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…
Broonba
Well done to Sony IMO……..i already own 3/5 of the PS3 games on offer, but i’m more than willing to take the other 2 for free :)
To all the “moaners”….away an buy an X-Box if you’re feeling that hard done by :D
Roynaldo
Im actually quite happy with it. A shitty situation has landed me 2 games for nothing. Never did get round to Infamous or Dead Nation so I know which 2 mine are.
Cool.
Sucks for people who had enough coin to buy all those games though. Serves you right for being rich! ;D
InternationalGamer
But, how can you blame Sony, they gave a fairly diverse amount of games and good quality games, actually one of the best games on the PS3.
Sony really had no choice but did the best from their choices, they gave us awesome games for free download.
I also was expecting Warhawk since its a great game and its not a game thats selling like a newly released title.
tactical20
What is the likelihood of Sony changing the list?
If it’s none, then what’s the point in even kicking off?
beeje13
Even though i have most of those games, it is still a very good list
I mean, sony could easily have offered pixlejunk games or some 3 year old things.
Kev
Has anyone else noticed this bullet-point on the playstation site:
‘Access to the free games and exclusive features finishes at the end of the 30-day subscription period.’
I’m assuming this means the 30 day Plus subscription and not the welcome back games?
hazelam
yeah, those free games on that list will be yours forever, anything you get as part of the plus subscription will expire when your sub runs out.
though if you buy any games discounted for plus subscribers you’ll get to keep those too, and i think you keep any themes and avatars given away as well.
pitchforkdisney
Am I late to this party? Can I just say that I’ve not got enough cash to be able to afford all these games. But if I did have enough cash to own all these games the money would have probably have corrupted my personality so much that I wouldn’t realise how lucky I was to be given some free PSN+ (even though I’d love paying for it so I could lord it over my pauper PSN friends.) and would spend most of my day moaning and bitching on some web forum as if it was ever gonna make any difference. I HAVE CASH so I should get everything for free (I would say) – like the spoilt bastard offspring of Donald ‘I am a dick’ Trump.
I mean last night I read the initial responses (most of which *were* positive – it’s just the moaners stand out) and I thought; Good Lord, humanity is just a spoilt bunch of moaning losers…got, got, got…don’t like, got, don’t want, girls play that…etc.
You’re all just a bunch of Lannisters.
x
Roynaldo
im sorry but i couldnt help but laugh my balls off at that.
I really do respect people who say it how it is….you also speak from my own beating heart.
:)
pitchforkdisney
Thank you sir – I was indeed aiming for ball dropping wryness. Be warned though; sometimes I speak from my own gushing arse.
hazelam
normally i’m one of the first people to complain about sony, but even i think some of the complaints about this have been a bit harsh.
i don’t know what people were expecting if they find this as disappointing as they say.
i would not have been surprised to see minis or smaller psn games.
maybe they’re not the newest titles, but they are some of the best.
lbp and infamous especially are great games.
it happens i already own those two on disc but still, they have offered some great games.
and lbp, modnation racers, killzone liberation and pursuit force, for psp, all previously full retail titles.
honestly, i’m pleasantly surprised by what sony offered.
The Lone Steven
I admit that i found the list a bit disappointing,but i understand that this has cost Sony a lot and i am happy that they are compensating us. They could have easily not have given us compensation. It is free after all. With PS+ you will get a freebie or two but i’m not sure if you can keep them. We are very lucky to get a list to choose from. If you don’t like it then look at the bright side. PSN is back up. For those of you who are complain at “how crap the list it” think of the poor staff at Sony who had to work overtime and through the easter holidays. Think of those who may have lost their jobs because of it.
Tuffcub
The US are getting a weekend of free movie rentals, I’d rather have that than LBP (again).