PlayStation Holiday sale extended to Jan. 6 due to hack attack

Sony's PlayStation Store is extending its Holiday Sale and Flash Sale as a way of making amends to users whose holiday was ruined due to the hacking of the PS Network. 

The PS Store is offering discounts of up to 65 percent to non-members and up to 75 percent to PS Plus members, bringing down the price of new game titles like "Dragon Age: Inquisition," "Destiny," "Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor," "Grand Theft Auto V," "Alien Isolation," "Battlefield 4," and more. The Holiday Sale has been extended until Jan. 6, 12 p.m. 

In addition, PSN users will be gifted with a one-time use discount coupon, equivalent to 10 percent of their total purchase. The coupon will be available for a limited time only and can be used to purchase games, season passes, or TV shows and movies. Thus, consumers will have to hurry to take advantage of this additional discount. 

The discounts and the extension of the sale are compensations for the inconvenience experienced by gamers when the PSN service went offline. The gaming network was attacked by hackers, with a group known as Lizard Squad, which attacked Sony before, claiming responsibility for the hacking incident. The service suffered Distributed Denial of Service, or DDoS, attacks from Dec. 24 to 29. 

The group also attacked the Microsoft Corp's Xbox Live on Christmas Day. It stayed true to its word that it would attack networks on Christmas. However, the motive of the group is still unclear.

The PSN service is now restored and fully functioning. Sony stabilized the service and is reportedly strengthening its security to prevent hacking attacks in the future. PS4 users are being advised to change their console's MTU settings. However, Sony feels saddened that some players were not able to play games during the holidays.

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