Ben-DutkaThe concept of a paid premium subscription service has been around for a while now, and the more reliable rumors have hinted at such a service being optional for PlayStation Network users.
However, there have also been whispers that it might be required – like Xbox Live – despite Sony's insistent claims that it will "never charge to pay online." Well, rather than continue to worry and argue, maybe we should all wait until E3 next month, when VG247 claims we'll finally have the official unveiling of a premium service. At an annual cost of "less than £50," those who wish to spring for the elite membership plan will receive one free PSN game each month along with "a host of new features." In the past, we've heard that early access to hot demos and even preferential treatment when it comes to betas could be included. But perhaps the best news is that VG247's source says there is "nothing in the premium PSN service that will gimp regular PSN users;" i.e, if you don't wish to pay, nothing will really change for you. You'll still be able to log onto the Store, play online, download stuff, etc. Oh, and one last thing- the long-awaited cross-game voice chat is coming and it won't be restricted to premium users.
Look, we've all seen the arguments a million times so instead of talking about what you won't do in the Comments below, how's about talking about what you will do? What are you willing to pay for? What would Sony have to provide to make your premium membership worth the cost of, say, $69.99/year?
If you decided not to pay or renew your sub your saved files would probably still be on a server just not accessible to you. Your saves would still be on your system, you just wouldn't be able to pick up where you left off say at a friends house.
At least that is the way it seems it would work out in my head.
Wouldn't cloud storage act more like a back up like Carbonite?
thats what I was thinking coverton. would probably work like an mmo account. When you drop your account they still keep it, but you can't access it until you start paying again and then it will be exactly how you left it.
I'll see what the Premium service actually is, but if includes a free PSN game every month, I am in.
I hope there is truth behind the "nothing changes" statment for the PSN that we have now.
Last edited by maxpontiac on 5/17/2010 12:10:20 PM
Ever since I had first heard of the premium PSN way back when, I've always thought about signing up for it at least once just to have it for a year. If I do that, I'll probably get hooked on being so pampered and then pay it for another year and so on and so forth. It has interested me, paying $50 for a whole year may add up in the end, and not being forced to pay to get on the PSN is even better. Much more breathing room than the 360 and a much better store in my opinion.
Will wait and see but so far im not paying nothing for it. One reason why I dont play online on my 360 plus my mates have all PS3's some both consoles but they all play on PS3 as it's free.
The free game a month idea is good but what if its a crap game ? Not every game offered will get good reviews as not every game that comes out is a hit.
Well I'm interested to see what it includes. I highly doubt I'd pay it just due to money constraints.
However I'm curious to see if they implement the free game, how will that be done. There are a lot of psn games and some of them I don't care to own. If they handled it like a credit to your account that would work wonderfully because you could save up a couple of months and get something you really want or even get some dlc.
If however its here's your game, I'd definitely pass. I'm not interested in paying for games I don't want. I'm sure sony will handle the premium thing well whenever they implement it, because look at all they've given us thus far.
I'm sure they'll do it right. At least right enough to make many people happy with it.
hmmm, 69 a year.
doesnt look worthwhile to me, a free game a month is cool. i don't play demos so that doesn't really affect me (paying for demos are never worth it, demos allow me to see if i want to purchase the full game, so im not wasting money on those). i wonder if they'll have discounts for premium members. say like 10% off everything in the store.
i dunno i think its a wait n see situation, as long as they dont screw the ppl that are not paying.
I'd pay $70 / year if it let me boot people out of online multiplayer games whenever they got on my nerves. Other than that though, I really am perfectly happy with what we've got now for free.
I "WILL" be paying close attention to how this plays out, now that it seems more interesting. I probably won't be an early adopter. I want to see exactly what they offer in the way of monthly "free games", and what else you get for that fee.
I don't see Jack getting up on that E3 stage and announcing the end of free online. You would be able to hear a pin drop in the crowd if he were to do that (and some boos). E3 is for happy announcements!
If Jack Trenton got on stage and declared that they were implementing a pay to play service like Live after all the times Sony in general has said that would never happen, at an event the proportion of E3, Steve Ballmer would simply fall over dead from shear joy.
Then after they took ole Steve out in a bag Jack would laugh it off and tell everyone "Late April Fool's I just wanted to see that ass croak."
Jack would hear me booing from my basement!
What would I pay $6 a month for my PS3 to do, that it currently DOESN'T do? That is one tough question.
I'd get it if it was charged at $39.99 or $44.99 ^.^
But really, my PS3 does everything. So, what would it need in order to do better than the XBOX 360 in terms of online?
Yah, probably not really anything =)
From Linux too this? What's next sony the blu-ray ?
The US Air Force is having issues with Linux as all their systems they purchased aren't hooked up online.
No, not quite. The airforce is not having issues with this as their systems are *not* hooked up to PSN. So they don't care what Sony does to PSN. The issue that the airforce has is that all new PS3s since last summer (the slim models) do not support Linux. The fact that Arse Technica (yes, I *did* spell that right) decided to take note and publish a self serving hit generating 'expose' on the Air Force being ticked at Sony for removing Linux is just an example of media bias and sensationalism. In truth the AirForce has been aware that Linux was no longer supported since the Slim arrived. Funny how it's taken 10 months for someone to get around to running a story on it eh?
The only impact any of it has on the airforce is that if one of their pS3 units in their cluster fails and goes back to Sony for repair, Sony will more than likely flash the latest frmware – which no longer facilitates OtherOS. So Either the air-force will have to make do with their own spares, or they'll have to invest in real computers such as IBMs Cell based blade servers.
Let's face it the reason a Cell blade costs $1000's and the PS3 costs $300 is that the Cell blade includes extensive software and warranty support. The PS3 has a 1 year warranty, after that – you're on your own. There's a reason why real computers and real clusters cost so much to build, that reason is that you are paying for continued support and maintenance. The price of the PS3 does not include that. The airforce can hardly be surprised.
Yea i smelled BS on that article by them too. Why would the Airforce care? they aren't using the PS3's to play games on PSN. All they care about is the hardware and the software before Linux's removal. It's irrelevant to the Airforce.
Last edited by Jawknee on 5/17/2010 5:45:26 PM
It would be nice if you had a choice to either select between a "free" monthly PSN game or game DLC. We should also hope that it's a game WE can choose and not a game Sony chooses for us.
Last edited by Culoslap on 5/17/2010 4:11:52 PM
I'm happy with the PSN as it is, I don't use it much though, just for a few features , nothing special.
The cross game chat will only be nice as an argument against xbots, though I will most likely have it turned off all the time, I dislike disturbances in the force (yes I made a star wars joke, take it or leave it, I kid, just take it).
The question is, how will the xbots skew this information? I WILL be not paying for premium content stuff, but only because I have to watch my wallet.
I bet they will give you some free movie and show downloads though.
I'm glad they are adding cross game chat (if true), not because I would use such a dumb, worthless feature but so I don't have to hear people whine and complain about it anymore.
Last edited by InBlackestNight on 5/17/2010 8:13:18 PM
did they say anywhere if that free psn game per month is for access or complete game?
I Don't think there be anything that will get me sighed up. The only thing I'm interested in is PS2 BC… I still havent finnished MGS3 Snake eater 🙁
i know it's late, but what i meant to say was upgrade the web browser to an actual computer web browser. don't yours freezes up, or says that it needs more memory on certain web sites? if you go on a website that let's you stream actual or legitimate video,the company will say it's for actual computers. gosh, that would be so awesome if they can get that fully upgraded.
Oh god yes, the PS3 browser needs a *major* overhaul. I wish they'd talk to Mozilla about a PS3 variant of FireFox.
I totally agree. Funny, I would have thought with how long ps3 have been around they would have improved this through firmware update of something.
I'll watch how this plays out, but for 69.99?yr which I am assuming is US dollars so that would put it about 73 dollars CDN before taxes so ya thats a little to much unless I stop buying video games. I can't have both and I would prefer to purchase games.
The whole world has a PS2 already i got 7 plus all my PS3's can read PS2 games.
I can't for this sounds awesome plus a free game monthly and cross game chat and more plus the basic service now will be free. This will make Sony even better.
happy just the way it is.
this is crazy . its allready expensive enough keeping up with keeping up with games ,accesories,and things for home,and internet . THIS IS A BAD IDEA !!!!!!!!
Sony are not silly by any means and know a damn good % of us will pay for the premium servie if not at the start but later on down the road if it's good enough and i'm sure it will be,so i'll be up for it so long as it doesn't go over the £50 mark a year over here in the UK and i'd get it from the start as i hate to miss out on anything good from Sony/PSN