We’d been offline for well over three weeks, the PSN’s downtime giving many gamers chance to catch up on some single player stuff (or, of course, defect and jump onto other ships) but over the weekend things started to grind back in life, culminating in a stuttering restart on Sunday and everyone (except Japan) back online Monday. It’s been an odd few weeks, people generally feeling a bit left in the dark but hopeful that Sony would get everything fixed and we – the loyal gamers – would get rewarded.
Well, yesterday evening the various territories announced their Welcome Back packs – a selection of PS3 and PSP games that PlayStation gamers could opt for, once the Store’s back online. Whenever that’s going to be. Were people happy? Well, despite the games being offered generally being pretty good titles, the general concensus around the internet (and from 11 pages of comments here on TSA) is that Sony’s most loyal gamers are feeling a little bit hard done by – mainly because they’ve already bought most, if not all, of the games listed.
Let’s take a look at the European options, then. First up, the PS3 games. We’ll be able to pick two out of the following five: LittleBigPlanet, Infamous, Wipeout HD, Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty and Dead Nation. Now, we don’t know about you personally, but that’s really not a bad selection of games. You’ve got the wonderful (albeit slightly dated now with the superior sequel) LittleBigPlanet, a massive third person action game in the shape of Infamous, one of the best racing games ever created with Wipeout HD (and the Fury add-on), cute platformer Quest for Booty and top down zombie blaster Dead Nation.
Really, what did you expect?
We’ve seen comments around the net from those that had already bought all five complaining that there’s nothing in there for them – but these are popular, high scoring games, so anyone regularly buying them would have already got them – that’s going to be the case whichever five titles Sony picked. And of course they’re all first party titles, we’d imagine the logistics and licensing behind trying to secure third party titles would have been a nightmare, not to mention the physical restriction of having to ensure the games were available to download from the Store, you’re not getting Blu-rays here.
The PSP selection’s equally strong: LittleBigPlanet is great, ModNation Racers is one of the most rounded games on the platform, Pursuit Force is an oldie but worth looking at, and Killzone Liberation’s a decent enough filler for anyone looking for more Killzone, albeit third person and top-down. Again, all first party, all downloadable, and – yes – if you’re a hardcore Sony fan you’ve probably already got them.
But what were Sony supposed to do? Offer credit for every account? Even if it’s just £20 – a rough figure pulled from approximating the value of the above games – that’s over one a half billion pounds, hardly realistic in anyone’s eyes, right? Could they have offered newer games? Certainly – although Dead Nation’s recent enough the others are a little dated now, but we weren’t ever going to get LittleBigPlanet 2 (it’s still selling) and inFamous 2’s just around the corner, so presumably Sony thought a refresher with the first game might have been a good idea.
Warhawk, though, should have been on there. With Starhawk announced and hype at an all time high, securing the first game would have ignited interest and got people talking about Lightbox’s 2012 offering. Why it’s not on there is anyone’s guess, licensing, perhaps – who knows – but swapping the third person multiplayer shooter for the rather short Ratchet and Clank episode might have swayed people’s minds a little.
And if you have got all five games (and the PSP titles) then at least there’s 30 days of PlayStation Plus to keep you going – but hey – let’s hear your opinions…
uuuhh
I think it’s a great offer! I played the demo for infamous but decided not to buy it, but a free game is a free game so what the hell! :D and I’ll get dead nation, pursuit force and KZ.
asparagushunter
These people are ungrateful. It’s as simple as that.
Sony didn’t have to do anything. They did.
It’s not as if the guys who have the games aren’t getting anything; don’t forget the free Plus and associated content…
teflon
They kind of did, though. By handing out £30 of games and credit check coverage they’re staving off potential lawsuits, as they can argue that they’ve already compensated people as far as is reasonable and possible. Already, this easily exceeds that frivolous $1 billion suit in Canada.
asparagushunter
Fair point. Instead I should have said ‘Sony didn;t have to offer much’.
There, fixed it.
teflon
Whatever they offered, people wouldn’t be happy. This is the least they could offer to give to the highest number of people. People to own all 5 would be easily less than 1 in 10, and I’d hazard a guess that it’s more like 1 in 25.
This will have been carefully calculated to do so. Don’t forget, Sony are a business, and giving away this amount of content is major, especially if it then spirals with more and more titles being added.
bully1990
I didn’t expect the list to include full retail titles like InFamous so I’m pleasantly surprised. Choosing two from 5 will actually be quite tricky but I think I will go for Dead Nations along with InFamous.
chibber
Well, I’m happy, I don’t own Ratchet & Clank or Dead nation on the PS3 or Mod Nation or Persuit Force on the PSP – I own the rest so I’ll be getting them. I think it’s perfectly reasonable
Tuffcub
Haters gonna hate. Simplez.
Crazy_Del
These are excellent games but we got free LBP when PS+ came out.
Wipeout was very cheap for PS+ and I got that along with DeadNation. (massive discount)
I have inFAMOUS on Blu-Ray disc, and have played Rachet and CLank aswell.
So I’m still unhappy I mean every PS+ (Well some I know) has got free LBP when you first subscribe.
I’m going to get LBP and Modnation on PSP as I don’t have them.
Hannypoppie
I think people should be happy Sony is even making a peace offering like this . It’s not like they absolutely had to do it you know, and the titles you can choose from are pretty damn impressive. People should stop looking a given horse in the mouth, it’s so childish and rude. C’mon folks it’s a present, be happy!
cam the man
The only game for the PS3 that interests me is Wipeout HD. I already have it but not the Fury expansion add-on.
Not complaining though as it would be nearly impossible for Sony to have a list of games that would suit all 70 odd million account holders.
tomhat
thank you sony. in the past three weeks i have almost got the fallout new vegas platinum trophy (its been a long and sometimes a bit of a tedious battle, around 80 hours so far) and my rewards will be well received, im thinking wipeout and dead nation. But seriously, im just glad they’ve sorted it and when they mentioned free games last week i was expecting a ‘mini’ of some kind, nevermind actual games. As for people who already have all 5, i think you have enough already! (nah, it would anoy me aswell, unfortunately just one of those things).