- Exclusive in-game DLC and other content
- Free full games, changing each month
- Early access to demos and betas
- Auto-patching feature, which will detect, download and install updates
PlayStation Plus announced, available later this month for $49 per year
by Griffin McElroy 
on Jun 15th 2010 4:47PM
146
Reader Comments (146)
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 5:15PM Snowblind said
@(Unverified)
I never said online wouldn't be free, but you are missing out on features that would have normally been free to all PSN users, and come as basic to all XBL users.
No matter how you cut it, it's definitely a blow to the PS3 defence force.
I never said online wouldn't be free, but you are missing out on features that would have normally been free to all PSN users, and come as basic to all XBL users.
No matter how you cut it, it's definitely a blow to the PS3 defence force.
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 5:21PM Vakarian said
It has begun... Dun dun duuuuhhhh!
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 5:24PM BiggRapp313 said
i sure hate that cross game chat isn't included in this and i really hope sony encourages developers to incorporate custom soundtracks in their games. i like the freebies that come with plus but i was expecting a lot more than just the few bullet points listed above.
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 5:37PM Mr Khan said
In a way it seems like what Microsoft should be doing, giving the online multiplayer for free and charging people for the perks, but in a world where Microsoft has defined that as the norm, this ends up looking backwards itself.
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 6:05PM Fhaze said
@Dustin F
Cross chat is good because:
1.) You don't have to pause the game, or if your playing online, die a bunch of times while you pick up the phone to call your friend
2.) Because I don't have a wireless headset for my home phone
3.) Because I would rather press 2 buttons while I am playing my game to start a chat then go through the pain of exiting my game or using that horrible text message screen
4.) Because I don't want to tie up my home phone line or use the minutes on my cell phone to chat with someone when they are online
5.) Because Microsoft does it
Need more?
Reply
Cross chat is good because:
1.) You don't have to pause the game, or if your playing online, die a bunch of times while you pick up the phone to call your friend
2.) Because I don't have a wireless headset for my home phone
3.) Because I would rather press 2 buttons while I am playing my game to start a chat then go through the pain of exiting my game or using that horrible text message screen
4.) Because I don't want to tie up my home phone line or use the minutes on my cell phone to chat with someone when they are online
5.) Because Microsoft does it
Need more?
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 5:49PM khaos100 said
Wow. All this over something that costs a little more than two 2 dollar Taco Bell value meals. You can find this in spare change. Seriously, if 50 bucks for A YEAR, 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days is a lot of money to you WTF are you doing gaming with an expensive console that connects to an expensive HD TV and has games that, when released cost a lot.
Don't like it move on. Guess what? It was never meant for you anyway.
I mean when Sony forces you into buying proprietary crap like memory cards for the PS1, then the PS2 and then the PSP, yeah bitch about their cost and value. This? Get a job that pays better.
Oh yeah..... Get the hell off my lawn!!
Don't like it move on. Guess what? It was never meant for you anyway.
I mean when Sony forces you into buying proprietary crap like memory cards for the PS1, then the PS2 and then the PSP, yeah bitch about their cost and value. This? Get a job that pays better.
Oh yeah..... Get the hell off my lawn!!
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 10:25PM Psykechan said
@(Unverified)
You can't have it both ways. You can't complain about $50/yr being too much for Xbox Live and then say it's OK when PSPlus costs that much. This is like saying that force feedback is old tech or saying that the Wiimote is a useless toy.
All this does is bring the online functionality from both platforms into parity including the price. MS fanboys can shut the hell up because the PS3 will have cross game chat and Sony fanboys can shut the hell up because they'll have to pay $50 a year to have it.
None of this really matters to me right now because I'm locked off of PSN because my PS3 runs Linux; you know, part of that "everything" that PS3 supposedly does. :/
Reply
You can't have it both ways. You can't complain about $50/yr being too much for Xbox Live and then say it's OK when PSPlus costs that much. This is like saying that force feedback is old tech or saying that the Wiimote is a useless toy.
All this does is bring the online functionality from both platforms into parity including the price. MS fanboys can shut the hell up because the PS3 will have cross game chat and Sony fanboys can shut the hell up because they'll have to pay $50 a year to have it.
None of this really matters to me right now because I'm locked off of PSN because my PS3 runs Linux; you know, part of that "everything" that PS3 supposedly does. :/
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 6:01PM Rocket2961 said
I pay 20 some dollars for Qore so another 30 is not much cash. I will try it for a year to see if it delivers.
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 6:05PM CaramelZappa said
Don't care about any of this stuff. I buy the games I want. It's amazing to me that they're introducing a paid service when they haven't even matched xbox lives features like cross-game chat and the party system. I'm not paying more for less, Sony.
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 11:15PM Dustin F said
You're talking about a niche of high spender hardcore gamers, I think, who want cross game chat. Frankly, that alone is a good argument for Sony selling that service, if they can make a profit (I agree with them that they would not see any profit because this really isn't worth as much, but mostly FUD and the normal whiners who won't pay a cent for this, much less what it would cost). Their phones use bluetooth. So your headset argument just died.
Microsoft does it? Who cares? Sony does a metric ton of stuff MS doesn't with the Playstation. If it's feature measuring contest, there is no question who wins.
You don't want to tie up your lines? Sounds like a poverty argument. Again, the entire point of cross chat, like every other aspect of xbox and PS3, is to make money. If you're not willing to lose money on this deal, which is what it sounds like when you can't even call your pals on the phone, then forget being a profitable cross chat player.
If it's any consolation, there are a lot of good alternatives. I communicate with friends easily on my PS3 and I chat when they join the game we're playing. I call them on the phone, too. If enough people really want this and are willing to pay enough, Sony will know through their surveys. You'll get your service.
Reply
Microsoft does it? Who cares? Sony does a metric ton of stuff MS doesn't with the Playstation. If it's feature measuring contest, there is no question who wins.
You don't want to tie up your lines? Sounds like a poverty argument. Again, the entire point of cross chat, like every other aspect of xbox and PS3, is to make money. If you're not willing to lose money on this deal, which is what it sounds like when you can't even call your pals on the phone, then forget being a profitable cross chat player.
If it's any consolation, there are a lot of good alternatives. I communicate with friends easily on my PS3 and I chat when they join the game we're playing. I call them on the phone, too. If enough people really want this and are willing to pay enough, Sony will know through their surveys. You'll get your service.
Posted: Jun 16th 2010 11:44PM SkierPS3 said
The games are worth about $10 each. You get one or two a month. That means you get around $180 worth of games for $50. When you think about it, it's a really nice deal. Plus (no pun intended), you lose the games when you unsub because Sony wants you to continue using Plus. If you just sign up, get a game and unsub, then they don't really make any money.
Reply
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 6:09PM Towers229 said
I'll be wasting my money on it!
SONY FANBOI 4TW!
SONY FANBOI 4TW!
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 6:13PM DWilson8504 said
To all the people complaining. These points are JUST what he mentioned, he said about 3 times there would be more and more in the future. Calm down.
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 6:17PM delicatessen lama said
Just when I get excited for my xbox 360, Sony again goes out to make the PS3 better than the 360.
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 6:27PM Raffi256 said
WTF you pay for auto-patching?
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 6:31PM Bravo9zero said
I hope theres more features for PSN+ than this.
I don't really care about BETA's and discounts/DLC.
I want PSN+ only features (Example Cross game chat)
I don't really care about BETA's and discounts/DLC.
I want PSN+ only features (Example Cross game chat)
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 6:46PM DocHolmes said
I hate sitting down to play a game and having to wait for it to update. This is especially annoying when friends or family are over. Of course the service alone is not worth the subscription price. I know I wont be playing the ps3 forever so I am not too worried about losing games I got for 'free'. Anybody who buys games at full retail and then trades them in is essentially only renting/leasing the game for a time. I look forward to hearing more about what is in store with the service.
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 6:47PM Tparsons5150 said
Looking Forward to this!
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 6:51PM wallywallas said
So... how is this different from Qore?
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 6:56PM Angel Mass said
This is how the ends begging
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 6:58PM xddga said
Actually, from what I've been able to dig up (each site seems to vary, so keep that in mind), it's not too bad a deal. First 3 months are free, on the free downloadable games (for example Wipeout HD), they don't get expire (as long as you're a member. but it almost sounds like you have to get the game that month), get free trials to other games (like ps1 classics) for a limited time, but it keeps the save file, so you can purchase it later and keep on going from there, premium avatars and themes are free, Qore becomes free... probably a bunch of others later on down the road. Want to hear more about it before I pass judgement, but really the price isn't bad and they offer free [good] games on a monthly basis, in a couple of months it's already paid for itself.
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 7:20PM andrewpoe said
This is no different than XBL but it seems to actually want to give people more when they pay. XBL Gold members only get the early access to demos/betas and that's it. I can see PSN+ working if the games are permanently stored on your hard drive after downloading (which is why the 500 GB hard drive got introduced). Not "you downloaded it but it's no longer available" crap.
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 8:31PM StriderNo9 said
@andrewpoe Gold members also get to play games online. That alone is worth the $50 bucks a year, if Plus members were able to play online and not nonpaying then yes you get what you pay for, as it stands this is Qore.
Reply
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 8:30PM StriderNo9 said
So its a suped up Qore?
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 8:54PM Overgauss said
It's a trap!
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 9:04PM HydrophobicFish PSN ID Hydrophob said
Cloud saves would have sealed the deal for me... as it stands now... I'm on the fence.
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 9:16PM Irvine032188 said
$50 a YEAR is really not that much to pay for all the extra stuff you will get. And while you may only get to keep the games while you're subscribed, why would you not stay subscribed with the low cost of $4.08/mo. And we will get the cross game chat as well as other features that aren't listed in this posting. You're getting exclusive content, in game and not in game. So i don't see how its a hard sell or even an issue.
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 9:53PM Lekko said
a few questions I have:
Does game content stack? As in if you sign up this year, you get Wipeout for free, but next year you get say Warhawk for free. If you sign up next year without being signed up for year one, do you get Warhawk AND Wipeout? or do you need year one to keep it?
If it stacks, than 3-4 years down the road that is going to be a lot of free content, making it more attractive. On the other side of the coin, you have to keep paying forever to keep the stuff you already have, and the longer you stay in it, the more value it gets. Tricky move. It would be more useful if almost all DLC was free under +.
I'm also curious about 'free qore' since THAT had free DLC and games, but those you could keep after your subscription ran out. So do you keep the Qore goodies under plus, but not the plus goodies?
It's odd how xbox has cross game chat free, but pay for online. Sony has free online, but pay for cross game chat. Of the two, I'd still go with Sony.
Does game content stack? As in if you sign up this year, you get Wipeout for free, but next year you get say Warhawk for free. If you sign up next year without being signed up for year one, do you get Warhawk AND Wipeout? or do you need year one to keep it?
If it stacks, than 3-4 years down the road that is going to be a lot of free content, making it more attractive. On the other side of the coin, you have to keep paying forever to keep the stuff you already have, and the longer you stay in it, the more value it gets. Tricky move. It would be more useful if almost all DLC was free under +.
I'm also curious about 'free qore' since THAT had free DLC and games, but those you could keep after your subscription ran out. So do you keep the Qore goodies under plus, but not the plus goodies?
It's odd how xbox has cross game chat free, but pay for online. Sony has free online, but pay for cross game chat. Of the two, I'd still go with Sony.
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 10:11PM kenny goo said
Some features I like, some features I don't, I'm sure this will be great for some people, but not for me.
Posted: Jun 16th 2010 12:56AM Mitsuo said
@Psykechan
you see it's ok on the PSN+ cause it's entirely optional. You can still play online for free. But with the XBL you HAVE to pay it in order to play online. There's no work around it. Sony isn't forcing this on you at all which is why the $50 a year is nice.
Reply
you see it's ok on the PSN+ cause it's entirely optional. You can still play online for free. But with the XBL you HAVE to pay it in order to play online. There's no work around it. Sony isn't forcing this on you at all which is why the $50 a year is nice.
Posted: Jun 15th 2010 11:56PM SolidSnakeEyes said
I'm curious, if your subscription lapses and then you sign up again will your prior downloads work again?
Posted: Jun 16th 2010 2:42PM Dustin F said
Yeah, PS3s fail. However, the rate is so far below industry standards that when someone, who is obviously extremely nasty and obviously hates everything not Xbox claims their Ps3 YLOD, I ask them why.
With failure rates so low, in any industry, it's generally understood that use conditions are the likely culprit rather than the manufacturing quality. That isn't the case 100% of the time, of course.
But especially with the crazies, I just ask if they know why their PS3 failed. Maybe they smoke around it, or keep it filthy, or dropped it. Or they completely made it up and are a troll.
That guy is clearly some kind of kook, pot. Not that I really care, but it's funny how legit YLOD recipients usually have a story that makes more sense and aren't crazy.
Reply
With failure rates so low, in any industry, it's generally understood that use conditions are the likely culprit rather than the manufacturing quality. That isn't the case 100% of the time, of course.
But especially with the crazies, I just ask if they know why their PS3 failed. Maybe they smoke around it, or keep it filthy, or dropped it. Or they completely made it up and are a troll.
That guy is clearly some kind of kook, pot. Not that I really care, but it's funny how legit YLOD recipients usually have a story that makes more sense and aren't crazy.
Posted: Jun 16th 2010 1:39PM paper said
No thanks.
Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:53AM HAND5 said
I dont get why so many people is whining about this service.
You didn't get any exclusive material if you didn't, for an example, ordered the game from gamestop. And nothing sais this is going to change, just that if you subscribe you will get acess to it also. Sure it may come some material that will be availible for only subscribers, but then it's also supposed to come for those who pays. I dont get the big deal. If you do subscribe do any other service there is almost always different choices (small, medium, large) and they all offer a different amount depending on the cost. Here you have 2. Dont pay, get less. Pay, get more.
And as they said. You will be offered at least 4 games a month + themes and extra content. Sure they may suck or they will be awesome. 1 PSN game, 2 minis and also a PSone classic each month, i don't say no to that for a price of 5$ยจ(less). You will also get psn discounts and trials on full games. Just like subscribing to a newspaper, you get extras for doing it.
I like the idea. I love demos and i love games and the fact that i will get them in a subscription makes me very well interested.
I will at least give it a try for a year. Then if i dont like it, I'll stop and loose all my extra games. But who cares, i pay like 80$ for one single game here in sweden, and at some point i will stop playing it either way.
And also I again reffer to newspapers. If you do subscribe, you get them in your mailbox, otherwise you go get them at the shop. If you do subscribe to playstation +, you will get everything delivered to your playstation automaticly. If you do not, you'll have to go get them.
You didn't get any exclusive material if you didn't, for an example, ordered the game from gamestop. And nothing sais this is going to change, just that if you subscribe you will get acess to it also. Sure it may come some material that will be availible for only subscribers, but then it's also supposed to come for those who pays. I dont get the big deal. If you do subscribe do any other service there is almost always different choices (small, medium, large) and they all offer a different amount depending on the cost. Here you have 2. Dont pay, get less. Pay, get more.
And as they said. You will be offered at least 4 games a month + themes and extra content. Sure they may suck or they will be awesome. 1 PSN game, 2 minis and also a PSone classic each month, i don't say no to that for a price of 5$ยจ(less). You will also get psn discounts and trials on full games. Just like subscribing to a newspaper, you get extras for doing it.
I like the idea. I love demos and i love games and the fact that i will get them in a subscription makes me very well interested.
I will at least give it a try for a year. Then if i dont like it, I'll stop and loose all my extra games. But who cares, i pay like 80$ for one single game here in sweden, and at some point i will stop playing it either way.
And also I again reffer to newspapers. If you do subscribe, you get them in your mailbox, otherwise you go get them at the shop. If you do subscribe to playstation +, you will get everything delivered to your playstation automaticly. If you do not, you'll have to go get them.
Posted: Jun 17th 2010 11:48AM shadowhowl1900 said
this is just like Qore, promises of betas and free stuff when all i ever got was games i never play, themes i didnt care for, and betas that took a long time to get into after the pre-orders.
Posted: Jun 22nd 2010 11:52PM GroundControl2MT said
I don't know why anyone is bashing this service. dose XBL give you free games? so what their only for as long as you subscribe, I mean has anyone only paid for one year of XBL then stopped? what about free portal, no one was complaining that it was only free for a month or two, I think this will be a great service
