Somebody explain Playstation Plus and This Free Game Deal?

What's the catch to this free game? I've seen you guys get games like Sleeping Dogs, Demon's Souls, crazy 30 dollar discounts on retail games, etc. What's the deal with it? What's the catch to this free game? I pay 50 dollars for Xbox Live and I don't really get any of these kind of deals. It's something I want to know more about going into next-gen. Thanks for your time. 

What is Playstation Plus?.

Wow where have you been in the pass 2+ years.

PSN+ works like this:

-You get discount on games

-You get free game trials

-You get access to stuff before available to the rest

-You get access to betas

-You get cloud game save storage

-You get automatic updates (for the system and games) set at you preferred time

-Discount on DLC add-ons

-Free DLC add-ons

-You get free games

There is no catch. Only minor thing is that what ever games you got for free wont be able to be played if your subscription is done. BUT the games you bought at a discount will always be yours whether you are still a PSN+ member or not.

PSN+ is great, but I'll be honest.... I wouldnt recommend it to everyone, especially now. You've already missed out on so many free stuff. The stuff they give out is not there for ever, its there for a couple weeks or a month and then its not there for free anymore. Its late in the gen to get into it I think. And I dont really think Sony is going to support PSN+ on the PS3 much when the PS4 comes out this year.

I believe you're talking about the instant game collection which is apart of PS+?   As long as you're subsribed to PS+, you can download and play these games for as long as you want.  They add new games every so often.   Recently Catherine and Hitman Absolution was added to the EU PS+ Store, not sure about the US PS Store.  Of course these games don't stay on the instant game collection forever.  So you have to make sure you activate them on your system then you'll be able to download them as many times as you want.  Just so long as you're subscribed to PS Plus.  It's a pretty darn good deal.

Sounds like horse manure to me. Seriously. I've spent 400 dollars on 8 years of Xbox Live Gold and the only free game I've gotten is Undertow and Happy Wars. Gama_Forever

You basically pay $50 a year for $500 or more worth of games.  People complain that they do not get to keep the games, but your not even paying two dollars to play any of them.  The only negative aspect to the free games is that you do not get a choice as to which games you want.  You could already own some of the games that are offered for free.  There are other perks too such as 1 hour full game trials, cloud storage for saved game data, automatic patch downloads and automatic access into betas. $50 a year for 40 plus games along with the other features is quite a deal in my opinion.  This is the kind of online service that is actually worth paying for.  When I bought PS Plus, I actually got 3 months for free.  Here is another way of putting it.  I have already gotten close to $200 worth of games since I signed up on March 1st.  That is only 3 months worth of content.  I still have a full year left to go.  If I have gotten $200 in 3 months, then I have another $800 worth of games to receive.  When my subscription is finally over, I will have earned almost $1000 worth of games for 15 months give or take. 

Ok, let me put it in even simpler terms.  You pay $50 a year to get about $50 worth of games per month.  Back in March, Spec Ops the Line was free and that game costs $30.  Joe Danger 2, The Cave, and Disgaea 3 were offered fo free as well.  Joe Danger 2 and The cost $15 a piece normally.  Disgaea 3 for Vita costs about $30 also.  All in all, I got $90 worth of free games for just March.  This May, NA PSN is getting Sleeping Dogs, which runs about $30.  It is also getting Knytt Underground and Pinball Arcade.  Knytt Underground is around $15, and Pinball Arcade is $10.  Blazblue for Vita is also going to be free.  This game is about $20.  This is about $75 worth of games for the month of May.  In April PS Plus got Demon's Souls, Melicious, Zombie Tycoon 2, and Labyrinth Legends.  all of these games together would normally run about $40 to $50 normally.  You do the math.  PS Plus users have accumulated $215 worth of games in three months.  There were also a couple of free PSP games as well that I did not account for.  Nonetheless, you get my point.  Sometimes the games that come out for PS Plus are not super awesome, but the majority of them are of good to great quality.   

It's definitely a better expense than Live since you get more from it.Kravyn81

The catch is they aren't yours to keep forever. PS+ is just a glorified DD rental service.

The catch is they aren't yours to keep forever. PS+ is just a glorified DD rental service.

Bigboi500

I agree.  What I didn't know when I got the Plus was that if I downloaded a "free" game available to PS+ users, if that game goes on sale while you have the Plus, guess what, you can't buy it - at least I couldn't.  The game registers as you having bought it.  This happened to me with Retro City Rampage.  I contacted Sony and they said they'd have to cancel my purchase of the game (ie when I got it via the Plus) but by then the sale was over.  Doh.

It's a good service for discounts and if you like to finish games and forget them.  Another nice thing was that each day my system downloaded the latest any new patches - you just pick the time you want and it does it daily.

its worth every penny and pays for itself many times over imo 

and ive been a subscriber for over a year now 

without plus i wouldve never tried out just cause 2 and borderlands (both awesome)

[QUOTE="Bigboi500"]

The catch is they aren't yours to keep forever. PS+ is just a glorified DD rental service.

d_parker

I agree.  What I didn't know when I got the Plus was that if I downloaded a "free" game available to PS+ users, if that game goes on sale while you have the Plus, guess what, you can't buy it - at least I couldn't.  The game registers as you having bought it.  This happened to me with Retro City Rampage.  I contacted Sony and they said they'd have to cancel my purchase of the game (ie when I got it via the Plus) but by then the sale was over.  Doh.

It's a good service for discounts and if you like to finish games and forget them.  Another nice thing was that each day my system downloaded the latest any new patches - you just pick the time you want and it does it daily.

It's the only rental service I know where you don't have any say in what you'll be renting.

Free? Free games? No, you are paying 50 dollars for whatever they decide to give you.

Free? Free games? No, you are paying 50 dollars for whatever they decide to give you.

WeskerTeam

Of course there free, you just have to be part of PS+ and they don't give you them, they offer them and i'll be honest the games they offer are great games and newish games to, and the discounts are worth it alone and you get to keep them. there is no catch except you don't get to keep the free games if you leave PS+ but there always there if you ever go back to it and plus more free games. i mean xbox live, are you really paying for better online gaming really because on ps3 i found the free gaming to be very good i've never had any problems at all so what i don't get is what people are paying for on 360.

[QUOTE="WeskerTeam"]

Free? Free games? No, you are paying 50 dollars for whatever they decide to give you.

bezza2011

Of course there free, you just have to be part of PS+ and they don't give you them, they offer them and i'll be honest the games they offer are great games and newish games to, and the discounts are worth it alone and you get to keep them. there is no catch except you don't get to keep the free games if you leave PS+ but there always there if you ever go back to it and plus more free games. i mean xbox live, are you really paying for better online gaming really because on ps3 i found the free gaming to be very good i've never had any problems at all so what i don't get is what people are paying for on 360.

When you can find me a deal for 50$ a year that PS+ offers then we can have a discussion. Until then, PlayStation+ is worth every penny and yes, some games are free as you keep them even when you PS+ expires.

It's all explained on the official PlayStation website..

[QUOTE="bezza2011"]

[QUOTE="WeskerTeam"]

Free? Free games? No, you are paying 50 dollars for whatever they decide to give you.

Bigboi500

Of course there free, you just have to be part of PS+ and they don't give you them, they offer them and i'll be honest the games they offer are great games and newish games to, and the discounts are worth it alone and you get to keep them. there is no catch except you don't get to keep the free games if you leave PS+ but there always there if you ever go back to it and plus more free games. i mean xbox live, are you really paying for better online gaming really because on ps3 i found the free gaming to be very good i've never had any problems at all so what i don't get is what people are paying for on 360.

When you can find me a deal for 50$ a year that PS+ offers then we can have a discussion. Until then, PlayStation+ is worth every penny and yes, some games are free as you keep them even when you PS+ expires.

It's all explained on the official PlayStation website..

Sokol4ever

[QUOTE="Bigboi500"]

[QUOTE="bezza2011"]

Of course there free, you just have to be part of PS+ and they don't give you them, they offer them and i'll be honest the games they offer are great games and newish games to, and the discounts are worth it alone and you get to keep them. there is no catch except you don't get to keep the free games if you leave PS+ but there always there if you ever go back to it and plus more free games. i mean xbox live, are you really paying for better online gaming really because on ps3 i found the free gaming to be very good i've never had any problems at all so what i don't get is what people are paying for on 360.

RogueShodown

Sounds like horse manure to me. Seriously. I've spent 400 dollars on 8 years of Xbox Live Gold and the only free game I've gotten is Undertow and Happy Wars. Gama_Forever

[QUOTE="RogueShodown"][QUOTE="Bigboi500"]Sorry but that's not free. They're rentals and nothing more.

Bigboi500

[QUOTE="Bigboi500"]

[QUOTE="RogueShodown"] They're more than rentals. You can download and play them as long as you're subscribed to Plus. Rentals typically last a day to a week. Also, you can't rent digital games with any other service, unless they're PC games.sirk1264

[QUOTE="sirk1264"][QUOTE="Bigboi500"]Ever heard of Gamefly? You can keep them as long as you're a subscriber as well. Nobody has ever called Gamefly games "free".

Bigboi500

The difference is that with Gamefly and Netflix, you have to give one disc back to receive another.  You can download as many games as you want with PS Plus provided you have the hard drive space.  I really do not see what there is to complain about.  You pay $50 for over $500 worth of games plus other features.  The service offers about 40 to 50 games a year to download, so you are basically paying a dollar to play each game for a large amount of time.  Why should anyone get to keep $500 worth of games for $50?  I have personally scored over $200 worth of games in 3 months, so I have already made four times my money back in games.  

If I dont renew my subscription, do I get to keep my free PlayStation Network games, PlayStation Minis and PSone classics?

Nope. If your subscription lapses, you lose all the free games youve downloaded.

Sounds like inorder to keep all those FREE GAMES it will cost you a bundle. When Sony decides to terminate the service you will lose them all, sounds like a rental IMO!

[QUOTE="Bigboi500"]

[QUOTE="sirk1264"] You have to pay 16 dollars a month for one game at a time rental. Ps+ costs 50 dollars for the whole year. gamenerd15

The difference is that with Gamefly and Netflix, you have to give one disc back to receive another.  You can download as many games as you want with PS Plus provided you have the hard drive space.  I really do not see what there is to complain about.  You pay $50 for over $500 worth of games plus other features.  The service offers about 40 to 50 games a year to download, so you are basically paying a dollar to play each game for a large amount of time.  Why should anyone get to keep $500 worth of games for $50?  I have personally scored over $200 worth of games in 3 months, so I have already made four times my money back in games.  

I don't understanding all the constant complaints about the "free" games. Sony plainly explains this out on their website, and when you purchase a free game, they're a big disclaimer box that you have to acknowledge before going through with the purchase. Technically, you're not renting the game, you're paying a license fee to freely access the game you're downloaded.

It's the same as buying an antivirus program or even Windows. You pay for the license or key to use the product and if that license expires, you can't use the service anymore. If your antivirus subscription lapses, your antivirus stops working, if your Windows license somehow became invalidated, Microsoft would surely let you know and start crippling your computer until you got that sorted out ASAP. That's exactly how the free games that comes with Playstation Plus are.

Personally, PS Plus has given me the oportunity to play lots of games I'd have never bothered with or even heard of. If I like a game enough, then I'd just go buy the disc version to support further support the developer. Plus, the discounts are amazing. I got Dead Rising 2 Off the Record for about $9 and a bunch of other games really cheap.

If I dont renew my subscription, do I get to keep my free PlayStation Network games, PlayStation Minis and PSone classics?

Nope. If your subscription lapses, you lose all the free games youve downloaded.

Sounds like inorder to keep all those FREE GAMES it will cost you a bundle. When Sony decides to terminate the service you will lose them all, sounds like a rental IMO!

rrjim1

How would it cost you a bundle?  You just renew the subscription and keep everything you have gotten plus more.  If I am getting 50 games a year for $50, then why wouldn't I want to renew the service again?  The games are "free" with a subscription.  Sony never claims that the games are free outright.  You can either look at this as paying $1 per game or paying for four titles and receive 46 more for free.  Either way, the word "free" is not completely wrong.  90% off of various titles is not a bad deal by any means.  We are only talking about the instant game collection too.  There are other things that PS Plus offers such as cloud storage, auotmatic entries into betas, full game one hour trials, and automatic updates for games.  Where is the negative besides being having to be a PS Plus member.  PS Plus puts every other console online service to shame as far games themselves are concerened.  I would rather pay $50 to play about $50 a year, then shell out the same amount for party chat.       

Either way, the word "free" is not completely wrong.gamenerd15

Having to pay the subscription fee dictates that the products you're using are not free, and not being able to play them once your subscription runs out means that they're not your games and never were, hence, a timed rental.

I think the service is good, and definitely better than XBL Gold. I've had PS + for a year and a half now, and while I have gotten some great discounts and a few great games I've never played before they came along, I still don't feel like the service is worth $50 a year.

Having to pay the subscription fee dictates that the products you're using are not free...Bigboi500

[QUOTE="Bigboi500"]Having to pay the subscription fee dictates that the products you're using are not free...Kravyn81

Having to pay the subscription fee dictates that the products you're using are not free, and not being able to play them once your subscription runs out means that they're not your games and never were, hence, a timed rental.

 

I think the service is good, and definitely better than XBL Gold. I've had PS + for a year and a half now, and while I have gotten some great discounts and a few great games I've never played before they came along, I still don't feel like the service is worth $50 a year.

Bigboi500

If you are the type of person who buys a lot of games day one, then I could see why the service would be not be the best.  I look at PS Plus as a way to expand my horizons in gaming.  I would have never played games like Quantum Conundum, Anomaly, Closure, Joe Danger 2, Sleeping Dogs, Vanquish, or Darksiders without this service.  I also have not gotten the chance to pick up Infamous 2, Little Big Planet 2, or Ratchet All 4 One. 

[QUOTE="Bigboi500"]

Having to pay the subscription fee dictates that the products you're using are not free, and not being able to play them once your subscription runs out means that they're not your games and never were, hence, a timed rental.

 

I think the service is good, and definitely better than XBL Gold. I've had PS + for a year and a half now, and while I have gotten some great discounts and a few great games I've never played before they came along, I still don't feel like the service is worth $50 a year.

gamenerd15

If you are the type of person who buys a lot of games day one, then I could see why the service would be not be the best.  I look at PS Plus as a way to expand my horizons in gaming.  I would have never played games like Quantum Conundum, Anomaly, Closure, Joe Danger 2, Sleeping Dogs, Vanquish, or Darksiders without this service.  I also have not gotten the chance to pick up Infamous 2, Little Big Planet 2, or Ratchet All 4 One. 

As a game collector, it just bothered me knowing that one day I wouldn't have access to the + games I've downloaded and enjoyed, so I ended up buying those games.

Most PS+ subscribers realize they don't get to keep their games. I call them free to differentiate from discounted games. It's obvious that if you've paid money for a service, it isn't free.

[QUOTE="gamenerd15"]

[QUOTE="Bigboi500"]

Having to pay the subscription fee dictates that the products you're using are not free, and not being able to play them once your subscription runs out means that they're not your games and never were, hence, a timed rental.

 

I think the service is good, and definitely better than XBL Gold. I've had PS + for a year and a half now, and while I have gotten some great discounts and a few great games I've never played before they came along, I still don't feel like the service is worth $50 a year.

Bigboi500

If you are the type of person who buys a lot of games day one, then I could see why the service would be not be the best.  I look at PS Plus as a way to expand my horizons in gaming.  I would have never played games like Quantum Conundum, Anomaly, Closure, Joe Danger 2, Sleeping Dogs, Vanquish, or Darksiders without this service.  I also have not gotten the chance to pick up Infamous 2, Little Big Planet 2, or Ratchet All 4 One. 

As a game collector, it just bothered me knowing that one day I wouldn't have access to the + games I've downloaded and enjoyed, so I ended up buying those games.

This is how I look at it: If you own most of the games offered on the service, you'll probably benefit the discounts. Some of them are huge, particularly the Borderlands 1/2 bundle for $21, GTA Complete bundle for $15, PS1 RE games for $2 or $3 and RE6 for $15 in just the past few weeks. Rayman Origins and LBP Karting were a low $10 a few months ago.

If you don't own them and are worried about losing them when PS+ ceases to exist or you choose not to renew, consider this: How much will these games be worth at that point? LBP2 was one game I was interested back in June. At the time it was worth $20-$30. I decided to subscribe to PS+ to play it along with some other games. Yesterday the special edition including a bunch of DLC was on sale at Best Buy for $10. Chances are that you'll be done with most of the games offered on PS+ once your subscription is up and be able to pick up the titles you're still interested in for a low price.