A pretty good deal for any serious PS3 owner.
Way back in April of last year I was sitting in South Korea (I'm still sitting in South Korea...) playing my 80gb fatty PS3 wondering just when it's "time" would come. The thing was going on three years old and it had seen considerable use over those years. I knew that death was inevitable, so I sought-out a way to save myself the loss of all those hours of saves from three years of gaming. This turned out to be a great idea on August 27th when my system succumbed to the dreaded "Yellow Light of Death" (though not until, with its dying breath, it spit-out my copy of Resistance 2).
Playstation Plus was my answer. I know what you're thinking, "why would you pay $50 for something that you already get for free?" Before you give that thought too much real estate in your mind, let me be the first to get through to you that Playstation Plus is, in all actuality, a pretty damn good deal.
First, the reason that I looked into Plus to begin with was the cloud storage. As a member, I have access to a pretty decent 150mb worth of space to store my more important save files. While it may not give you the 1000 save files that the website advertises, I can say that every one of my 40 or so titles has at least one save file uploaded to the storage. With Plus, you will also have the ability to set your PS3 to power on during a certain time of the day, check for updates, upload your Trophy data, and store any new or updated save files that you might have. While this feature seems mediocre, it really shows it's awesomeness when you get home and realize that your games are all up-to-date and you won't have to wait an incredibly inconvenient time for the download to finish.
The second reason to invest in Plus is for the ability to play full game trials. Full game trials allow you to download certain titles on PSN and play it, unbridled, for one full hour. During this time you can do anything in the game and even unlock Trophies (which won't count until you actually purchase the game). This is a really good way to check-out a game before you drop your valuable cash on it. It also shows you a game in its reality, rather than what the demo would have you believe.
The third reason is similar to the second: Plus users are offered early access (and sometimes exclusive access) to betas. For example: back in the Fall you could go to Subway everyday to try and grab an Uncharted 3 beta code, or you could just be a Plus member and wake-up and play. Also, you might recall that back in January I wrote about my experiences in the Starhawk beta. That was made possible by my membership in Playstation Plus.
The fourth, and most enticing reason, are the savings throughout the year. According to the Playstation Plus website, a Plus member had the potential to save $1,200 over standard PSN users purchased the same stuff. That being said, you might also argue that by not purchasing anything from the store you could save a helluva lot more. Let's be realistic though: there are some things that peak our interest from time-to-time and when that thing comes along it's better to have the discount than not.
That's why I've started this post: to keep you informed of all the money I'm saving and the cool titles that I'm getting for free! I don't remember exactly how much I saved or what I received using Plus last year, so with the new year comes new opportunities. Namely, I'm going to update this post every month to tell you everything that I've downloaded using Plus. From the small discounts to the free games and betas, if I get it, I'll let you know here. So, without further ado, I bring you my January 2012 list of free and discounted stuff!
1.) Back to the Future: The Game (the full series) ($14.99/ free)
2.) Dragon Age II- Legacy Pack ($9.99/ $6.39)
3.) Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12- Eagle Pack ($34.99/ $17.49)
4.) Starhawk- beta
Estimated Savings: $36.09*
*That means that there is only $13.59 difference after one month alone.... Also, these four downloads were only the ones that interested me. There were several other discounted and free items available.
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