PSN maintenance planned for Monday, Jan. 27

Sony has announced that on Monday, January 27, PlayStation Network (PSN) will undergo "planned maintenance." From 9:30 am to 3:30pm Pacific Time (12:30pm to 6:30pm Eastern Time), some functions of the PlayStation Network will be offline. Maintenance is expected to last for approximately 6 hours, but if you recall — the last time Sony performed "planned" maintenance it was extended for hours beyond the window.

The good news is that if you've signed into PlayStation Network any time since January 20th, you'll be able to play games online and access partner apps such as Netflix during this period. The PlayStation Store, PlayStation Home, and Account Management will all be offline, however.

"We thank you for your patience and support and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. In order to access online game play and partner apps during this routine maintenance, we ask that you please sign in to PlayStation Network prior to Monday, January 27th," Sony said.

Similar maintenance is planned the same day for the European PlayStation arm from the hours of 5:30pm to 11:30pm GMT.