Ben-DutkaThere's nothing I hate more than wasting money on something that doesn't deliver. It's why I'm extremely picky about games I buy at full price, and why I haven't yet bought a pair of 3D glasses for my new 3D TV; at $200 apiece, I'm not only convinced the price will fall, but I also have absolutely no real reason to own the item in question. At least, not yet. Therefore, for subscribing to PlayStation Plus, I had best receive what I consider to be my money's worth. Seriously.
And you know, regardless of whether you select the 3-month ($17.99) or the 12-month ($49.99) option, I've concluded that PSN users are getting a damn good deal. I've spent some time going over the benefits and sort of doing a cost vs. reward comparison, and for the life of me, I can't quite see how anybody who even spends a minimal amount of time on the Network can't consider it a good buy. The following is a list of new features thanks to Plus and firmware update 3.40 (which of course is free):
Rating games you've purchased on the PSN : Nice. This should really help users who are unsure of a particular downloadable game purchase…even if it sort of infringes on our importance as reviewers. 😉
Trophy freaks, catch the Trophy level of your Friends instantly: I'm not the biggest Trophy fan in the world, but just to be able to see the Trophy level of PSN Friends is bound to be an appreciated feature.
Free stuff, discounts, goodies: Geez, one might expect some worthless little PSN tidbit tossed your way when you sign up, but you really do get a significant amount of worthwhile, money-saving bonuses the instant you're a member. It doesn't end with the temporary bonus of LittleBigPlanet for new subscribers, but even whole games like Wipeout HD can be had for free . You really gonna complain?
By the way, basic PSN stuff is still FREE: You know, the Plus complainers seem to forget this. Plus is an option ; if you want to peruse the Store and play games online, all of that is still free of charge. Xbox Live forces you to pay for many of the things you get for free with the PSN, and that's the plain and simple truth.
New incentives, month after month: So many programs that ask you to pay a fee have plenty of sign-up incentives, but everything sort of ends after that. Not with PlayStation Plus. Although some of the current bonuses could be considered "old" by current standards, the exclusive content and discounts will continue to counteract the cost of your subscription. In just adding up the discounts, I've determined that you really only need to buy a few downloadable games here and there during the course of your membership term for the savings to equal or surpass the cost.
This isn't about money; it's about the fans: Sony has long since catered to their fans with unfailing dedication (despite some high costs that often go along with new hardware). Look at the Plus incentives: they're for gamers . Sure, there's the Facebook integration and a few other interesting features for technophiles, but the free and exclusive DLC, early access to demos, discounts, and overall treatment – that definitely feels as if you're a proper member of a premium club – just screams fan appreciation. Furthermore, it's not just for people who play games online; I rarely do that, and I still love what Plus brings to the table.
A one-year Plus subscription comes to about $4/month. The only way this could possibly seem like a bad deal is if you never touch the PSN. I mean, four bucks a month?! That could easily be vindicated with extremely minor activity and in the long run, what you receive for that modest fee should vastly outstrip any financial hurt. In the end, Plus is a service for gamers that proves itself immediately and shows every indication of being a must for PlayStation brand owners and fans.
Signing up as soon as I get home! You get 3 extra months free with a year subscription which is totally awesome. Also I can take my 2 copies of LBP and trade them in to get some of the costs back.
Excellent deal!
You won't regret it, it's a great deal.
So does this mean u get free games (if so, do u get to pick which games) and other premium stuff as long as ur a subscriber? Anybody correct me if I'm wrong.
Last edited by AcHiLLiA on 6/30/2010 12:36:45 AM
you get free games every month, but its whatever they give you. Like this month you get rally cross and wipeout hd. Some other free stuff too, just don't remember everything, you can go to the plus section on psn and it shows everything.
Ben, I don't know if I'm right or not, but everyone who is a current PSN user gets a bonus month as a trial yes? I didn't see it mentioned in your article, so I'm unsure :S
So here's a question. 1 free ps1 game every month, every year. What happens when you have all the ps1 games? It's not like they add them all the time.
I think it really is a good deal for plus because just this month alone there was like $50 worth of free stuff. The only down side is if most of it I don't care if I own or not, a few months from now might be different, but there's no way to tell.
I already have Wipeout HD so this first month kind of sucks. But I'm willing to sign up for PS + in a show of support to Sony. I love filling up my hard drive with all sorts of content.
You won't regret it, the free stuff (not including Wipeout or whatever) will be worth the price of subscription long before your subscription is even halfway through.
on us playstation blog:
"You can purchase a three-month package or a one-year package on the PlayStation Store now. The three-month package is available for $17.99 and the one-year package is available for $49.99. We will also be offering three additional bonus months for free if you purchase the one-year package — that’s 15 months total for $49.99."
there is no little big planet for the us subscribers. you get 3 months free. euro subscribers get free little big planet. i tried to tell everyone last week.
the following is only found on the EURO PS BLOG:
"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"
so again NO LITTLE BIG PLANET FOR US. we get 3 months free. not both. 3 months free only with a year purchase. they made it sound like you could try it free for 3 months.
anyway im gonna get it when i got some cash. i try the first year.
Last edited by frylock25 on 6/30/2010 1:42:08 AM
It's worth it.
BTW the way you read it, do you get the extra 3 months free if you sub for 3 months (that would mean 6 months for the price of 3)?
I signed up for it around noon today and thus far I'm happy with it. I downloaded MK2 for a little over 2 dollars and received several free games. You can't beat that. I'll clearly be getting far more than $50 worth of media and thus I see it as a no-brainer.
thought u died
How do the downloads work? can it be done in the back round and does it just do it automatically?
You pick an overnight timeslot (I picked 4am-6am)and your PS3 comes on automatically and checks for available updates. If it find any it downloads them. If it's a system update it only downloads it, it will not automatically install a system update. But it will automatically download and install game updates.
its only worth it if u want the games that are free or discounted tho
Indeed, but over the course of 12 months, are you 100% sure that the combination of discounts and freebies will not tickle your fancy at all? In this first month I have got about $20 of stuff that I will use – free, as well as saved money on the purchase of Gauntlet II and got 3 months extra free of charge (which amounts to a 20% discount on a 15 months subscription). You can't beat that with a stick.
true yeh……im considering it but im waiting a while just to see what other stuff comes along
i subscribed last night, and while it is certainly worth more than the 80AUD asking price the choice of games is really bad.
i mean the 2 minis i got i have never heard of i could not even find a review for them on IGN.
the 2 ps1 classics same thing!
i mean why could they not give us something well known, like resi 1 and 2?
or oddworld and pandemonium?
you know something people actually play!
still i got my copy of LBP now, hopefully i can grit my teeth and finish it this time.
See how it develops. I love that they added a 5 star rating system for PSN content now. That'll make avoiding turds much easier.
sort of.
they have the same thing on the apps store and honestly some of the worst games on there have the highest ratings!
hopefully the PSN community has better taste, and judgment of whats good and whats crap, than the Iphone community.
one of my favorite Iphone games, stunt cars scored 9s on IGN, gamespot and such, but on the apps store it scored a 2!
True, but I use these 5 star systems a little differently. If I see a game or item with a 4.2 after 500 ratings compared to a game that has a 5 star rating but only 3 votes, then unless that 5 star item happens to be precisely what I want I will consider that the one with a 4.2 after 500 ratings is probably the better product.
I've seen this on places like Amazon or Newegg where two equivalent products that have been available for about the same time are rater similarly, but one has 300+ votes ad the other has fewer than 20. Guess which one I pick. You know what I mean> The number of votes matters too, not just the score itself.
I know what you mean too, there are some really turd-like products that get inexplicably high ratings online. But that's why I look for a lot of votes, astro-turfers and fanboys can easily bias a few dozen votes, but hundreds of votes tend to include a decent number of 'real' voters.
yea i know.
allot of the time though the iphone apps get good reviews and lots of them.
crash bandicoot nitro kart 2 for example has several hundred, is sitting at 4/5 but it is the buggiest game i have ever played!
i cant play that thing at all its so laggy, it plays like crysis running on a Pentium 2 computer!
I turned on my PSP and PS3 yesterday to find out I had an update to install. I always enjoy updates. Playstation Plus is awesome, it's new and it's a service that no other system provides it's consumers. I'll be purchasing it soon and quite frankly, if this new update had made the purchase of Plus mandatory for people to play online, we'd all be purchasing it. Let's get real people. Have fun and enjoy.
I will be getting P+ today. Just need to get a network card using my staff discount =)
Not really. Plus is a very cheap way for consumers to gain access to PSN content. Of course not all the content will be something everyone would choose. So it works for both parties. Consumer get lots of stuff for lots less money up front, and Sony gets paid for a lot of content that relatively few people will actually elect to purchase.
If anything Plus will help pay Sony for the continued breadth of PSN content improving the variety of content for everyone.
I'm just not too interested. I've never bought a PSN game, they just don't interest me. And although I purchased two PSOne classics, I think I played them for an hour total. There are a couple of PSN games coming out some time in the future that look interesting, but I'd be better of just buying them when they're available; and who knows if those would even be the free ones offered that month anyway.
I see you can download Infamous for $30 (not part of PSN+), so maybe I'll do that one of these days. EDIT: Oh, I see Amazon has it for $27.79, so heck with that LOL. I had to laugh when I saw the free avatars – Fat princess, in two different colors!
I'm sure it's a great deal for people who like the PSN games, minis and PSOne classics, but I'm mostly into the full, disk based games. Sorry Sony, but your free service gives me everything I want.
Last edited by JackC8 on 6/30/2010 7:31:00 AM
You're evaluating the entire service over 12 months on the basis of one month's content? I think you might want to keep an eye on it over the next few months.
My rough estimate is that I spent £20 on the PSN in the past 12 months and I don't imagine I'll ever spend more than that so considering the new features, the only thing I will miss is the subscription only exclusive dlc.
I take it, as with the full games, the dlc only functions while subscribed?
im gonna get plus for twoo reasons,
it is a good deal
and Sony do always care for their fans. Everything in which i've had to deal with them has been great.
Got it as soon as I got the update!!! I'm lovin it!
I still won't be subscribing. I'm not knocking it, and it's not that I don't see the value in it… I just don't see the value in it for me. Very grateful that the core PSN features are still, and always will be free.
Last edited by gumbi on 6/30/2010 8:18:45 AM
As I said in another post, you might want to keep an eye on the content that is available. It only takes a couple of decent PSN titles and PS1 titles to make back the majority of your subscription.
On thing that crosses my mind is that since PlayStation Plus is indicated within the PSN e-commerce interface, will PlayStation Plus subscribers gain access to discounts or other things in PlayStation Home? It's a possibility, one more way to reward consumer loyalty.
The nice thing about Plus is that many subscribers will get content that they might otherwise have not purchased. I can see a lot of people getting something because it's free or because it's discounted and finding that much to their surprise they quite like it.
The way I see it Highlander is that the best way to get value from it is to get everying they offer free.
As I don't buy many games, the free game add-ons (map packs etc I assume?) wouldn't have much value because 9 times out of 10 I wouldn't own the full title anyway.
I really can see the value if you have the time and the inclunation to drain everything offered free of charge but for me, If I wasn't interested in buying it singly, then I'm also not interested in getting it off the back of a £40 per year charge.
I'm glad there are gamers who are enjoying the service.
I signed up at midnight ET (I'm on PT Time). Even though I already own Wipeout HD, it is still worth it so far… I foresee it only getting better. New stuff added EVERY MONTH!
My favorite features are the "free" content, game discounts, exclusive demos, and automatic updating of firmware and game patches. Yeah that's basically everything!
I curious…what all is actually going to be free? I'm sure they aren't going to give you say a new map pack for whatever game that retails at $14.99 for free. They will probably just offer the crap that nobody pays for anyways for free and then just discount everything else. In my opinion for $49.99 a year, we should get ALL downloadable content for games, avatars and themes for free…not at a discount. And all full games that are $40 should be discounted to $10 or less. Oh and why isn't Hulu gonna be free with paid subscription to PSN+? Seems like your would be double paying for some features.
Well, this month's stuff was pretty good – for my. My family already had purchased Cuboid, Mahjong and Magic Orbz previously, but all the add-ons for those games remained unpurchased. I downloaded all of those, which amounted to nearly $20 and then there was the mini and PS1 game and the discounts. I also purchased Gauntlet II. I'd kinda wanted that game since forever, but could never stomach the cost. With the nice heavy Plus discount, it was a no-brainer.
I have another 14 months of this kind of thing to come.
Nice.
wait n see situation for me, they offering nothing i will benefit from right now anyway.
LBP will be useless once part 2 is released in a few months and those ps1 classics look like crap on HD and the minis i couldn't care less about. (i have ipod)
I'm sure it will live up to its value but right now it has nothing for me. ill just wait until they have something i do want.
we'll see if they do a special promotion for christmas
Minis and PS1 classics play nicely on the PSP and don't look like crap there…But if you don't have a PSP I can see where you are coming from.
yea i no longer have a PSP. and yea i guess this plan is for ppl that have both, i can see it working out.
(bought a GO a while back and sold it within 2 weeks to get my money back, not enough support for the go.)
but all im saying is, if im gonna pay a subscription, ill do it when its for something i actually want.
read this article, (3rd paragraph) i feel the same way:
http://www.destructoid.com/rumor-hulu-on-ps3-requires-playstation-plus-177845.phtml
I thought these link postings got ok'd by administrators…
because honestly I'm completely astounded that a link to destroctoid got posted here, and I am clueless as to why anybody would reference them in the first place.
Based on previous experience here, if the link is not offensive or otherwise 'bad' it's probably going to be approved as long as it is in some way related to the topic and/or post.
That said, I do agree about the worth of anything posted on Destructoid. That said, the rumor regarding Hulu Plus requiring PlayStation Plus has gained a lot of traction.
On the flipside, HuluPlus will be available on numerous devices that do not feature PlayStation Plus (or anything like it) such as some net connected BluRay players. If a BluRay player can access Hulu Plus for just the cost from Hulu, I'd love to hear why the PS3 can't. Seems to me that like the NetFlix service, this is something that exists outside of PSN, so it's unlikely to require PlayStation Plus.
I'll usually approve most any link that's directly related to the topic.
…even if it does have to come from that hellhole.
I signed up because it has nothing but potential. The only thing is that I only see 1 mini instead of 2 and the PSone game is Rally Cross not Destruction Derby.
i think its more to do with your region. i live in new zealand and got destruction derby as the psone game and two minis (age of zombies and fieldrunners). its the same for europe and australia. i think u should google, what your region is getting.
if you scroll down, u can see what european members are will be getting in the first two months
http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2010/06/23/playstation-plus-explained/
Last edited by dpakrr on 7/2/2010 7:27:52 PM
Am I in the twilight zone here? The author just stated in his opening paragraph that he purchased a 3D TV but has no short-term intention of actually using it for 3D. An act, in my mind, equivalent to taking a thousand dollar bill and lighting it on fire. Because, of course, the televisions will decline appreciably in price just as (if not before) the glasses do. And this is supposed to be evidence of his discerning value-based purchasing decisions?
If this guy thinks PSN Plus is a good value, I honestly cannot think of more damning evidence against the service.
Crazy.