PlayStation Plus - Page 14

It sounds like the free, bonus three month deal with an annual subscription is expiring soon, but apparently current subscribers can buy another 12+3 month deal if they re-up before the promotion ends (otherwise it'll be the normal twelve months for $50).

Ok Joe, im getting a little confused here so let me get this str8....

I have the "3 month bonus" with my 1yr sub, I subscribed the week this service went live. So with that being said, I "can stack the subscription" basically and wont have to renew til the year 2013?

If so, its a done deal, ill stack the subscription this weekend, you cant lose with a deal like that at all!

All I needed to read right there, even with getting the second sub now, it already has been paid off for me with all the free games and betas I have been in since I subscribed.

LOVING IT!!!

Can you renew online, or do you have to do it from your PS3?

Hell, I've already gotten enough discounts on stuff to pay for my second and third year of PS+...

I'm curious, when you guys signed up for PS+, did you guys get anything in your email from Sony about having signed up?

I signed up a couple weeks ago and didn't receive anything. However, when I made a purchase in the PS Store, I got my invoice about said purchase.

I just renewed last night and got the two emails regarding making a purchase and funding my account, but nothing other than those.

Not worried about status, just wanted to know if they sent out any email about anything when you subscribe. I just don't want to miss out on any invites that I get as a + member.

That weird? I could of sworn I gotten a thanks for joining PS+ or I think that may have been rewards, I check and see if so later, I keeps all them emails just in case...

Picked the perfect time to join up, just got PSN+ a few days ago for the Castle Crashers deal and the cloud save storage. Looks like this is already paying off for me.

How do I save to the Cloud exactly?

"You have to manually do it for each save you want to keep"

And again with a completely botched solution by Sony. There is zero reason that every single one of my saves can't be backed up to the cloud instead of being capped at an arbitrary 150MB. There is also no reason that all saves shouldn't just be automatically synced to the cloud at the same time that the PS3 automatically checks for updates every two days.

Lazy bastards with their lazy half-ass solutions.

Agreed, but it is still better than nothing.

Not really. A solution that is such a kludge to use may as well not be a solution at all.

Hey, maybe I'm odd in expecting my software to work in a consumer friendly manner, right?

I have a question. I just signed up for PS+ a couple of days ago and I'm wondering how the automatic downloads work. I noticed that my account downloaded the mag demo and a couple others. How does it choose which to download? Will it download the socom beta automatically Tuesday?

It's definitely a step in the right direction. I lost enough save files when my old 60gig died that this is a big appeal, even just as an easier way of backing up my more "oh ****!" save files (like Demon's Souls).

I'm very close to getting a PS+ account. I just need a couple more features and/or usability fixes to make it finally worthwhile to me. Free copies of games (that I already own) and cloud saves (with limited space and no auto-save) aren't quite enough. Out of curiosity, does a PS+ sub have any effect on download and sync speeds for those that have had trouble in the past?

"Out of curiosity, does a PS+ sub have any effect on download and sync speeds for those that have had trouble in the past?"

No. PSN still feeds me data at about a quarter to half my connection speed. Unlike Steam and Live, which will both saturate my ~15mbps line.

I'd say I'm stunned by just how lazy the cloud save feature was implemented, but it's Sony right? This is what I should expect. At the minimum you'd think that they'd look at their competitors cloud save solutions, pick Steam as the model, and say "Let's match that to start with". Anything less is just a retarded effort not worth the time.

CM - I'd still shy you away from PS+. While you get a bunch of free crap, it's all really just there to create the illusion of value. More often than not, you are wading through crap to get to the very occasional gem. Looking back, I'd say my $3 discount on Dead Nation, and early access to the very broken Hulu app have been the only things of note that I've gotten from the service. I haven't played Stacked yet though, so that may be another $10.

So $50 spent. $3 saved. And the opportunity to spend another $30 on broken Hulu before the rest of you. I'm 77 bucks in the hole on my PS+ subscription. The next 9 months better be damn special to make up that deficit.

Another stupid anti-ps3 rant full of half truths and BS from darklordjames.

Funny, I was about to say the same thing.

Not sure why he posts here at all, but I guess he feels that he needs an audience to feel good.

Whatever.

The fact that a console manufacturer is doing this is very exciting, no matter what a PC-based service like Steam is doing.

I imagine Sony is putting their toes in the water first just to make sure everything works. So we'll probably see limited storage space and manual saving for a while. Consider it a sort of "beta." After they work out all the kinks, they may do a more widespread and fully functional version of cloud saves. Probably for PS4?

But as is, the value proposition isn't quite there for me for PS+.

He's harmless. At least his insults are aimed at Sony and not fellow posters.

So who will be on the Socom beta in the next few days?

Well I'm a 2 PS3 owner myself and so far everything darklordjames has said rings true to me. Half-arsed is apt a description as any for much Sony has done with the PS3.

5 years or so in and they still do not even have a proper volume control for the MP3 player. Custom soundtracks are sporadically supported. It's got Netflix but the only way to turn off friends alerts when you watch movies is to turn them off for the whole system. Backing up save games is a total pain in the ass as is managing files in general (and a big middle finger to protected saves). Download speeds from PSN are a total crapshoot though usually poor. Etc. etc. I would question that anyone that thinks the PS3 is a paradigm of interface design and general usability has not actually spent much time with the system.

Cheers

The design and usability of the UI are fantastic. Sure, there are some minor oversights with some features here and there, but overall, it's really great IMO.

By far the biggest problem is the network infrastructure. Sony gets away with a shoddy network only because they don't charge a subscription. And PS+ does nothing to fix any of those issues; it merely disguises them with a bunch of discounts, free games, and beta access codes. Even worse, PS+ is a win-win for Sony: not only do they get more money through subs and discounts, but they also avoid having to spend money on improving and maintaining a faster, better network.