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…
Crazy_Del
I’m not complaining just gutted…..
Although I wouldn’t mind if they can make some games as a double XP weekend… I want to catch up lol.
colmshan1990
I can’t believe people are complaining.
This really is way above and beyond what I was expecting and hoping for.
While I do own 4 out of the 5 PS3 games, and 2 of the 4 PSP games, I am delighted to be getting inFamous (never had that before), and Little Big Planet (time to trade my disc) onto my hard-drive. I have Wipeout, it’s one of my favourite games, Ratchet is as charming and fun as always, and Dead Nation is releatively recent, and the little I’ve played of it was quite good.
As for the PSP, I have LBP and Killzone, but that still doesn’t leave me sure of what to get. I’ll definitely get Modnation Racers, and then do I get Pursuit Force, or do I look ahead to the NGP and upgrade my UMD to digital? And if so, which one?
I’m delighted with the choices available to me.
JesseDeya
+1 Well said.
Nauraph
+1
iamtdogg
+1 more :)
cc_star
As I said last night; Sony’s ‘better’ and more ‘loyal’ customers are most likely to already own these.
But they’re probably also more likely to own anything Sony could have offered.
I think games like Warhawk & SOCOM and even MAG (with or without a level cap) haven’t been chosen because server demand would mean more unhappy customers if their respective servers can’t cope with a sudden influx of nearly all Playstation owners.
I (have) own(ed) all of the games except Dead Nation so the offering doesn’t suit me, but I’m not fussed as all I really wanted was for Sony to apologise, improve in future and to make things right with the ID Protection.
But…The argument that its free stuff on a free service doesn’t stack up though. When customers are inconvenienced for any reason other than their own, 90% of companies (& 100% of good/great companies) raise goodwill gestures like a credit note(or similar) anyway. Also the ‘free’ PSN is a reason people pay money to Sony to buy a PS3 in the first place.
So am I over the moon about the goodwill gestures, not particularly but I don’t think they could do things much differently so I’m not disappointed either. It is what it is, a goodwill gesture.
I just wish they’d get a move on with the ID Protection, the lumping together of unconnected countries in SCEE’s territory is causing some customers in easy to sort-out countries (like presumably the UK) to be delayed & be financially inconvenienced in the mean-time because we’ve had to sort our own out.
JesseDeya
I’m not reading though the 7 pages of shite. I know at least half of the comments are people claiming how hard done they are by this deal, and how they deserve more.
Why don’t you all sue Sony for $1 billion for emotional distress while you’re at it.
Honestly, Sony f’d up by letting this happen, but they have done a pretty good job of trying to make it right. These bonus games are just that, a bonus – complaining about them is probably the most pathetic thing I’ve seen in several years.
Feel hard done by? Take it up with Sony. Call them, complain. If that doesn’t work, sue them. Good luck gen y.
DirtyHabit
+1
blackredyellow
Excellent comment sir, I agree with you whole-heartedly.
Nauraph
+1 nicely said
minerwilly
Totally agree . Todays young gamers are such moaning bitches. Hopefully some of them really did switch to xbox to get their daily dose of insulting people.
Mick939
Some nice themes would of sorted me to be honest
minerwilly
I think Sony have been ultra generous with the choice of games, this is going to sound harsh but PS+ sucks and this even further vindicates my decision to avoid it from day 1 . I prefer to buy the games that I want from the psn on day one or more commonly in one of Sonys frequent sales rather than waiting and hoping I may/may not get them for free?? from ps+ .
affa
i love psn+. absolutely love it.
tom_lord
I have around 15 close, real-life friends that own PS3’s. I am the only one who owns all these games. My point? The vast majority of PS3 owners don’t even go near the internet gaming-sphere…..they will all be perfectly happy with this and don’t even expect free games.
gordon_strange: oooh i can change my name!
does anyone happen to know what the other territories are getting in thir welcom back packs?
let’s put it in to perspective maybe…
gordon_strange: oooh i can change my name!
upon further investigation, the u.s is also getting a few ‘on us’ movie rentals
bigdon23
Although like everyone else, i think the list could have been better, but! It means that for me il be trying a couple of games that which otherwise i would not have bothered with (dead nation and possibly infamous). and im really looking forward to modnation on psp as iv never played that either.
so all in all im pretty happy, the list could have been better but im not really complaining
grimm
I think the freebies are great, no complaints there. What is pissing me off though is the continuing lack of PS Store…