Man, a guy can miss a lot when he spends the whole day at work making sure Press Democrat readers get their fix of Winter Olympics.

Some time Sunday afternoon, PlayStation 3s everywhere started having all kinds of trouble connecting to the PlayStation Network. While this might sound like a small matter, it means that downloadable content isn’t working for gamers with affected machines, and some whole games won’t play at all. Apparently, if your PS3 can’t connect to the PlayStation Network, it can’t sync trophy information. In other words, the only games affected PS3 owners can play are older, single-player games that don’t support trophies.

Sony hasn’t said what the problem is yet, and it’s not affecting all PS3s. Judging by the scattered reports floating around the Internet, only some of the older, George Foreman Grill-looking models of the PS3 are having trouble. The newer, PS3 Slim model appears not to be affected. (And my console, bought shortly before the PS3 Slim was announced, seems to be working just fine.)

A few folks over in the NeoGAF forums (from where I stole the “ApocalPS3” meme) think this might be some kind of glitch caused by the PS3 thinking 2010 is a leap year when it isn’t. (Apparently affected gamers say their console is displaying a Dec. 31, 1999, date, meaning the Y2K bug may finally be hitting us.) If that’s the case, the problem should clear up automatically sometime Monday. Regardless, the Sony folks say they’re working on it and recommend that you follow their Twitter account for updates.

In the meantime, maybe it’s time you reacquaint yourself with another gaming system, give your pets some much-needed attention, or sample the delicious cupcakes at Sift.