Normal service has been resumed for PlayStation 3 users after around 30 million machines around the world were rendered unusable after a major bug reared its head.
The problem prevented users from accessing the PlayStation Network and playing most games after the machine’s internal clock had problems switching dates from February 28th to March 1st, with February 29th not existing this year.
Dubbed the Apocalypse3, the bug affected all PS3 consoles bought before September 1st 2009, which are characterised by a ‘fat’ shape.
Although Sony was not required to intervene with the problem, it is expected to now release an automatic software update which will prevent the same glitch from happening again in 2014, the next time that there is an even-numbered non-leap year.
The issue was a similar one to which Microsoft’s Zune media player had on December 31st 2008, with the technology giant advising users to stop using the product for 24 hours.