It has been almost a week since Playstation Network went offline because of an external intrusion.

Since Sony’s still relatively quiet on the details of what happened and how it will impact us. How long until we can play Portal 2 online, fatalize our buddy on the other side of the country in Mortal Kombat? Is my credit card info safe? Will I keep whatever offline trophies I earn?

You, we, everyone wants answers. Well, we’ve got ‘em. Some of them, anyways. Before you go nuts, yell at your fellow forum-goers and throw out your machine, let us answer some of your basic PSN outage related questions.

Drop more in here and we’ll see what we can do to get to the bottom of them for you.

The BIG PSN Outage FAQ
How long has PSN been down?

The system went down last Wednesday, April 20th. (That’s six days if you’re keeping score.)

When will it be back?

No one really knows, not even Sony. Current rumours suggest that PSN may be going back online in Japan today (4/25), with the US and Europe coming back tomorrow. (4/26)

Can I play games without going online, either by myself or with a friend locally?

Absolutely. Almost every PS3 game, whether it’s played via disc or download, will work so long as you’re using a mode that doesn’t require PSN access. (That’s internet multiplayer, mostly.) There is a small exception to this, which I’ll explain a little later.

What about using a LAN?

Sure, a setting up a little LAN party would be a great alternative. The only problem is that the selection of LAN-capable PS3 games is pretty limited.

Is Anonymous responsible?

Probably not. The group has publicly denied their involvement, and there has been no definitive proof to say otherwise.

So why are they being arrested?

They aren’t. The rumour is based on an old press release from January.

If the network was hacked, should I be worried that someone is stealing my credit card number?

Sony has said that they are investigating whether or not any credit information was stolen. As of now, they haven’t said anything about the status of that investigation. So far there have been no credible reports of identity theft connected to the shutdown.

Some games use digital rights management to prevent piracy. Will that effect my ability to play?

As of now, the only games that we know to be affected are a pair of Capcom downloadable games, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 and the Final Fight/Magic Sword game pack.

So I can’t play any games online or use PSN. Can I still use non-game PSN apps like Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc?

Nope. No game modes, apps or DLC connected to either PSN or Qriocity are currently available.

What about features like the browser, which use the internet, but aren’t connected to PSN?

Users have reported via forums that the PS3 browser still works.

Can I still get system updates?

The system update feature is not connected to PSN and is therefore functional. (Ever notice that you have to sign out of PSN to download an update?) Users can still also download system updates via the Playstation website.

Is there a chance my trophies could get wiped?

Trophies will not update as long as PSN is down, but since most of them are not internet-based, it’s likely (but not definite) that the trophies that you earn during the shutdown will be added to your account when it updates once PSN is back online. If you were to delete your account or if your console were to crash, however, you would definitely lose any trophies earned while PSN is down. Currently, it is not possible to check trophies via the Playstation website.

Will I lose my saved game data?

Not likely, your saved game data is stored on your hard drive, and therefore should not be effected by outage.

Am I more likely to lose my data if I’ve been using the cloud storage feature of

Playstation Plus?

No. While you definitely aren’t able to update any data you’ve saved in the cloud, the cloud data is technically a copy of whatever was saved from your machine, so even if the back-up data was lost your save would still be in tact on the machine where it was originally recorded.

Sources:

www.kotaku.com Mike Epstine

The Official Playstation Forum

NeoGAF