Ben-DutkaChanges may be coming to the PlayStation Plus subscription service. Don't worry, they appear to be good changes.
According to "multiple sources" as reported by Eurogamer , Sony is planning to unveil a Plus overhaul during the company's E3 press conference next week.
Apparently, this will include giving away "top tier games for free" as well as "proper integration with PS Vita." Bringing the new portable device into the fold seems essential; Sony will offer Vita exclusive titles, downloadable content, and cloud services, which would mean you don't have to connect the handheld to a PS3 or PC to back up content. There is no confirmation on this yet, but Plus content manger Ross McGrath did throw up this leading Tweet :
"By the way, if you don't have a PS+ subscription, now is the time to get one. For real. Just get 3 months if you aren't sure. Trust me."
Okay, we'll trust you. Plus has been a great deal from the start, but this should make it even better, especially if you're a Vita owner.
Sounds good to me. PS Plus has been a big win for me so far.
Well, here's an example of why Plus is worth the money. MotorStorm Apocalypse, with all the DLC bundled (Ultimate edition) for $35 for Plus subscribers right now until June 5th. That alone is a $15 saving vs the regular PSN price. Oh, and remember anything you actually pay for, and any DLC you get through Plus remains yours, forever, regardless of your Plus subscription service. It's only free games that are subscription dependent.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 5/30/2012 10:31:38 AM
but digital games are eewwwwie!
lol Temjin
All things in moderation, including Digital downloads…
I may have to give this a go and try out the 3 month service myself since it's getting tweaked up more.
Last edited by AcHiLLiA on 5/30/2012 12:50:14 PM
Speaking of Motorstorm, a couple weeks ago I downloaded Arctic Edge from PSN for only like $10..I think that's it's normal price now. The game is freaken awesome. Looks absulutely gorgeous too. Cant belive it's a PSP game, actually.A must play for Motorstorm fans.
Im sorry but PS+ is only good if you buy games from the PS store monthly/weekly… if you only buy maybe 6 games a year from the PS store is 50 bucks a year really with the discount some (not all) ps+ games get? especially when that 50 bucks alone would pay for at least 3 of the 6 games you bought?
You still cannot deny the fact that you still get to save a lot of money for the stuff you get for free or on a discount by being a PS+ member. I'm not big on downloading games either but if I could get the game for a very cheap price (a lot of the time even for free), what's to complain about? Then add to that cloud save, early access to betas, and many other perks. I really cannot see why people make a fuss over the $50/year subscription fee. It has certainly paid for itself within two months, at least for me.
Did you forget the discounts on add-ons and free add-ons for games? What about cloud based saves?
cloud saves? I have this thing called a usb flash drive and an external HDD I can do without cloud saves.. early access to betas? Its not gonna kill me to wait a few extra weeks to play a game that only half works anyway (hence "beta")
Ive never seen too many if at all free addons and as for discounts I mentioned that in my first post. and lastly teh free games.. two things wrong with that… 80% of the games they give away fo free.. well you can see why theyre free… really a buncha ps1 games and small PSN titles/minis? give us something like that persona 3 fes, Journey, etc etc. Or give us GOOD games exclusive to only PS+ like I dunno maybe ps2 classic of SMT Nocturne, and make it only available for PS+ members to buy indefinitely.. then Id have no choice but to subscribe.
Lastly on their free games.. I dont call it "free" if i lose access to it if i end my subscription.. Ill pay 15 bucks a month for an MMO because thats ever changing.. I can see where my money is going with that.. its not static.. I mean why would I pay 50 bucks a year to dust off Sonic 2 every now and then? For example what if you bought starhawk… then a year later a screen pops up and says "you must pay 50 dollars to access this game for another year" How would you like that? If you wouldnt then how is PS+ "free" games any different?
You can't backup copy protected saves to a USB flash drive or an external HDD, but you can to the cloud. I've found quite a few games are using copy protection for some stupid reason.
Last edited by Evil Incarnate on 5/30/2012 12:15:10 PM
Duo, just because YOU don't have as much use for it doesn't make it a universal fact that Plus isn't worth it.
A whole lot of people want early access to betas, continual discounts on just about every new addition to the Store, and yeah, they love PS1 classics, too.
at which point did I say Plus wasnt universally worth it? I even listed the GOOD things about it, if those good things apply to you then of course its worth it.. if it DOESNT apply to you (like me) then its not worth it. simple as that. As for ppl loving PS1 classics, so do I however I didnt start gaming this gen every PS1 game worth having I already have (or have access too)
As for not being able to back up copy protected saves on an external or flash.. well I backup my ientire ps3 once a month.. the only reason not being able to back up copy protected saves would be a problem is if my HDD died (as im not dumb enough to accidentally delete saves.).. and well if i have to replace the HDD then the PS3s back up and restore functions do the exact same thing (plus more) as saving to the cloud does.. now add saving game data/install and downloaded psn games to the cloud. then Id GLADLY let them take my 50 bucks a year lol.
Last edited by duomaxwell007 on 5/30/2012 12:40:07 PM
Duo,
Good luck restoring that backup if you ever need to. You think it takes a long time to create the backup? It takes longer to restore. Cloud saves FTW!
considering ive upgraded hard drives before i know how long the backup and restore processes take… ts called.. letting it restore overnight while you sleep… thats what i do when I have it backing up.. of course Im not gonna do it during the day when I wanna play lol.
If your PS3 dies and HDD does not you still have to format the HDD when you put it in the new PS3. So you would still lose all your data weather the PS3 or HDD dies. Copy-protected save data cannot be restored using the Backup utility.
The only two ways to transfer protected saves is if the PS3 is still working, you can do a straight transfer to the new PS3 unit. But that becomes a problem if the PS3 doesn't work to do the transfer. The only other way to transfer protected save data is using the cloud.
Last edited by Evil Incarnate on 5/30/2012 3:00:23 PM
wrong if you use the backup feature and your ps3 dies but your hdd does not…. you get a new ps3… put your old hard drive in it.. it formats it.. then you hook youre external up to the ps3.. and use the restore feature and itll put everything that wa son your hard drive back on it.. that includes copy protected saves
copy protected saves only protect against someone going into save data and individually moving a save from it to an external device… the PS3s built in backup and data transfer utilities backup and or transfers EVERYTHING
No, I believe you are wrong! Only the transfer utility will work. It takes the data from your old PS3 and moves it to your new one but it will no longer be on the old unit. It may transfer using backup utility but may no longer be usable. It even says it in the manual, dude.
I have not read any where on the internet of someone successfully transferring copy-protected saves using backup utility. Only transfer utility, which are two different things. Maybe somebody on this site has tried or done it? I tried when I upgraded my HDD to a 500GB and most of my copy-protected data did not transfer to the new drive after it was installed. The copy-protected data that did transfer using backup utility was corrupted.
Last edited by Evil Incarnate on 5/30/2012 4:15:02 PM
you're right the restore function wont restore copy protected saves (or psn downloads) to a NEW ps3 (but you can sign in to your account on the new PS3 and re-download all the psn games to the new ps3)
but if youre just upgrading your hard drive to the SAME ps3 then there's no reason why the restore feature wont restore EVERYTHING including copy protected saves… if yours didnt then you were definitely doing something wrong.
Actually, It was a different PS3 the backup data on my external HDD was from. My 60GB got the YLOD and I upgraded the drive in the PS3 from my bedroom to the 500GB thinking it would transfer.It did not work.
I have been through two PS3's so far, but the second time I had PS+ and was able to put my copy-protected data on the replacement unit without a problem from the cloud. Without the cloud saves I would have been s**t out of luck.
Last edited by Evil Incarnate on 5/30/2012 6:24:05 PM
@ ben, off topic but I can't remember my email address that I used to create my psxextreme account. Right now I am set to auto login but if something happens then I am screwed. I created an email for this site and a few other ''gaming'' sites so I wouldn't get bombarded with emails through my personal email. What do I do?
My Plus subscription has paid for itself many times over. They give away free games every week! And the discounts are great. Did anybody else bite on those 50% off Ubisoft games? I sure did. I never did play any of the Prince of Persia games on PS2, so I'm making up for lost time now. And Trine2 was free last week, it's great.
I'm definitely game for getting some Plus benefits for Vita. Although, to be honest, I'd rather they work on getting PS1 games and remote play working first. That's my biggest gripe with my Vita right now (I really want to play Legend of Dragoon on it)
I bought Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood from last week's sale. Got it for less than $15 with all the DLCs. Not too shabby as Ubisoft never released a complete edition for that game.
Just like you, I'm excited about Plus coming to the Vita. It's again another reason to get Plus, if there haven't been enough of it by now.
I think Sony should allow + members games of their choice or some kind of rental system (1-2 at a time). I don't know but sometimes I am reluctant to buy games on the PSN because I fear they would wind up on + either free or discounted.
While I don't personally enjoy some of the free content I get for being a plus member, I can say that in the last year I've gotten over $80 worth of stuff for free with my plus subscription.
Now considering I paid $50, that's still $30 worth of stuff more than what I paid to subscribe and that doesn't include themes, avatars, and discounts.
OHHHH, as a + member, I can't wait to see what top-teir games sony has in store for me.
And hopefully, I'll be able to pick up another Vita soon to replace the one that I got my money back(had to use the $$$ to pay down my "last notice" utility bills) when it had bricked on me.
The way I see it is that Sony has been losing money lately. They have to come up with ways to generate revenue. Since I can afford the $50 a year (one family meal out at an inexpensive restaurant), why not help Sony out. I want Sony to survive and flourish. Nothing against MS and Nintendo, but Sony has more of the games that I am interested in. Granted, I don't have the time to play all the free and discounted games that are offered with PLUS but I do use the free themes, avatars, cloud saves, and the auto update service.
The gaming business has not been losing money though. Even the WSJ says that Sony's gaming business is in profit…
The consumer devices division (which includes gaming) is not, but then it also includes HDTVs which are the primary source of the losses.
Plus has by far been the best service in gaming this gen. I have been a member since day 1 and have received anywhere from $1500 to $2000 worth of content. Sure some of the games are bad, but many of the games I wanted but didn't want to pay the 15 or 20 dollars when they were released. Anyone who thinks the service isn't worth it is, well to put it nicely, wrong! I can't wait to see what they consider top tier games.
I just laugh when I see people trying to bash the service.
I think PS+ is great, but there are a couple of really annoying issues with it. Why is it so damn user-restricted? They can't seriously expect people to have multiple plus-subscriptions for different accounts on the same PS3?!
As it is now my wife can't use a lot of the plus features just because the plus is activated on my account. She can play the plus-games, but for some idiotic reason she can't use the free avatars or themes etc that come with plus, and she can't use the cloud-save features etc either, only my account can use those features.
This is just beyond incredibly stupid, and I don't know why you don't read more people complaining about this since we can't be the only people having two PSN accounts on a PS3!?
i hope so they really need to get more features in there than just discounts!
beta invites are pretty much useless too.
EU has missed out on most like the recent future soldier beta, and the ones we have received ive been sent codes from the publisher anyway.
With PS4 and Vita, Plus will begin to offer more services as some of the premium capabilities that require service provision – such as cross game chat – will be incorporated into one of the plus tiers. At least, that is my expectation.