You remember the PSN Store did those special discounts last year? Basically, the Store guys went to a load of developers and said “these are not the download prices you’re looking for,”
Amazingly, this Jedi mind trick seemed to work and us happy PSN Store customers ended up with some pretty impressive discounts. I remember it well, my credit card company sent me a thank you card.
Well, it seems like they’ve been working hard in the interim to get more special deals prepared for the store and this time, they’ve tied it all up into a full on promotion. Starting on August 24th, they’re launching a new yearly initiative called PLAY. Stick with us, this one has several layers of bonuses and discounts to keep track of.
Starting on August 24th, for four weeks, there will be a big PSN release. You will be able to pre-order each game for a short while before it becomes available to download and in doing so, you’ll get access to a new theme, free of charge. On top of that, customers who buy the titles during the PLAY promotion, which runs until September 20th, will not only get the game they paid for, they’ll also get another, entirely separate piece of DLC for that game.
So, if you pre-order (and they’re going to start taking orders for all four titles in this year’s promotion from August 10th) then you’ll get the game, the bonus DLC for buying during the PLAY promotional period plus a free theme for pre-ordering. On top of that, PlayStation Plus subscribers are going to receive a 20 percent discount on all purchases of PLAY titles made before September 20th, when the promotion expires.
Oh, and one final bit of good news. If you buy all four titles in the PLAY promotional period (10th August – 20th September) then you’ll qualify for a completely free copy of PayDay: The Heist when it is released later this Autumn. That game is also going to be available for pre-order between 20th and 29th of September, for those who don’t take advantage of the bonus PLAY deal.
Here are the titles involved and their respective launch dates:
- August 10th – Pre-orders start for all four games in the promotion.
- August 24th – Street Fighter III Third Strike Online Edition, €14.99. Bonus DLC is a character, Gill, who is unlocked from day one rather than having to beat the entire game to get at them. The pre-order bonus is a theme produced by Capcom. Pre-orders can be made up to August 18th.
- August 31st – The Baconing, €12.99. Bonus DLC is an additional co-op character called Roesha. Pre-orders can be made up until August 25th and will entitle you to a free static theme, exclusive to PLAY.
- September 7th – BloodRayne: Betrayal, €12.99. Bonus DLC is an exclusive dynamic theme and a virtual item for your PlayStation Home avatar. In addition to this, pre-orders will be taken up to September 1st and will entitle you to another static theme, exclusive to PLAY.
- September 14th – Renegade Ops, €12.99. Bonus DLC is a vehicle and character pack featuring two new vehicles and special weapons. Pre-orders are taken up to September 8th and entitle you to a static theme, exclusive to PLAY.
- September 20th – PLAY promotion closes. Get your games bought before this day to ensure you qualify for the free copy of PayDay: The Heist!
yogh_wayne
BloodRayne Betrayal looks interesting, I’ll probably get that. The Baconing is nice too, but I haven’t even finished the first DeathSpank game yet.
KeRaSh
The Baconing… Best. Game/Food. Ever. :D
I’m interested. And hungry… damnit!
Pritchie101
Payday looks really intresting and fresh. Is it on XBA? I thought it would’ve been a real game, not a store download. However, it looks intresting. The Baconing is the third DeathSpank (I Think). I probably won’t be buying, as I have never played DeathSpank. But, I will be buying Payday: The Heist. Roll On October 5th!
Carl
PAYDAY is a PSN/PC exclusive.
dave87fez
It was all looking so good until I saw the titles! No interest for me there, but good for anybody who does want to play those games.
Foxhound_Solid
Cool….
tactical20
Just release good games and people will buy them. If they gotta do some promotion bollocks like this, then you know the games are gonna be whack!
Smallville2106
lol pretty much true though. I’m not interested in any of those. All seem a bit on the pricey side too. Rather than a theme and some rubbish DLC (IMO) I’d prefer the games to be just cheaper.
The Street Fighter DLC you can get anyway by beating the game.
Sympozium Pawa
All quite different, I know that I would be an idiot and buy Street Fighter III but the rest?.. Never liked Bloodrayne, disliked the idea of Deathspank and Renegade OPs looked poor.
Hamzz
Non of these games interest me :|
R1MJAW
So, I’ve just had a look on the US blog at the post regarding this offer. All 4 games are priced @ $14.99, so why the hell is SF3 more expensive than the other 3 games in the EU?
As far as the promotion goes, I’m quite interested in the 4 games, however I have no interest in the free 5th game (which, according to the US blog, is worth $19.99) so I am unsure wether I’ll pick them all up during the promotional period.
Kevling
From the title alone, I premed that Renegade Ops was just going to be another “me-too” military fps with a name that made you think it might be associated with CoD (Spec Ops -> Black Ops -> Renegade Ops).
Checked a gameplay video out yesterday and it looks all kids of awesome! Terrible name, though, does e game no favours at all.
Not that anyone is interested in my choice out of these 5 game ( but everyone else seems to be doing it), I’m probably only interested in that and PayDay perhaps.
Kevling
Premed = presumed.
E = the
*sigh*