Why is PlayStation Network down? Sony needs a personal day.

Having trouble logging into the PlayStation Network? You're not alone.

Sony warned gamers that it would need about 12 hours on Wednesday to run regular maintenance.

The downtime "is expected to start at 8am Pacific and will last for several hours, until approximately 8:30pm Pacific," reads an official Sony blog entry. "During this time, users won’t be able to access the PlayStation Store or Account Management, and may encounter some difficulty while signing in to PSN."

Unlike the surprise PSN blackout in March, the maintenance should not affect single-player games. During that debacle, Sony said simply "do not use your PS3."

But today is different. There's no bug in the system. Your trophies should be unaffected. At the worst, you may need to wait until tonight to enjoy multiplayer matches. In fact, today's maintenance might augur the coming of PlayStation Plus, the much-rumored for-pay service that would offer subscribers new PS3 features. Expect to hear more about that at next week's E3 conference.

Until then, are you able to play online games? Let us know in the comments section.

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