Is PSN really free?

[QUOTE="scouttrooperbob"]

[QUOTE="Ilinxx"]

you're either really dumb or trolling, but the question wasn't if video games were free (as if any dbag doesnt know) when you get that technical with it you just sound stupid. he asked if psn was free, and the answer is yes. Ilinxx

When get called stupid and a troll for sharing my oppinion than I get Mad. These games have online capabilities right? If I pay $60 for a game than in my mind its $30 for the singleplayer and $30 for the multiplayer. Multiplayer is part of the game. In order for that game to work online you have to have psn. Psn is also a service that you can buy videogames off which is also not free. That part should defenantly be free because i dont pay to go to the store right? Im saying you pay for psn with the games you buy, the ps3 itself, the controlers and equipment. Nothings "free". But of course I cant have an oppinion because im stupid and a "Troll". Yeah that sounds intelegent.

You're stirring up unnecessary confusion, and that explains my choice of words (and I apologize if I went overboard, I tend to).

The items you're reffering to in the PS store aren't mandatory, they're features that can be purchased via YOUR choice. :)

PlaystationNetwork is a free network, even advertised as "free of charge". Access to and membership of it costs no money! You keep reverting back to the fact that games cost 60 dollars, I understand that, but you're paying money for the game, not PSN.

When it comes to a dlc, that's a feature, okay? When I refer to PSN, and hopefully when anyone else does, they're referring to the network in itself.

In other words, if you had a free sandwich and were offered chips on the side for an extra 50 cents, the sandwich remains free. Understand? The chips can can enhance the sandwich, as a completely optional purchase.

No hard feelings, and don't ever think you aren't entitled to your own opinion. My post wasn't intended to belittle you or make you feel stupid.

No problem just a little misunderstanding on both sides. I apologies for the harsh comback. Im a debater and i tend to go over the top sometimes :D.

For years Sony sold PS3's for a lot less than it cost to make them. They only reached the break-even point a while ago. So obviously none of the money people paid for a PS3 was being set aside to pay for the PSN service, because there wasn't any money to set aside. To the contrary, Sony was giving you a good portion of the cost of the hardware for free. As well as the PSN for free.

Just checked and there's nothing on my PS3 box saying I'll have unlimited and uninterupted access to the PSN forever.

While it's nice, I never thought PSN would always be free or that it would never stop working.

If you have some sort of written guarantee from Sony about the PSN, I'm sure everyone here would like to see it.

d_parker

whoever youre talking to, i'm assuming it's me, i didn't say anything about unlimited and uninterrupted psn. i said it was free

either way you're being ridiculous

you aren't promised tomorrow either but i've yet to see you open up your craptrap about that

[QUOTE="d_parker"]

Just checked and there's nothing on my PS3 box saying I'll have unlimited and uninterupted access to the PSN forever.

While it's nice, I never thought PSN would always be free or that it would never stop working.

If you have some sort of written guarantee from Sony about the PSN, I'm sure everyone here would like to see it.

Ilinxx

whoever youre talking to, i'm assuming it's me, i didn't say anything about unlimited and uninterrupted psn. i said it was free

either way you're being ridiculous

you aren't promised tomorrow either but i've yet to see you open up your craptrap about that

Actually it was in respnose to the first who guy who posted and asked for our thoughts.

But if you want to take things personally, go for it. Get high blood pressure and cancer faster for all I care.

Just checked and there's nothing on my PS3 box saying I'll have unlimited and uninterupted access to the PSN forever.

While it's nice, I never thought PSN would always be free or that it would never stop working.

If you have some sort of written guarantee from Sony about the PSN, I'm sure everyone here would like to see it.

d_parker

As someone who apparently is the only multi-console owner posting in this thread (srsly, some of the fanboy posts are pretty lame), PSN is a case of "you get what you paid for". PSN without + is free. XBL is paid. The difference in content is pretty substantial. Even Netflix works better on 360. I do enjoy not having to pay for it, though, lets face it, if you have a job then the subscription fee really isn't that much at all (until I start adding in my Netflix, Gamefly, and WoW subscriptions :P).

So, I guess you could say you are paying for it by not getting everything you COULD be getting....maybe. That and, I think that Sony doesn't exactly give PSN as much attention as it deserves thanks to the lack of incoming money from it. There's a LOT of things they can and SHOULD do, but they haven't. Things that the 360 and PC have been doing for years.

And, just to throw in my 2 cents on the freebee thing (and knowing I'll probably be flamed by angry fanboys), I DO believe that Sony ows us at least SOMETHING. They lost our personal info. No, it may not be their fault they were attacked, but there is a reason that companies like Valve (with Steam), MS, Nintendo, etc haven't had their info stolen. They have deep, secure systems with lots of failsafes that are nearly impenetrable. This is why the govt is now investigating them. They basically looked at them and were like ".....you sure you guys know what you're doing?" Even if this wasn't the case, the fact remains their lack of security got our personal info taken and almost got everyone's CC info taken (EU's CC info WAS taken). I'm fine with the free + and whatever free game they're going to give us from PSN, but to say that they don't have any reason to make up for their negligence is like telling someone they shouldn't be punished for leaving a machete unattended with their 5 year old who proceeded to cut off their hand with it.

drkessence

On topic: The value that you assign to PSN has no connection to the fact that it's free. In my case, it was the biggest factor when choosing which console to get. Personally, I'd rather get games with the money it costs to buy a subscription for Live. I'm not the biggest online gamer, or at least not on consoles. I'll sometimes play a game online intensely for a few weeks, but then go without it for the same amount of time.

[QUOTE="Ilinxx"]

whoever youre talking to, i'm assuming it's me, i didn't say anything about unlimited and uninterrupted psn. i said it was free

either way you're being ridiculous

you aren't promised tomorrow either but i've yet to see you open up your craptrap about that

d_parker

Actually it was in respnose to the first who guy who posted and asked for our thoughts.

But if you want to take things personally, go for it. Get high blood pressure and cancer faster for all I care.

cool story? it's pretty embarrassing that even the guy who posted this knew that made no sense in "respnose" to what he asked...

I didn't say there was anything anywhere which tells me that PSN is free. I just checked and there's nothing anywhere in my original post which is offensive or argumentative. So there was no need for such a sarcastic, anal response. Just wanted to hear peoples views.Weenski

*edit: ^ that pretty much just owned you >_>

*editt: oh, ps fruits and vegetables high in antioxidants are staples in cancer fighting diets

*edittt: i should send you a picture of the orange tree in my backyard n__n

*editttt: the apple one too. just for kicks

but you cant really use it unless you pay money for something like a game off the psn store or a game.

scouttrooperbob

Because signing in doesn't count as using it and all. :roll:

Besides, you can still do things like add friends, check profiles, and a few other things without needing to pay for anything at all.

[QUOTE="child_of_lileth"]

PSN is free, since not only is it a provided service at no extra cost, but I'm pretty sure you can even just make an accoiunt on the website without a PSP or PS3.

TommyWieseau81

You can download stuff from the store, and keep it on your PC until you transfer it over to PSP or PS3. But I think that's the only PC specific service.

[QUOTE="scouttrooperbob"]

but you cant really use it unless you pay money for something like a game off the psn store or a game.

child_of_lileth

Because signing in doesn't count as using it and all. :roll:

Besides, you can still do things like add friends, check profiles, and a few other things without needing to pay for anything at all.

That aspect is free. But it should be free because social networks like facebook are free. I cant speak for everyone else, but i use it mainly for online multiplayer games. That aspect i feel I pay for because I bought the game.

I agree with what you said in how it is not free. Nowadays games are pulling away from being mostly about singleplayer and moving fast and heavy into the multiplayer genre. Many games are all about their online components (i.e. Black Ops, MAG, Battlefield, etc.). Many people buy games with the intention of playing them online, not just to play the singleplayer. So when you think about the cost of a game, you need to think about what percentage of the pricetag you're paying to play both singleplayer and multiplayer. For many people, singleplayer is just a tiny percentage of that pricetag, with multiplayer taking up most of the price. So when you buy a game such as MAG, you are buying it to play online, you are paying to play online because that was the game's intention. That is the main focus of the game. It is not the consumers fault PSN is free. Sony could have charged if they wanted to but they decided against it. You cannot use the excuse, "oh well it's free so it shouldn't matter if it's down". It's not free. When you buy a game, you are as well paying to play the online multiplayer portion. It doesn't matter if you pay sony directly like how gamers pay microsoft for XBL. If I buy Black Ops for PS3, Sony knows that they need to provide the online service so I can play it online. Why would they offer online multiplayer in a game and then not allow us to play? They know I'm buying it to mostly play online because that's where all the replay value is.

Anyways online multiplayer isn't free, regardless of whether or not we pay Sony directly for PSN. The price of gaming online on the PS3 is included in the price of PS3 games. Whereas with microsoft, they make you pay seperately to play online.

PSN is not hardware that comes with the system, you choose if you want it therefore it is free. As for it being a selling point, yes it is but is is no more a selling point than exclusive games that cost money, but again you do not HAVE to get the exclusives, it is a choice. NFSruler

PSN is free! you can download demos sometimes beta using PSN w/out paying!

well technicallyno it's not the use of the service is free but you still need a broadband internet connection and you still have to pay for that in other words you can use the service will cost you nothing but is useless without a paid internet service

PSN membership is technically free.

You can get onto any computer and create an account absolutely free of charge - you don't even have to buy a PS3. Taking full advantage of its features, however, is not free.

I'd say it's a free service. The PS3 is more than a 360 mainly because it's a more powerful machine, and there probably is a chance some of that money is also going to the psn. Regardless, there are no fees or anything, so it basically is a free service. They do need to compensate people as a way of practicing good and proper PR; which in this case has turned into crisis PR and is quite a bit harder than normal PR. I for one am not going to be against sony because a group of losers probably living with their parents and without girlfriends decided they had the right to break the law, and because it's in a cyber realm it's completely justified somehow in their minds. Looking at the PSN as a whole from a PR perspective, it's a really great way to relate to the public, especially in a tough economic time, who doesn't like free stuff?

That aspect is free. But it should be free because social networks like facebook are free. I cant speak for everyone else, but i use it mainly for online multiplayer games. That aspect i feel I pay for because I bought the game.

scouttrooperbob

You're missing the point of how costs work. The cost of a game =/= the cost of a free service that allows you to play said game online for free. That's like saying you pay for PSN because you pay a different company for your internet. It's totally separate.

Also, things like facebook make their money off of the advertising they host. The service is free to users, but not the owners. Just like Sony and PSN.