Older PlayStation 3 models, such as the "fat" 60 and 80-gigabyte consoles, are apparently afflicted with a networking bug that prevents them from connecting to the PlayStation Network.

Sony has acknowledged the problem on its official blog, and notes that users with newer Slim PS3s "appear to be unaffected."

"Know that we have narrowed down the issue and have engineers working to restore service even as you read this," the company's statement continues. "We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you, and genuinely appreciate your patience while we work to resolve this."

The company advises following its official Twitter for the latest updates, but as of press time there's been no news on the error nor further explication of the problem's cause.

Widespread user complaints on forums and the media outlets that have picked up on them point to problems for some players playing offline games as well, even on debug units -- the issue seems to lie with offline games that require a connection to synchronize PS3 Trophies.

This includes recent chart-topper Heavy Rain, for example. Users including Gamasutra's own staff, on attempting to boot the game, receive a failure notice that reads: "Registration of the trophy information could not be completed. The game will quit."