[UPDATE 2] End of the ApocalyPS3?

There are now widespread reports that a problem preventing PlayStation 3 owners from playing games and accessing the PlayStation Network – jokingly referred to on the internet as the ApocalyPS3 – has been resolved.

At approximately 12.35pm NZ time, many users around the Web began to report that they could now access the PSN and also play all of their games once again, although others are still reporting no change.

Game Console contributor Darren Price has confirmed that he can once again access everything as per usual, although he has mentioned that his unsynched trophies have been lost. Thankfully, he synched his trophy collection last week, but that does mean he has lost his Heavy Rain trophies.

UPDATE - 1.04pm: It appears that there may be a way to salvage any missing trophy or game data. If you try starting a game of any title for which you are missing trophies, it may resynch with the server. Joystiq has reported that this method restored missing Heavy Rain data.

Secondly, it seems that no internet connectivity is required for the fix, which reinforces the theory that the PS3s' mistaken belief that the date was February 29th was behind the problem.

UPDATE 2 - 3.17pm: It's official. The latest Sony blog has confirmed the cause of the problem and also reaffirmed that it has indeed been fixed. The blog contends that the internal clock in non-slim PS3s mistakenly believed 2010 to be a leap year, and subsequently that yesterday was the non-existent date of February 29th 2010. This caused a conflict with the system's operating system that was at the core of the problem.

Sony is advising any users that are still experiencing an incorrect time or date on their Xross Media Bar to correct this either manually or with an automatic synchronisation via the internet.