The fan organization PlayStation Online Network Emulated (PSONE) has found a way to bring back the servers for the off-road racing game Motorstorm and restore the multiplayer function of the game. The group’s next goal is to restore PlayStation Home.
Motorstorm was a PS3 game which originally released in North America and Europe in March 2007, alongside the PS3’s launch. The servers were taken offline a decade ago, meaning players haven’t been able to utilize any of the multiplayer functions. Especially inconvenient for players striving to ‘platinum’ the game, the highest achievement for a game on PlayStation, meaning every trophy has been earned. Certain online trophies have made getting the platinum in Motorstorm impossible.
PSONE has impressively emulated Motorstorm‘s servers. Their success means anyone with a PS3 and a copy of the game can connect to the online portion of the game. Fans of other games that have also gone offline will no doubt be hoping that PSONE can bring their favored games back online too. In the trophy-hunting community, games with online trophies that no longer have active servers are a scourge on gamers’ trophy lists. If PSONE can bring more games online, it could help to revitalize the trophy-hunting scene on the PS3.
Of course, besides trophy-hunting, many players will just be happy to access their favorite games from years past. The PS3 and Xbox 360 era was the first era where online play was ubiquitous but this has come with the disadvantage in recent years that many games have huge portions completely inaccessible.
PlayStation Home coming back online through PSONE will be another success story for the group. The Second-life-esque game was a popular PlayStation exclusive back in the early years of the last decade. Although it might not be at the top of many gamers’ lists, it’s cool to see PSONE trying to bring it back online also.
Perhaps in the future, servers being ‘turned off’ for games won’t quite be the kiss of death it once was.
