Old PS3s locked out of PlayStation Network

Sony seeks solution as slimline consoles continue to connect

Sony has confirmed that many if not all of its old-style chunky PlayStation 3 consoles will no longer connect to the PlayStation Network.

The glitch, which began to strike users worldwide yesterday, does not affect the new, slimline version of the console.

The machines are "connecting normally", Sony said on its official Twitter page.

"We're aware that many of you are having problems connecting to PSN, and yes, we're looking into it," it said, but later adding: "We're narrowing down the issue and continue to work to restore service to all. Updates as soon as we have them."

The issue clearly affects games played on PSN, but it's also hitting game played offline but which connect to the PSN to gather league table data and suchlike.

There's plenty of speculation as to why the glitch might have emerged at this point in time, from some kind of bug in the old console's timekeeping software that resets the date beyond the range PSN accepts at login to a recent redesign of the PlayStation website.

Cynics might even suggest that it comes as a result of back-end work on PSN carried out by Sony as a precursor to the introduction of access fees. However, there is no evidence to suggest this at this time. ®