… of the Month: The (8001050F) PS3 Kill Switch.

PS3 Murderer of the Month: The (8001050F) Kill Switch

By the time you read this, I can only hope this horror is a fading memory. For now, however, I am suffering through truly the grimmest day in my gaming life. Without delving too deeply into my personal struggle, let me recap exactly what is going on.

On February 28^th, 2010, at around 5:00 PM EST, give or take, something happened to older model PS3s (such as the 60 GB backward compatible launch model) that caused them to essentially stop functioning as gaming devices. No one (including Sony, apparently) knows what happened, but those affected have noted the following:

1. Trophies vanish (the entire record of the game ever existing is wiped from Trophy memory on your PS3) upon trying to load games. These games reach the obligatory checking/installing Trophy data screens, display an error message, and force quit the game. In other words, you can’t play ANY games that have Trophies, both on- AND offline. I have personally tried disconnecting completely from the network and attempting to start White Knight Chronicles for the first time, and I haven’t been able to play it.

2. The PlayStation Network (PSN) is completely inaccessible. Upon attempting to log into the network, or sync Trophies (to alleviate the Trophy errors mentioned in point 1), users are greeted with the 8001050F error, and fail to connect. To be sure, the Internet works perfectly, but PSN cannot be accessed.

3. Due to point 2, no downloadable games, or DLC of any kind, seem to be accessible. Users report being relegated back to demo mode on games for which they’ve purchased full-game upgrades, and not being able to play certain downloaded games at all. Again, attempting to play any game results in Trophies being expunged from the PS3’s memory.

4. Those with later-model PS3s, such as the Slim 120 and 250 GB models, have reported no problems. In fact, when logging into my account on his PS3, Captain Eric was able to view all of my Trophy information, despite that some of it was removed from my own PS3, and that I was not able to access anything with my 60 GB model. Again, the issue seems to affect only those PS3s that were manufactured around 2-3 years ago, possibly prior to the introduction of Trophies.

Now, as I’m writing this, since Sony has offered only a few (exactly 3) updates about this issue, via Twitter, and none have been informative in the least, we can only speculate as to what the issue is. It obviously seems to have something to do with Trophies, as they seem to be the single issue keeping everyone from playing any games, regardless of whether people’s PS3s are even connected to the Internet. More than that, who can say? Some suggest it’s a virus; some say it’s a simple network error. I suggest it’s absurd that I can’t play anything on my PS3 because of Trophies I don’t even want.

This brings me to a rather frightening thought, though. Does Sony essentially have a Kill Switch, or, basically, the ability to render our machines completely useless, just by messing with something as asinine as Trophy support? I can’t play any games that have Trophy support, and there is nothing I can do about it. Since the issue affects only old systems, Sony can basically keep screwing with me until I buy a new model! Of course, they wouldn’t do that… right? Right?? *deep breaths*

Paranoia aside, serious question to the universe: Why on Earth are ALL games now so inexplicably tied to Trophy data that they can’t even be played if there’s some glitch in recognizing said data? How many people actually care so much about Trophies that they would be willing to subject themselves to a system in which games don’t even work if Trophies don’t? I know there are a few, but really.

Now, I’ve rambled on far too long about this (I could go on—oh, could I go on), so I’ll just end by asking for the following comments from readers:

1. Have you or your loved ones been affected by the Trophypocalypse?

2. If given the option, would you opt out of Trophies (e.g., you lose all Trophies you have, and can never receive Trophies) for all games, if it meant you would never experience issues like this?

(P.S. As I’m writing this, it’s about 1:00 AM on March 1, and the issue still persists. Stay strong, everyone; we’ll get through this. Someone design bracelets.)