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
Chronovolt (PS Vita)
Free for Plus members
PSN Holiday Essentials Sale (Week 3)
Various discounts for Plus members
|
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!
The funniest thing about the NA vs. EU disparity is that right in the middle of the top of EVERY WEBPAGE on the US blog it says: Visit Playstation.blog.EU and it’s a clickable link. you don’t have to use google or add another bookmark or do any legwork, the NA blog supplies the link for you so we can see how bad PS+ has been compared to the EU PS+ over the past few months.
My PS+ expires in a few days. I’ve had it since the first week 2 years ago but won’ t be renewing unless I see a 1/2 off sale somewhere. At least the EU offered 25% off last month. I’ll just keep on playing Jetpack Joyride which was free, forever, for everybody.
checked today and i say mortal combat
@ rasenganchris2 – I completely agree. The US Plus service is not worth the price tag, and not only is the EU Plus service better, they even offered a discount on the actual service. US needs a 25% discount and soon, or there will be a lot of members going over to the other side, me included.
I have been subscribed the day it was released, playstation + that is.
I have to say the content we have been getting lately is pretty sub par, the bar needs to be raised for the service starting today.
There have been amazing months, and pretty bad months.
PSV+ started out great but has been lackluster from it’s initial release. Where is the full release games, we do not want games like cronovolt.
Where are playstation 3 releases like Red Dead Redemption, GT5, Castlevania: LOS, Uncharted games, God of war games, Dead space, LA Noire. I have all these titles and these are great games that should be on playstation+, Sony exclusives should be #1 on the playstation+ list, this should be a given.
455*1
Word of mouth is a very powerful thing, it’s something that is heavily relied on with the Sony family, do you want people to speak amazing things or poor things?
What if the system changed to let the community choose from a choice of 3 games, 2 of them would become the games for the month, with different categories to choose from, RPG / Shooter / Platform *example*.
Have it as a test phase for a month or two, nothing permanent & make it known this is a test phase to see if it is taken well.
Step up the service, I’m seeing too many people unhappy about it to continue.
I’ll keep with PS+, not everyone will.
@456
That “Pick X games from a selection of Y games” model would not work because it would require making many more deals with publishers than they do right now. That would easily cost more money and Sony would quickly run out of games to add to the service.
“Step up the service, I’m seeing too many people unhappy about it to continue.”
The service is pretty impressive as it is. They’re constantly offering 4 to 5 PS3/PSN titles per month when they only promise 3. Most of the games have a 70-80 average rating on Metacritic. People expect to see $20+ retail games every week but forget that they’re paying $50/year for PS+. That is the definition of entitled. Sure, Europe gets those kinds of games, but that’s a different region. I wish I could get those games, but I’m more amazed than disappointed that SCEE is able to offer those games.
Don’t forget that SCEA gave us Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition this month. The game is way too big at 18GB, but I think it’s a positive sign of what’s to come in the next months.
This is HORRIBLE!!! I respect the fact that others also love basketball, but try and pick something else. At least make Arkham City free at the moment.
I downloaded NBA Jam on fire and its a terrible game. Roster is not updated and the game is not fun. How does the worst team in the NBA beat the best team???
jetpack joyride saving the day…
@457
I’m talking Quality, not Quantity. I do not call NBA jam quality sorry. I do not expect to see 20+ retail games, but I do feel less is more, except when the quality of less is not up to par. Payday the heist is a great game, I bought it day one and was pleased to see it on + because more people would be able to play it.
When was the last time we had a RPG? I can’t remember..
My post was about Quality of titles. It needs to stay consistent.
I made sure to buy the PS3 version of Sound Shapes but it’s only letting me download the Vita version. Anyone else having this problem?
Well looks like my subscription ran out just before things got really bad. I’ll renew once things start looking up again. These games are not what we want. I wish there was a way to get the EU version.
I keep waiting for that plus update that at least is in the same ballpark as Eu. What a let down!
Another snoozer week for me… Zzzz
Just do a monthly rollout so I don’t have to keep coming here every week, just to be disappointed. :/
All you complaining, make sure you don’t renew to show how unhappy you are. I mean at about $4/month if you subscribe for a year, I agree this is trash! For shame, Sony, for shame! How dare you give us all these games when we are paying $4/month!
Its an insult, no not an insult, its a spit in the face! We deserve the newest games for free AT LEAST once a week, nothing less will suffice!
I repeat, we demand AAA title after AAA title!
lol.
In all seriousness, put your money with your mouth is and don’t renew if you are so unsatisfied. I personally think I’m paying for the cloud storage/auto updates (I mean I’m sure as hell am not whining over a meager ~$4/month) and anything else is a bonus.
I hope there are some new posts soon. All this repetitive rehashed fussing and fighting isn’t entertaining enough.
Happy New Year to everyone in the Playstation nation, to the chronic complainers and the chronic complainers about the chronic complainers and the majority of us who are happy to be Playstation gamers and think Plus is a good value for the auto updates and cloud saves alone.
And especially to Uncle Morgan, whose tolerance of some really dooshbaggy slurs has been remarkable this past year.
Jetpack is better than Chronovolt, Chronovolt is the worst game for Vita.
Thanks for nothing PS Plus.
hola sony nos estan tomando el pelo de verdad con un juego de basket cuando hay miles de usuarios que no le gustan los juegos de deportes espero que nos den un buen juego para reyes sino tendre que cambiar para xbox
hola sigo con mi comentario tendre que irme a xbox ya que los juegos son mucho mas baratos algo asi como 10 juegos por apenas 50 dolares y lo de ps3 1 por 100 dolares es una diferencia no amigos
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Guardians of Middle Earth is free for EU, wow. Why is the US getting the short end of the stick…..
Thank you Sony.
I voted for Chronovolt Free for Plus Members in the poll. Unfortunately that was before I actually played the game, it’s horrible! The trailer I had seen and it looked good. After the first few levels it seems to get really difficult to get passed this 1 section that has to be glitched or just way too difficult. I take back the vote and would like to choose NBA Jam On Fire Edition Free for Plus Members. That was the best addition this week. I had wanted this game a few months ago when it was on sale but I missed the sale by 1 day (I did buy many other games during that sale). PSN Holiday Sales in the poll I did not choose because I already own all the games from the list that I already want. The other games I do not have on that list I am not interested in. The first week of sales was the best, the 2nd week had some good deals. I purposely held off buying anything at all during these 3 weeks of sales because I blew so much cash during the October & November PSN Credit Deal offers (spend $XXX.XX get $XX.XX free PSN credit). About half the games I bought during that sale were hugely discounted just a few weeks later or Free!
Since I got burned so bad blowing that much cash on PSN those months just to have them hugely discounted or free a few weeks later was just too big of a blow to even think of supporting PSN by purchasing anything during these 3 weeks of sales. Especially since some of them were really great deals. Still just bitter from the October/November promotions. I have learned not to fall for the October/November promos again, the games I want will just be discounted or free around X-mas. I will patiently wait now for these discounted games to be free on PS+ in a couple weeks or months. It seems that’s how it works. Full price new releases on PSN for a couple weeks or 1-3 months, then greatly discounted or free on PS+.
You should really consider offering brand new PSN games either free or discounted for PS+ members for the launch week. I mean, I’d like to think PS+ subscribers are the biggest fans of PlayStation? That way if they are free or price dropped a few weeks or months later we don’t feel burned paying full price week one, plus having a PS+ subscription to boot. What’s the point of PS+ if we already own the games from launch at full price? I know there are other benefits of PS+ that I use a lot but it’s really about the games here, isn’t it?
@saab01 – on all sports games i’ve ever played including, live, madden, and 2k, the rosters stay updated throughout the trade deadline of that season, it was brought out in 2011, although it doesn’t have all the people on the roster on the game it’s actually is up to par on the update. But as for as your inquire about the worst team beating the best team. it’s only 2 on 2 basketball with the best 5 or 6 players of that team on the roster and not really a team effort besides the oops. it’s about how you play it, shoving when you need to, dunking, etc. So unless you completely don’t know how to play your cards right in it then of course you’ll either get bet or win if you do play them. I beating down numerous teams already with the nuggets alone just based off of gallinari’s three point capability and height so he doesn’t get blocked often.
I actually doubted NBA JAM, I would of never of spent the money to play it but its nice to just wonder on a arcade style game once in a while, the Road Trip is going to be time consuming to complete. This wasn’t a great update but its fair.
Meanwhile in PS+EU…
2nd January – Bioshock 2
2nd January – Guardians of Middle Earth
2nd January – Mortal Kombat – excluding Australia and Germany
2nd January – Gotham City Impostors – Australia and Germany only
16th January – Jet Set Radio (PS Vita)
23rd January – Pinball Arcade (PS Vita)
Maybe this month we receive
UNO
BACKGAMON
Duke Nukem Forever
Lord of the Rings – Aragon Quest
LOL
@badpancho – Is that true? their getting that in Jan.? Well then We got Bioshock 2, that game was terrible, GCI – I’m not sure I know the beta was locked in but I think they gave us that for free when I didn’t have the sub. Also jet set radio yeah that was given too already for US. So maybe we will recieve the mirror of their games. hmph or a couple at least.
@478
Exactly. We already have GCI, Bioshock 2, and JSR. Mortal Kombat is great, but so many people are complaining on the blog about getting so many fighting games. We’ve only gotten 3 in 6 months. Guardians of Middle Earth looks good, but it’s free too soon in Europe. It came out only a month ago. Pinball Arcade looks like a good handheld game.
great online go off in few days great gift ps+
Why haven’t there been any freebie avatars or themes lately? It’s one of the reasons I subscribed to PS Plus! Are these discontinued or is this just a dry spell ?
PLUS was so much better before the IGC. Bring it back old school.
@Crusher201- seriously? sense i’ve been plus, I’ve seen 4 or 5 arcade fighting run threw games (like blood rayne and scott pilgrin. outlanders kind of like it and the 1v1 street fighter & the other one King of fighters?
@482 – By “fighting games” he means the likes of Street Fighter and King of Fighters. Scott Pilgrim and Double Dragon Neo are what we call “beat’em ups”. May look the same if you don’t like either, but they play very differently.
Here’s hoping for next week being better. Thankful X-mas was here and got games to cover the lack of interesting titles for plus lately. Did re-up another year of Plus though just to see if they do start to bring their game this year.
PLAYSTATION PLUS SUCKS !!
I’M GLAD I DON’T PAY FOR THIS CRAP , I RATHER PAY XBOX LIVE FOR NO GAMES !!
January 20th, 2013 = my last day as a PS+ subscriber.
@DEAD_RIKIMARU – well my bad on that one, it technically isn’t a fighting game but it kind of still is, as for beat em up. no official game category I can find. They’re listed on Action games according to GameStop. But thinking about it you are fighting your way through it are you not? So it could be taken as a fighter game seeing how your punching, kicking, picking objects up to use them. It’s like a street fight to get to your destination. However those never really interested me to play much of it. Only 2 or 3 have ever interested me to play it. Jackie Chan’s video game and I kind of forget the other two it’s been years.
@cusetown313 – So, go to xbox than.
Poor update this week.
To be honest there hasn’t been much to get excited about since June, which when I signed up.
I got a lot of value in June… but since then
The only thing that was somewhat worth it was RE5 Gold. Though I already owned the retail, non gold, on disk.
So it wasn’t *that* exciting.
I’m glad I got my 50$ worth when I signed up in June, with the games that where in the IGC back then.
So I don’t feel cheated.
However if things continue like this I will probably not renew next June, unless the next 6 months actually bring something worthwhile.
The way I figure… 50$ can actually buy quite a few cheap old games at places like Gamestop. Plus then I actually
– get to pick the games I pay for so I actually get games I actually want.
– they don’t expire.
So why gamble 50$ on plus one year in advance when chances are most of the games that will actually come up will probably fall into one of two groups:
– already have them
– I don’t care for them
Seems better to let the sub expire and then wait and watch what gets released into IGC until such time that I can honestly feel the IGC is worth at least 50$.
Maybe then resubscribe.
On the podcast they stated something about “Capture the flag” on plus next week not sure about this game or even if its really confirmed, haven’t really listened in to many of the blogcast shows but starting to listen in now So can anyone confirm this game? I tried looking it up couldn’t really find anything other than references to a game mode in warhawk, CoD, and starhawk. Any clues or anything statements about this? I think it was 18 minutes into the podcast.
Voted for the Holiday Sales; if I didn’t already own all those great titles, I’d be up on them!
God of war capture the flag game mode.
i thought guardians of middle-earth & mortal kombat were suppose to be on playstation plus but i dont see them
@491, it’s probably some crappy psn game from 2007…nba jam as our game of the month is an absolute joke
Chronovolt is such garbage. I didn’t realize Plus is now a service to unload their trash onto consumers.
What another disappointing week.
you know its hilarious how many ps+ subscribers are complaing about the quality of games na gets compared to eu and those few brownies that come on here here and complain about our gripes calling us names and so fourth you know if youre so happy with it thats fine enjoy it and mind your buissness shut up stop being a brownie and git off sonys sac really theres no nutritional value furthermore these past weeks have been really sucky im not letting my sub run out i still believe that morgan and his team will redeem this matter to our surprise amd i think it was a bad idea to add eu blog here thats just adding to the fire well hoping the best for 2013 have an awesome new year !
@WAR1965,
Please enlighten us, how old are you?
You are either some kid (which would explain your language) or if you are an adult you are showing everyone how much of an uneducated tool you are.
UNCLE MORRRRRRRRGAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this is getting worse every week…really shouldnt be that big of a difference between us and eu
i mean batman vs bioshock
mortal kombat vs retro city rampage(vita)