Editorial: The PlayStation Network Outage Survival Guide

Hello friends, if you are reading this, you may have realized that there has been a PlayStation Network outage for an extended period of time. It's been five long days already with probably a few more on the horizon. Certainly by now there are riots in the streets, protests, Nintendo fans celebrating the fact that their method of online gaming is not the worst out there while this outage continues on, as well as grown men in fetal positions checking the status of the outage every minute. Certainly there are ways to lessen the pain of not being able to play online and I have those tips just for you with my own handy dandy PlayStation Network outage survival guide.

1. Play games in single player mode: There are many people who only play multiplayer games like Call of Duty. Little do they realize that these games also have single player modes. Time for COD enthusiasts on PS3 to take a break from leveling up to try beating the campaign. There are plenty of people who have not touched this mode and it is a sad sight to see. If you are looking to buy a new single player game to keep your thumbs busy during the outage, check out masterpieces such as Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2, any Ratchet and Clank Future game, God of War III, and many more. There are tons of amazing single player games out there. You might even be able to find some bargain bin titles that will keep you busy offline for hours.

2. Play with friends in the same room: If you can't play against your friends online, invite them over to your house. Sure, you have to play split screen but that ain't stopping the fun. Just make sure it is people who actually want to play video games when they come over. If they at first refuse, tell them you've fallen and can't get up or that you're addicted to crystal meth and need an immediate intervention. And when they come over, make sure you have food ready for your guests. People like food, especially cheese doodles.

3. Enjoy the outdoors: If you've been addicted to multiplayer modes of games like Killzone 3, Uncharted 2, LitleBigPlanet 2 or others, you may have forgotten what that yellow circle in the sky is, that's the sun. Going outside and walking is great exercise. Since you first grabbed that Sixaxis or Dualshock 3 controller, you may have noticed that your body might have gotten a little wider and puffier than you remember. Time to get rid of that weight and run some laps at a track, your local park, or even your neighborhood. If your body mass has stayed the same, do the same thing. Chase birds, feed ducks at a local pond, pick a person out of a crowd and chase him. Make a game out of whatever you do outside and it can be about half as fun as getting those sweet headshots. Going outside every once in a while is always good.

4. Find other forms of amusement: There's lots to do other than playing video games but many other forms of amusement do not compare. You're gonna have to just suck it up and do it. That mexican game with the ball attached to the cup looks fun or just watch a bunch of movies... oh that's right, all video streaming services won't work on your nice TV while PSN is down. If you like sleeping, maybe knocking yourself into a coma until the outage is over is just your cup of tea. My point is there's lots of other things to do than play video games. Maybe finding a new hobby will change your life.

5. Play online on another system: Whoa there partner, you would never consider this. After all those years of being completely loyal to the PlayStation brand? You're the type of person who would spit on an Xbox 360 controller and break someone's Wii before they got the chance to play with it. You'd be out of your mind to betray Sony after all those years. Certainly if you are not a loyalist, go right ahead and pick up on all the multiplayer fun on Xbox 360 or play some Super Smash Bros. Brawl on Wii if you don't mind the lag. There's lots of fun to be had on the two other systems on the market.

So there you have it, my PlayStation Network outage survival guide. If you follow these tips, you'll be completely sane until PlayStation Network goes back online. When that is nobody knows for sure. Stay tuned to GamersCast Podcast for more information.