Playstation Plus!

[darkwarrior3007]

PlayStation Plus: Better Online Gaming (For a Price)
Sony has announced PlayStation Plus, a new online service for PlayStation 3 owners. While the features of the free PlayStation Network service will remain unchanged, Plus adds game downloads, auto-patching and other exclusives.

The premium service will launch on June 29 and cost $49.99 for one year or $17.99 for three months.
http://mashable.com/2010/06/16/playstation-plus/

 

[zell]

PlayStation Plus: Better Online Gaming (For a Price)
Sony has announced PlayStation Plus, a new online service for PlayStation 3 owners. While the features of the free PlayStation Network service will remain unchanged, Plus adds game downloads, auto-patching and other exclusives.

The premium service will launch on June 29 and cost $49.99 for one year or $17.99 for three months.
http://mashable.com/2010/06/16/playstation-plus/

I'll probably get the $17.99 deal just to see what I'm getting,but probably only after it's been out for a month or so.

 

[316sherm]

 

[Legzman]

don't play online with my PS3 so I don't care!

 

[STDiva]

don't play online with my PS3 so I don't care!

This.

 

[roronoa3000]

I download games online but I never play online with others though I may give it a try.

 

[zell]

don't play online with my PS3 so I don't care!

This.

I download games online but I never play online with others though I may give it a try.

You guys are missing out on half of the fun of owning a PS3,but to each his/her own.

 

[darkwarrior3007]

Out of the 5 games I have for PS3 only one of them has online multiplayer and that's Killzone 2. Technically Dante's Inferno as well but I still haven't downloaded the online component for it. Truth is PSN isn't anything special so maybe Playstation Plus will help with that.

The one thing I love about the XBOX 360 is the online service. People out there complain about paying for it and that's why they choose PSN but when you pay you're actually paying for quality service. That's the reason there are so many people on XBOX Live.

With a paid service for PSN it gives Sony a reason to actually give a damn about their online service and hopefully something that can rival XBOX Live.

 

[PornKhaos]

hmm, good to see they are still keeping the free service alongside, i may try this out for three months also, if it grabs my tackle then ill fork out for it.

 

[cartman24]

Totally unnecessary upgrade IMO. I don't even touch online on my PS3, I may once GT5 comes out though .

 

[JimmyDook]

Totally unnecessary upgrade IMO. I don't even touch online on my PS3, I may once GT5 comes out though .

yeah, from what i've heard it doesn't sound like that big of a deal. i wont be signing up for it anyway.

and cross game chat isn't really something that i care about. its the cross game invites that i find much more useful and i'm amazed that no one ever seems to bring that feature up. that and the party system on xbox live are the big things that matter to me ...not so much the cross game chat ...although that doesn't hurt either.

xbox live is still better.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

Hey, Sony has to do something to make money off the PS3.

 

[Legzman]

You guys are missing out on half of the fun of owning a PS3,but to each his/her own.

I have a 360 so I play online on that.

 

[shayd]

Totally unnecessary upgrade IMO.

Not when you consider Sony is losing money hand over fist trying to deliver any online functionality at all. This is only going to help the PSN overall, probably the free version most of all. More money coming from it is more money they can invest in delivering a better online experience.

Hey, Sony has to do something to make money off the PS3.

Bingo. You can't lose money every fiscal quarter from your gaming division and expect to stay afloat forever. Smart move by Sony.

 

[cardinals226]

It's only a matter of time before the entire Playstation Network costs money.

 

[grim101]

im very excited about this. Love my ps3

 

[shayd]

It's only a matter of time before the entire Playstation Network costs money.

That's not a bad thing. The Playstation Network would benefit immensely from any sort of revenue, and would be better for it.

 

[zell]

It's only a matter of time before the entire Playstation Network costs money.

That's not a bad thing. The Playstation Network would benefit immensely from any sort of revenue, and would be better for it.

While fiscally,this might be a good move,personally,I really don't see it happening.

One of the main selling points for PS3 consoles was the fact that the online availability was free,so to completely take that away wouldn't be a good idea in my opinion.Having both options gives people more flexibility.If anything,I think that XBox Live will have to find a way to have a free service to try and sell more 360s.

Let's face it,the only people that are buying new 360s or PS3s are those who have broken ones.The "new customer base is probably going to take a really sharp downturn this year,so that's why they need something worth getting a new console for,for first time buyers. The only market left for console gaming is to get those who are single platform owners to jump to the other side.This is painfully obvious with the Kinect and Move that are on the way.

Personally,there's nothing that would entice me to get a 360.I'm just not interested in any of there exclusive title,with the exception of the Gears Of War games,but there's absolutely no way that I'm paying all that money just to play a few games,hence, it always has been and always will be about the games.The games will always sell the console.If the games suck,the consoles will as well,pretty much by default.

The Wii is the exception because it capitalized off of the stupidity of peoples propensity to fall for a gimmick.And even though the Wii still sells,it seems that part of the initial marketing strategy was to make sure that the Wii wasn't as available as most systems(this was stated to a friend of mine by a best Best Buy employee).They would ship out a lower amount of product,making it seem like they were flying off the shelves,so the illusion was set that the harder it was to find,then it must be something "special",and the more the masses wanted it.Add to the fact that it was way cheaper than the other two.I have to give it to Nintendo,they always have been masters at marketing.

I think that the Wii is pretty much on the way out.Everyone that I know that has one has it sitting collecting dust,hence,it's all about the games,which they have none that are really noteworthy.

Sorry that I went off topic there for a minute,but I was on a roll I guess.

 

[shayd]

While fiscally,this might be a good move,personally,I really don't see it happening.

One of the main selling points for PS3 consoles was the fact that the online availability was free,so to completely take that away wouldn't be a good idea in my opinion.Having both options gives people more flexibility.If anything,I think that XBox Live will have to find a way to have a free service to try and sell more 360s.

Let's face it,the only people that are buying new 360s or PS3s are those who have broken ones.The "new customer base is probably going to take a really sharp downturn this year,so that's why they need something worth getting a new console for,for first time buyers. The only market left for console gaming is to get those who are single platform owners to jump to the other side.This is painfully obvious with the Kinect and Move that are on the way.

Personally,there's nothing that would entice me to get a 360.I'm just not interested in any of there exclusive title,with the exception of the Gears Of War games,but there's absolutely no way that I'm paying all that money just to play a few games,hence, it always has been and always will be about the games.The games will always sell the console.If the games suck,the consoles will as well,pretty much by default.

The Wii is the exception because it capitalized off of the stupidity of peoples propensity to fall for a gimmick.And even though the Wii still sells,it seems that part of the initial marketing strategy was to make sure that the Wii wasn't as available as most systems(this was stated to a friend of mine by a best Best Buy employee).They would ship out a lower amount of product,making it seem like they were flying off the shelves,so the illusion was set that the harder it was to find,then it must be something "special",and the more the masses wanted it.Add to the fact that it was way cheaper than the other two.I have to give it to Nintendo,they always have been masters at marketing.

I think that the Wii is pretty much on the way out.Everyone that I know that has one has it sitting collecting dust,hence,it's all about the games,which they have none that are really noteworthy.

Sorry that I went off topic there for a minute,but I was on a roll I guess.

Sony has posted almost a billion dollar loss each fiscal quarter for almost 4 years now. Fiscally speaking, yes you're right, it makes sense. But practically speaking, it makes more sense too. The Playstation Network by in large has received mixed reviews at best from consumers, (as evidenced by the fact that the online community has dwindled almost 35% since early 2008), and X-Box Live, despite being a paid service, has nearly 30 million users, roughly 80% of the consoles owners. The sales between cross platform games is roughly equivalent, as is the rate of sales between the two consoles (it's evened out within the past year). Clearly there is something that is drawing people to X-Box Live. I'm not trying to proselytize people to X-Box Live, because the PSN is a nice online gaming network, however, as I've said before, more money in the gaming world is directly correlated to a greater rate of improvement, something the PSN wouldn't be hurt by.

As for the console sales, what the industry has seen happen over the past 6 years is not that people want 3 consoles, but rather there is a substantial market, (perhaps larger than the market currently exploited today) of people not willing to pay more than $150 for a console. Both the original X-box, the PS2, and the Arcade 360 substantially impacted sales rates in a positive way when they were released. Once the current generation can comfortably come down into that range, sales will soar like day 1 again.

 

[zell]

PlayStation Plus in now available.I'm still thinking about getting the $17.99 deal.