No one can argue that these last few weeks have been hard on PS3 gamers. There is no word on exactly when the PlayStation Network will be back up, and it sucks that we can’t hop online to play with friends or download the latest games. However sooner or later the PSN will be up and running again. I believe that there are some positive aspects, or a silver lining if you will, to any bad situation. So despite this being a dark time for games, here are some good things we can take from this otherwise bad experience.

In a way, online gaming can be very distracting. In order to stay sharp and a step ahead of everyone else in a competitive game, like Killzone 3 for example, you need to constantly be putting time into it. Since the PSN has been down and I haven’t been working on my competitive games, I’ve had time to go back to older games with single player campaigns that I didn’t spend enough time with. Fallout: New Vegas, Mass Effect 2, and Metal Gear Solid 4 are all good examples. These games all have such depth and way more to experience, practically begging for another playthrough.

I wanted to play through Mass Effect again as a Renegade and see what the other dialogue options were, as well as checking out some of the other powers and character classes. Fallout: New Vegas had dozens of missions that I’d never even touched, each leading me to weapons and perks that I didn’t even know were in the game. And Metal Gear Solid 4… well it’s Metal Gear Solid 4, so I can pretty much play that all the time.

Going back to re-play games also opened up opportunities to score some Trophies. Now, I’m not one of those people who will only play a game for Trophy’s, but I do like them because they often show you new way to experience a game. I’ll use Uncharted 2 for an example; playing through the single player on normal was fun and allowed me to really immerse myself in the story, however playing though again on the hardest difficulty in order to get that gold Trophy really changed the game for me.

I had to approach each section with caution and memorize enemy placement and patterns, forcing me to play the game in a way I normally wouldn’t chose to, but in the end it was fun and the whole experience gave me a huge sense of accomplishment.

I’ve also been playing Fallout: New Vegas on hardcore mode to obtain the related trophy, which is also game changing and opens up new experiences I wouldn’t have had otherwise. The Trophies in Portal 2 are all great because in the process of getting them you often get to hear dialogue you wouldn’t hear otherwise, like with the Smash TV or the Door Prize Trophies.

Right before the PSN crash, I had purchased the new Mortal Kombat game, and had a brief experience playing online. I did OK, but it was clear that some players were way out of my league. They weren’t just using special moves or cheap tricks, but combos and tactics that I’d never even thought of.

With online not an option, I’ve had no choice but to spend a lot of time in the MK practice arena, honing my skills and memorizing combos, and now I get to look forward to going back online and trying out my new-found skills.

There’s that old saying “you don’t know what you’ve got till its gone”, and I think that really applies to this situation. I’m going to be all the more grateful to have the PSN when its back up and I can hop online to download games and pop headshots in KZ3. But one of the most important things that I personally am taking away from this whole situation is that as much as I like playing games online, it can also be nice to play offline, going back to games that deserve more play time and really immersing myself in them.

You’re spending $60 on a game, so immerse yourself in all of its aspects and get your monies worth, instead of spending all your time playing the competitive modes. That’s how I think about it anyway. So have you had any good experiences with the PSN down time? Let us know in the comment section.