After announcing it at E3, many of you have had questions concerning Sony's new PlayStation Plus "premium subscription" service for the PlayStation Network.
Well, this detailed post at the European PlayStation Blog should answer any questions you may have. They clear up the important issues first: Plus launches on June 29 (obviously in both North America and Europe), the current PSN features will all remain free , features awaiting Plus subscribers include exclusive discounts, full game trials, automatic downloads and exclusive items on the Store, and membership can be purchased through the PlayStation Store on the PS3 for either three months or the full year. And if you decide to jump in early and sign up for the 1-year subscription between June 29 and August 3 you will receive a free downloadable copy of LittleBigPlanet . There's a lot more, too, like games and "special offers:"
"As a member you can expect to get your hands on at least 4 games a month at no extra charge. Each month there will be a selection of 1x PSN game, 2x minis and 1x PS One classics. A list of the games available in month 1 and 2 can be found below. You will be able to download these games during the month they are available, until the new selection replaces these."
Any games you get through Plus are yours to keep so long as you remain a member. If your subscription expires and you lose access to them, simply re-subscribe and the games will reactivate. If you accidentally delete a game you want back, simply log into the Plus section of the Store and grab it again. In addition, you will receive 2 dynamic themes, 2 premium avatars and premium game elements/add-ons, so that's great for avid PSN fans. Those discounts? They'll range from 20-50% off anything you buy, so that really helps to defer the overall cost of the membership. Personally, I'm most interested in the preferential treatment Plus subscribers get regarding select demos and beta trials…bad-ass.
There's lot more, though, so make sure you check out the full update through the link above. For American gamers, the three-month Plus subscription will cost you $17.99 and the one-year subscription has a price tag of $49.99. And no, cross-game chat is not a feature of Plus.
That's kinda what I'm thinking. They are making this for the avid gamers looking for more, and I would venture to guess most serious PS fans have LBP by now. I got excited hoping that maybe I could get it for psp because I keep putting off getting it. Eh. I'm going to try it out, but I'm not really sure how much the future releases will be worth to me.
Still a no buy from me. I don't see any real value in this you get some free minis a classic and a couple themes or what ever, but as soon as you say I dont need this subscription any more they take it all away from you. Sounds more like an xbox move, oh well as long as online gaming stays free I'm good thats one of the reasons I invest more into my PS3 instead of my xbox.
Sony said that you'd be able to keep all the avatars and digital themes that you download, as well as LittleBigPlanet and anything you bought at a discounted price. Not TOO shabby.
Does Europe have Qore? Just wondering because I thought that was supposed to be included with PS+, yet there's no mention of it.
If we do get Qore, that'll be even more extras and freebies. Plus, that alone is $25 per year.
I'm not one who's interested in wasting money on nothing.
But I really can't see how $4/month will hurt anyone, nor can I see how Sony can do much more to make it worthwhile. There's a ton of stuff here. When you compare it to what you get for the same price for Live…I just think Plus is excellent.
I concur and will be a day one subscriber. My family will get a lot out of this service. I mean 48 games/minis a year plus themes and avatars and early access to demos and betas, not to mention exclusive add-on content? I can't see how anyone can complain about the value here.
I couldn't agree more with you both. I can't wait for the June 29 to get here!
"nor can I see how Sony can do much more to make it worthwhile."
Well…letting you actually own the games you get would be a big Plus.
If you don't log in to the Network, you can't get your downloaded games there, either, now can you?
Just because one service is free and the other isn't doesn't mean there's any inherent difference.
Hexen,
You're not being reasonable. $4 a month for the subscription and you get 4 games (1 PSN, 2 minis and 1 PS1 classic) each month along with everything else. And yet you think that you should 'own' the games as well? Oh sure, $1 per game….somehow I don't see anyone at Sony seeing that as a good deal. You appear to what something for practically nothing, and that is not a workable desire for any service or content provider.
Soo.. They're giving you a selection of free games EVERY month! Now, I don't know about you, but that is kudos enough to keep your membership alive. You can pick up a single PSOne classic for ~$10.. Or, you can get a PSOne classic and 3 other genre/types for $18/mo or $4.16/yr. Hmm.. %%%% Off purchases.. Lose your membership and you lose your freebies..
What's there to complain about?!
If you don't like it, turn the other cheek. I'd say it's an impressive deal! Hell, my only concern is how long such an amazing deal w/ membership would LAST!
I know a lot of people are expressing a lot of skepticism here… But, consider that once the master account holder on a PS3 subscribes, all of the users on that PS3 can use the content. For any multi-gamer household, that is a major, major element to this.
I think a lot of people currently expressing skepticism will reconsider as time goes by since more content will come to Plus subscribers, such as early access to demos and beta trials.
Could this have contributed to slight trickle of PS One games to hit the Network? Maybe the release of this service will open the floodgates for those who will subscribe as well as bring availability to those who do not but are more than willing to pay for their favorite classic titles.
Sounds like a very good deal. Count me in!
I think all content should be yours forever. You pay the up front subscription fee so it's not like the content is actually free, even though you're not charged again.
This still seems like something I want to check out, I just don't like the idea of software that can expire. I believe there is a lot a value to this deal despite my whining.
Last edited by tes37 on 6/23/2010 4:46:59 PM
I think that the way they look at it is that the content is still yours and associated with your playstation Plus account – forever. But, you only have access while your account is active. Remember if your account lapses, you can reactivate by resubscribing and you lose nothing. I hate to say this, but I think this is something we will all have to get used to in the future as subscription services become the norm. As another example, remember Netflix only works while you are subscribed.
Yeah I'm going to subscribe day 1 regardless. If you're the main account holder on 2 PS3's, does one subscription work on both?
I'm kinda hoping. I'm the main account holder on three…
That's a good question as I have the main account on four systems. Hmm.
Nothing to worry about. Yeah!
Totally worth it.
Edit: Buy extra hard drives people.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 6/23/2010 4:57:07 PM
If Sony wants me to be a subscriber of Plus here in the EU, then they really should be offering the same content Japan and America PS Store has. Still no Resident Evil 1-3 🙁
This sounds like a pretty good situation. I like what I'm seeing especially about if there is a lapse in your subscriptions. Which basically meas to me that if you can't pay it for some reason it's all there waiting for you if you do renew
Also I don't have one now, but I wonder if they would throw Qore in for free with all this.
im pretty sure i'll try this at some point but as for now i dont see a point. i dont buy that much psn items anyway so that doesnt appeal to me. but since psn plus members get that discount, does that mean that the special offers section that the psn store has will disappear too? as for themes, i have no use for them. i make my own psn themes anyway because i like having my own theme. its free too so i can make any theme i want excluding dynamic themes of course. as for betas and demos, i can wait for demos and i can always find ways to get in demos. hell, i'm in the medal of honor beta right now after using a command and conquer code to get my medal of honor beta key. that or i can preorder from gamestop and cancel my preorder after i get the beta key.
since i use my ps3 for more than gaming i wouldve wanted to see other feature on ps3. one is background downloads of patches. its a pain downloading 7 patches after not playing a game for a while. i guess this is addressed by the playstation plus so thats great. second is keeping that ps browser up to date. i'm tired of the thing freezing on me. the last one is background ps3 backup. i mean at least dont render my ps3 to be useless for 5 straight hours. at least let me access an external hard drive and watch videos while its backing up my save files. Ohh and let copy protected files be included when i restore my data especially on a different ps3 since ps3s sent in for repairs come back as refurbished systems anyway. you know what, just get rid of copy protected gamesaves altogether. if its stuff purchased from psn im ok with copy protecting those.
by the way, medal of honor game is pretty good. the beta sucks though cause it keeps freezing all the damn time. there are steps you can do to prevent freezing though.
Last edited by johnld on 6/23/2010 5:01:27 PM
I would have thought movies and TV stuff would be included, then I remembered that not all countries have them.
this is a sweet deal
I'll pass on this, i like to hold onto things til the end of time like my hard copies of GT1 and GT2…and 3 and 4….and 5P.
Still undecided. I'd be looking forward to it if they included a movie rental. PSN movie rental is way too expensive (in the UK, at least).
I'll see how the discount impacts the movie prices and probably sign up eventually.
Wow this sucks. Not the price or the deal or anything, I think at some point it will be really awesome.
However I looked at what's available the first 2 months and I already have most of it. A friend of mine bought half of that stuff and let me download it for free, some of it like original lbp I already bought myself.
All I would get for the first 2 months are the ps1 games. The thing that worries me about this is that, everything offered the first 2 months is old stuff, will every months items be stuff that has been on psn for over a year?
I think getting all that stuff for $50 a year would be a great deal if I didn't have any of it, but if I already have most of it, I don't see any benefit.
You forgot the automatic downloads, dynamic themes, avatars, exclusive add-ons and of course any demos/early Beta access that comes along.
There is more to this than simply getting 'free' games.
I didn't forget actually, I looked at the list of what is available and the only thing that I would be missing out on is the avatars and full game demo's.
Neither of which I care about since I own or have already played the games that are available to demo and 2 fat princess avatars aren't going to win me over.
I know the download thing would be nice, but I'm not going to pay $50 for it alone. As for beta's, they've yet to say what beta. I've gotten into beta's before and while it's nice to try stuff, I'm not going to pay to get into a beta.
I'm simply saying that the stuff available the first 2 months is all stuff that has been out for a year and I already own almost all of it. There just isn't any incentive for me to jump on it right away.
True, I guess I am looking at it through the lens of a 1-year subscription outlook, and a child who loves to play with themes and avatars and mini-games of all sorts. It will be fantastic in those circumstances.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 6/24/2010 12:17:39 AM
Very uninterested, but mostly due to the fact that I don't use PSN except for updates and DLC. I do see good value here though, but for those who actually will use these features or already use PSN for the features. Too bad you don't keep games you get for free after your subscription expires, thats pretty weak.
If you're not buying games, already, from the PS Store, then that is pretty weak. There are so many great experiences that you have yet to discover. I hope you reconsider and utilize the store for what it has.
Last edited by fluffer nutter on 6/23/2010 6:19:47 PM
If your subscription ends , you loose the games until you resubscribe.
What the hell is this , Sony is crazy , u get the game , you should still have it even after the subscription ends.
I feel sony is milking us with all the PS move stuff , accessories controllers worthless way expensive DLC for games , even themes wallpaper and avatars are not for free and should be bought.
Seriously Sony u Suck !!
Nobody is loosing any games nor are they losing them. Do us a favor and write down the cost of everything and you'll see just how much you'll be saving in the long run. Math is your friend.
Dude, you don't lose the game until you resubscribe, your game is still yours. You have to think of PlayStation plus as a service. the games you have in PlayStation Plus are yours to play for as long as your account exists. If you lapse your subscription they don't go anywhere, you simply can't access them until you resubscribe.
The way that you and some others talk a service like Netflix must be the most evil on earth since you don't get to keep anything you watch and can only watch it while you subscribe. Honestly you keep nothing. Isn't that terrible?
From the sound of it Masry_XI, the free games they give you each month for having a subscription are the only ones that expire. Not the ones you pay for with the discount. If you want access to those free games again, simply renew the subscription.
I don't see the problem here.
EDIT: Netflix is a good example Highlander. Thumbs up for that one.
Last edited by Jawknee on 6/23/2010 8:58:30 PM
Actually, its the service you pay for. The games are only freebies. The freebies come with the services. So if you stop paying for the service its only logical you stop getting access to the games. Its very different from paying for an actual game.
On my end I will have to give this long thought before I consider this service. I already have access to lots of the offered games (owned, can borrow from friends) so its a no right now.
Great. No cross game chat let the babies commence their whining.
Regardless, the one feature I want is the ability to change my psn id.
This offers a much larger selection than Live does and for $50 a year?? hellz yeah this sounds like a good deal. I download enough content from the PSN to make this worthwhile and will most probably be a member while I can still get LBP
I was gonna try the 3 month thing but $18 to see how it is and see if I should get the yearly… But $50, After i pay $18, I might as well do the yearly thing first… If i like it i'll just renew for another year and if i don't, then i just won't, simple… I also hope they start selling these in store like they do with the PSN cards… I really don't wanna use a credit card for this
Last edited by Deathb4Dishonor on 6/23/2010 7:17:14 PM
You can purchase it using PSN cards if you want
NM
Last edited by TheHighlander on 6/23/2010 8:39:54 PM
I'll get it for the betas and trials and such. The only thing I dont like is that one of the earlybird offers is a downloadable copy of LBP. This is the grease to slowly get us closer to all digital distribution I believe. I noticed next month's game is InFamous I'm sure that will be downloadable only as well. I'm not griping about the service the perks sound great, only what could the negative be for the future?
How big is LBP and Infamous? I thought those games would be too large for downloads.
I dread the day everything is digital, but who knows, look how longs to taking mp3;s to kill CDs. Blue Ray will be around for quite awhile i think.
so is the lbp download only good as long as you have the service or is it still good if you decide to drop the service?
Directly from the actual linked article.
"If you sign up between the 29th June and 3rd Aug for the 1 year subscription then you will also receive a downloadable copy of the original LittleBigPlanet game for PS3, completely free! This is yours to keep and is not tied to the period of subscription"