NewNews - Playstation Network down for now

Source: Gamasutra (check bottom)

When I tried to log-in to PSN so that I could connect to the servers for Demon's Souls on Playstation 3 last night, I kept receiving a message about an error in connection.  I thought it was my internet, but it wasn't since it worked on my computer.  Usually when PSN goes down for maintenance, I'll see a report on Joystiq or Kotaku.  I personally find it very difficult to find out when PSN goes down for an update or maintenance.  So it seemed to have started at 8:50PM Eastern time on April 20th when Sony saw some problems with network connections.  Some are speculating that it might be an attack by the "anonymous" hacker that has been threatening Sony for their actions against the group of modders and hackers who were working with different operating systems on the Playstation 3.  There also has been an on-going boycott against the new Digital rights management (DRM) implemented in games that prevent players from playing a game unless they're connected to the internet and have it registered at all times when playing.  This was created as a counter-measure against pirating games which has been a major issue in the entertainment industry.  Problems occurred with the DRMs in the past which locked players out of their own game, prevented a game from being played when the internet goes down (even if the game is single-player or offline), and still manages to have hackers break through the DRM and continue to pirate games.  Having the servers go down for the PSN locked out many players who owned games that have a DRM on it from being played.  I actually didn't even know that Playstation 3 had DRMs on them.  My own problem was that I couldn't connect to the servers for Demon's Souls and I'm near the end (I think) which makes a lot of the messages that players leave behind very important (as well as their bloodstains).  I ended up playing Call of Duty: Black Ops since I haven't played through the campaign yet.  Through this little predicament, I think Sony should have a more efficient way of letting players know that the server is down, what happened to it, and have estimated times of when it will be back up.  Also, the industry needs to find a better way of preventing pirating without having players who bought the game go through so many problems with connecting to the servers and always having an internet connection in order to play their single-player games.

Source: Gamasutra - Sony Investigating PSN Outage, Service May Be Down For 'A Day Or Two' 

UPDATE:
The Playstation Network outage that hit Playstation 3s last night looks like it's turning into a bit of a mess.
"While we are investigating the cause of the Network outage, we wanted to alert you that it may be a full day or two before we're able to get the service completely back up and running,"

Source: Kotaku - PlayStation Outage Makes Some Capcom Games Unplayable Offline

Hmmm, maybe I should play some PC games the next few days...