As is to be expected of a service coming back up, countless scores of people will jump in all at once before the dust has fully settled and cause issues of their own due to all the bandwidth being devoured ravenously. Some users of the Playstation Network have found that their redeemable welcome back gift isn’t working while the site is running slow, but Sony has posted a workaround for this.
Some users have tried to redeem their Welcome Back gift, only to find that the website didn’t respond due to server lag. Most internet users will respond to this by clicking again, or refreshing. In cases of extreme server slowdown, this can end up giving error messages because it can’t handle the huge amount of data being processed. This works fine on most websites, but custom-made clients, especially ones that deal with money, don’t always handle this as well as they should.
People who try to redeem the free passes for the PS3 might end up getting an error code, and the really unlucky ones who end up clicking the redeem button multiple times when the site lags could hit a programming error in the site, and lose the benefits of the pass that has already gone through the system.However, this doesn’t mean you’re losing your free gift because of someone else’s screwup. Sony has posted a solution on their official site so that users can get them in an alternative fashion. It is reposted below.
Q: I no longer have the option to choose my free Welcome Back games. What can I do?
A: If you navigate away from the Welcome Back section of the store without choosing your free games or exit the store completely you may need to follow the below in order to choose and download your free games.1. On your PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Portable navigate to the PlayStation Network icon on the XMB
2. Log into your PlayStation Network account and choose Account Management > Transaction Management > Services List
3. Choose “PlayStation Network Promotions” from the list of services displayed
4. Select either “PS3 Free Games” or “PSP Free Games” and then choose “Select Content”.You will be taken to the store to choose your remaining free games.
If you run into an issue while trying to snatch up a free game, try following those instructions in order to correct everything, or simply wait for the server’s users to calm down and go back to their usual business before trying for a freebie.
