Sony has now come out and declared that the PlayStation Network will be fully operational by May 31. Talking to financial website Bloomberg, Sony spokesman Shigenori Yoshida said that the company is uncertain as to when individual services will be restored for the PlayStation 3 and PSP.

The plan is for all services to be fully restored by May 31. This is nearly six weeks after the network was taken down, for those keeping score at home. Sony had originally planned to start relaunching individual network services last weekend. One thing is for sure, it will be nice to play our online games again.

Sony Online Entertainment is offering the DC Universe Online community a free Batman inspired mask as part of its “make good” plan after an attack on the system that has led to two weeks without service to the PlayStation Network. All players who were affected will receive both the Batman mask and a 30 day subscription credit plus one day for each day the service is unavailable. Not a bad way to say they are sorry.

In addition, SOE is asking for patience as it returns service. “Please bear with us as the complexities of the subscription server dictate how and when this will be available along with pertinent details,” But hey, free batman stuff.

The Sony Bloggie 3D camera is now available to purchase online. The device offers 3D video recording and image capturing for those who are budget-minded and don’t want to pay a fortune for 3D. It will shoot 3D videos at 1080p and take 3D stills at 5 megapixels.

Its Exmor- CMOS sensor will deliver great quality images even in low light and you can even take photos while you’re shooting a video. Some features include a 2.4″ glasses-free 3D screen, 8GB of internal storage good for 4 hours of footage and an HDMI output.

Regarding the hacked PSN network, Sony now says that there is “no evidence” that credit card information had been taken and that the data itself had been encrypted. They can’t rule it entirely, but the security code for credit cards wasn’t compromised since it wasn’t in the system.

However, a password change will now be mandatory for everyone as soon as PSN comes back online and that is just good sense. A firmware update will address the issue when they are ready. Sony promises more details to come soon.

We’ve had the same PS3 consoles on the market for a while now. The only significant change came with the new slim format. But now a pair of new PS3 consoles has hit the FCC recently. All we really know is that they have Bluetooth and WiFi and that we could have guessed ourselves.

The new consoles go by model numbers CECH-3001A and CECH-3001B. The letter seems to denote different HDD sizes. So what are the changes? Maybe a new update to the chipset? Maybe some updates to keep them safe from hackers too. Then again, maybe this is just adding a new HDD capacity option. Thoughts?

At the end of yesterday’s Sony presentation of the S1 and S2 Android tablets, a few slides were displayed showing off a couple more new Sony products, Namely, the “Ultra Mobile” PC and the “Freestyle Hybrid” PC.

The Ultra Mobile PC clearly looks like it is at least a 13-incher or over, while the Freestyle Hybrid PC was rumored as the Sony Vaio Slider, which was said to have a 9.4-inch display, Pine Trail Atom processor and Windows 7 and is due out in the fall, possibly October for $799. Unfortunately, we have no details on these guys yet.

Looks like things have just taken a turn for the worse as far as Sony’s PSN goes. The “external intrusion” was worse than we had last heard. Sony has confirmed that the PSN outage was caused by “malicious actions,” and now they are saying that there has also been “a compromise of personal information.”

Sony isn’t being very specific about what that means. For instance, we don’t know yet if credit card data for PSN and Qriocity users has actually been exposed, but the company says that “your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained.” So apparently they are not sure. Best check with the bank if you are worried.

Sony has announced a pair of Android 3.0 tablets. The first is the 9.4-inch S1 media tablet (also known as the Qriocity focused) with a curved top similar to a folded book or magazine with both front and rear cameras. The S1 features a Tegra 2 SoC and customized “Quick and Smooth” touch panel UI with “Swift” web browser. As a bonus, it can also be used as a remote for your Sony gadgets, which is handy.

The dual-screen device looks like a sexed up 3DS. That’s the S2, which features a pair of 5.5-inch 1,024 x 480 pixel displays, Tegra 2 SoC, and a camera. It uses a custom book-style UI layout for the e-reader app, email and others. Both are PlayStation Certified and are WiFi and 3G/4G “compatible”. I can’t wait to see what Sony does with gaming on a tablet. How will these interact with the PS3? We should see a release in the fall, maybe sooner.

Sony has confirmed that a ‘External Intrusion’ is behind the ongoing PSN Outage. The outage has been happening since late Wednesday and Sony says that it is due to “an external intrusion on our system.” Patrick Seybold said that the service was taken offline “to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services.” That’s about all we know.

As of right now we don’t have any word on when the service will be back. Lets hope they can get it running quickly. PlayStation Network has 69 million registered accounts worldwide. Sony doesn’t want these users unhappy enough that they switch consoles.

Apparently rumors of the PSP Go’s death may have been exaggerated. It looks like Japan and Europe are giving up on the device, but it won’t be dead everywhere. At least not yet.

Sony of America told Joystiq that production of the PSP Go will continue in North America. We assume that when the NGP arrives this holiday season, it will finally go to that great console stand in the sky, where it will sit collecting dust, just like it did here on Earth, because God doesn’t want to play with it either. Sad.

We told you yesterday that Sony had stopped making the PSP Go. Well, now it is official. They have pulled the plug. Sony Japan has confirmed that it has ceased production of the PSP Go and that all future sales will be limited to current stock.

We can’t say we are heartbroken. It was a bad idea from the word Go. This move will allow Sony to shift its focus to the NGP, which is expected to ship in at least one country by the end of this year. Focus is good. It leads to good consoles. It is the right move.

Looks as if the PSP Go has just… stopped. According to a Japanese blogger working for an official Sony retail partner, production of the PSP Go handheld has come to a full stop. Adding some weight to this rumor, the Sony Style Japan online store no longer lists the portable and it doesn’t come up in searches.

The product page only comes up via a direct link, but shows it as out of stock. Sony says that demand for “current generation PSPs” will continue to be met, so we are left with what we already knew, that there is no demand for the PSP Go.

Sony has reason to celebrate when it comes to sales of its gaming hardware. The PS3 has reached over 50 million units shipped worldwide and the PS Move controller has shipped over eight million units. That’s a lot of gear no matter how you look at it.

These are categorized as “shipped” because Sony reports sales to retailers, not end users like you and me. Anyhow, those are still huge numbers. The PS3 is on fire.

This generation’s console cycle is already longer than usual. However even though we are getting a successor to the PSP, it looks like we are going to have to wait for the PS4. Sony has stated that a PS4 isn’t in the works for launch “anytime soon.” They remain confident in the ten year life-cycle. Apparently very confident.

One analyst says that this could leave the door open for others to enter the console market. Maybe even Apple. Apple TV for instance could use an SDK and App Store to deliver games to television sets. The next generation Apple TV might just have the same hardware and software improvements that accompanied the iPad 2. That could be very interesting.

Sony has kept uncharacteristically quiet about its Bloggie Duo HD, but now we have word that the camcorder will ship tomorrow. The news comes from a status update on Sony’s very own website.

To refresh your memory, for $169.99 you get a pocket-sized camcorder that will deliver two hours of HD video, 5 megapixel stills, a 2.7-inch LCD and an HDMI output. It comes in violet, pink and green colors. Decisions decisions. I guess I would go with the violet.