While I’ve seen a lot of hate towards the idea of paying for PSN, but after seeing what the new Premium service might add, I see it as a very amazing deal if it becomes available. ( http://kotaku.com/5429592/survey-sony-considering-premium-playstation-network-subscriptions ) Free PSOne classics, free minis, free themes, extended 3 years warranty on my console, and ect. What’s no to like, even if it would cost 70 dollars?
PSOne Classics- PSN has PS1 games such as, Final Fantasy 7 & 8, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Castlevania: SotN, Crash Bandicoot 1-3, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Metal Gear Solid, Oddworld 1-2, Resident Evil 1-3, Spyro 1-3, and many more. There are a total of 83 PS1 games available on the US PSN store right now, that’s a total of over 500 dollars worth of PS1 games. That alone is worth the 70 dollars.
PS Themes- There’s about 250 themes you have to pay for on PSN, over a 350 dollar value.
PS Minis- There’s already 25 Minis available on PSN as of now, totaling over the 70 dollars you would pay, again another great deal.
3 Year Extended Warranty- I’m not sure how much it would cost you to get a three year warranty, but its defiantly a plus, even if the PS3 has a way better failure rate than the 360.
Access to Betas- While people do get into betas now, if this gave us access to all betas without having to sign-up or anything and maybe even lead to more betas, it’s something that could be grand.
Cross Game Chat- While I’m sure every PS3 owner would like this free, Microsoft also makes you pay for it, so it’s not really anything you lose, at least you can play online for free, unlike the 360.
Full Title Trial (First Hour Free)- This would probably be like renting a game from like blockbuster, but you get the first hour free, so if you don’t like it within that hour, you don’t have to pay anything, which would give us a good feel on the game anyways.
Discount on Store Content- While this could range from PSN games to DLC, even at only 10% off or so, it would defiantly be a deal, especially if you buy a lot of games and DLC.
Member Only In Game Content- While this could give us an exclusive gun or free DLC, a lot of people fear it would ruin free content and leave them missing out on awesome content, it could be so or not, but ether way it would be a bonus for members.
Cloud Storage Space for Games- We've heard of this cloud thing for a while, but wasn't sure what it was. This indeed would be something I would love, because I always find myself deleting content so I have room for other content.
Those are just a few of the things the PSN Premium service could offer, which would put it above and beyond XBLs service. While Sony might lose some costumers along the way, I think a lot of people would find this an amazing offer and find some way of paying the 70 bucks a year, if not, at least you could still play online for free( Which is something 360 owners can’t even do).
I for one hope this becomes available, because if it does, sign me up.
Reader Questions- Would you pay 70 bucks a year for all that? (If so, whats the top reason you would? If not, whats the reason for not paying?) What else should Sony add to this to sweeten the deal even more? What are some of the things that shouldn't be on the Premium service?
(Heres a good idea from pushsquare.com, that would help sony get more people to pay: http://www.pushsquare.com/9471/playstation-network-premium-could-be-amazing-if-twiggy-the-pushsquare-opinionator/ )
The armadillo returns.
I personally do remember Infogrames in the years prior to merger. They really did have a portfolio that stuck out and I enjoyed. I wonder what value they see in reviving it now though?
Sony is apparently experimenting with an AI tool that will play the game for you when you are grinding away. A PlayStation patent for “auto-play” mode would simulate your gameplay style in certain environments and apply them to skip that section completely. This technology would likely be built directly into the cloud-based PlayStation Network and be a new feature that subscribers would have access to.
Hah! Either will never happen or publishers will charge you to use this AI. This concept would only exacerbate the problem we already have with GaaS.
doesnt that concept already exist tho?
buy dlc to get a ahead in games? money, weapon and exp dlc come to mind but yeh. one more thing for them.to potentially charge for.
Usually, for GaaS/Seasonal games, you'll have to perform actions to earn specific in-game currency to buy things for events. Then they sell the currency with real cash or a third-currency to then buy the in-game currency items (it's honestly truly bloated to hide that they're cheating you out of money). With this, they'll just give you items if you do something 50 times or the like and then charge you to have the game play it for you. It's better, right? No currency shenanigans, just play the game and we reward you! But, the truth is they'll inflate the amount of times you have to play through content just to get the same thing.
Why?
Why not just remove the Grindy part?
I hope it's not an excuse to make them worse, but optional if you pay
This IGN blogger mode will allow 'reviewers' to play games like rest of us.
I will never forget watching GamingBolts spoiler video for Horizon FW and realizing they never played it. Made me wonder if they play games at all.
Duuro says: "I think the idea behind the movement is cool, but on the other hand, the execution and clear limitation of the platform somewhat undermine the whole thing."
Great blog. I completely agree. If Sony does things right, their premium service will far surpass that offered by XBL and maybe even push MS to offer better stuff and/or lower the price.
Some of those points actually are what Microsoft should have done with Gold members. I'm especially talking about discounts and free stuff. Being gold on Xbox 360 only allows you to play online. XBLA games, NXE themes, gamerpics, games on demand,.... still cost the same. So what services compensates the 50-60$ you pay for your Gold subscription?
Here in France, some big retailers make you pay a yearly fee in order to be considered like a gold consumer, and in exchange the consumer have a discount on everything he buys and can access to special offers.
Sony has at least the idea to pay something worth it, betas access (useless for me as I'm a Sony beta-tester but still great for other people), discounts on the Store, one hour trial (considering unlike Microsoft, Sony doesn't force PSN games developers to have a demo, it's a good thing), warranty extend (repairing a console not under warranty costs somewhere like 100-150$), etc...
Like I said in a previous comment, I am ready to pay for a yearly fee on PSN, especially considering the numbers of advantages you have for this. I already pay for Xbox Live, even though it's not worth it, and Sony gave me much things free (many PSP games, some PS3 games, from a snooker game to LittleBigPlanet, access to betas, etc...) so I can pay in exchange of what they've done for me, it wont be a problem. I just believe 70$ a year is not consumer-friendly, Sony should put it at a same price as Xbox Live or under.
One thing I fear the most is, Services like Cross game chat will be only able to use if you are on the premium, if they werent there everyone would get them.
I.E all additional updates to PSN will only be available for those who pay.
But Ill see if its worth it and its good we got a choice.
that would be a nice bundle depending upon price..
the 3 yr warranty I doubt will be in it and really is a non issue, since Sony hardware failure rate is BELOW industry standards...(lol, I keep thinking about MS openly lie about that)
x game chat for only prems. would be stupid...I dont use mine on Live that much so its a non issue.
playing games for an hr..that rocks
the free ps1 games n stuff peaked my interest as well betas. im going to assume this is linked to your account so man assuming some number of ps1 games i want to get i may need to buy my self a ps3 slim to go along with my 80 gig ps3 and slap on the biggest hardrive it can handle.
it'll be interesting to see how well sony will handle this definitly sign me up if the suppose rumours are true