I know you are waiting for additional information on when PlayStation Network and Qriocity services will be online. Unfortunately, I don’t have an update or timeframe to share at this point in time. As we previously noted, this is a time intensive process and we’re working to get them back online quickly. Will keep you updated with information as it becomes available. We once again thank you for your patience.

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We sincerely regret that PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have been suspended, and we are working around the clock to bring them both back online. Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure. Though this task is time-consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security.

We thank you for your patience to date and ask for a little more while we move towards completion of this project. We will continue to give you updates as they become available.

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Hope you’re enjoying the long weekend, if you’re lucky enough to have one in your country. Happy Easter. Here’s your recap:

PlayStation.Blog.Europe Weekly Content Recap

• EA Releases New, Extended Battlefield 3 Gameplay Trailer - We get the first glimpse at EA’s upcoming blockbuster.
• Under Siege Release Date, Price And Free Comic - The PSN strategy game gets a release date.
• This week on the SingStore (20 April 2011) - Nina updates us with a new track list for the Easter break.
• Uncharted 3 Multiplayer Modes Detailed - Naughty Dog is looking to take on the big guns with Uncharted 3′s multiplayer and reveals the first details.
• See inFAMOUS 2-s Mission Designer In Action, More Details On Single Player - Traffic figures tell me you’re excited about inFamous 2 so here are some more details.
• FirstPlay Episode 54 - The latest video features from the FirstPlay team.
• Fame Awaits With Chime Super Deluxe Music Competition - Compose a track and it could be made available to play in Chime Super Deluxe.
• Design Character Costumes From Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One And See Them In The Game - Another creative competition: your character designs could feature in Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One.
• Red Johnson’s Chronicles Investigates PlayStation Network Tomorrow - Get a glimpse of the crime noir adventure available now from PlayStation Store.
• SOCOM: Special Forces Deploys This Week - It’s out now!
• The Last Guardian, ICO And SOTC Collection Update - We’ll have to wait a little longer for Ueda-san’s next epic.
• PlayStation Plus Mid-Month Update - Some mid-month treats for PlayStation Plus subscribers.
• ‘Heads-Up’ Game Store Update 20th April 2011 - Your weekly PS Store update.
• Digital Comics Store Update (20th April 2011) - Pauline brings another PSP reading list.
• Eufloria Takes Root On PSN - Take a look at this ambient title coming soon to PSN.
• PlayStation Home: Version 1.50 Is Here - A new set of tools, available to developers, mean we’ll be seeing lots of multiplayer games coming to Home soon.
• Mortal Kombat: How To Dominate With Kratos - As MK releases, find out how best to unleash the God of War.
• Duke Nukem Forever: PS3 Details And Duke’s PlayStation Roots - Randy Pitchford explains why Duke had to come to PS3.
• Update on PSN Service Outages - This week’s PSN outage.
• Operation Flashpoint: Red River Is Out Now! - Check out this TV ad for the military shooter, out now.
• Design Your Own Portable ID - Your designs could be included at eu.playstation.com.
• Persona 3 Portable Coming To PSP April 29 - The quirky RPG is making its way to European PSPs.
• The Enemies Of F3AR - We have some concept art of what you’ll be up against in the horror shooter.
• Gamocracy - The Bearded Ladies bring the latest chapter of their community game project.

What we learned on eu.playstation.com this week:

• Weekend Essentials 75 - Some ideas for the long weekend ahead…
• SOCOM: Special Forces preview - Seize control on PS3 with the SOCOM: Special Forces preview.
• Portable ID competition - The Portable ID design challenge is up and running – get your entries in!
• Introducing The Studio - PlayStation welcomes some cool street, urban and digital art in The Studio.
• Redesign Qwark and Nefarious - Your chance to dress up Captain Qwark and Dr Nefarious is here.

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An external intrusion on our system has affected our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. In order to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services going forward, we turned off PlayStation Network & Qriocity services on the evening of Wednesday, April 20th. Providing quality entertainment services to our customers and partners is our utmost priority. We are doing all we can to resolve this situation quickly, and we once again thank you for your patience. We will continue to update you promptly as we have additional information to share.

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Hi gamocrats. This has been an exciting (and long) week here at the bearded ladies office. After first round of testing we were able to cut away some fat and polish the core aspects of the game. Some of the key decisions that were made:

• “Colored orbs” from earlier dev diary were cut as they did not play well with the rest of the game mechanics.
• Control scheme for head uses initial “x for throw/stop/retrieve”. After having been through several others the original was the one our testers liked the best.
• Energy/Damage system goes to 100. H7 becomes “charged” (abilities improved) once over 50.
• At most 50 damage can be taken at any one time. So a player who have reached “charged” mode can take an additional hit.
• H7′s default jump length/height was improved since forcing “head bounces” too often slowed down the game to much. This also led to several revisions of the levels.
• Magnet was given a slight “swing” ability (from the original idea) in order to make it feel more dynamic.
• Energy (life) is used as ammo for the arm gun, giving players even more incentive to pick up the energy crystals around the map.

Now we are once again in production mode and spitting out new levels at breakneck speed. Our goal was to have a minimum of six levels per world and it looks like we should be able to achieve this. The jungle world is almost complete and even Japan is getting some attention.

We also got the music for the US world last week and the other two tracks are soon done. Note! This will not exclude Djdkdance’s contributions, we have something very special in store for those .

We will be releasing videos up until next Thursday (before “the pitch” challenge deadline), covering the basics of the different worlds. Below you will find the first.

As you can tell the gameplay changes quite a bit between the different worlds. This is definitely our goal and we are currently working on the distinct game mechanics for Japan. We are close to submitting the game to quality assurance so soon you will be able to enjoy H7 as much as we are doing.

Over and out!

The Bearded Ladies

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