PS3 thought it was a leap year

[chilero]

As many Sony (NYSE: SNE) PS3 owners painfully discovered yesterday, internal clocks went buggy yesterday, creating network outages and some cases of at least temporary data loss when virtual trophies were zapped.

The coding culprit was that all but the newer slim models mistook 2010 as a leap year. It doesn't get pretty when February 29, 2010 is actually March 1, 2010.

If Sony can take any consolation in the ordeal it's that it doesn't have to issue gamer credits. Unlike Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox Live Gold subscriptions, access to the online gaming hubs on Sony and Nintendo (OTC BB: NTDOY.PK) consoles is free. They all try to cash in on premium digital downloads, though.

It remains to be seen if Sony's outage will be the validating event for the platform. Sony dominated the console wars when its PlayStation and PS2 systems were all the rage, but it now often finds itself chasing its rivals. Staring at the heels of the Wii and Xbox 360 has likely forced Sony into slashing prices on its PS3 consoles a bit more aggressively than it would have liked.