PlayStation Plus - The Best Deal Ever?

[WhyWasThat]

I feel it necessary to highlight what is, frankly, outrageously good value for money with a PlayStation Plus subscription.
I just totted up the values, and if you pay ?15, then you get instant, 3 month's access to over ?370 worth of free games (I'm sure it's roughly the equivalent in dollars or pound sterling). And these are GOOD games! Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD, LittleBigPlanet 2 and Outworld are just a few examples of what's on offer. Alternatively, you can pay ?50 and have all that content for one year.
And that's just for this month alone.
And not forgetting about all of the discounts and full game trials, as well as features like automatic update and cloud saving that also come with the subscription.

But don't take my word for it. If you have a PS3, then check out the Store sometime soon and find out for yourself.
Finally, it seems, PlayStation Plus is actually worth it.

 

[Soxafloppin]

Yea it does indeed seem like good value for money, was thinking of upgrading myself.

The only downside is you don't get to keep the games once you cancel your subscription, but since I'm more of a renter anyway I don't think it would effect me much.

 

[Sp3ratus]

-snip-

Wow, I just checked out the games you get if you subscribe. I remember hearing something about it during E3, but I never really gave it much thought. Now that I've seen what there really is on the table though, I'll give it some serious thought. My only real concern is HDD space, since I have an old fattie, which is only 60Gb. I'm assuming the games you get are downloadable, instead of cloud gaming(in which case, I would probably insta buy access), but to be honest, I couldn't really find anything about it on the web.

EDIT: Ok, nvm, I found it's downloadable. I guess I might look into getting a bigger HDD or something.

 

[WhyWasThat]

Yea it does indeed seem like good value for money, was thinking of upgrading myself.

The only downside is you don't get to keep the games once you cancel your subscription, but since I'm more of a renter anyway I don't think it would effect me much.

That's exactly my point. Many of these types of single-player games you would finish in under a week anyway (how often have we heard THAT complaint?). So one year, or even 90 days, is actually more than enough time to fully play almost all of them.

 

[WhyWasThat]

-snip-

Wow, I just checked out the games you get if you subscribe. I remember hearing something about it during E3, but I never really gave it much thought. Now that I've seen what there really is on the table though, I'll give it some serious thought. My only real concern is HDD space, since I have an old fattie, which is only 60Gb. I'm assuming the games you get are downloadable, instead of cloud gaming(in which case, I would probably insta buy access), but to be honest, I couldn't really find anything about it on the web.

That is the one drawback. You will need a lot of HDD space to store these games, and yes, I'm afraid that 60GB just won't really cut it. Unless you want to just download the games individually, and then delete them once you're finished and move onto the next game.

 

[Sp3ratus]

-snip-

Wow, I just checked out the games you get if you subscribe. I remember hearing something about it during E3, but I never really gave it much thought. Now that I've seen what there really is on the table though, I'll give it some serious thought. My only real concern is HDD space, since I have an old fattie, which is only 60Gb. I'm assuming the games you get are downloadable, instead of cloud gaming(in which case, I would probably insta buy access), but to be honest, I couldn't really find anything about it on the web.

That is the one drawback. You will need a lot of HDD space to store these games, and yes, I'm afraid that 60GB just won't really cut it. Unless you want to just download the games individually, and then delete them once you're finished and move onto the next game.

Yea, I was thinking of doing it like one game at a time or atleast see if that's viable. I only have like 20GB left of the 60GB on the system, so it'll be cutting it close with space. Other than that, I've looked a bit at replacing the HDD, but I'm not sure what I'll do right now. I've never had much need for more space than 60GB, but this might be the push that makes it necessary.

 

[Valdus]

Meh, not sure if it's a good deal. Getting access to a lot of games is only good if you plan on playing a lot of the games. I generally spend less than £15 a month on gaming so for me this would be a big loss.

 

[Sp3ratus]

Put it this way, Infamous 2 was 25gb. I have a 250gb HDD and I had to delete a fair few games to get all of these new ones on.

Well, I'll be. I might very well have to upgrade then, because an offer like this one is almost too good to pass up. Even with buying a new HDD(which really isn't all that expensive), I think the offer will be worth it, especially since the games will be changed around from time to time.

 

[ultrabiome]

it really depends on if you can or want to take advantage of all of the deals PS+ comes with.

(1)free games*****
*****you have to be a subscribing member for the period that the game is 'available' which is usually about a month. you can 'buy' it then for free, where you get the license to download the game whenever you want as long as you're still a subscriber. you lose access when you stop subscribing though.

so 'buy' everything you might ever play when it's 'available', then download and play when you want. you are essentially renting all of them for $50/year, or $4.17/month. it'd be nice if you could still purchase the game at a discount, but i guess i'll just pick up the game used if i really like one that much - i imagine the game saves should work either way.

(2)discounts/sales
these are awesome because the purchases are permanent, but you still have to spend more money than just the subscription for the discounts. things like avatars or themes are usually permanent even if they are free.

i pay for netflix (instant and blu-ray) already so paying another $4 isn't a big deal for me if i play a lot and watch for the right sales, and i get to pick up 'free' games i might have picked up eventually anyway. win for me, at least.

 

[Uriain]

Meh, not sure if it's a good deal. Getting access to a lot of games is only good if you plan on playing a lot of the games. I generally spend less than £15 a month on gaming so for me this would be a big loss.

If you spend £15 a month on gaming, wouldn't it then be good for you to do the £50 a year subscription. You save money overall (50 a year vs your 15a month x 12) and still have access to games?

I am going to be upping my subscription purely on the fact that I can play some games I havnt been able to find, or have not been able to purchase. Plus, there is the discounted games you can purchase, which might be cheaper then at your local game store.

 

[Strain42]

Meh, not sure if it's a good deal. Getting access to a lot of games is only good if you plan on playing a lot of the games. I generally spend less than £15 a month on gaming so for me this would be a big loss.

I'm about on the same page as this. I only buy a small handful of games per year, so I just don't consider it worth the subscription fees for me.

To someone who really takes advantage of everything it has to offer, it's probably a great deal.

Just doesn't apply to me or my gaming habits.

 

[WhyWasThat]

it really depends on if you can or want to take advantage of all of the deals PS+ comes with.

(1)free games*****
*****you have to be a subscribing member for the period that the game is 'available' which is usually about a month. you can 'buy' it then for free, where you get the license to download the game whenever you want as long as you're still a subscriber. you lose access when you stop subscribing though.

so 'buy' everything you might ever play when it's 'available', then download and play when you want. you are essentially renting all of them for $50/year, or $4.17/month. it'd be nice if you could still purchase the game at a discount, but i guess i'll just pick up the game used if i really like one that much - i imagine the game saves should work either way.

(2)discounts/sales
these are awesome because the purchases are permanent, but you still have to spend more money than just the subscription for the discounts. things like avatars or themes are usually permanent even if they are free.

i pay for netflix (instant and blu-ray) already so paying another $4 isn't a big deal for me if i play a lot and watch for the right sales, and i get to pick up 'free' games i might have picked up eventually anyway. win for me, at least.

Fair points indeed.
But bear in mind that the content you download with Plus remains playable for as long as you are a Plus memeber. So, say you download a game and then after a year your Plus runs out. If ever you renew your Plus subscription then you can get right back into that game, it's not like you're starting from scratch when your original subscription runs out.

The easiest parallel to draw on is Xbox LIVE Gold. For the duration of your subscription to Gold, you can play multiplayer games online. If ever that subscription ends, however, then you're locked out. You get back into the multiplayer by renewing your Gold membership.

 

[Epona]

It is a fantastic deal especially when you compare it to XBOX Live.