Playstation Plus: let’s clarify things a bit

The PlayStation Plus it was announced by Sony during E3 2010; it is a paid service through which it is possible to download a very large number of contents.

It was recently announced that PlayStation Plus will also be extended to owners of PlayStation Vitaobviously these are not two separate subscriptions, if you own both consoles it will be enough to sign up for a single subscription to be able to download both the contents for Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita.

How much does it cost? But above all, how does it work?

As we have already mentioned, this is a paid service, Sony has made two types of subscription available:

• 3 monthsCost: €14.99
• 12 monthsCost: €49.99

Once you have signed up for the subscription you will be able to access all the content available; everything you download for free will be usable only during the period in which you are registeredDon’t worry though, in the event that you have signed up for a subscription for three months and it has expired, you will absolutely not lose the contents of the Playstation Plus, they will remain on your Playstation, but when you try to use them they will not work. To reactivate them, simply subscribe to the subscription again to the Playstation Plus. The contents come updated regularly every month, but it’s often the case that some content is added on specific dates outside of the main update. You have to remember that every month some of the old content is literally replaced with new content, this means that if there is something that interests you you will have to hurry and download it as it could soon be replaced with something new. Everything you download will remain saved in the downloaded content of your Playstation Storetherefore, in the hypothesis that you have deleted a game downloaded via the Playstation Plus, you can download it again by looking for it in the list of downloaded content, even if it has been removed from the content available to Playstation Plus members.

What does PlayStation Plus really offer?

Playstation Plus offers a great variety of contents and services, namely:

• Beta Exclusives: Sony makes betas of some upcoming games available;
• Instant Game Collection: Complete games are added to the catalog every month, obviously they will be downloadable for free;
• Trial versions: These are complete games, but you can play them for a maximum of 60 minutes, after which you can decide whether to buy it, keep it on the Playstation (without being able to use it) or delete it from the Playstation. These games are also often discounted exclusively for Playstation Plus members.
• Avatars and Themes: Every month the catalog is updated with a wide range of free or on sale avatars and themes.
• Discounts: Some contents such as games, themes, avatars and DLC are discounted exclusively for Playstation Plus members, unlike free contents, once purchased they will be yours forever.

Online game data storage: It will often happen that you need to free up space on the console but the save data of some games is protected and it is not possible to copy them to a USB pen drive, furthermore the process is rather slow and cumbersome. Sony has decided to remedy this problem, through the Playstation Plus it will be possible to transfer your saves directly to your own online storage space; this will allow you to keep your save data safe from sudden console failures. The archiving process can be manual or automatic.

Automatic updates: If you have little time to play and don’t want to waste time downloading patches and system updates, this is the service for you. Simply select a time slot of your choice, in that period your Playstation (even if turned off) will check if there are system updates or patches for your games, if there are any updates available it will be carried out automatically.

In conclusion, is it a convenient service?

What any undecided person will be wondering is whether the Playstation Plus is a good choice or not, the answer depends from user to user. If you are the type of player who buys many games during the year this subscription will probably not be useful for you, since the complete games made available by the service are often quite old; Despite this, the various discounts could be useful to you. For this type of player I recommend the 14.99 euro subscription to be activated only when there are articles of interest. However, if you are a player who doesn’t like spending a lot of money, this is probably the service for you. Both subscription methods are extremely convenient for this type of gamer. You will have dozens of games to play for little money, obviously you will have to be satisfied with the quality of the games, but there will certainly be no shortage of quantity.