PlayStation Plus Update

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PlayStation Plus Update

Happy (almost) New Year! The PlayStation Plus team is gearing up for another banner year in 2013 as we continue to deliver free games, discounts, and access to events, betas and more to give PlayStation fans the edge when it comes to their gaming lifestyle. This week, we welcome PS3 Game NBA JAM On Fire Edition and PS Vita Game Chronovolt to the Instant Game Collection. You’ll also find deeper discounts with the last week of the PSN Holiday Sale.

Important note: We’ll be updating the PlayStation Store today (Monday, 12/31) due to the New Year holiday. Therefore, this Plus update will be live later today when the update has published.

Don’t have PlayStation Plus? Go to the PlayStation Store on your PS3 or PS Vita or click here to get access.

December 31st PlayStation Plus Update

NBA JAM On Fire Edition (PS3)

Free for Plus members

You don’t have to be a basketball nut to have a blast with this one. If you’ve played NBA JAM before, you know it’s all about fast-paced arcade-style basketball action. Of course it features all your favorite NBA players and legends, but with all the fun and irreverence that has hooked countless gamers and tons of trash-talking multiplayer sessions. Crazy modes, secret teams, and rock-solid online play make this a great addition to your collection. Take a look at the video above to check out a match up in the game in the classic ‘big head’ mode, and play it yourself to see why IGN.com gave it a 9 out 10.

Chronovolt (PS Vita)

Free for Plus members

Chronovolt is a puzzle-platformer with steampunk influences where players control the Chronosphere, a discovery that contains the energy that powers time. You’ll guide it through levels using all of the PS Vita’s controls including tilt, the analog sticks, and rear-touch to have a completely unique experience. Not to mention that by collecting power-ups known as Chronovolts, players are able to manipulate time, such as rewinding the game to save yourself from a fall that would have otherwise resulted in death. Set in three distinct worlds including a lush Mayan world, a snow-covered Chinese landscape, and a futuristic setting; PS Vita gamers will find plenty to love with Chronovolt.
PSN Holiday Essentials Sale (Week 3)

Various discounts for Plus members

The PSN Holiday Essentials wraps up this week with great deals on games you might have missed out on. Notables include the unique and completely charming Tokyo Jungle, Sound Shapes, and the remastered HD version of Shadow of the Colossus. Take a look at the full breakdown below:

Game

Normal Price

PSN Sale Price

Plus Sale Price

Batman: Arkham City

$29.99

$20.99

$14.70

inFAMOUS Festival of Blood

$9.99

$6.99

$4.90

inFAMOUS 2

$19.99

$13.99

Free in Plus

Assassin’s Creed 2 Deluxe Edition

$19.99

$13.99

$9.80

Shadow of the Colossus

$19.99

$13.99

$9.80

Bulletstorm

$19.99

$13.99

$9.80

Sound Shapes (PS3 and PS Vita Cross Buy)

$14.99

$10.49

$7.35

Sound Shapes (PS Vita only)

$14.99

$10.49

$7.35

TOKYO JUNGLE

$14.99

$10.49

$7.35

Skullgirls

$14.99

$10.49

$7.35

Touch My Katamari

$24.99

$17.49

$12.25


[poll id=”30″]

As the last Plus post from 2012, I also want to extend a sincere thank you to all those who leave their feedback week to week. Whether you’re excited about an update, or giving your feedback about what you prefer, it’s always great to chat with you all. With PlayStation fans like you guys, I’m looking forward to an awesome 2013, and I hope you all will continue to bring the feedback; positive or critical.

We’ll be back next week as usual, but make sure you make your voice heard in the comments below, and also make sure to vote in the polls. You can also delve into the PlayStation Community Forums in the PS Plus space to continue chatting about Plus, or find other great sub-forums to participate in and build your PlayStation community cred. See you in the comments!

PlayStation Plus Update: 12-31-2012

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505 Comments

7 Author Replies

  • @blakseed I guess that’s pretty reasonable lol

  • EU – Mortal Kombat . Lord of the rings(moba)just released
    NA- a game that is gonna be offline in some weeks
    And i just bought a year of plus on NA. -.- i regret . I should have bought on EU psn.

  • Oh oh! I almost forgot…………..

    Making this a weekly mandatory copy/paste!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D
    Listen I am going to speak for all of us “complainers”.
    All we want is everything for Plus that Europe and Japan has.
    Also we want every game ever released on PSN ever.
    Also make every game that was released on disc put on PSN and then given to Plus members.
    We also need the following PS1 games available and given to Plus members:
    ALL OF THEM
    We also need the following PS2 games available for PSN members:
    ALL OF THEM
    Also why can’t we play Nintendo and Microsoft games on our PS3? We want the following games for PS3:
    ALL OF THEM
    Also we want the following PS3 games on Vita:
    ALL OF THEM
    Why is Plus $50 a year? Seems like you would sell a lot of more PS3 if you gave away Plus.
    Also why is the PS3 still $300? You would sell a lot more if it was $3. You would make it up in volume sales!! Also you would sell a lot of Playstation T-shirts and we would go to Playstation concerts if you just gave away the games.
    If you don’t do all of these things I am buying a 360 and Sony will crumble as a result. HEED MY WORDS!!!

  • Discount Suggestions:

    Castlevania Lords of Shadow DLC Chapters
    Alone in the Dark
    Castle Crashers
    Tactics Ogre LUCT
    Lord of Arcana
    ICO

    Thanks

  • Man its been awhile since I was able to throw money at you, this week is no different. NBA Jam ….. really. Cmon SCEA its like your not even trying at this point

  • OK seriously guys get the typos under control this is ridiculous get a proofreader over their hire an intern to do it. How many weeks have we had major typo after typo pop up here.

  • @Morgan

    I rarely comment, on these things, but I’ve wanted to give some input lately. While I’m glad we’ve finally gotten a reasonable string of offerings for PS+ that are games I don’t already own, I do feel the quality has gone down somewhat. I liked Bioshock 2 and a number of others, but it seems like the frequency of “meh, at least it was a free game” has gone up.

    Holiday discount aside, it seems like PS+ is becoming more and more about ONLY the Instant Game Collection. Even though I didn’t necessarily play them all, I miss the regular free PS1 games and minis.

    Also, one thing I’d like to see is DLC being offered, not in place of games, but just extras sprinkled here and there. They don’t even have to be at the same time, such as give us X game free AND give us X’s DLC in that week (though that would be nice, just not necessary), nor does it have to be only DLC for games we’ve received for free (it does make more sense, but shouldn’t be the only options you pursue).

  • One idea that I have for PS+ is to offer some kind of retroactive discount for members who buy something right before it gets put on sale. :P

  • @Ghostwize

    You should feel like an idiot for posting something so stupid.

  • Dang, I was hoping The Walking Dead would be on sale. Oh well, at least there is Sound Shapes and Tokyo Jungle.

  • these games suck

  • Hey Ghostwize, all the complaints stem from the comparison of the plus service in different regions. Don’t straw man the complaints and get real. We’ve been offered sub-par PSN titles and 2+ year old retail games for over a half year. I’m pretty sure the only reason they don’t give us monthly updates is because many people will just cancel.

  • Nothing for me this week – 49% ,someone fire the guy who’s picking games for PS PLUS

  • @207

    He’s just posting what people act like here, no need for HIM to feel like the idiot.

    @200

    No. NBA Jam On Fire Edition is not going offline in a few weeks. The original retail release of NBA Jam is. The people saying otherwise are idiots spreading misinformation. And why make a big fuss about MK? It’s not a terribly good, the only AAA thing about it is the name. Not to mention all anyone did when SSFIVAE was added was complain about us getting too many fighting games, which… you know. MK is.

  • @212

    If it was MK for the Vita, I would be on it in a flash. Even a discount would get me spending. I’d like to pick up another Vita fighter to go along with PSA:BR.

  • The thing is that these guys aren’t going to listen to us unless we stop buying ps+ and not renew it. Stop promising us good stuff and give it to us. We are your devoted customers, for now.

  • @208 Can’t really tell a joke when you see it huh.

    @211 I understand the complaints but myself being a gamer for my entire life(31 yrs old) I find most of them laughable and unwarranted and the value for PS+ is freaking awesome. EU gets different titles, some better, some not so much. It’s all subjective opinion at this point. They complain over there about what we get each week and what they aren’t getting. Grass is always greener you know?

  • Really disappointed in Sony’s disparity between the US and EU. Also, no comment from Sony on why each region receives different games. Obviously my PS+ 2012 has already paid for itself. I also know there won’t be something I want for free every week. However, it would be great to have PS+ be a world subscription where everyone receives the same content. Thanks for the free games and Happy New Year!

  • I’m quite happy with the PS+ goodies. For me, it is still well worth the $4.17 a month. =D

  • “NBA Jam is being taken offline January 11th. Yay……….”

  • @213

    I’d say pick up BlazBlue Vita, but the bizarre lack of cross play is a deal killer on that one :\

  • For me personally the last 2 months really have been blah for me with plus. I admit I had high expectations for december and even though the sales were great, they just didn’t offer any interesting games for me that I didn’t already own. I would like to add my voice to the list of wanting some RPG’s on plus too. Guess ill check back in a week and wait and see if we get any improvements.

  • Just wanted to say thanks Morgan for giving us a voice and for always being positive with our critical comments. I know it can’t be easy. It’s stuff like this why I love sony. Happy new year, and I know 2013 will be a kickass year for gaming.

  • @219

    BlazBlue on the PSP left me a little bit disappointed, so I’m not TOO keen on it. (Though still interested) Cross Buy is no big deal to me because I only have a Vita…

  • #211 — People don’t come on a message board to say they’re happy just like people don’t email Best Buy or other retailers to say ‘hey, just wanted to send you an email saying you’re doing a great job’. MOST of the time people write to complain. All of you who use the poll as your ‘proof’ that Plus is crumbling need to realize that the majority of people come on here to gripe so it stands to reason that it will be the most popular button selected.

    Plus is a great service. Not perfect…but great and def worth the $50.

    If you guys really want an unlimited game service they offer those out there. Plus is not supposed to be that though and is never advertised as such.

  • @186 I can agree somewhat the instant games collection idea has flaws but in my case it did get me to play games I would’ve never played All 4 One is an example and I do buy discounted items if I havent’ed purchased them yet.

    This also explains why I’m hopping mad with the deals EU is getting. If we’d gotten those deals stateside I’d have spent $300-$400 easily in the ps store

    Far Cry 3 for around $40 how can you pass that up.in EU

  • I noticed that Rockstar released Red Dead Revolver and Bully last week as PS2 classics. Word is that they are looking at releasing GTA: Vice City soon. Is there any chance they will release Manhunt and Manhunt 2?

  • Assassin’s Creed 2 would have been a great free game as it would generate interest in the sequel and if sony can sell it so cheaply, surely they could have gone the extra step and gotten the IGC license or however it works behind the scenes.

    As far as EU vs NA content, it is very clear that one of two things is going on. 1) It is simply more expensive for sony to arrange the NA IGC titles due to our laws/business practices and therefore uneconomical for sony to provide this market with the caliber of games that EU sees

    OR 2) Sony NA is seeing how cheaply they can continue this service and still retain a decent subscriber base, so they are throwing crap at us to determine the minimum they can get away with.

    In either case, the service feels like a huge bait and switch to me and I am just offended at the junk we get compared to what the EU market is getting. Shame. Chalk me up as unhappy with the NA service and not renewing.

  • can we go 6 months without getting a sport or fighting game please

  • @203 I agree SCEA isn’t even trying here I am single bored no children and cash in hand but no real sales to make me want to spend it.

  • I love NBA Jam, thanks guys!

  • Jetpack Joyride free for everyone even non plus ? hade no idea about this. i guess il have something then nothing atleast.

  • @Morgan:

    “EXTRA Correction; it will still be on sale, just not part of the Holiday Sale. You’ll be able to find the discount for it under the “weekly deals’ section of the Store. Sorry, everyone is a bit on new Years break mode! =)”

    But it’s not on sale right now. A few weeks ago it had a price drop. It was listed as a price drop, not a sale. It’s $29.99 according to the Store on my Vita right now. Again, not a sale. Unless this is all thanks to confusion from it originally being listed as a “price drop” and not a “sale.”

    I just… What is going on with Lumines?

  • @ Ashilyn

    Actually he should feel like an idiot. I agree that some of the people complaining do ask for unreasonable things such as brand new games, and some of the things said are just plain dumb (would be a worse word if I was allowed to say it) such as saying Morgan being fired. But instead of explaining why there asking for too much ghost posts that stupide copy/paste. I have read his other post and he seems like a reasonable guy so I don’t know why he would lower his own standards down to the same level as people that don’t know what they’re talking about.

    But this is just my opinion.

  • LOL @201. This is the 3rd week in a row if im correct, LMAO..never gets old!

    but in regards to the update: BOOMSHAKALAKA!

    Happy New Year!

  • @Morgan: Okay, wait, I think I get what you meant with your comment. So the sale is still happening; it was just incorrectly listed as a Holiday Essentials sale when really it’s just a Lumines sale. Right?

    And the reason it looks like $29.99 on the store right now is because the store hasn’t been updated today yet. And the reason it doesn’t line up with the 30%/50% Holiday Essentials discount stuff is because it’s not part of the Holiday Essentials sale.

    Okay, it all makes sense now. Thanks for checking into it for me, Morgan. Much appreciated.

  • It has been hard for US plus members this month. We look at the EU blog and Playstation EU lays out such incredible deals where EU members get some of the latest and best games of 2012 for half off as well as amazing free titles and it announced ahead of time so it is not surprise and EU members had a time to plot out what to buy. US members had to wait weekly hoping for something equally cool and what US members got mostly were games free games and discounts that we already got earlier this year as a plus member and some and deals on games that are two to four years old. The best deal was Journey half off but EU topped that by offering Journey and Unfinished Swan combo for half off.

    Even though December was a huge letdown the year as a whole was still so awesome that I am not going to let this get me down. Next year will be better as a whole so I am not bummed out. Got so many awesome games this year I am upgrading my hard drive to a 500 gig hybrid drive so I got more space and less load times. I will renew my plus membership and have faith in Sony because it is still a fantastic service.

  • Keep doing what you do PS. I don’t mind this weeks free game, I only have a vita. I loved getting Retro City Rampage for free because I have fell in love with that game. Can’t wait to see what is coming next!

  • @233 Sorry man! I just think that is a hilarious post! I really do. I’m gonna try and post it every week if possible. :D It truly exemplifies some of the unreasonable expectations a lot of people have for the plus service. I for one think it is a great value for your money. No other service like it out there. Not saying I’ve never been unhappy with some of the stuff thrown our way but I’m certainly not gonna lose it like a lot of folks do every week. :D Cheers!

  • I would think they would want to give new members reasons to subscribe to Plus, not more reasons not to.

  • @233 Sorry man! I just think that is a hilarious post! I really do. I’m gonna try and post it every week if possible. :D It truly exemplifies some of the unreasonable expectations a lot of people have for the plus service. I for one think it is a great value for your money. No other service like it out there. Not saying I’ve never been unhappy with some of the stuff thrown our way but I’m certainly not gonna lose my mind over it like a lot of folks do every week. :D Cheers!

  • Gonna pick myself up Sound Shapes on the Ps3 and get the Vita version. I’m gonna get myself them double platinums. I was hoping for a discount on Unfinished Swan though.

  • Any news on the compatibility of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain on the Vita?
    It’s not in Vita Store nor can it be copied from the PS3 using CMA.
    I retired my PSP in favor of my Vita & I’m not going to use Remote Play.

    Thanks

  • @210, SmilingSage- I enjoy Ghostwize’s post. I hope it’s a placeholder for every thread. It’s hard to tell anyone to “get real” when in truth, some users here are clueless about their demands & more importantly, are NEVER content. Ghost makes light of the situation & adds truth to the problem: we can never be completely satisfied & therefore get all around angry.

    In terms of the titles for + members, not all are 2+ old. The Vita games in particular. Even so, what does one expect? The + service gives you a collection of games (which I think no other sub. based program does) & now the lot of us are asking for newer titles… sure it’s gamer logical, yet in a business perspective, it makes no sense.

    Twindad (on page 2 or 3) made a very good point about this.

    @216, CrusaderForever- Happy New Year to you to! Your question has been answered by gamers here & the staff. Different regions has diff. licensing contracts & pricing models. As in how some pre-order incentives differ between us & our EU brothers & how those in Japan can easily purchase those cool limited console colors/collections.

  • how wonderful the new year update, lol, and i happen got half of the game in sale of list and don;t want any from the other half, i have been waited 3 week in hope they will put the walking dead on sale, dammit

  • i really, REALLY want to get Arkaham City (and Bulletsorm) but those games are on Ps+ on Europe. How do i know that we’re not getting them for free next year? Can you promise me that?

  • I hope Sony’s New Year resolution will be to fire the Plus Team and bring new staff. Its very disappointing to see week after week of nothing for me as the highest rated and nothing is done to fix it

    The best thing to do in this situation is give out a list of games for the following month and let us the Plus members choose what we want, it could be a choice of 7 games and the 3 with the most ratings will win to join the Instant game collection. As of now this is the best Solution I can think of. Also giving us exclusive games will never hurt and most of the times the exclusive games have good reviews and that is what us the Plus members want. Good games added to the collection

  • @ fede01_8 I don’t think anything like that can be promised, if you really want them I’d just buy them. “Plus” (lol see what I did there?) they’re yours to keep forever

  • @237

    I’m pretty sure if people want to sub to ps plus, they’re going to sub to ps plus. What some people hate other people love and psplus is a great value for the money you pay for it.

  • @246 That idea won’t end well. Get off your high horse too please. How about you get fired. You really want to see people lose their jobs because something made you a little sad? :(

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