Older PlayStation 3s Recover from Date Glitch

By Geoff Duncan March 2, 2010

Image used with permission by copyright holder

It’s a little scary when you think about it: today, most people rely completely on computers and microprocessors to keep track of times and dates. So why are there are so many high-profile instances of high-tech items not being able to figure out leap years? Back at the end of 2008 Microsoft’s 30 GB Zune media players couldn’t figure out the end of the year (thanks to 2008 being a leap year); now, Sony’s original “fat” PlayStation 3’s have been stunned for a day because they couldn’t figure out 2010 is not a leap year, and had no February 29th.

In any case, now that it’s March 2, 2010, Sony claims that PlayStation Network service is functional again for customers with older, non-slim versions of the PlayStation 3 gaming console. If the time and date displayed on the console’s XMB are not correct, customers can update the settings manually or sync the time via the Internet. Owners of the current “slim” version of the PlayStation 3 were not impacted by the glitch.

Customers whose PlayStation 3 consoles were impacted by the bug may have seen their system clocks reset to January 1, 2000. Users would have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network, and games that utilize trophies may have failed to launch. Some users would not have been able to play videos rented via the PlayStation Store before their expiration date.

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Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

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