Around the world, PlayStation 3 consoles simply aren't working like they're supposed to, with an error — Error: 8001050F — preventing people from not just going online, but from playing some PS3 games offline as well. [Post updated throughout day.] 
 
 From Europe to the Americas to, well, my house in Australia, users (mostly of older "Fat" consoles, those released before 2009's "PS3 Slim") have been complaining since Sunday that upon booting their consoles up, they're unable to sign into their accounts, check their trophies, use dynamic themes or access the PlayStation Network. That's fine, Sony say there are PSN connection problems, and that they are "looking into it". 
 
 Problem is, the error does more than just prevent you from going online. It prevents you from playing certain games offline as well. Even for some consoles that aren't connected to the PSN, like debug units. The screen above is what I was greeted with on a retail console when attempting to play Heavy Rain, and pressing out of it simply reboots the PS3, returning you to the main menu screen. It's the same story for other games that feature dynamic trophy support. 
 
 PSN games are no different; I tried to boot up "Flower", only to be greeted with a similar message about failed copyright protection, and it was right back to the XMB. 
 
 Sony say "stay tuned" for updates on the problem. In turn, we've emailed Sony for comment and will update if we hear anything more. 
 
 While theories abound that this has something to do with the calendar on older PS3s (some users are reporting their date/time settings have been reset), bear in mind Sony has redesigned its PlayStation website over the weekend, so it could be the result of some tinkering under the hood for the PlayStation Network. Then again, if consoles not connected to the PSN are also affected, it could be something else. Who knows! 
 
 Whatever it is, though, you have to wonder at the design process that turns a network outage into something stopping you from playing an offline, singleplayer title. 
 
 UPDATE - Sony has updated, saying "We're narrowing down the issue and continue to work to restore service to all. Updates as soon as we have them." 
 
 UPDATE 2 - A mass story-telling session on internet gaming forum NeoGAF points towards the issue potentially being related to a calendar bug in older PlayStation 3 consoles, not the PlayStation Network as was first suspected. Bear in mind this is mob science, however, and is by no means official confirmation on the cause of the problem. 
 
 UPDATE 3 - Citing unnamed "developers and studios", British site Develop say that the issue is affecting titles currently in production for the PlayStation 3, with debug consoles - used by developers to actually make games - thrown "into a rebooting cycle, due to an endlessly-looping error message". 
 
 UPDATE 4 - PS3's still aren't working, and there has been no official update from Sony in over 9 hours. Their last Twitter update says that they believe the issue does not appear to be impacting PS3 Slim consoles. 
 
 
 
 UPDATE 5 (8:20 am Mountain Time) - Sony U.S. silent since Sunday, but PlayStation Europe Tweets three times in the past hour: "Rest assured, we've many people working on fixing this issue. As soon as we have some news, we'll let you know." and then "Please don't trust info regarding this issue unless from an official Sony source. On Twitter this means @PlayStationEU and @SonyPlayStation." and then "We will be updating you the second we have some news." 
 
 UPDATE 6: Error code 8001050F was causes by a fault in the PS3's clock functionality, Sony tells Kotaku. A fix should be coming within 24 hours. Until then, stay off your console, they say. More details here. 
 
 
 
 UPDATE 7: Around 24 hours after the problem was first reported, people's PlayStation 3 consoles finally seem to be returning to normal. ||||| Posted by Patrick Seybold // Sr. Director, Corporate Communications & Social Media 
 
 As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3. 
 
 We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system. 
 
 Errors include: 
 
 The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000. 
 
 When the user tries to sign in to the PlayStation Network, the following 
 
 message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been 
 
 signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”. 
 
 message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”. When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears 
 
 on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install 
 
 trophies. Please exit your game.” 
 
 on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install trophies. Please exit your game.” When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the 
 
 Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date 
 
 and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)” 
 
 Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)” Users are not able to play back certain rental video downloaded from the 
 
 PlayStation Store before the expiration date. 
 
 We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data. 
 
 As mentioned above, please be advised that the new slim PS3 is not affected with this error. We are doing our best to resolve the issue and do apologize for any inconvenience caused. 
 
 For the latest status on this situation please continue to check either the PlayStation.Blog or PlayStation.com.
– Sony is advising many PS3 owners not to use their consoles for 24 hours while the company fixes a massive bug affecting consoles around the world. Older versions of the system have been unable to log on to the Playstation Network, and in some cases even unable to play games, thanks to a quirk in the system’s clock. Developers tell Kotaku their PS3s have fallen into “a rebooting cycle, due to an endlessly-looping error message.” “Rest assured, we’ve many people working on fixing this issue,” Sony’s European arm tweeted this morning. The company later released a full statement outlining the problems, which you can read here. The bug affects only the older, “fat” versions of the system, not the newer “PS3 Slim,” the company is quick to point out.