It has certainly been an interesting few months for PlayStation Plus. When it was first announced I could see the potential, but I could also see the big fat elephant in the room; what if paying Plus subscribers already have the content being given away for free? Sure enough when month one started there was an influx of “got that, got that, THIS SUCKS!” that could be heard in forums across the land.
It’s a fair point though; as a paying subscriber shouldn’t you be entitled to something you actually want? I was in seventh heaven though, because as a total utter stingy git I had none of what was being given away, as I tend to hoard my money like a mistrustful Dwarf. The cries haven’t died out though as the months have gone on, to the point where the team at Sony must be feeling lower than the bumper on a boy racers Nova – a point that EU Blog man James Gallagher seems to agree with:
” I sometimes feel like I could announce the apocalypse and a few of you would be underwhelmed!”
This was said the day that it was announced Plus members would be getting ALL Fallout 3 DLC for free. What I thought was an amazing deal seemed to ignite Twitter into a frenzy of “how DARE you get our hopes up over this crap”. The same can be said for the much touted Plus demos and beta access.
We got the Mafia II demo a day early, which annoyed people as it was just a day; we got the Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood beta a week early, which annoyed people as they wanted a Plus only beta; so then we got the big one – the Killzone 3 beta, almost exclusive to PlayStation Plus. As soon as this was announced I saw people literally cursing Sony’s name for making it a Plus only affair.
So we want Plus only betas…that are available to everyone…but not? Heck I’m confused, and I bet Sony are too, which leads me to ask – will Sony ever be able to please everyone? It seems that now there are Plus and non Plus people Sony can do no right. Do you subscribe? If so have you been happy with the items made available to you?
DixNeuf
For me, the fallout dlc was the perfect for plus. I’m generally hesitant to buy DLC as it’s rare I hang into any game for longer than it takes to complete it, so ‘renting’ it is a great solution for me. I must confess that I’ve been a little disappointed with the odd month here or there as the freebies/discounts have been stuff I already own, but that should lessen as I’m now spending considerably less on full price items.
My only real compliant I’d that I like to see Plus extended to the PSP on a regular basis, beyond the occasional demo.
teflon
But more than half the content is actually playable on PSP. All the PSone games are, and so are all the minis… After that, it’s rather restricted by everything needing to be playable on PS3 in the main package, and the PSP being very long in the tooth.
Maybe they could do some LBPSP DLC or something…
Broonba
I’m a bit of a tight git when it comes to paying for PSN titles, & I personally can’t see the point of paying to use the service, as what i already get for free is more than adequate. IMO most PSN titles are pretty shit anyway (Most……..not all tho)
LycanGav
Very very wrong. There are a lot of very good games on PSN.
stueeeee
I must say there’s been some brilliant games on PSN. Some just little that last a couple of hours (flOw, worms and flower to name a few) but then some like WipeOut HD that is at a cheap price but has more playability than many full price blu-rays!
Broonba
I never said ALL PSN games were shit……..just most of them :p
Broonba
Aye and most of them get very very boring after 30 mins or so. Most are OK for kids, but as i’m not a kid, they’re just not my cup of tea.
LycanGav
Nah, still very wrong. I’ve poured hours into the likes of Braid, Flower, Pixeljunk Monsters, Joe Danger, Pixeljunk Shooter, Shatter…… I could go on and on. Plenty of dire games are disc based, I’d say a larger percentage of games released via PSN are better than average.
Broonba
Just because I don’t agree with you, it doesn’t mean i’m wrong. We’re both entitled to our ”own” opinions…….after all, isn’t that how discussions work ??
Some (not all) of the PSN games i’ve personally played have held my interest for no more than 30 mins, and some disc based games have also been equally as dire………just MY opinion…….doesn’t mean i’m wrong tho, just as you also have a valid opinion. ;)
LycanGav
Of course an opinion can be wrong. A few hundred years ago plenty of people were of the opinion that the world was flat and if you sailed too far west you would fall off the edge.
Broonba
Still doesn’t make my personal opinion wrong (about most PSN games being shit tho) Like I said MY opinion…..not fact……..i obviously have different tastes from you. Looks like we’ll have to agree to disagree ;)
Yahavage
I love plus – prior to getting it I had purchased no classics, had no minis, and only one PSN game, which was wipeout. I feel like already I’ve had my monies worth, and there is still so much more to come. To me it has been well worth it, but I guess I can see why people who had purchases stuff already may see it as a waste of time.
Can’t please all of the people all of the time I guess^^
Roynaldo
With so many customers worldwide you can never please everyone. Sony can only try and draw people to buy + with exclusive content throughout to make the stingy gits (like myself) give in because they get far too jealous of what they could easily have if they spent a few more bucks a year.
My first point of jealousy is the Killzone 3 beta after all these months….but thats it. Nothing else has interested me. + only EVER (or at least 4-6 months) stuff is the only way they will force my hand into my wallet.
SpikeyMikey23
the next 6 months will be make or break for me. I had hardly any of the plus contentn before i signed up, while its nice to be getting this stuff for a ‘knockdown’ price, chances are i wouldnt have bought it anyway. Sam and max is win win for me. i would have bought it as soon as it recieved a discount but zen pinball? ssf2hd? if i really wanted them, i would have bought them when they were released. crittercrunch? no thanks. Game trials – nope.
So ill see how i feel in june next year before i make my mind up wether to subscribe or not. if they keep giving me tat (in my oppinion) then they can go whistle
SpikeyMikey23
I also tend to feel thats its not really a service, just a discount scheme. I acknowledge that they have given subscribers background downloading, but it only seems to download the last 3 games played for me. plus it doesnt redognise when youve already downloaded a demo. must have cancelled the ruse demo around 6 times
kahana95
I’ve only bought BF1943 and COD5 Map packs so pretty much anything they throw my way will be a new experience. They better release the burnout paradise dlc for free though!
SpikeyMikey23
your probably on for a win with the burnout dlc, eventually
TSBonyman
Great topic :)
PS+ might have been more welcome at the beginning but now it feels too late and if it continues in it’s current format it will never appeal to me. As someone who makes regular purchases on the store i find it disheartening that Sony are more interested in rewarding people who might spend only €50 a year.
I would have preferred X amount of credts/vouchers per purchase, which could be accumulated and spent on whatever you choose. But it’s already too late for that option – if they introduced it now i would want it retro-active, to cover all my purchases – and they’re not going to do that as it would be too costly and most people would probably not waste their credits on avatars, themes, minis or ps1 games – or at least they would only buy the desirable stuff, leaving Sony with a lot of stuff they couldn’t “push”.
They mention on the blog all the time how PS+ is evolving – but they seem to think all they need do is stuff more content in there. PS+ needs a redo but that also isn’t going to happen so i’ll be sticking with the free PSN for the forseeable future.
Yellow 13
I didn’t bother with plus coz it was almost all old crap and stuff I have already, but I got a 3 month sub for the fallout dlc of which I had none of them. so I got my moneys worth in 1 week! and I still have 2 1/2 months left!
SpikeyMikey23
you do realise that the fallout dlc expires when your sub expires, so you’ll need to complete it before then or resubscribe
Guyers94
Not true, you can keep them forever it says so when you download it.
SpikeyMikey23
read the description of the fallout dlc again
Watchful
@SpikeyMikey23
“…you can download this item at no extra cost and keep it forever.” is what it says on the PS Store for the Fallout 3 DLC.
Seems to fairly conclusively state that it does not expire when your subscription does.
Now SF2THDR on the other hand says “…it’s yours to keep until your subscription ends.” Which also backs up the fact that the FO3 DLC isn’t going away when your subscription does.
SpikeyMikey23
ah they must have changed it, when the first 3 were made available last week, it stated it would expire when sub expires. We discussed it in the ‘ Free Fallout 3 DLC’ article, as i was under the impression that all dlc was for keeps, but apparently not….
moshi
1 gripe with the PS+ is they could just get rid of the PS1 Classics and give us something else, i mean absolutely anything else
ruinereraser
Well PS+ subscribers from Poland didn’t get any of the announced Fallout 3 DLC eventually. James at EU blog said they are aware of this and are working on a solution but as yet, we’re still left out and it’s a huge dissapointment IMHO.