PlayStation Plus: Smart As… Free for Members

Posted by Kristine Steimer // Sr. Community Specialist: "If you’ve ever wondered how your intelligence stacks up against your friends and other people around the world, Smart As will give you a pretty good idea when it joins the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection tomorrow. Just prepare yourself… the results might not be pretty at first. That’s what Smart As is all about though – not just finding out where you stand, but training every day to get a little better."

[moujahed]

On one hand I spent 50$ for a year subscription... On the other hand I get free games for my PS3/ PS Vita/ & PS4... I say I am the winner not, Sony.

[moujahed]

OMG, I was just about to buy Dissidia last week but I stopped myself, thank goodness!!! Now I can get both versions for the price of one!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nerdmaster]

You don't really need to buy both versions, since Duodecim already contains the story mode from the first version.

[raiden-49]

got in the sale its reallly good =D

[Snookies12]

Yeah man, Nerdmaster is right. You only really need Duodecim. It has everything Dissida has, and more. Including a remake of the story mode to fit Duodecim's 'world map' style story.

[3-4-5]

The best part about it that people don't mention enough is the Discount you get on ALL games.

[yeahokchief]

i agree discounts are the best part. $1-$5 games are the best in addition to the free ones and those you get to keep.

I just wish they let you buy games that get discounted that you already own with ps+

[T2]

ya if you are a gamer and go with a lot of games, there is no limit to what you can save... I bought max payne 3 for 4.99, didn't really like it, and don't care at all!!! LOL

plus pretty much gives you a discount on everything except brand new.

[yeahokchief]

Everyone wins. More people get to play games they wouldn't have otherwise tried possibly strengthening a franchise and they get a constant income stream.

I'm happy with this weeks game only being something small like this. Needed a breather week. Way too many games to play right now.

[neoandrew]

OK, but remember, you don't get free games, you get them for 50 USD year subscription and if you stop renewing the subscription you won't be able to play those games.

[LetoAtreides82]

Have you tried figuring out how much value you get from having PS Plus? If you haven't yet, I'll give you a hint: You get a lot more than $50 that's for sure. And to make things even sweeter some of us got 12 month subscriptions for just $29 during the Black Friday deal.

[neoandrew]

I don't care, they are not free, and that's the point, another point is, they force you to pay it.

[tommygunzII]

Two years from now I can pay to activate the subscription and those 100+ games I have from PS+ are ready to play again.
What happens when Titanfall's servers close in the future and the game is literally worthless. Really that whole time those people were renting it. Many will pay $60+ for that online only game and those same people have the nerve to say stupid stuff like this.

[gobluesamg]

OK, but remember, we f@ckin understand how PS Plus works and it's amazing! STFU

[DragonKnight]

@neoandrew: No, they don't force you to pay it. And if you pay $0 for a game, guess what that means?

[Bathyj]

Man I'm so glad you were here. I nearly wasted a tiny bit of money on a thousand bucks worth of games. Thank God you were here to show me the error in my ways

Yes, that was SARCASM !!!

And no one lets their subscription lapse. Its that good.

PS,
I'm really starting to think hard about getting a Vita. I have Gravity Rush, Uncharted, Soul Sacrifice and about half a dozen other games. Its a big incentive that if I buy one I will have and instant library of all the best games on the platform.

[nix]

i'm literally surviving on the free games i get from PS+.

actually i don't even have time to finish all the free games i am getting.

[Qrphe]

Discounted games you buy are your to keep

[insomnium2]

@bathyj

You don't have a Vita yet? You are missing out. I've just poured almost 50 hours into Persona 4 golden (still an ongoing project) and I have Tearaway and KZ mercs waiting in line. Gravity rush is amazing too. Dude you are missing out. I got the 8 gig card and it's been more than enough since the data management is so easy with PS3.

[GribbleGrunger]

£40 to rent 89 games a year? I'll take that thank you very much: 44 PS3, 33 Vita, 12 PS4. Throw in hundreds of exclusive bargains, exclusive betas, automatic updates and 2gb of online storage ...

Sony know how to please their customers.

[badz149]

yep...here come the trolls saying "it's not free because you have to pay $50 a year"!

you guys aren't tired saying the same thing over and over like a broken record? we get it, we pay $50 a year for them but we don't care as it's awesome! just show me another place or another service that lets the users "rent" almost 100 titles a year for $50 and then we can talk! if you're going to subscribe anyway for online MP on PS4, the games from PS+ are as good as FREE!

for $50, I can maybe get like 10 games from Steam sales (probably less) and I get to keep them forever but is there any game you play forever? and last time I check, 90 (PS+) >> 10 (Steam) for the same price!

oh how about paying $60 a year for XBL? according to the xbox fanboys, it's totally worth it because the service is awesome although they have to pay the service so they can use the portion of games the already own! IF MS continue with Games for Gold like it does now, that's still only 24 games (VERY OLD GAMES!) you can keep for a year! again...what game do you play forever? and 90 >> 24 too!

c'mon, against PS+, your argument is invalid! for those still in denial, just stop going to the movies or the Zoo or Aquarium or anywhere with a ticket, EVER! you know, because you paid for the tickets and you'll come out empty handed in the end! no movies you can bring home, no animals, no fish...NOTHING! just like PS+, these things require your payment for their SERVICE, not GOODS! so, KNOW THE DIFFERENCES and STOP TROLLING!

[neoandrew]

@badz149, @gobluesamg

Clearly some ps fanboys don't understand how psn+ works, they think they get games for free, which is not the case.

@DragonKnight

Yes they force you, no subscription, no online play for any non f2p game.

You don't pay 0$, you pay 50$ for this games, you logic is flawed, so if you pay for netflix subscription you will also say that you get to watch those all series there for free?

This is just silly, if you PAY for PSN+ then guess what that means?

Oh, and i don't want those games, not one of them, i would gladly not take anything and just have free online play, if i want a game i can buy one.

They forced to pay for psn+ to play online because they know many people would not buy it if online would be free.

And a the end of the day they selling some story that servers costs, bla bla, but the truth is that video streaming is using most of the bandwidth and anyone can use it, but multiplayer network bandwidth is close to nothing compared to video stream, also any pc online game have free servers, and no one is complaining.

But what i should expect from N4G ps fanbase, they will pay and say its free, thats their reasoning, f@ck logic.

[Volkama]

That's true Neoandrew, they're not free games or even free rentals. The service is also a prime example of strong and effective DRM.

I'm sure there are a lot of people looking at the PS Plus offerings and saying "No! Sony are attacking my rights to own and sell my games! Also I like to hold discs and see them on a shelf! I'll never go for this!".

Because you can't just forget such strong principals when you see good value.

(before you go defensive and try to explain the differences to me, ask yourself if you said anything like that quote. If you didn't then you are not one of the stupids I'm talking about, and you don't need to defend your stance. Personally I love the value in PS Plus, I'm just calling out a select few hypocrites).

[nope111]

True, it isn't really free, but it still is a helluva value, also i'm type of player who deletes games when i'm finished with them.

[ravinash]

You know, I hardly every play on line these days, but I still think it's been good value to be on PSN+

Bioshock 2, MGS vengeance, Limbo, borderlands, Stealth are just a few I played through this and probably wouldn't have tried had it not been for PSN+. Even Bioshock infinite is coming out on PSN+ if I hadn't played that already.

Infact the only games I have got separately in the last year is Bioshock Infinite, TLOU & Skyrim

[Morpheuzpr]

And my ignore list keeps growing.

[neoandrew]

Of course PSN+ games and services are VERY GOOD VALUE, no one denies that, but that was not my point.

[kingPoS]

Ok, but remember, you don't get free movies, you get them for 8 USD month subscription and if you stop renewing the subscription you won't be able to view those movies.

Oh wait, we're talking about ps+, awe.. my bad... Not everyone has the budget to buy every title they want.

Gateway MT6706 2008

[Utalkin2me]

@neoandrew

Wow, someone is really butthurt. Now which is it they make you pay for the games or make you pay to play online. Cause i could easily cherry pick and say i pay 50 bucks a year to play online and the games are free. Well considering i bought 2 years of plus for 60 bucks of amazon, makes it even better. So technically i just made your point look stupid.

Are you going to discuss the discounts? You buy a game at discounted price it is yours regardless of plus or not.

[Team_Litt]

How you can say spent X amount and then say that the games are free is baffling. Or has it now become okay to say "I pay for multiplayer, the other stuff is a bonus" ?

[CrowbaitBob]

I've been a PS+ member since the program began. The first couple years were kind of meh, in fact it felt an awful lot like wasted money (probably was). Then they started up the free games every month.

I've always paid the subscription fee. The only thing that's changed is that the perks have gotten continually better over the years.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, to someone like me, the games I get for paying zero extra dollars with my PS+ subscription are about as close to the technical definition of free as anyone could possibly expect from a publicly traded corporation.

[DragonKnight]

Considering there are games that don't require PS+ to play multiplayer, no you're not paying for the multiplayer. You're paying for the discounts and early access. Multiplayer is a bonus, as are free game.

I wonder if people like you would b*tch about having a Costco membership.

[Ducky]

^ The ability to play the multiplayer portion of retail games you've paid full price for is now considered a 'bonus' for paying a subscription?

That's same talented mental gymnastics.

[insomnium2]

Ummm. I game on my PS3 for free online. TLOU is my main online fix atm. and I have a huge backlog of games (15-20 games). I just ordered Metro last light, Dishonored and Disgaea D2 so I'm all set for another 6 months to a full year with those alone on the home console front. I'll buy a PS4 eventually but there's no rush whatsoever since PS3 is da man.

[DragonKnight]

@Ducky: No, it's not really. I know I said it was, but it wasn't really the point and I was being flippant in that regard. Considering that there are games on the PS4, multiplayer only no less, that don't require a Plus subscription to play and many online aspects of single player games that also don't require Plus, the most you can say is that Plus isn't as necessary as some claim it to be and the reason for paying for plus is more 50/50 discounts (and free games)/multiplayer access for games that require it.

What I'm curious though is if you'd use the same aggressive sarcasm concerning Live.

[Ducky]

^ Why wouldn't I say the same about Live? I've never bought any MS console precisely because I disagree with a subscription fee for accessing game content that I've already purchased.

Here's a blog from about a year ago:
http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...
Check the comments, you'll see my opinions have remained the same.
Yours, on the other hand...

[GribbleGrunger]

Second comment along the same lines ... mmmmmm.

[Snookies12]

They are free for me. I pay for PS+ to get the discounts on games I get to KEEP when they have sales. Which more than pays for the subscription.

I'll make this nice and simple for those that don't understand the value of the service...

Just like 2-3 weeks ago I bought $140-150 dollars worth of games for like $50 bucks. Even if you add my $50 dollar year subscription on top of that. I still bought $140-150 dollars worth of games for $100. Which means any 'free' games I get during my year subscription, are guess what...? Free!

[DragonKnight]

@Ducky: I think it's funny that you can presume to know what my opinion is. Did I say that I agree with having to pay for Plus to access multiplayer? Anywhere? Since you're a comment historian, point it out for me.

[ambientFLIER]

Things aren't free if you have to pay a yearly fee to rent them...

[DragonKnight]

Good thing that no one's doing that.

If you pay $0 for a game, that means it's free. If you cancel the subscription then 2 years later renew it, you get to play that game for free.

Say you bought PS+ and there were no games you wanted, are you saying that that person paid for plus for the free games or did they pay it for something else?

[Lukejrl]

When people pirate games and movies those aren't really free either because they are paying for an Internet connection, gasp!

Listen we understand your point, but obviously your not good at math and thinking the big picture. If DMC and bioShock infinite are 20$ each to buy, and with my 50$ dollar a year investment into psplus allowed me to play them without paying the 40$ for both then I have really only spent 10$. Add one more game to that and the $ value of plus has been far exceeded by the perks.

So yes when my subscription expires I can not play them again, but when I renew I get access to it right away. So while I may not want to psplus for while( can't ever imagine why) I can just pay 7.99 for a month and play the game I am missing out on.
Do you not see the difference? Sony is cleverly making the service so irresistable that people won't want to get rid of it. While Microsoft basically has us pinned by saying if you don't get live gold you get nothing.

[GribbleGrunger]

Third comment along the same lines ... double mmmmm

[Utalkin2me]

@Lukejrl

Very well said. Plus just saves you money simple as that.

[Ps4Console]

Oh yeah relax & sit back & say Sony you're worth it .

[showtimefolks]

This is awesome and more fans hopefully will experience how great psn-plus really is. When it comes to online offerings would you rather have a windows 8 type UI or a service which gives you so much back

$50 per year(buy on sale on blackfriday for $29.99 per year) think about it buy one service and get so much content in return for all the systems

MS can keep jacking up the price for xblive and say well we offer a lot but when it comes right down to it, its not even close how much more sony has been offering with plus when compared to xblive

remember we will also get drive club psn-plus edition for free too

instead of hating on the service how about trying the service. any gamer with common sense can see that sony offers a lot more bang for your buck

[Matt666]

I say your both winners because Sony get money from us and we get free games and if you think about it, its also a great way to get people to buy the game, for example if you got a free PS+ game and your friend misses out you can tell them how great it is then your friend might go out and buy it.

[Sayai jin]

PS+, money well spent!!!

[listenkids]

That comma :/

[Meltic]

soon gta 5 for free meaby lol

[moujahed]

Never.

[snookiegamer]

Never say Never ....

[Tidybrutes]

I wouldnt say soon but theres no reason why it may not eventually somewhere down the line become free, other Rockstar games have been free before.

[Lukejrl]

The games that we get free often have DLC available. DLC is a better return on investment for game companies when purchased then a game bought at the bargain bin. By easing the price of consumer adoption the consumer is more likely to spend more money on the extra DLC. So it is kind of a win win for everybody.

With Rockstar if everyone got gta 5 that didn't already gta online's microtransactions would be away to lengthen the income coming in from the game. So it is def a possibilty.

[Sayai jin]

Doubt it. GTA 4 as never free...think about it. Would be nice though.

[WeAreLegion]

Don't Starve is already leaving the Instant Game Collection? That's...odd.

[DarkLordMalik]

Next week's PS+ will see the addition of Outlast for the PS4.

[WeAreLegion]

I know, but they don't usually keep games around for one week...especially when it's one of the few Plus games on PS4.

[vikingland1]

@DarkLordMalik

Is Outlast for U.S. PS+ members or EU. members?

[AceBlazer13]

They probably want to keep Resogun around.

[PaleMoonDeath]

I'd say so, that game is the ultimate game to play between bigger titles, got the platinum trophy last week, awaiting the glorious DLC!

[ZodTheRipper]

You should be thankful, the sooner a game leaves the sooner a new one replaces it.

[bromtown]

PS4 games are there for much shorter periods, except Resogun that is.

Contrast wasn't there much longer 3/ 4 weeks maybe.

[ZombieKiller]

I wanna play Outlast!

[JonnyBigBoss]

PS3 Plus. Basically.

[dragon82]

What do you expect? There aren't many games out for PS4 yet that can be given for free.

[yezz]

↑↑This.

And would the ones who disagree tell me a non downloadable PS4 game that could be free at the moment.. That's right there isn't any. PS3 doesn't have free games that are 2-3 months old either so we'll have to wait a bit to get the "big ones" for free.

[Rhezin]

Outlast releases next week? Really? AWESOME!!!!!

[Soldierone]

Is Driveclub coming?! Don't Starve is leaving, so something has to replace it!

edit nevermind :(

[psnCAShville_615]

lol when my buddies @ work got there ps4 i got the like all of there 10 dollar off codes that came with ps4, lol i got over 90 dollars in my psn sitting still!!

i got bf4
fifa 14 - mostly played....

and those free games are amazing, still haven't tried warframe tho, love blacklight tho, close quarter combat, feels similar to socom to me in odd way.

[WeAreLegion]

WHY did they give them away?!?

[psnCAShville_615]

they are not so much into gaming as me, they one game player, either fifa or battlefield!!

i didnt say is 10 dollar credit i asked them is 10 dollars off... caught them off guard. lol

[lawgone]

So you screwed your friends over? Nice. Smh

[gnothe1]

I finally broke down an bought PS PLUS an I must say I was pleasantly surprised..i got DMC...bioshock infinite an binary domain....so far im happy

[respekanize91]

i have a backlog that i can't even comprehend. I have been a plus sub since the beginning and i love it. Got Music Unlimited sub for 1 dollar a month last year because of it.

[Justindark]

question what happens to the free games when u don't pay the annual fee? they vanish right? just wondering. but the discounted ones you keep am i right just wanted some clearance.

[gobluesamg]

You can't access those free games until you renew again. Once you do all of the Plus games you ever downloaded are available again.

[Justindark]

ok so its like a really really cheap rental service in a way then?

[insomnium2]

@justin

With other benefits too though.

I always DL everything that ever becomes free on PS+. That's why the amount of games available to me is in the houndreds after a few years.

Also I'm building up a nice PS4 collection while I'm waiting for the right time to purchase one in the future.

[GribbleGrunger]

You keep the discounted games.

[respekanize91]

My vita stays having games without spending a dime..almost bought this game twice along with DMC last month for PS3!! thank you Plus

[WitWolfy]

I'm so pissed about Brothers being free this month!! I just bought it a few weeks ago on that Jan sale we EU guys got!!! Grrrr

[Lukejrl]

I hear ya, sometimes I hesitate to buy games, but now I think of it this way. If everyone stopped buying because it might come free on plus then plus would have to stop. And I usually buy games brand new so I get a lot of time in between it's potential appearance that is worth something as I didn't have to wait.

[pennywhyz]

And these games I dl .. do they come with me to the next PS that comes out or is my investment on my games lost?

[rageus]

You can download them whenever you like as long as you are a subscriber. I suggest you 'buy' and check out everything that is free at the store. I have a collection of vita games and ps4 games without even owning the consoles.

[pennywhyz]

Ty for response.

[rageus]

@pennywhyz Glad to help. :)

[rageus]

Sony wins by making me WANT to pay the subscription free. The service is such an amazing deal that you lose out by not subscribing. Also this helps sell consoles since one subscription nets you games for 3 consoles. When I will get a Vita and PS4, I will already have a great library of amazing games that I paid very little for. From PS+ I already have about 3-4 PS4 games and over 10 PSVita games. I paid the subscription to get PS3 games so these PS4/PSV games are free in my book.

[IRetrouk]

I agree I dont let my subscription lapse because sony make it so easy for me to pay them, I see a lot of people huffing and puffing about the games being "free" but in my book if thats all you are concentrating on then you dont see the bigger picture, for what you get ps+ is an amazingly cheap solution to gamers that like to play a variety of games with other benifits including betas, discounts, cloud storage and other nice features, the fact that you have to pay to access the games is not a problem at all, its priced right and clearly worth the money.

[thexmanone]

They could keep it, There games for PSN Plus are not free. They have everyone fooled.I lost my PSN Plus account and all my download content that a purchased is gone too Since I can not access the game anymore. They can keep there rental service.

[IRetrouk]

There is a lesson in there somewhere for you.

[MadforitUK]

So you've done something to break sonys terms online or you can't sign in which is a quick discussion with the relevant support.

If you've done something to get yourself banned it's your fault not really Sony's!

[thexmanone]

No I did not get banned, I got laid off at work and didn`t have the money to renew.

[rageus]

But when you go back to a financially stable situation, and I wish you luck in that, you can still renew and regain access to all those games if you so wish.

[Edub6822]

When downloading ps+ games they tell you if your subscription expires you will no have acess to the game or any dlc you bought until you reactivate your account, so its no secret the games are not yours to own.
Ps+ is still a very good deal as far as much stuff as they give you like full trials of new games massive discounts. I bought ff14 through + for 10 dollars, so with squares free ps3 to ps4 upgrade plan I get the ps4 version free

[LeCreuset]

There are always a few individuals who pop up in Plus articles to nitpick about Plus Games not being "free" (as if we don't know how Plus works), but those same people have no problem being disingenuous by referring to it as a rental service. How many rental services are going, "Here. Not only can you have the game (or movie, or whatever) that we already loaned you, but here's some more for you, and more will be coming after that, and more after that. As long as you're a member don't bother turning any of those back in by a deadline."?

[kenshiro100]

It's really sad isn't it.

[LeCreuset]

It is. The simple reality is, the discounts alone have saved me more than the price of a full priced year subscription. The free games alone, which saved me from buying them, saved me more than the price of a full priced year subscription.