Sony announced earlier in the week that the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services would be fully restored in the United States, Europe, and most of Asia by the end of this week. This, however, excludes Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea, but the company is excited to welcome back its customers. The PlayStation Network and Qriocity online services were fully restored on June 3rd and are now completely operational. This means that the PlayStation Store is finally open for business once again and Music Unlimited members can get back to using their accounts normally. Along with the addition of some great new content being available for PS3 and PSP, June 3rd also marked the start of Sony's “Welcome Back” Program. This offer gives existing members, those who held PSN accounts before April 20th, the chance to get their hands on some awesome content—free of charge!
Existing members have the opportunity to choose and play up to 2 games for both PS3 and PSP consoles, so a total of 4 games can be downloaded for free. For PS3, Dead Nation, inFAMOUS, LittleBigPlanet, Super Stardust HD, and Wipeout HD + Fury are being offered as freebies while LittleBigPlanet Portable, ModNation Racers, Pursuit Force, and Killzone Liberation are available for PSP. In addition to these freebies, Sony is offering a free 30-day membership to PlayStation Plus. This paid premium service allows subscribers the luxury to enjoy early beta and demo access and take advantage of many discounts in the PlayStation Store. With Plus, members can also utilize the cloud saving feature which enables online saving for saved games and automatic updates for recently played games. Those who are already enrolled in PlayStation Plus will receive an extra 60 days free as an added bonus for using the premium service.
Existing members of the PlayStation Network can activate their free trial of Plus any time before July 3rd and it will expire in exactly 30 days. During this period, Plus accounts will be fully operational, but once the trial has ended, the free content will not be accessible unless you decide to subscribe. No commitment is required for the free trial and there is no auto-renew in place after 30-days of activation. Sony and its subsidiaries would like to thank its customers once again for their support and patience; they would also like to remind those who are concerned about security that the network has been substantially reworked and reinforced. While there is never the guarantee that the system is perfect, the company wants to assure its customers that their accounts and information are safe, and that the chances of another attack are significantly reduced. It's been a rocky road for Sony and its customers for the last few months, but it seems that the light at the end of the tunnel is finally being reached.
(Click image for full details on the Welcome Back Program)