Sony has announced it will be performing PlayStation Network maintenance Thursday morning. Maintenance will beginning at approximately 8:00am PT (11:00am ET), at which point the PlayStation Store and Account Management will become unavailable. However, you will still be able to access online play features and apps provided that you sign into PlayStation Network at some point between now and the time of the maintenance.
Maintenance is expected to last until around 8:00pm PT (11:00pm ET), which is a pretty long time to be without online play. So if you are keen on online multiplayer games, I suggest you stop reading this and go sign in.
Sony is chalking this up as "routine maintenance" so don't expect any big features. With several blockbuster games releasing this year on Sony, including God of War: Ascension and its multiplayer component, it's likely Sony wants to tighten up the online experience before we get into the full swing of 2013.
