an online gamer and mostly play offline and/or retro. Though I do play Ace combat Infinity, the outages didn't really seem to affect me that much.
It just makes me glad that the game industry is now thinking twice about online only titles or systems that require an online connectin to play. had the Xbox One still required an online connection the news stories would've been much bigger and more condemning.