It’s been over a year since the infamous PlayStation Network debacle angered a lot of gamers and didn’t allow anyone with a PlayStation platform to enjoy online play for a lengthy period of time. Since then, things have gotten better for PlayStation 3 owners, but dirtbag hackers have continued to annoy people, going so far as to target a few Xbox 360 users, too. Despite the fact that the days of the PlayStation Network outage are behind us, EA cites that incident as one of the major factors behind the lack of support for digital distribution, reports Gamasutra.

At the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2012 Global Technology Conference, EA COO Peter Moore stated that gamers are far keener to go into actual retail stores to purchase digital download cards as opposed to buying games online. He also made a hard-to-believe claim that most gamers don’t own credit cards. “A lot of our consumers don’t own credit cards,” said Moore. “A lot of our consumers are still afraid of what happened to the PlayStation Network when 77 million accounts were accessed by Anonymous in 2011.”

Moore went on to say that EA is a big supporter of retail. While I’m personally a fan of both retail and digital content, it’s what the COO said next that kind of bothered me: “The other key thing is selling digital content on the day of launch … When we sold Mass Effect 3 back in March, we saw a 40 percent attach rate that first week to DLC at GameStop in the United States. Not only are you selling a $60 game … you’re selling $20 DLC, so the sale becomes $80.”

In other words, gamers are paying $80 for one game, which is kind of a messed up thing to do. And while Mass Effect 3 already offered a ton of content to gamers for $60, there are other titles out there that seem to charge the standard $60 fee, only to release small DLC packs that feel like they should have already been included in the game to begin with. That’s kind of rotten when you really think about it.

Also, it’s totally hilarious that both EA and Bank of America are mentioned here considering they took the top spots in The Consumerist Worst Company in America 2012 awards.

The latest edition of Pulse, Sony’s news roundup video feature, has revealed that I Am Alive topped the PlayStation Network charts in April. This is a bit surprising considering I Am Alive received mixed reviews.

While exact sales figures weren’t revealed, Ubisoft’s downloadable action-adventure title managed to beat out Journey, which is actually kind of surprising. The art game from thatgamecompany went on to become the fast-selling PlayStation Network game of all time, so to learn that I Am Alive, which didn’t fare as well among review sites, actually managed to top it comes as quite a shocker.

It’s worth pointing out that a single Vita game made the list. Escape Plan, which also received its fair share of mixed reviews, just made it onto the list, snagging the number 10 spot.

Other noteworthy games that made the list include Skullgirls, The Walking Dead, and Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES. All of these games have been held in high regard by gamers, so it goes without saying that their spots are well deserved. Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection, on the other hand, makes absolutely no sense. Seriously, who even wants to play that?

There’s no denying how impressive thatgamecompany’s Journey on the PlayStation Network really is. When it launched a couple of months ago, it quickly became the fastest-selling game on Sony’s digital platform, surpassing countless other quality titles. What separated Journey from other art games was just how inviting it was. It didn’t alienate gamers who aren’t fans of the genre, and as a result, it provided most people who played it with a gripping, unforgettable experience.

According to Jenova Chen, the lead designer behind Journey, Sony’s platform is geared toward gamers with more adult tastes — individuals who want something a bit different and artistic — as opposed to the Xbox 360 and Wii. “Sony has a more artistic and adult-focused taste,” Chen told GamesBeat. “The player who owns a PlayStation 3 is more likely to be interested in artistic games compared to Wii and Xbox 360.”

Sony was quick to back Chen’s statements, saying that the PlayStation 3 was a platform dedicated to an audience with more adult tastes. “Many PlayStation and PSN games have themes that require a user to think and feel about a deep, immersive gameplay experience, and we see that exemplified in the success of titles like Flower, Journey, and Heavy Rain,” stated Sony’s Jack Buser. ” Titles like these can only be found on PlayStation, and our users enjoy the emotional and thematic sophistication of their games, especially with our digital offerings.”

While you can’t deny the fact that games like Closure, the upcoming The Unfinished Swan, and pretty much everything from thatgamecompany all appeal to gamers with an affinity for artsy experiences, no one can possibly overlook the the outstanding aesthetically driven titles that have landed on the Xbox 360. Games such as Limbo (which started off as an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive) and Fez have given fans of Microsoft’s platform plenty of thought-provoking moments. Still, there’s no arguing that artsy titles pop up on the PlayStation Network far more often, and they tend to succeed.

Developer Q-Games is celebrating its 10-year anniversary, and as a token of its appreciation, the studio has decided to have a huge sale on its popular PixelJunk series. Starting later today, you can snag all of the games in the series for cheap — even cheaper than they already were! Now that’s the right way to celebrate!

Racers, Monsters, Eden, and Shooter are all on sale for $1. That’s about as much as most mobile games, except the PixelJunk series is actually good. Additionally, Monsters Deluxe for the PSP, Shooter 2, and SideScroller are all $4.99. That’s half off their already reasonable price tags.

The sale ends on May 15, which will mark the launch of PixelJunk 4am. It’s a PixelJunk overload — one that you should definitely experience if you haven’t already. Q-Games’ beloved series has managed to deliver consistently remarkable downloadable games, and these are arguably some of the best games on the PlayStation Network.

Get your PixelJunk fix in time for the release of 4am later this month. As of this writing, the sale has yet to kick off, but Q-Games President Dylan Cuthbert assured gamers on the PlayStation Blog that it would begin sometime in the afternoon, so watch out for those sales. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to stare at the PlayStation Store screen until the discounts go into effect so I can get to downloadin’.

It would seem that critics weren’t the only ones enthralled with Journey, the latest majestic experience from thatgamecompany. Sony’s announced that the title, released two weeks ago on PSN, is the fast-selling game ever to grace the PS Store in North America. Previously that record was held by Infamous 2: Festival of Blood.

“Thanks to you, Journey has officially broken PlayStation Network and PlayStation Store sales records, surpassing all first and third-party games to become the fastest-selling game ever released in the SCEA region on the PlayStation Network,” wrote Creative Director Jenova Chen on the PS Blog.

Update: We’ve since found out that the PSN Beta portal is for testers to report on specific titles, it’s not related to a beta test of the network itself.

We’ve received word from a Twitter tweet that Sony’s European branch (SCEE) is inviting users to test drive what it calls a PSN beta. The sign-up page is located here, however, those that did not receive an invite are simply greeted with a permission error after logging in.

There’s no word yet on what is being tested behind the scenes, unfortunately. It could be a total revamp of PSN or something as small as added website functionality, which may or may not be specific to the EU PlayStation site. At any rate, here’s hoping more light will be shed on this within the coming weeks.

Update: Sony tweeted earlier today that the scheduled maintenance period has been delayed. No reason was given for the setback. The company promises an update “once it’s rescheduled.”

Sony’s put out word that yet another bout of PSN maintenance will stretch from 4:00 pm to 7:00am GMT next Thursday – March 1. During this timeframe, several PSN services will be inaccessible. This includes the store, as well as Account Management and Registration.

Additionally, PlayStation Home will not be available throughout the duration of the maintenance window. Users that log-in during this period will be presented with a message notifying them of the downtime.

We suppose the old adage better late than never is applicable here. Rockstar’s sent word that Grand Theft Auto IV and GTA IV:  The Complete Edition, which includes “The Lost and Damned” and “The Ballad of Gay Tony” DLC episodes, is now available for digital download on PSN.

Through February 21, PSN Plus users can snag the Complete Edition for $23.99, which otherwise costs $29.99. The standalone GTA IV rings in at $19.99. Considering previous sales on retail equivalents, these prices are certainly nothing to write home about, but we’re all for the digital push.

According to an email making the rounds to PlayStation Network users, Sony is no longer referring to online accounts on PS3 or Vita under the familiar PSN banner. Going forward, any registered accounts across the company’s entire suite of online services will be known as Sony Entertainment Network or SEN accounts. It’s effective February 8.

Outside of minor TOS alterations, the change is in name only, PSN as we know it will stay the same. Sony says the move will help further establish “a global comprehensive network platform of services across games, movies, music and more, all accessible from one convenient account.” That said, the company has been beating the integration drum for awhile now, so we’re not too surprised to see this happen.

Here’s the email in full: more »

Sony has retracted an earlier statement in which associate brand marketing manager Crystal MacKenzie claimed PSN accounts on PS Vita were bound only to the Memory Card. In a follow-up email to Wired, Sony noted that in order to switch PSN accounts on Vita, it requires a full system restore — not a mere swapping of Memory Cards.

Sound familiar? That’s what we originally reported. What’s more, however, is that doing a factory reset will just not wipe out settings but clear all data tied to that PSN account from the Memory Stick — including save data. Which means, users will have to re-download content each time they want to swap PSN accounts.

Clearly, the restrictions imposed by the PS Vita are not friendly to users that want to access cross-region content digitally. While we imagine this will only affect a small amount of people, it’s still a huge step back from what was allowed on PS3. For importers, it’s mostly a non-issue since retail content is completely region free, although accessing PS Store exclusives will prove to be a hassle unless a workaround surfaces.