Updated: Prices and Content | PlayStation Plus Explained

Plus just seems more and more like SONY clutching at straws to find someway of getting an XBL style fee from us but has the disadvantage of not wanting to make online gaming chargable.

This Plus program is only off value to someone who buys a PS3 today.

A better solution would be to let us pick the games we want, surely 1 mini is just as good as another?

I also have a question about the LittleBigPlanet download version.

Will a disc-based save game file work with the download version, or – as with other PSN + disc based games, will it mean having to restart the game all over again from scratch?

Thanks.

Hm … i thought i’d have a reply to my comment from yesterday by now but seems no one has.

They just gave up replying in this post?

Sad …

7 pages of around 85 to 90 percent saying they wont be touching psn plus , sony need to do something about this fast as its going to be like qore all over again but on a more expensive scale

Huh. I’m definitely gonna try this out, but I don’t have a credit card or anything like that for PSN. Come to think of it, I’ve never bought anything from it yet. I’ve been hoping for some of those PSN cards you can buy from stores, but I haven’t seen any. Does anyone know if they’re in Australia yet?

see now this also proves what i said in another post can be done!

it says up there, that if you subscribe and then that runs out, those 4 games a month become unplayable. so they have the ability to send a signal to your console to shut them down.

now i said previously why isnt there a trade-in section, as you see i have am going to trade in fallout 3 when new vegas comes out and i downloaded all the dlc, so i want to get rid of them without just having to lose my money on them, so i could trade them in with psn for a price and they would send out that same signal to shut it down my end, so can get some money back, they are happy and i can get them of my hard drive too!

anyone else think that is a good idea?

I get the impression that SCEE use the internet as an excuse to provide pitiful service.

The layout of this article is intended to mislead. Shameful.

Wait, so PS classics will be deactivated? Including PS3 PSN downloads? Thats just silly! Im considering this but i dont want my downloads to deactivate! The trial is fine (short) but downloads should last forever.

To pay up for it, every PSN+ user should get a free name change every month! (optional of course!)

Basicly, the “free” PSN downloads need to be payd tru my PSN+ subscription?

@rockjamie: With modern copying methods, that is most likely not going to happen. And almost all virtual items are non-refundable.

By bying software games, you should make sure your not going to expect a refund.

Well, seriously underwhelmed by all this?!!? What a disappointment.

$70 for a game rental service (because that’s what it is – if we don’t keep paying the fee, we don’t get to play the games) where we don’t even get to choose which games we rent? And the ones that are chosen for us are all between 12 to 18 months old?

I already bought WipeOut HD and LBP when they first came out (who didn’t?) so it’s not exactly “premium content”. And Zen Pinball…Yeah, I didn’t buy a PS3 to play pinball on it…even in 1080p.

PSone games? I have ALL of Sony’s consoles, if I want to play Destruction Derby and Medievil I’ll just go get the original games out of the cupboard. Maybe if they’ve had a 720p polish I’d be tempted, but until then…

Mini’s? Don’t own a PSP. Don’t want to play low-res games badly blown up on a 50 inch screen.

Full game trials? I spend 6 or 7 hours downloading a 20, 30 or 40GB game (demolishing my dl cap with my ISP for the month) and I get to play it for…1…whole…hour?!? Gee, thanks…not.

20 – 50% Discounts? Y’know, if you have to pay for it then it’s kind of not really a discount, now is it?

Premium games packs? Again over 12 months old, so see above. If I bought the game when it was first released do you really think I didn’t buy the DLC as soon as it was available?

Dynamic Themes & Avatars? Yeah, I’m not actually a 12 year old little girl, thanks…..

Look the whole thing is probably really appealing if you are just now buying a PS3 and you’ve never owned a game console before, the casual gamers who Sony is also targeting with the Move, but for gamers who have owned the PS3 for a couple of years (and possibly like me owned all the previous Sony consoles as well) this is just…Meh!

How to make it more appealing? Let us choose the PS3, mini, PSOne games and DLC ourselves. Maybe throw in a movie or two a month. Give us content that isn’t between a year to a year and a half old.

Make it look like you’re at least trying to offer the people who have supported the console from the start, the ones who go out and buy games and extra content within a week or two of it being released, something extra, something cool.

So far I just see PSN+ as a huge disincentive to get anything -games/dlc/whatever – when it’s first released, because it will eventually appear as “free” rented content a year and a half later. Or just wait 2 years until games have dropped so low in price you can pick them up on disc as a bargain and then you get to keep them without subscribing to the rental service.

Anyway, rant over.

@usmcoap: The playstation plus feature is not going to make the original PSN any less valuable. THe automatic download feauture will allow you to download updates when not at home, eating etc.

Updates will stay, as bugs in games shouldnt be payd to be fixed.

But every PC has an updater/dl scheduler, it’s hardly a revolutionary concept, and not one worth paying extra for. Should just be a standard feature for all PSN users.

Oh, and forgot to mention the “possibility” of getting Beta’s if you are a PSN+ subscriber…basically you pay for the privilege of bug checking games?!

Sorry, but this whole idea falls on it’s head once you stop subscribing and cant get access to the content you gained through the subscription. If you could keep everything after stopping your subscription, it would be more worth while.

not bad but what i want to know is will this new service include the videos on demand section?
dont really care to much about old games or theme or avatars. i made a sweet FFXIV theme which will do.

ooh this new service should also include special features within HOME.
e.G BOX OFFICE MOVIE SCREENING WITHIN HOME!. not preview full lenght movies

P.S ooh yeah also a nice added feature for the ps3 is to beable to piture with in piture.
i like playing games but i also like to watch movies at the same time so yeah piture with in piture thanks

doh forgot the rrrrrrrrrrrrrr’s hehe and thats (not previews i wont full lenght movies)

I don’t see how this service alienates anyone. The discounts? Of course there are the games that come with the service, but those games don’t count when the subscription period is over which means you have to download them again.

This service really is for people that havent purchased anything from the store.I was gonna get this on day 1 but the content that has been listed i already own.It is a shame that playstation plus penalises the gamers that spend regularly on the store.For the people that have the stuff there should be alternatives so everybody can enjoy this service

hello how along would it take u to finish a game 1 month, 2 months lets say 3months tops what do u do with that game after ur played it for 3months MMMMM u move on to the next big thing or pickup a game that u have been waiting for does it really matterif u lose access to old games if ur sub lapses who cares there old you’ve played then move on.

frankly i’d rather not download them wasting what 600+meg of dl i’d rather play it and have them host them on a service where it would cost me less DL then it would to DL the whole game.

i dont know about anyone else here but having a limit of 30gigs a month takes it’s toll when i also use itunes.

P.S make your videos on demand product sizes smaller surely u can make movies smaller then a gig if u can do that i’d buy more movies of the videos on demend section. 3-500meg if u can hehe call it (SD+)

In my view u should have a choice of games

@312

i agree with you on most points. but i dont know where you are getting your download sizes for games from, but they are grossly over the target.

just because ps3 games come on blu-rays, which can theoretically hold 25gb on a standard disk, does not mean that all games are 25gb+ in size.

infact you will find that the vast majority of games you own, and are available, only occupy a quarter of the blurays capacity.

@Nathan_C123 yeap u can get the PSN cards at game or EB’S or u could get a (debt card)

lol at whoever said that the discounts is worth it alone , im sorry paying £40 a year to get 50 percent off the rubbish games of psn is just not something smart people will fall for , you will get the 20 percent off half decent games and the 50 percent will be for the older games like flow etc which many people will already have bought anyway . if i wanted to pay to get 50 percent off some games i would just get xbox live as they do deals every week for gold members with 50 percent off games like monkey island etc but as i said im not one for getting burned for my cash . just my opinion though before anyone jumps down my throat as per

This is good. I’ve looked around and got 2x £20 PSN cards for £35. Even cheaper this way.

The lack of vision is palpable in here.
Firstly, buy your PS+ sub with cheap PSN cards, it’ll save you up to £8.
If you’ve already got LBP, then sell it for a fiver.
All of a sudden, it’s only costing you £27.
Secondly, there’s a lot of moaning here about already having the games on offer, but not everyone grabs as much PSN content, this will be a great deal for a lot of people. In fact, if you buy that much PSN stuff, then the PS+ discounted rates on PSN stuff may save you money in the long run anyway.
Thirdly, and probably most obvious, if you don’t like it, don’t buy it.

Hi James –

Could you please clarify whether there will be some form of DRM attached to the games available through PSN+?

Simply speaking, will we need to sign in to the PSN to confirm our subscription in order to play any titles downloaded via PSN+?

Will this also be a requirement when playing PS1 or Mini games that we transfer to a PSP?

Thanks, Dan

Tell you what, double my PSN wallet credits once every 12 months, then let me choose what to spend my money on.

You get a guaranteed lump sum from me every year, and I effectively get 50% off whatever I deem worthy enough to buy from the store.

james why cant you guys just add the stuff that was ment to be in there in the first place that people actually want

token wagering
cloud save support
message alerts

also maybe add a couple video rentals a month too id rather see those things than a lot of the rubbish like 2 minis etc

seems as if 90% of the people on this article hate the sound of PS+ come on sony get your act together and give us something the COMMUNITY wants instead of you thinking you know what we want

stop flogging old content to the hardcore people as this service means nothing to them

i think i’ll wait till end of the year at least to see if its worth anything

if its just sony deciding on what you can have on the cheap then you wont be getting alot of customers

Hi James, PS+ is sounding better with every clarification, and I think the first 2 months are looking pretty strong, good work!

I’m wondering if there will be an option to choose what content is auto-downloaded. I’m happy to have patches and system updates downloaded for me, but I’d rather skip the demos being pushed to me. I hope this isn’t an all or nothing feature.

Also, can you clear up if there will or wont be a store wide % discount? It doesn’t seem from the ToS or this post that there will be, but it was somewhat hinted at previously.

Lastly, just checking that you have to download the content when it’s available from PS+ in order to be able to re-download it at a later date. Or will we be able to download it once it’s gone from the PS+ section so long as we were subscribed at that time.

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply to this

Will it be possible to receive the full trial games via a Push download as well?

You better make sure that cross-game voicechat is included with the next firmware-update.

We know it’s ready. It has been for almost a year now. It’s already incorporated into the PS3 dev-kits.

The only reason I can think of why anybody would approve of this “service” is the fact that they don’t have the life experience to KNOW that they ARE going to get burned in the end. Go read the PSN T&C again.

Gamers who have been gaming for many years don’t necessarily want to pay money over and over again for the same games. That is why we are still requesting backwards compatibility. Any digital media you buy on the PSN is basically only a rental. They have the right to terminate the service whenever they feel like it. This isn’t an investment like physical media, which can be re-sold when you are done with it.

If you really want to sign up for this “service” then go right ahead, but don’t cry afterwards and expect sympathy.
You have been warned.

Spose ill stop buying PSN games then .. since they might appear on PSN+ 3 months later for free.

To avoid the situation now where i already own most of the stuff offered in the first 2 months

Hi James,

Just something that is confusing me at the moment that I don’t think has been really answered, are the full game trials only PSN games, or are they retail Blu-Ray games such as InFamous, Heavy Rain, Call of Duty, etc.?

If you could just clarify this, it would be fantastic!

I didn’t like LBP when I tried it a year ago…

I already own Wipeout HD / Fury and Zen Pinball…(both excellent games BTW)

The only PSOne Classics I’m interested in are the Final Fantasy ones and I’ve already bought FFVII, FFVIII & FFIX (come on and release FF Tactics in Europe!)

There is nothing here that I am interested in.

Go on and offer Fat Princess and Flower for the next couple of months, because I’ve got those as well!

Anyone interested in this stuff will have it already…until new content is on offer, I just can’t see the point.

Mr. Thorpe- The questions have been repeating over and over again I know, but has not been answered directly. Will we see a improvement in communication over PSN such as cross-chat, voice messaging system, Skype, and just about any other thing that was mentioned in the posts…? I’d greatly appreciate some feedback.

Hey James. I think there is a mistake:

in blog post thehre is:Full Game Trial: Inferno Pool, Mushroom Wars

In response to comment of one users you typed:

Full Game Trial: inFamous, Mushroom Wars

Which one is good?

not happy! i already have zen pinball, and heavy rain avatars, i don’t like wipeout hd so psn plus can’t offer me much can it?

Wow so many people asking some really stupid questions furthermore most if not all the answers to these questions are already mentioned in the blog.
Anyway I’m looking forward to PSN plus.

In the event that Sony discontinues psn for example Microsoft discontinued xboxlive for the original xbox, will I retain all the products I earned during my psn period?

And is there ever going to be a time where sony allows you to keep what you’ve downloaded as a bonus ?

If I start a subscription and then have to buy a new PS3 (since my 60GB is on it’s last breat by now) will I still have these games n stuff or will it all be gone?

PS3 HARDCORE SERVICES (MOTTO: FOR REAL GAMERS)
1. themes and avatars.
2. 1-2 free video picks from the videos on demand section (rent or buy)
3. access to cross regional PSN Stores
4. access to betas
5. Games & Special Offers
6. Full Game Trial (u dont need to download a full game to trial it your current system of trialing a level then buying access is better.
7. standard discounts
8. access to sony’s first party MMORPG’s for free or at a 50% discount and access to any of sony’s third party MMORPG’s at a 10% discount.
9. piturer within piturer (we all know what this feature is. but for those who dont main screen will say display either a game or movie why’ll there is a smaller windowed screen inside that with either a game or movie that can be switched and resized and moved around the screen at anytime.
10. Special features within HOME ( BOX OFFICE MOVIE SCREENINGS, there is a threater use it.)at the cost of a movie ticket.
11. skype access
12. jade raymond in a bikini hehe

As a testament of you commitment to free PSN could you please release cross game voice chat for it?

Sony, you really need to change the rule on games get under subscription, pay for the service once it should be ours for life no matter if we end the subscription.. even if you make it that you had to have a yearly subscription to keep the games it be better then it is at the moment. fix that & i would be then willing to pay $60 a yr to use it. if not there little point.. as your wasting your money.

I would prefer some value added services instead of games to be honest. Things like:

Music streaming in game (spotify-esc?)

Exclusive developer interviews/walkthroughs from the guys at SCEUK studios (a creation walkthrough on LBP for example)

Cloud storage for game saves

Tournaments between users of the Plus service (the token wagering?)

The option to take part in exclusive Q&A’s on Home with people from SCEE for feedback on PSN as a whole

That said, the games I would like to see on this service if the above is unachievable are:

Lead and Gold

Dead Nation (on or very near to release)

Obviously I doubt that this will all be realistically achievable I do think that this is where PS+ should be heading.

(You asked for suggestions xD)

Throw a free movie rental in each month and I’m in as I’ll atleast cover my outgoing for the first few months while it gets going. As like many others here I own most, if not all of what is on offer over the first 2 months and suspect this to continue for atleast another couple of months.