The first phase of the PlayStation Network restoration has begun, the process will take several hours and will start with the US and Europe.

The map posted above shows the areas of in which services has already been restored in the US, as of 10:58pm EST. “It will take several hours to restore PSN throughout the entire country, so please keep checking back for the latest updates,” says Sony while encouraging PSN users to update the mandatory firmware and change their account passwords.

More details on whats accessible and the process can be found in the video Kazuo Hirai.

[UPDATE] – Sony Online Entertainmaint (SOE), publisher and developer of many popular MMO titles has also begun reactivating its services. The restoration will also be processed in phases similar to the PSN. Players will also be required to reset their passwords.