PS3 Gets First Pay-To-Play Game

Trash Panic appears in Arcade form, includes Home Rewards.
Published 16/07/2009 at 6:30 by nofi

We liked Trash Panic, but we didn’t know Sony liked it enough to give it another chance.  On the Japanese PSN Store today the game, which is called Gomi Bako in its native country, has been re-released as a pay-to-play game: for ¥100 you get 3 lives, and unlike the ‘full’ PSN game, you can unlock Home Rewards.

100 Yen is roughly 69p, which gives you an idea of the cost.  Whilst I’m all for new ideas, this one makes me feel a little uneasy – I’d rather pay more up front and keep the game free, and yes in this case that’s entirely possible but if Sony go down this route for other games in the future they’d be on groundbreaking territory.

Still, it’s probably more effective than a demo, especially with the Home Rewards.  There are no Trophies for this version of the game.

Thanks, Kassatsu.

Comments

Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.

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  1. Anyone got cash to burn to check it out?


    • I still have some Yen, will check it out later.


  2. wow thats gonna get expensive! especially if the game is good, if i had to pay per lives on supersonic acrobatic id be in so much debt!
    not got this game yet, really want it tho.


  3. Interesting.
    Kind of like an arcade where you get a certain amount of tickets for how well you do and turn them in for a reward.
    Depending on how much this evolves, could be a wicked idea.


  4. Sorry but, Home’s not that great. Not until I have a TV in my apartment will I spend a dime on anything like this.

    I did buy the high top shoes and a barbecue. What a waste of cash.


  5. This just seems like another way to have the cash sucked out of us. I am really not liking the mini transactions that are appearing in games at the moment. For example – Tiger woods 10. There was 2 levels on the store the day before the game was released. This to me makes me feel that the game is incomplete. You pay £40 for a game, then get it home and then have to pay another tenner to have more maps? no thank you.

    Pay2pal just for home bits of tat? nope not going to happen for this gamer.


  6. Plus i think Home is a massive waste of time, and have not even logged on to it more than once


    • THANKS

      i feel the same, and have been saying so ever-since i looked deep into it!! Sony should of spent the money and time wasted on HOME, and put it to better use…ie the new motion controller. now that is an add-on that would get some use from GAMERS (which i think they forgot when they developed HOME) and add new dimensions to the PS3.


  7. I think the idea is stupid because that is wat gaming arcade are for when you are at home you want to be able to play at your lesure. (sorry bad spelling very tired)


  8. Maybe Sony are using this as a test bed to see how it goes. Trash Panic is a very addictive game and I’d soon be racking up more than I paid for it if SCEE adopted this model.

    Perhaps this is also a first glimpse of the future of gaming. Which may well be along the lines of the ‘onlive’ premise where you’ll be playing games hosted elsewhere, negating the need for continually upgrading your own consoles. Perhaps the PSPGo starts to make some sense after all?


  9. Takes me back to being a kid on holiday, hunting for all the lost 10ps down the back of the sofa just for another couple of lives on operation wolf or trying to pull off legion of dooms top rope tag move on the WWFs arcade machine without it freezing before some kid told me it was glitched and couldn’t be done. I must have spent a small fortune like that.


    • Take me back to when I was a kid too… But I don’t think there will be any drug dealers in the Home arcade. Not like when I was playing Street Fighter in my local arcade, with guys around me waiting for their fix!

      I think it’s a good idea!


  10. Maybe it’s because I’ve just woken and don’t yet have my thinking cap on yet, but can’t see any merit in this. The game it’s self doesn’t lend it’s self to arcade. Having played I could have spent £5 just getting the hang of it. Sorry Sony but just don’t get this move.


    • Sorry I’ve missed words and letters out all over the shop. Like I say I’ve just woken up and I’m doing this on my iPhone.


      • I didn’t actually notice any mistakes until you mentioned it…?

        I agree though i don’t think the idea lends itself to an arcade


  11. I’d much rather have trophies than trinkets regardless of the pricetag and 59p is a bit expensive to get 3 shots . Especially if your not in an airport lobby or a megabowl .


  12. Are you gonna be playing this from the PS Store or will you download it if you wanna play it.
    This could be bad news for some things because if Free Realms costs $$$ I’d say two thirds of the people interested in it won’t use it. I wouldn’t anyway.


    • You download the game to your system. There is an option on the main menu to add more credits.


  13. I suppose this wouldn’t be too bad.
    Would encourage you to try harder and do better seeing as you have actual money at stake.
    Would make things much more tense.


  14. no, no, no, no, no.
    i really hope this fails big time.
    i’m all for making money out of games, but this is a step too far.
    selling lives for games, why not sell bullets for the next call of duty or make you rent the football for the next fifa game.
    like i said, NO.

    this is something i would never put money into.


  15. I hope this doesn’t catch on. If this system was used for SSHD I’d be in a whole loadda debt by now. Once I buy a game… I want to be able to play it as much as I want without additional costs. Fair enough for use in arcades, but not in our own homes.


    • I agree, I wouldn’t want the additional pressure of having to pay if I die. The game also wouldn’t feel like your own.


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