Almost one year ago, every PlayStation 3 stopped working.
It started with the multiplayer games, leading people to believe that there was a problem with Sony's servers. Shortly after, reports came in that single player games requiring no Internet connection weren't working either. Some 40 million PlayStation 3 systems simply broke. It was like a biblical plague.
It turns out this PlayStation blackout – humorously dubbed the ApocalyPS3 – was caused by a bug in the game's calendar, which believed 2010 to be a leap year. Thankfully, the world kept turning once Sony fixed the bug several days later.
Then, earlier this month, Sony had additional problems, this time on a traumatically larger scale. PlayStation's security servers were hacked, and over 77 million accounts potentially fell victim to the still-unknown perpetrator.
The information he or she has access to includes names, home and email addresses, and - most importantly - the credit card information for some 12 million unlucky PlayStation Network subscribers.
Not only that, but Sony's security was breached again later that week. This time, the subscribers to Sony Online Entertainment's games (‘DC Universe Online,' ‘EverQuest,' ‘Free Realms' and others) were affected. Roughly 27 million accounts were hacked this time - the largest electronic security breach ever.
These events call all future Sony products into question. Will the PlayStation 4 be a consistently reliable machine? Is it worth buying downloadable games from Sony? Is it worth paying $15 a month for something that doesn't work? Pitted against Xbox Live's stable infrastructure, it's obvious where the greener pastures are.
Other gaming companies have had their share of massive failures. Every Xbox 360 released in its first year has a guaranteed failure rate due to cheap internal hardware, but Microsoft gave forgiving users an extended warranty to repair their faulty device. Sony has offered some free content as an olive branch to players unable to play games right now, but is a free $15 game going to make up for 12 million credit cards lost?
Sony has already announced their next handheld console - the NGP (Next Generation Portable). On top of this, E3 - the largest trade show in the industry - is on its way. Nintendo will be announcing the successor of the Wii, and Microsoft will undoubtedly have something fascinating to show as well.
It's hard to believe that Sony CEO Kaz Hirai will be able to announce something large enough to get his company out of the fog of history's largest security breach. The company needs to come out and say how they will retain consumers, and how they will prevent this in the future. Otherwise, there will be significantly more love for Xbox in the future.
Sony has a long, hard road ahead of it when it comes to reclaiming its once stable reputation. It'll be hard for gamers to forgive these mistakes and trust the company with both their credit cards and their free time.
Still, I love what Sony has done for me. I use the PlayStation 2 more than any other console. However, these past unfortunate events are worse than the Black Eyed Peas' Super Bowl Halftime Show. Come on, Sony. Get back that Boom Boom Pow.
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