PlayStation Network Now Operational in Asia

Sony announced that the PlayStation Network online service is now operational in various Asian countries, including its native Japan, but only in a limited fashion.

Sony got the PSN up and running after last month's serious hacker attack, and allowed European and North American users access to it at the beginning of the month, with things like online multiplayer or account management being available to them after a lengthy outage.

Things were a bit more tricky for Sony's Asian markets, but the company has now announced that users from a variety of countries, including Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, as well as the company's native Japan, are getting access once more to the online service.

The announcement was accompanied by a personal statement from Kazuo Hirai, Sony's PlayStation boss, who apologized for the outage and the delay in PSN restoration.

"I'd also like to send my sincere regret to customers in Japan and Asian countries and regions for the inconvenience these events have caused you," said Kazuo Hirai, executive deputy president, Sony Corporation.

"We are taking aggressive action including increasing security measures and working with respective authorities to address the concerns that were raised by this incident. We are making consumer data protection a full-time, company wide commitment so that our customers can rest assured about enjoying their entertainment."

A special identity theft protection program will also be offered to Japanese PSN users, similar to the deal Sony is giving to North American customers, which was detailed last week.

A special 'make good' offer is also set to appear once the PlayStation Store part of the PSN is operational, with users getting two free games for the PlayStation 3 and PSP, out of a choice of four titles that will be picked depending on the country or region.

According to the most recent rumor, the Store may be brought back in North America and Europe later this week.