Around the world, PlayStation 3 consoles simply aren't working like they're supposed to, with an error — Error: 8001050F — preventing people from not just going online, but from playing some PS3 games offline as well. [Post updated throughout day.] 
 
 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. 
 
 
 
 UPDATE 5 (8:20 am Mountain Time) - Sony U.S. silent since Sunday, but PlayStation Europe Tweets three times in the past hour: "Rest assured, we've many people working on fixing this issue. As soon as we have some news, we'll let you know." and then "Please don't trust info regarding this issue unless from an official Sony source. On Twitter this means @PlayStationEU and @SonyPlayStation." and then "We will be updating you the second we have some news." 
 
 UPDATE 6: Error code 8001050F was causes by a fault in the PS3's clock functionality, Sony tells Kotaku. A fix should be coming within 24 hours. Until then, stay off your console, they say. More details here. 
 
 
 
 UPDATE 7: Around 24 hours after the problem was first reported, people's PlayStation 3 consoles finally seem to be returning to normal. ||||| Posted by Patrick Seybold // Sr. Director, Corporate Communications & Social Media 
 
 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)”. 
 
 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.” 
 
 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)” 
 
 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. ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Xbox Live and PlayStation have more than 150 million users between them 
 
 Microsoft and Sony have been working to restore internet platforms for their Xbox and PlayStation games consoles. 
 
 Attacks disabled the online services on Christmas Day, making it difficult for users to log on. 
 
 The Xbox Live status page suggested on Saturday that Microsoft services had been restored. PlayStation said it was getting to grips with the issue and thanked users for their patience. 
 
 A hacking group called Lizard Squad claimed to have caused the problems. 
 
 The name is the same used by a group of hackers that has targeted Sony in the past. 
 
 Microsoft's Xbox Live has 48 million subscribers and Sony's PlayStation system has more than double that number, at about 110 million users. 
 
 In a tweet posted on Saturday morning, PlayStation said: "Update: PS4, PS3, and Vita network services are gradually coming back online - thanks for your patience." 
 
 A later statement said: "We are seeing reduced reports of network issues. We'll continue to monitor." 
 
 'Member Two' 
 
 A hacker claiming to be from Lizard Squad - a 22-year-old calling himself Member Two - said it had hacked the sites "because we can". 
 
 He also suggested the motive was to demonstrate weaknesses in the two companies systems. 
 
 "It's just such a huge company Microsoft... Do you not think they should be able to prevent such an attack?" he told BBC Radio 5live. 
 
 "Is Christmas really about children playing with their new consoles, or playing with their new toys, or is it about them spending time with their families and celebrating Christmas?" he added. 
 
 "I think everyone's just taking it all out of the ordinary." 
 
 Analysis: Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC technology correspondent 
 
 Image copyright AFP 
 
 Sony executives must be asking themselves - when will it stop? 
 
 The attack on the PlayStation network - along with Microsoft's Xbox Live network - is nothing like as serious and sophisticated as the Sony Pictures hack. 
 
 But the impact on customers is more direct, and the fact that the company has taken longer than Microsoft to get its network up and running is another blow to the reputation of its security operation. 
 
 The distributed denial of service attack which overwhelmed the servers at Sony and Microsoft appears to have been on a very large scale, and came when traffic would have already been very high. 
 
 But customers are just as angry with Lizard Squad, the group which claims it launched the attack - and has since justified it with some rather pompous statements about exposing poor security. 
 
 The group now appears to have set its sights on bringing down Tor, the secure network which enables anonymous online communication. That has incurred the wrath of the better known hacker collective Anonymous - so prepare for more online conflict in the coming days. 
 
 Services disconnected 
 
 To make the most of the Xbox and PlayStation consoles players have to connect to the internet in order to reach the console manufacturers' servers. 
 
 The outage stopped people accessing some core services, such as registering a new account, connecting with other people to play the same game and connecting to entertainment channels via the console. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A hacking group called Lizard Squad claimed to have caused the problem 
 
 Earlier this month a different branch of Sony - Sony Pictures Entertainment - was hit by a cyber attack that stole huge amounts of data from its servers. 
 
 The fallout from that hack soon focussed on The Interview, a film featuring a fictional plot to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un. 
 
 No link between Sony Pictures hack and the gaming service disruptions has been confirmed. 
 
 However, the latest disruption did mean that many families were unable to enjoy their new Christmas presents. 
 
 In the UK, Ros Bruce, from Essex, said her 10-year-old son got an Xbox One for Christmas, had spent most of the day in tears, and called for Xbox to provide compensation. 
 
 Ian Hornby, from Lancashire, spent a frustrating time trying to connect a new PlayStation to the Sony network, and said he hoped that the electronics giant would now invest in better protection for its systems.
– Sony is advising many PS3 owners not to use their consoles for 24 hours while the company fixes a massive bug affecting consoles around the world. Older versions of the system have been unable to log on to the Playstation Network, and in some cases even unable to play games, thanks to a quirk in the system’s clock. Developers tell Kotaku their PS3s have fallen into “a rebooting cycle, due to an endlessly-looping error message.” “Rest assured, we’ve many people working on fixing this issue,” Sony’s European arm tweeted this morning. The company later released a full statement outlining the problems, which you can read here. The bug affects only the older, “fat” versions of the system, not the newer “PS3 Slim,” the company is quick to point out.