More repercussions for Sony; Microsoft along for the ride
Around 3:00 pm on Wednesday, Playstation and Microsoft users began experiencing problems accessing their respective online services, Playstation Network and Xbox Live. Log-in and content purchasing problems and online multiplayer issues were among the most complaints on the PSN and Xbox Live outages.
Lizard Squad, an anonymous hacker group that has previously attacked PSN back in August and earlier this month, has laid claims to this Christmas gift on Twitter:
Xbox Live #offline
— Lizard Squad (@LizardMafia) December 25, 2014
PSN #offline
— Lizard Squad (@LizardMafia) December 25, 2014
The hacker squad tweeted out prior to the initial attacks that they were preparing for something big:
The lulz will begin tomorrow if everything goes as planned.
— Lizard Squad (@LizardMafia) December 24, 2014
Holy shit, this might be our biggest attack yet. — Lizard Squad (@LizardMafia) December 24, 2014
After Sony Pictures Entertainment was attacked last month for its controversial upcoming picture The Interview, which centers around the assassination of North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un, Lizard Squad promised another “Christmas gift” if the company released the movie.
After an initial delay, Sony began distributing the movie Thursday in a little over 300 theaters across the United States, and managed to pull in $1.04 million. The movie is also available online.
Xbox Live, which began offering The Interview on demand, was targeted by the hacker group as well. Lizard Squad offered a hint on Twitter on Wednesday of the impending trouble:
So, I’m wondering, how’s Xbox Live doing these days?
— Lizard Squad (@LizardMafia) December 24, 2014
On Thursday, reports were flooding the support pages of both Xbox and Playstation for answers as both were experiencing problems. And once again, Lizard Squad had a bit of fun mocking gamers who were attempting to access the PSN and Xbox Live networks on Xbox One and PS4.
I wonder how many people tried to return their new console thinking it was broken.
— Lizard Squad (@LizardMafia) December 25, 2014
Nintendo for life
— Lizard Squad (@LizardMafia) December 25, 2014
Stay tuned to Pixelpine for updates.
[…] After a frustrating Christmas for gamers that saw the shutdowns of PSN AND Xbox Live, Xbox owners saw a little bit of relief as the core services for Xbox Live were restored but are still limited due to the amount of users trying to access the servers. Meanwhile, Playstation’s support page on Twitter offered a somewhat dismal message to its followers, stating there is “no ETA” for when services will be back up and running. […]