PlayStation Plus Me Please – Initial Review and Comments

I decided to subscribe to the new PlayStation Plus service last Tuesday. I opted for a year subscription ($49.99) which includes three “free” bonus months, bringing the final price from $4.17 (12 months) to $3.33 (15 months) per month. One of the very first things I noticed was that the T&Cs committed me to an automatic renewal once my subscription expires – I did not see or notice an easy way to cancel the service.

This PCWorld article describes the new PlayStation Plus service as not worth the cost of entry. At least not yet.

What do you get for $50 a year? At this point, not much. I counted nine total PP options, including a trial version of inFAMOUS, free full versions of Rally Cross ($5.99), Age of Zombies ($4.99), a Warhawk Fallen Star content pack ($1.99), a Fat Princess: Fat Roles expansion pack ($4.99), and Wipeout HD (19.99), a lone sci-fi theme, and–wait for it–two Fat Princess avatars.

Additionally, Midway and TikGames-Creat Studios were offering a handful of specially priced items, including stuff like Midway’s Mortal Kombat II (regularly $4.99, discounted to $2.50) and TiKGames-Create Studios’ Wakeboarding HD (regularly $14.99, discounted to $11.99).

But that’s it. All told, it’s more like a sampler platter of what to expect–trial versions, freebies, and discounts–when the service finally ramps up. I though that’d be now, but alas, we’re left to hypotheticals and unofficial conjecture about a holiday content fulfillment period.

Facebook
The writer also limited the fact that the PlayStation Store has some stupid, undefined, non intuitive errors. In one case, not being able to directly publish PSN purchases directly to his Facebook page. I do not do the Facebook thing; I know … maybe one of these days I will get with it … probably. I digress.

I am trying to think if Facebook integration is a cool feature or downright silly. No idea, but I doubt the vast majority of my friends would care that I just picked up two free premium bonus Plus Fat Princes avatars. Actually, they would probably say I was a wanker.

Free Games
I downloaded Wipeout HD, Rally Cross (PSOne Classic), Age of Zombies (minis), and the free avatars and theme. I am not really sure what to do with the “free” expansion content – over the weekend I am going to download it to see if there is any possibility of “keeping it around” for later in case Warhawk or Fat Princess become “free” Plus content or maybe discounted content.

Was the first month of Plus worth it to me? Probably not, although I did get Wipeout HD, which is a game I would have never purchased. Based on the reviews I can find, the Zombie minis is considered one of the better made minis. Too bad, because I thought it pretty much sucked.

Back in the day I loved Rally Cross, but I doubt it has aged well. I consider this bonus content for my PSP because I doubt I will play it on the PS3. I am going to look to see if I can find a game save on one of my old PSX memory cards, but even if I do, while I can transfer it to my PS3, I doubt there is a way to transfer saves between the PS3 and PSP.

The rest is well, not worth much to me. What am I going to do with a couple of avatars and a theme? I doubt that I will purchase any of the discounted games and content, although I will give them a look over the weekend; maybe I am missing out on a hidden gem.

Finally, inFamous was included in my PS3 Slim bundle purchase. Since I have not opened the game, I may give the free 60 minute trial a go. If do not like the game, maybe I get some eBay value out of an unopened copy of inFamous.

Automatic Downloads
This was one of the features that sold me on the Plus service. I love the concept of my PS3 pulling down patches and firmware updates in the middle of the night, so I can just install the next time I fire up my PS3 or patched game.

Right now I have no clue how this works. When I started Wipeout HD for the first time, I was greeted with a message that I needed to download the latest version. Strange since I downloaded and installed (but did not play) Wipeout HD Tuesday night, and played it for the first time Wednesday night. My PS3 is set to auto download between 4-6AM.

It is worth watching to see how this feature plays out, and what sort of message or info is provided when I turn on my PS3. It would be lovely if I was informed that a new firmware update, game patch, or demo was downloaded for my gaming pleasure. Or maybe that is too much to ask.

Qore?
At one point I read that Qore would be part of the service. I was an initial subscriber, however I did not think it was worth the money and did not renew my subscription. The only reason I would like to see it is included is for more Plus content. Seems like it would be a nice perk for Plus subscribers, but no real loss if it remains a “paid for” download; I just will not pay for it again.

PSN Future Purchases?
This is where things could get interesting for Sony. Will the Plus service cannibalize other potential sales? Now that I have paid $50 for Plus, I am not sure that I will purchase minis and other PSN titles. At least not right away because sooner or later they could (hopefully will) end up as part of the Plus service, which in turn would devalue my subscription. Of course we are only talking $3.33/month, but in general I am cheap.

Let’s see what happens next month.

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Return to Comics: Green Lantern Blackest Night

After spending some time with the PSP Digital Comics reader app, and downloading a handful of few and a couple of paid for books, I decided to take an expensive plunge back into my wistful days of my misspent youth. [Not really wistful or misspent, but it sounded good on “paper.”]

I have always been a fan of Green Lantern (especially the Green Lantern Corps – love the concept), Captain America, Spiderman, and Batman. After searching on Amazon for some graphic novels, and after downloading a Green Lantern: Secret Origin title, I decided that DC’s Blackest Night collection would be a good, if not expensive, jumping on point.

  • Blackest Night (collects Blackest Night #0–8, 304 pages, hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 1401226930)
  • Blackest Night: Green Lantern (collects Green Lantern vol. 4 #43–52, 272 pages, hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 1401227864)
  • Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps (collects Green Lantern Corps vol. 2 #39–46, 264 pages, hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 1401227880)
  • Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps (collects Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1–3, “Green Lantern” #49 and “Adventures Comics” #4-5, 172 pages, hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 1401227902)
  • Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps:
    • Volume 1 (collects Blackest Night: Batman #1–3, Blackest Night: Superman #1–3 and Blackest Night: Titans #1–3, 240 pages, hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 1401227848)
    • Volume 2 (collects Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1–3, Blackest Night: JSA #1–3 and Blackest Night: Flash #1–3, 240 pages, hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 1401227856)
  • Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns (collects Power of Shazam! #48, Catwoman #83, Suicide Squad #67, Question #37, Phantom Stranger #42, Weird Western Tales #71, Atom & Hawkman #46 and Starman #81, 208 pages, hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 1401227899)

That pre-order of 7 graphic novels should give me plenty of reading pleasure for my comic jones. If not, then hopefully, hopefully down the road these books will fetch something in return on eBay.

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To Plus?

So PlayStation Plus is now available and the $50 question is should I Plus? There was a point in time when I would have said hell no to a subscription service. There was also a point in time where I would have picked it up right away just to be part of the experience (and write a review).

I am leaning towards throwing $50 to the service for several reasons. I really only game on the PS3 (and occasionally on the PSP) so it is not as if I having competing gaming interests. I like the idea of discounts. I also like the concept of automatic download of firmware and software updates; no idea why this would not be offered as a standard service instead of a premium.

“Automatic Download: Subscribers will be able to set their PS3 to wake up from standby at any time of the day or night, download and install any game updates for the games you have been playing so you don’t have to think about it. Also, select demos and videos will be pushed to your PS3 ready to go. System software updates will also download automatically (manual install still required) and then the PS3 will turn itself off again.”

Finally, any additional PSP content is a bonus.

“PlayStation Plus is for PS3 owners as subscribership can only be purchased on the PSN Store. However, some of the content – minis and PS One Classics – available each month will also be playable on your PSP if you have one. Download them on the PS3 and transfer to your PSP, or download directly from the PSP Store or Media Go for PSP.”

So should I Plus? PlayStation LifeStyle posted an article that you will come out ahead with Plus. With that type of value, how can I afford not to buy Plus?

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PSP Shows Its True Colors – Part I (Digital Comics)

I am going to write another post focusing on the games that helped me pass the time during my recent trip to Scotland. Yes, PSP and gaming have been a long time coming. Before I get to that article, I thought I would post a quick update about the PSP Digital Comics Store (and reader).

Prior to my trip, I downloaded a handful of free comics – nothing really special, and no big name super hero comics. I would rather read Spiderman, Captain America, Batman, and Green Lantern instead of free copies of what was being offered in the store. There were no DC titles on offer, and I thought the Marvel collection was really limited. No current titles, very little of any series runs from my youth, and pretty much nothing that I wanted to throw money at before I determined the usefulness of the PSP Digital Comics reader. So I went with the 20 or so free titles on offer.

Archie and Donald Duck and a handful of other titles were not too exciting. I suppose these were on offer to have something available for everyone.

I was impressed with The Ghoul, which while not great, was at least entertaining. I am undecided if I want to pick up the rest of the story; probably will look towards some reviews first. Atomic Robo was also a title that I enjoyed, maybe even enough to complete a run if the title ever goes on sale. Cages, NeoZoic, and Snake Woman were decent, entertaining reads, but I doubt that I will move past the initial free titles unless I just have money to burn, which is not likely to happen any time soon.

Being a Star Trek fan, I really enjoyed Mirror Images; I think it was my favorite of the free titles. I never got into Star Trek titles even when my comic reading and collecting was at a fevered pitch. I’ll pick up the rest of the series at some point down the road.

The actual PSP Digital Comics Reader is a surprisingly good tool for reading comics. It is simple to use, the auto navigate tool is well done, and at any point you can zoom in and out as necessary. Sony just released a new version, with some minor features and enhancements. If you have not tried this feature out, it is worth your time (assuming you are a comics fan or have been one at someone point in the past), and the free comics mean that you are not really committed.

Yesterday Sony had an exciting announcement for the PSP Comics Store – DC titles have landed. I say finally, and thank you! Before my trip I wrote that it was just a matter of time with DC Universe in the works. Thankfully a nice initial offering has been provided, along with a free preview of Superman #700.

I have not done a lot of research on the PSP digital comic format; I assume is proprietary, which may be the only thing that holds me back from really throwing some money towards some titles. That and the lack of some of the titles and issues that I would actually like to buy/read. I wonder how long Sony is going to be in the PSP market. There is a lot of talk about the PSP2, but who wants to throw money at digital comics on a dead platform? Not that the PSP is going anywhere, but if the digital comic format is not portable to a current (thinking iTouch) or future (obviously PSP2) device, it would be hard for me to invest any significant money into PSP digital comics.

The summary is that I am pleased with the PSP Digital Comics reader, but uncertain of the longevity of the format. I think caution is the watch word; I’ll proceed carefully with a few purchases and some more research.

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PSP Digital Comics

I started playing around with the PSP Digital Comics store recently. Mostly because I was curious, partly because I am getting ready for a long flight, so I figured what the hell, may as well see if there is anything worth checking out to make my trip go by that much quicker.

I have to admit that in my younger days (lasting into college) I did a fair amount of comic reading and collecting. These days not so much. Not sure when I last purchased a comic; maybe as an attempt to get one of my boys interested in comics. They will not touch the things, which is funny to me because comics were such a big part of my youth.

Impressions? Where are the new comics? How come the comics cost so damn much? Where are the DC titles?

I figured I would download the latest Spiderman, Captain America, Avengers, Batman, and Green Lantern, which were some of my favorites, but not necessarily in that order. I found some Spiderman, Captain America, and Avengers titles, but these were mostly older runs. Great if you are a collector, just curious about the older days, or looking for some interesting reading. The store has 25 titles from Amazing Spiderman (1963), and 46 from 2003. The problem here is that the 2003 run ends in 2008. Similar story for Captain America and Avengers. Where are the new books?

Where are all the DC titles? Green Lantern, Flash, Batman, Superman, etc. With DC Universe coming to the PS3, you would think the comic store would get its DC game on. I could not find any DC titles in the story; if they are there, they are well hidden.

Now we come to the price. I am sure that $1.99 is probably a much better deal than buying physical books, but I expected these to be substantially less. Maybe $.50 to $.99 to represent that digital media was cheaper, and significantly easier to recover costs once the actually digital copies were produced. Silly me.

The good news is that the story has a few free comics (21 as I write this article); mostly an interesting variety from different publishers. Of course it would have been too much to ask for Marvel to throw up a free comic. As I said the variety is interesting. I downloaded a Burke & Hare research based graphic novel. Picked this one up since I am going to be in Edinburgh, Scotland; doubt it will make for aside comments and small talk … you never know!

The reader itself is actually nice and makes good use of the PSP screen. I am just a little disappointed in the actual digital comics library that is available.

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More PSP Woes – DRM Incompatibilities

Over the weekend I started transferring some of my digital movies included with my Blu-ray library to my PC. Lord of the Rings trilogy, X-Men trilogy, and a handful of others. Something to help pass the time while traveling.

For the most part I have been selecting iTunes; I swear one of these days I should get a Mac. At any rate, one of my movies (the Lord of the Ring animated movie from 1978) was WMV format, which does not really matter except that I do not use Windows Media Player and it would be nice to have all my movies under iTunes.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that none of my digital movies would work on my PSP! Actually, I should not be surprised, because of DRM incompatibilities with the PSP, but seriously, this is disappointing. None of my music or movies will play on my PSP.

On the bright side, Remote Play with the Slim seems to work well, and my Slim has not accidentally powered on one single time (knocking on wood, crossing fingers, and other types of voodoo).

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PSP Gets One Last Chance (Again)

I am not sure how many times I have written that I am giving my PSP one final chance to make itself useful; dare I say worthy of not sitting in my dresser drawer. Each time I write something along these lines I threaten to sell the PSP; cash it in for something while the cashing is good.

There are a couple of problems with this approach. First, my original PSP-1000 (AKA “the brick”) is old and dated. It is not really worth that much on the open market, with limited trade in value. It is kind of hard to just throw it away, so I keep holding on, holding out hope that our love will rekindle. Second, when I want portable gaming, I actually need something to help me waste away the hours. I could go in the iPad/iTouch direction, but I actually like being able to play a decent sports game on the PSP. The DS is always an option; nothing like a good Mario game for a long trip.

I am going to be out of country for a few days next week, with one of those long-ass European flights heading my direction. This is the perfect opportunity for portable gaming, music, and movies. My little proprietary 4GB PSP memory stick Duo may hold a couple of movies, but little else. If I want to really increase my capacity, I will have to layout close to $60 to move up to a 16GB Duo stick, which of course is worthless because my iTunes movies and music will not play on a PSP. Unless of course some of my iTunes media is DRM free; not sure if there is a quick and easy way to check.

Even if I get past all the iTunes library and memory storage issues, the PSP-1000 has such a short battery life that I own two batteries; this allows me to keep throwing juice at the PSP for those long 10 hour trips. When Sony gets serious about the PSP2 (or whatever it will be called), 12+ hours of battery life is an absolutely minimum requirement.

I am looking at my PSP library and just do not see a whole lot that is captivating, and most of the games are downright worthless on the secondhand markets. I will probably pick up MLB 10 and/or FIFA 10 World Cup, and maybe one other game just to give me a distraction.

Maybe after this trip, my PSP and I will come to some sort of common agreement with mutual satisfaction. If not, well, I guess it is back to the drawer for my chastised brick.

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Is the PSP Done?

It looks like some are speculating that a Sony announcement of a PSP2 will be received with a lukewarm reception at best.

The 3DS might not be the only handheld coming out, as it’s widely rumored that Sony will announce a new PSP. Even if a PSP2 is unveiled, it won’t have a big impact, Greenwald believes. “Sony may also launch a new PSP, which likely won’t elicit much more than a yawn from attendees and investors,” he said.

Is the PSP as a brand really done? If yes, it is a damn shame. There was so much potential, but in my opinion the price point of the games, which are often very close to their big brother console equivalent, is the biggest factor in a lack of success.

The PSP2 really needs a lot of bells and whistles in order to captivate the portable gaming audience.

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PSP Go Sales Abysmal?

At least they are in Japan. According to joystiq, the week of May 24-30 saw PSP Go systems increase a lofty 45%, which sounds really good until you realize the system is dead last in those being tracked, selling a mere 1,232 systems. Ouch.

Sony better bring some PSP excitement to E3 if they have any hope to salvage their portable gaming platform. Of course most of us would like to see some sort of iPhone, iTouch, version of the PSP. I could care less about the phone aspect, unless it was open to any carrier. Instead will we see Sony focus on a 3D version that no one really cares about? I mean seriously, are you going to have to keep up with funky 3D glasses just to play your favorite games in 3D?

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Really old Minis coming to a PSP near you?

Lock ‘n’ Chase? Maybe even Burgertime? I stumbled upon this article earlier this morning during my coffee time.

There was once a time and place where I would keep up with all the classic games and collections as they were released onto newer platforms. From a historical standpoint I wanted to see the classics of my youth preserved for future prosperity. I also enjoyed playing them again on a modern system (say PSX, PS2, now PS3) because I no longer had to drag out my older consoles – Intellivision, Colecovision, NES, etc.

I would gladly throw a few bucks ($2.99 would be a fair price) for Lock ‘n’ Chase and Burgertime. Hopefully these games will be released individually instead of being inclusive to a more expensive collection.

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PSP – One Last Chance For Glory

As mentioned earlier, today is travel day. I cannot think of the last time I turned on my PSP, so if it does not get much use on this trip, it is high time to ditch the little brick. There is not a direct flight from Atlanta to Calgary, so I am going west (Salt Lake City) before heading north to the frozen lands of Canada. With a combined 6+ hrs in the air plus a layover, you would think that the PSP would be the perfect way to pass the day. There is also the return adventure on Friday; some PSP gaming must be in order, right?

I charged up both batteries, which in my opinion is the primary weakness of the PSP – the battery life basically sucks. I have a handful of UMDs at my disposal – Lumines, Final Fantasy Tactics, two different Pinball Hall of Fame collections, Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, Loco Roco, Untold Legends, Pangya, and Wipeout Pure.

Taking 7-10 UMDs with me makes me think about the appeal of a PSPgo with a digital library. Not too much; just a passing thought as I write this article. To be honest I am just not that excited about my current library of PSP games. Hopefully something will float my boat and make the trip pass a little quicker.

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My PSP – Just Go

I am not sure if this story from TheSixthAxis [always a great read] is also true for the U.S., but I thought it was interesting that the PSPgo is not doing well in Europe.  A price drop and marking re-launch are imminent.

I cannot think of the last time I played my PSP, but I see no reason to “upgrade” to a PSPgo until Sony offers some sort of UMD trade-in incentive. At this point even a price drop is not really all that enticing to me – I could just pick up a DSi.

I was thinking about once again returning picking up some portable sports games. Maybe MLB 10: The Show or 2010 FIFA World Cup on the PSP, but the prices are ridiculous at $39.99 a pop. If the PSP, PSPgo, or whatever the next version is called, is going to thrive, Sony needs to really consider slicing the MSRP for new games.

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PSP goes digital with comics

I thought it was interesting to see that the PSP now offers some sort of digital comic reader application, with the PSP store currently offering 550 comics.

SCEA has announced that all PSP owners can now select from hundreds of digital comics on the PlayStation Network; included in the gigantic list are the likes of Marvel Entertainment, Disney, IDW Publishing, iVerse Media and more. There are a grand total of 550 comics now available on the Store and more content will continue to be added weekly.

Once upon a time I was a fairly big comic collector and avid reader, but I cannot see the switch to digital format. I don’t know, maybe I am just too damn traditional in some respects, but comics seem to be one media where things are not better without the traditional paper format. Digital would be interesting for archival purposes, and read hard to find comics, back catalogs, and expensive collectables. The price point ($.99-2.99) does not seem like a big advantage to what I see over the newsstands, which is rather irksome. Much like games, digital distribution of any media should be significantly cheaper than the traditional format.

A reader comment also mentioned that DC comics are not being offered, which seems to be a limiting factor – how can you not have Superman in your library?

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Is portable gaming going the way of the dinosaur?

Will simple (and much cheaper) games available on the iPhone/iTouch eventually kill off portable gaming as we know it today? Will systems such as the PSP become a thing of the past? PS3Center has an interesting article on this topic.

Now here is the point of this article, what does Sony absolutely need to worry about in order to stay in this game? Firstly, make it easier for developers to make games for the PSP Go. A lot of developers are flocking towards the iPhone, because it’s so simple and easy to make money off of. Secondly, make sure to pay attention and listen to the fans when the time comes for PSP 2. We definitely need two joysticks, touch screen is almost a must, tilting the PSP via SixAxis of some sort is also very much needed, but to top things off it needs to stay portable like the Go.

Of course Nintendo is Nintendo; there will always be a GameBoy/DS type platform. Mario and company will live on forever. As for the rest, I wonder how long Sony will be able to maintain its current model. I have written often about how f’ed-up their decision was to do give a discount for games available via digital distribution. I thought that was going to be the hallmark of the PSPGo. Little did I realize that Sony would not see the light. If Sony is going to continue to find itself in the portable gaming market, they do have to make some changes, but before even considering a PSP2 they need to get their pricing model in line with gamers ever changing expectations.

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Inside the numbers game – PSP Platform

Just how well, or maybe I should say how poorly, is the PSPgo doing out of the gate? This just in from the Official PlayStation Blog:

The PSPgo is driving additional momentum for the entire PSP platform. In its first three days on store shelves, top retail partners experienced a 300 percent lift in overall PSP hardware sales compared to the previous week. During this time, the PlayStation Network also experienced the largest number of downloads ever for a single week period.

Talking about spinning the numbers! This looks worse than a President Obama backer backpedaling on Fox after a fact check. When you talk about the PSP platform getting a spike in sales, you are really saying that everyone realized that the PSP-3000 was a much better deal than the PSPgo. I am sure that will be revealed when the real numbers are released.

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