IBTimes.com

In the latest chapter to the security and public-relations nightmare that Sony Corp. is currently enduring, Sony's own Patrick Seybold admitted on the official PlayStation blog that the PlayStation Network will almost certainly NOT be back online this weekend.

"When we held the press conference in Japan last week, based on what we knew, we expected to have the services online within a week," wrote Seybold, who is senior director of corporate communications and social media. "We were unaware of the extent of the attack on Sony Online Entertainment servers, and we are taking this opportunity to conduct further testing of the incredibly complex system."

This comes in contrast to statements made by Sony CEO Howard Stringer, who just the day before had apologized for the delay and seemed to promise that some 77 million impatient players would be able to log back in at some point over the weekend. As of yet, neither Seybold nor anyone else at Sony is willing to even speculate when the network will once again be available.

A sizable amount of unconfirmed speculation suggests that Sony may also be taking into consideration the potential threat of a third attack, apparently scheduled for this weekend.

Ever since April 20th, when Sony abruptly shutdown the network, the company has been perceived by many to be handling the crisis with a somewhat less than efficient and transparent response. In fact, nearly a week went by before Sony officially disclosed that PSN security had been compromised and personal information (up to and 'possibly' including credit card data) had been accessed by hackers.

While Sony has also not speculated about the possible costs of the problem, new security and insurance for identity theft will most likely run the company well over a billion dollars. Worldwide attention (including an official letter from Sony President Kazuo Hirai to members of the United States Congress) has focused on what has been called one of the biggest data breaches in history.