This afternoon a fellow co-worker and 360 Fanboy sent me a link to a engadget article. Seems that the PS3 fat is having some major issues. Sony released the following:

As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3.

We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.

Errors include:

* The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
* When the user tries to sign in to the PlayStation Network, the following
message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been
signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”.
* When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears
on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install
trophies. Please exit your game.”
* When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the
Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date
and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)”
* Users are not able to play back certain rental video downloaded from the
PlayStation Store before the expiration date.

We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.

As mentioned above, please be advised that the new slim PS3 is not affected with this error. We are doing our best to resolve the issue and do apologize for any inconvenience caused.

For the latest status on this situation please continue to check either the PlayStation.Blog or PlayStation.com.

Lets hope they get this fixed up pretty quick and with out bricking any PS3′s.. I was really looking forward to getting some more Lego Indiana Jones 2 play in tonight.

Screws Need to come out

Remove all the screws from the back of the Guitar Controller.

The Guts of the controller

The guts of the controller are a little more complex than one would expect, but don’t worry we are only worried about the part circled in red. Click the image for a larger view.

From this photo it actually looks like everything is working normal.. But the small plastic strum bar section that hold the magnet is cracked as you will see in the next image.

Broken Magnet of Strum Bar

This is the section that is the weakest link in the strum bar. It is actually a cheap plastic holder for the magnet that makes contact every time you strum. It would be nice if the strum bar could be flipped as I tend to not use up strokes very often. But it cant so I resorted to crazy glue.

Close up of broken strum bar piece

Glued and letting dry

And that is all it takes to at least get back to rocking for a little while. When putting the guitar back together remeber that the 2 small screws are for in the cut away of the guitar, 4 longest are in the next bolt holes, and all the others are the same size.

Keep Rocking!

This was brought to you by the soothing sounds of Foo Fighters Alone + Easy Target.

In the video game news I have given Rockband2 a break and picked up a copy of the new Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 for PS3. I have not really been playing any RTS games since StarCraft, so it seems pretty fast to me right now. In the campaign mode I seem to be doing ok, but playing against the AI in a one on one game… yah, I don’t seem to last very long and run out of funds and just have to watch my base be bombed and blown to crap.

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you

Code Monkey hang around at front desk
Tell you sweater look nice
Code Monkey offer buy you soda
Bring you cup, bring you ice
You say no thank you for the soda cause
Soda make you fat
Anyway you busy with the telephone
No time for chat
Code Monkey have long walk back to cubicle he sit down pretend to work
Code Monkey not thinking so straight
Code Monkey not feeling so great

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you a lot

Code Monkey have every reason
To get out this place
Code Monkey just keep on working
See your soft pretty face
Much rather wake up, eat a coffee cake
Take bath, take nap
This job “fulfilling in creative way”
Such a load of crap
Code Monkey think someday he have everything even pretty girl like you
Code Monkey just waiting for now
Code Monkey say someday, somehow

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you

To start I ended up picking up a Sega Saturn with a huge stack of games off someone at work a little while back. Although about half the games are less than great titles some of the games that where keeping me playing the past while are: Earth Worm Jim 2, Vitrua Fighter 2, Wipe Out, and Ultimate Doom. With the stack of Sega Saturn games I scored a copy of Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete. Its the collectors edition and comes with a bunch of swag that I guess your suppose to be excited about. Most of the stuff in the kit is pretty much just extra meaningless stuff.. It did come with a sound track disc which is nice since RPG’s norm have some great ambient music.

In the rest of the video game world there are some nice games coming out in the future.

Worm Open Warfare 2 has some great potential to be a casual game that will eat up a huge amount of time. The best thing about this is that its going to be “infrastructure-enabled”.

Sega Rally Revo could finally be the rally game I have been waiting for. Lets not get into how pissed I am about Dirt not being avail on any console or hand held I currently have.

And Lastly, just when I didn’t think I could fall any more behind in never ending series of Socom games.. SOCOM: Tactical Strike from the reviews is shaping up to be the best Socom yet. I really need to get in gear and finish off a few more in the series before the release of this one.

With all this in mind there is only one console that I have never bought just because of the maker. That would be the Microsoft Xbox and now its younger brother. It has never been an issue for me because any of the games I really liked where on other consoles. Halo was less than exciting for me, and reminded me of UT on the Dreamcast. Don’t get me wrong its a good game but was neat but not great enough to get a console for.

The only reason I was thinking this over is because of any article on wired about Microsoft paying $50 mil (I hope this is a joke) for the exclusive rights to downloadable content in Grand Theft Auto IV. Right now it is only confirmed to include extra missions. It really made me think about “what if they had gotten the whole game?”.

My plans this far are still to stay clear of the Microsoft consoles, but if I ever do break down it will be used. If I get it used it counts for one less new sale for them right? :)

Also if you buy more than 2 used games a year you should get the Edge card. It will give you 10% off used games, and 10% bonus trade in value on anything you sell.

Check back if I even stop playing and actually write up a few comments on the game. :)