Playstation Plus: Is It Worth the Money? -Weeks 6 &7

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20 responses to “Playstation Plus: Is It Worth the Money? -Weeks 6 &7”

1. 

   stephan

   August 11, 2010

   You are joking right, it’s completely optional yet you rag on the deals?
   Who gives a damn? If theres nothing in there you want this month then just don’t get it?

   I’ve not been online on my xbox360 since a month after I bought it, I don’t play my ps3 much as I’m mainly a pc gamer but atleast I don’t have to shell out everytime I want to play on it.

   Stop complaining…

   Reply
   1. 

      Christopher Bowen

      August 11, 2010

      Yes, Stephan. That’s what we do here.

      We complain because there might be people interested in buying Playstation Plus. We consider it a duty to help those people make intelligent purchasing decisions. Playstation Plus has been a horrible, terrible deal since the first weekend, due to their creative decisions on what to market (I noted in my wrap-up the first week that they were disingenuous about what what “free” really meant) and due to the low quality of games. Anyone that was snookered into paying for a year of this at $50 really got bent over the barrel so far. It’s our job to call these people out, to protect them from purchases like this.

      It’s people like you that are setting customers back. Instead of just saying “well, I disagree with this, I think it could be worse”, you actively flame those that set out to make the lives of customers better. We call a spade a spade – an expensive spade that doesn’t even dig that well, mind – and you tell us to “stop complaining”. It’s people like you that Sony, Microsoft, Activision and other big companies simply love. You’re simple, mindless consumers who do what you’re told.

      Reply
2. 

   Allan

   August 11, 2010

   Christopher is right, it’s his duty as a journalist to point out these flaws. PSN+ is like having two toilet rolls next to your bog, one is a normal double layered soft tissue (and free)…the other unravels as you put coins in the toilet roll slot, but all you get is the double layered soft tissue, with a few pictures on it. Maybe one extra ply as well.

   Stephen, you’re already paying everytime you use your xbox internet since there’s a fixed cost of $/month. (unless you don’t have a Live subscription). And ultimately are Microsoft’s perfect yet money mindless customer.

   Reply
3. 

   Alex Lucard

   August 11, 2010

   Stephan – you’re an idiot. If people don’t complain or at least scrutinize, then gamers out there might actually think the service is acceptable or even GOOD and thus blow fifty dollars, which might be a lot of money to them.

   A good journalist protects the public rather than serves a corporation. We don’t see that mindset very often in gaming journalism where it’s become the norm to give mediocre or even bad games “7 out of 10″‘s or where for profit sites suck up to whoever pays their bills. It’s not cool and frankly, neither is Playstation Plus.

   As we saw in week five, when Sony does something right and actually gives a paying customer a nice diverse mix of games, as well as making them high quality ones. But that’s one week out of seven and so far the service has been nothing but something to fleece more money out of gamer’s pockets.

   If that’s not something to complain about, I don’t know what is.

   Reply
4. 

   Allan

   August 11, 2010

   Apologies Alex, I didn’t check who wrote the article, thought it was Chris. Blame him, he was quicker at protecting your article hahaaa.

   Reply
5. 

   Alex Lucard

   August 11, 2010

   Allan – It’s all good. Chris does tend to be the really angry one of us on staff, so I can totally see why you thought that.

   Reply
6. 

   Dhaise

   August 11, 2010

   So my 5 bucks a month (retail price) XBL subscription doesn’t look like such a raw deal.
   Offering Qore at a discount is the premium sony experience?

   lol

   Reply
7. 

   Alex Lucard

   August 11, 2010

   Dhaise – No no no, Qore is FREE. That makes ALL the difference. :-P

   The only good thing I can say about PSPlus right now is that it is optional and that you can still play games online via PSN for free where XBL costs money and you pretty much HAVE to get that to do so.

   Reply
8. 

   Wesley

   August 11, 2010

   I agree with everything this article pointed out. First when I heard of PSN+, I felt that Sony has finally started listening to their supporters and is gonna give us the best gaming service with all the features we have being nagging about in that blog of theirs….. I was wrong….

   E3 came and we saw the internet rumors were true, PSN+ was nothing but a mere watered down version of Steam… Way watered down…. No XMB 2.0,no in-game cross chat, no PS2 BC emulation, no cloud service, no auto trophy sync, and worst of all. NO FASTER INTERNET BROWSER!!!!

   No i enlighten me….

   HTF is Sony planning on building a better gaming/multimedia community if it cant even give gamers what they want. Its so disappointing seeing lie after lie after lie.

   1st lie:
   The PS3 will always be PS1/PS2 BC…(removing the PS2 BC, not giving any hint, or indication of it EVER coming back, their loss too. Seeing its the biggest library of console games… EVER!)

   2nd lie:
   We will never remove the OtherOS function
   (not that I ever sued it, but good to know its there)

   3rd lie:
   I.G.C.C is a reality and will be implemented soon!(they have been saying this since late 2007, if it isnt gonna happen now , IT NEVER WILL!)

   just my 2 cents

   Reply
9. 

   Leandro

   August 11, 2010

   I think you’re trying too hard to make it look worse than it is. Qore for free is really cool. Sure, you can see the videos on the internet, but on PS3 the quality is higher and you also get themes, demos and minigames with it.

   Oh, Aero Racer is a really fun minigame.

   Considering everything we got up until now, Age of Zombies and Fieldrunners are fun minigames, too. I also liked Wipeout HD and Critter Crunch (I was actually playing Critter Crunch demo before PSN Plus made it free and was thinking about buying it). I used the discounts to buy Cuboid and Super Stardust HD and I don’t regret it. And all of this I got in 2 months, there are still 13 months left.

   Reply
   1. 

      Alex Lucard

      August 11, 2010

      Leandro – It’s good to see you’re easy to please. As a consumer, a journalist and something that actually works in the industry, I’m deeply insulted by what PS+ has been so far. Critter Crunch is the only true gem I’ve seen offered by it, and even then, you’re just renting it.

      If you’re cool with spending $50 on a service that lets you well…spend more money, just slightly less of it, then that’s fine. But keep careful track of how much you actually save and compare it to how much PS+ costs at the end of the subscription.

      Reply
10. 

    Alex Lucard

    August 11, 2010

    Wesley – it is possible that down the road PS+ will improve, but considering Sony still can’t update at a set time each week, I doubt it.

    I think the make or break for PS+ is going to be what they do around DCU Online.

    Reply
11. 

    stephan

    August 11, 2010

    The guy who wrote the article said last month was a good psn+ month, but the other months he didn’t want the shit from + because he already had it/other reasons.
    So it’s not useful to him, fine.
    Me and plenty of others never bought anything from PSN , for people like that the offerings (may be) fine.
    If you already have the freebies, don’t get PSN+.

    One guy here compares the free PSN to a ‘double layered soft tissue (and free)’ toilet roll, so again, what are you bitching about?
    The basic PSN is fine.
    You don’t miss out on anything by not paying for PSN.

    Then some other dimwit who says ‘Stephen, you’re already paying everytime you use your xbox internet since there’s a fixed cost of $/month. (unless you don’t have a Live subscription). And ultimately are Microsoft’s perfect yet money mindless customer.’
    Try to master third grade comprehensive reading before overreacting.
    I said PSN is free, xbox live aint, since I use neither of my consoles often I’ve not used xbox live since I got my xbox (as I’m not going to pay them a subscription on top of my games+ISP sub to play a few hours a month), but I’m able to use PSN whenever I want to play online on my ps3.
    So AGAIN, what the hell are you all whining about.

    Want to bitch n whine? Go complain about micro transactions and DLC, shit that one used to get by default (extra maps/patches that add extras/etc etc) with a game has all been cut out to be able to sell at a premium afterwards.

    Reply
12. 

    stephan

    August 11, 2010

    Since you can’t edit comments.
    I’m the kind of person that sets customers back?
    Please, I’ve not bought a DLC since they came up with the stupid idea, I’ve not bought a crappy console port once, I’ve not spent a dime on xbox live , I’ve not even dignified the existence of most Ill conveived ideas’, games and greedy marketing strategies by spending a single dime on any of them.
    Yet I own 3 copies of hl2 , 4 of half life (used to lan alot) , and an original full price copy of every game I ever loved and that had love and dedication put into it.

    You go back to throwing your wallets at DLC/activision with their 70 dollar games/xbox live gold subs/Alienware and Apple PCs etc while bitching about how a service you get for free.

    If you want to complain about sony, go condemn them for removing backwards compatibility from the newer models or for spending more money on advertising than the average african country can spend on health care.
    But whining about little things just to complain is pathetic.

    Reply
13. 

    Alex Lucard

    August 11, 2010

    Stephan – spend a little more time on the site and you’ll see complaints about Sony akin to the ones you mentioned. For example, I constantly rail on the fact that no one should buy a PS3 without backwards compatability unless they are brand new to gaming and thus don’t own any PS2 games. it wasyet another “screw you” to gamers from Sony, which is pretty much all they do nowadays. I own a 60 gig with a much larger hard drive than it originally came with.

    You’ll also see regular complaints about DLC content and microtransactions and how the industry has become as oriented on nickel and diming customers as the avation industry. The problem is gamers AREN’T voicing their complaints or making a statement by refusing to purchase things. They’re just taking it like sheep.

    You’re also missing that this column is specifically about PS+, not PSN. PSN is superior to XBL because it IS free. That’s one thing I always say is positive about Sony. PS+ however is a paid service and the point of these columns is to look at what;s shady about the service and show how you’re actually not getting your money’s worth and why you shouldn’t buy the service if you’re on the fence. Coversely, it also covers when Sony has a good (or great week as they did with week 5), so it’s not a “shit on Sony” fest. Well, unless they deserve it like this week. :-)

    The problem is you don’t know WHAT you are getting from PSN until after you’ve already purchased and a lot of gamers purchased it on day one because they foolishly trusted that Sony would provide a quality product. That’s their mistake for buying it. In my case, I bought it to do a consumer analysis column like this and it would be a tax write-off at the end of the year. Otherwise, much like buying a console when it first comes out, I wouldn’t have until the kinks were worked out. Because as we see right now, PS+ has a LOT of issues.

    So no one is bitching about a free service. It’s bitching about the Paid version of the service and how it’s actually subpar when compared to the free one. That’s what people are raising hell about and it’s a well justifed reason to. We’d be horrible journalists/reviewers if we didn’t warn people about PS+ and why it’s not a very good service, so that’s what we’re doing. It’s far worse to keep silence and then get emails or comments from readers saying “OMG. I spent $50 on this thing. Why didn’t you say something?”

    Finally, you should be able to edit comments. There’s an “edit” option right next to the datestamp if you registered with the site. If you’re just ‘guesting’ in the comments, it won’t be there.

    Reply
14. 

    Christopher Bowen

    August 12, 2010

    Stephan, are you SERIOUSLY accusing us of not flaming DLC? Have you not read my work (and I’m speaking only for myself, not the other great writers we have here)? Seriously, go through my Unbranding the Sheep archives. Read what I write. I HATE paid DLC, and flame it constantly. Madden ’11 is going to score lower than it would because of its DLC options. So I feel you there.

    But I would recommend you know what you’re talking about before you criticise people. At least read what they’ve said. In the case of Alex and I specifically, you’re way off base.

    Reply
15. 

    Christopher Bowen

    August 12, 2010

    Wait a minute…

    Allan – It’s all good. Chris does tend to be the really angry one of us on staff, so I can totally see why you thought that.

    Hey! :'(

    (Also, I was the first one to respond only because his comment was stuck in our spam queue, and I was the one that approved it)

    Reply
16. 

    stephan

    August 12, 2010

    Fine, next time just leave the personal insults at bay (which people here started with and is what I reacted to).

    There also ain’t much you can do about people being sheep and gobbling greedy marketing tricks up like they are candy.
    Millions of kids turn 12 -14 and get a new console/pc every year, they don’t know any better.
    People that do know how games used to be presented get accustomed to it over the years.

    The gaming business has become way too big to have a community have any effect on it. Those days are long gone.
    Look at the whole l4d 2 boycot on steam, hundreds of thousands of people, the game sold like hotcakes anyhow.
    I still refuse to get the game to this day, but like 80 percent of the people (just taking a swing at the number here I don’t know how much people) have given in and bought it by now.
    It’s like petting the dog for peeing on your carpet.

    10 years ago there’d probably still be some good ol’ fashioned online vandalism (DDOSING, putting nudie pics on the official websites) to protest against the publishers practices that you see today, but people can’t even be bothered with that anymore.

    Welcome to the real world, it’s been like this for every single product and industry in human history, once it gets too big it gets ruined.

    Reply
17. 

    stephan

    August 12, 2010

    ‘edit’: (sorry, can’t see a register button at first glance, not even a ctrl-F search comes up with one, take it as constructive criticism for your site, web design 101 = make sure the visitor can find everything he needs at a single glance-over, very first thing they tought me back in college)

    SO ehm, edit :
    Don’t take it to heart, I’m not saying don’t try to protest it.
    But you’ve got to accept the futility on one side, and my comment is still valid that you could focus on bigger things than a 3 dollar psn+ sub that’s probably right there under ‘Optional’ in the dictionary as an example.

    Shit even video games are the least of the problems with how marketing works today, I’d rather be able to actually buy some meat that hasn’t had water injected into it and been punctured to tenderise it from supermarkets again, and I could think of a thousand other blatant hypocrisies and malpractices in ‘civilized’ society, but then again this is a video game forum.

    Just sayin’,put things into context a bit.

    Reply
18. Diehard GameFAN | Playstation Plus: Is It Worth the Money? – Weeks 8 and 9

    August 26, 2010

    […] Last week, I was pretty irate at Playstation Plus, and with good reason. After all, the service moved to bi-monthly and the offerings were both horrible and insulting to people that had churned out fifty dollars to partake in the service. After that, Sony followed up by not making Dead Nation’s beta a PS+ exclusive, and some non PS+ owners received the beta invite over PS+ subscribers, even though Sony promised a key piece of PS+ would be that subscribers received priority beta access. Whoops. […]

    Reply