All around the world, PlayStation 3 consoles simply aren't working like they're supposed to, with an error preventing people from not just going online, but from playing some PS3 games offline as well.

From Europe to the Americas to, well, my house in Australia, users (mostly of older "Fat" consoles, those released before 2009's "PS3 Slim") have been complaining since Sunday that upon booting their consoles up, they're unable to sign into their accounts, check their trophies, use dynamic themes or access the PlayStation Network. That's fine, Sony say there are PSN connection problems, and that they are "looking into it".

Problem is, the error does more than just prevent you from going online. It prevents you from playing certain games offline as well. Even for some consoles that aren't connected to the PSN, like debug units. The screen above is what I was greeted with on a retail console when attempting to play Heavy Rain, and pressing out of it simply reboots the PS3, returning you to the main menu screen. It's the same story for other games that feature dynamic trophy support.

PSN games are no different; I tried to boot up "Flower", only to be greeted with a similar message about failed copyright protection, and it was right back to the XMB.

Sony say "stay tuned" for updates on the problem. In turn, we've emailed Sony for comment and will update if we hear anything more.

While theories abound that this has something to do with the calendar on older PS3s (some users are reporting their date/time settings have been reset), bear in mind Sony has redesigned its PlayStation website over the weekend, so it could be the result of some tinkering under the hood for the PlayStation Network. Then again, if consoles not connected to the PSN are also affected, it could be something else. Who knows!

Whatever it is, though, you have to wonder at the design process that turns a network outage into something stopping you from playing an offline, singleplayer title.

UPDATE - Sony has updated, saying "We're narrowing down the issue and continue to work to restore service to all. Updates as soon as we have them."

UPDATE 2 - A mass story-telling session on internet gaming forum NeoGAF points towards the issue potentially being related to a calendar bug in older PlayStation 3 consoles, not the PlayStation Network as was first suspected. Bear in mind this is mob science, however, and is by no means official confirmation on the cause of the problem.

UPDATE 3 - Citing unnamed "developers and studios", British site Develop say that the issue is affecting titles currently in production for the PlayStation 3, with debug consoles - used by developers to actually make games - thrown "into a rebooting cycle, due to an endlessly-looping error message".

UPDATE 4 - PS3's still aren't working, and there has been no official update from Sony in over 9 hours. Their last Twitter update says that they believe the issue does not appear to be impacting PS3 Slim consoles.

Everyone READ THIS PLEASE.

Here's what's going on right now: something with the PS3's internal clock has borked in some pre-slim models. This is not a PSN issue; it has to do with your PS3's clock. This clock is NOT related to the OS clock. It seems to be a leap year bug. Setting your clock ahead will do nothing. All PS3s around the world were affected at the exact same time.

Does this affect me?

-If you have a Slim PS3, you're good to go. Continue playing it as normal.
-If you have a "fat" PS3, you may be affected. Some fat PS3s have worked ok, but it seems a good majority have been bugged.

What does this bug mean?

-If affected, your date and time has been set to a random past date. This prevents you from signing into PSN, playing any PSN games, or using any DLC. Your trophies will also not display correctly or be able to sync.

How do I fix it?

-You can't. Even if you don't sign into PSN, it won't help. This is a hardware issue.

So, what do I do?

-Wait 24 hours. Other products that have had similar bugs have corrected themselves after the "bugged" day. On Monday around 6pm central time, all PS3s will automatically correct themselves...maybe.

-If that doesn't work, we'll need a firmware update from Sony, which should be a pretty important priority for them right now.

Did I lose my data/themes/etc?

Your save data/games/dlc/themes are fine. They'll be fixed when the PS3 is fixed. Trophies are uncertain right now, but they'll be fine if you've synced them before the PS3 was bugged. Unsynced trophies are an unknown right now.

If I have a bugged PS3, can I still use it?

It's probably not a good idea, as I have no idea what will happen to the trophies you earn during the bugged time. Movies/media will work fine.

So there ya go, my handy FAQ.

Interesting. Not familiar with the "calender issue." But if it supposedly fixes itself, not the end of the world (some of those posts on NeoGAF are hilarious). If not, at least Sony is addressing it.

Fortunately, I have no need to even play mine until GoW 3 hits on the 16th

I guess we'll see tomorrow if the problem goes away on its own, or if Sony actually has to admit it screwed up (shock! horror!) and finally get off its *** and fix ****. This is ridiculous, and unacceptable.

Coren:

What about their policy of refusing to fix 60 gb units?

Summary: PS3 slim is good to go, older models should be fine within 24 hrs. Leave em off until then.

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 playback 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 check either the PlayStation blog (blog.us.playstation.com) or PlayStation.com.

However, as BDs, DVDs, and MP4 files play just fine, I haven't noticed the issue.

Coren:

What about their policy of refusing to fix 60 gb units?

Both Kaffis and I were informed that they would replace our unit with a new 80gb unit instead of fixing our 60gb units.

That's good! Its 20 more gigs!

You must be some sort of communist to not want more gigs!

Is that it Khross? Are you a communist?

Nah, it's the policy that they refuse to do anything other than steal your backwards compatibility if your 60GB breaks.