Hasta La Gadget!

Sony has been pushing its PlayStation Plus premium service ever since it was announced at E3 2010. The service first offered early access to betas, the ability to send voice messages to friends playing other games and a subscription to Qore, but has since then blossomed into a service that easily rivals competing services.

Now, PlayStation Plus offers free titles on a somewhat regular basis, automatic updates and cloud storage and still continues to cost only $50 for an entire year of service. Today, Sony is attempting to further entice potential PlayStation Plus subscribers by offering three additional months of service if you purchase a one year subscription by March 3.

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By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Gears Of War: Judgment Multiplayer Overrun Demo Releasing March 19, BioShock Infinite Takes A Closer Look At Columbia In 1970s Style Documentary,

Sony will be pushing an update to its PlayStation Store tomorrow that will introduce a slew of deals that users will want to take advantage of. One of the better deals, however, is that they’re releasing BioShock 2 to the ever-expanding Instant Game Collection for free this week. The game will be available for free if you’re a Plus member once the PlayStation Store updates tomorrow.

BioShock 2 was released in February 2010, and it’s the sequel to the original BioShock, which featured some of the best gameplay elements we’ve ever seen. All week long, PlayStation Plus users will have the chance to download and play the game for free via the service’s Instant Game Collection.

Other deals for Plus subscribers include a 10% discount on Rockstar Games Collection Edition 1, which is a bundle that includes Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, L.A. Noire, and Midnight Club: Los Angeles Complete Edition. The bundle usually costs $59.99, but Plus members can pick it up for $53.99 — not a huge discount, but better than no discount at all.

Puzzle game Puddle will also be 50% off on both of its platforms, costing only $5 for PlayStation 3 gamers and just $4 for PlayStation Vita users. However, it’s not cross-platform compatible, so if you want the game on both systems, you’ll have to cough up $9 for the pair. Sony has said that they plan to release weekly updates to the PlayStation Store that will include new deals and offers for every week all month long.

BioShock 2 now free to play all week long for PlayStation Plus subscribers is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sony is always looking for more ways to make the PS3 standout from the likes of the Xbox 360 and Wii (soon to be Wii U), and one new way its doing that is by putting games on PSN the same day they launch at retail. Unveiled today, Sony’s new “PSN Day 1 Digital” program will kick off in October with the release of Resident Evil 6, letting users purchase and download full, new games on launch day right from their couch. Even better is that PS Plus users will get to enjoy a 10% discount in some cases.

Out of all of this, the fact that PS Plus users get 10% off is probably the most surprising. Console manufacturers – Microsoft especially, Sony to a lesser extent – sometimes like to keep prices high on digital versions of retail games. The result is that occasionally you’d end up paying more for a digital copy of the game than you would for a physical copy from a brick and mortar store, but this time around, Sony is ready to pass on some discounts provided you’ve subscribed to PlayStation Plus. Of course, just being a PS Plus member doesn’t automatically mean you’re entitled to the discount, as you’ll have to pre-order the game in question before Sony and the publishers will shave 10% off the purchase price.

Here’s the full list of games that will be launching on PSN on launch day. Keep in mind that PS Plus prices only apply if you pre-order the title unless otherwise stated:

• Resident Evil 6 – October 2, $59.99
• NBA 2K12 – October 2, $59.99/$53.99 for PS Plus members
• Dishonored – October 9, $59.99/$53.99 for PS Plus members
• Doom 3: BFG Edition – October 16, $39.99/$35.99 for PS Plus members
• 007 Legends – October 16, $59.99/$53.99 for PS Plus members during first week of availability
• Medal of Honor Warfighter – October 23, $59.99
• Need for Speed: Most Wanted – October 30, $59.99/$53.99 for PS Plus members
• Assassin’s Creed III – October 30, $59.99

Unsurprisingly, three of October’s biggest games – Resident Evil 6, Medal of Honor Warfighter, and Assassin’s Creed III – don’t come with a discount for PS Plus members, though Assassin’s Creed III is still available for pre-order. There’s no word on if these games will be available to download at midnight on launch day, but Sony’s recent launch day release of Borderlands 2 wasn’t, so it isn’t looking good for the rest of the bunch. More details will almost certainly be coming shortly, so stay tuned.

[via The Verge]

Sony unveils PSN Day 1 Digital program is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

In addition to announcing a brand new, super-slim PS3 model at the Tokyo Game Show, Sony finally gave a time frame for the arrival of PlayStation Plus on PS Vita. Sony announced that PlayStation Plus would be coming to PS Vita back at Gamescom in July, but today it announced that PS Plus will launch November. Unfortunately, the company didn’t get any more specific than that, so it looks like we’ll be left waiting for additional details once again.

Still, at least Sony has narrowed down the release window a bit for us. When PlayStation Plus launches on the PS Vita, it will come with all of the features that PS3 members love in tow. One of these features is Instant Game Collection, which allows users to access free full games for as long as they’re a PS Plus member. PlayStation Plus subscribers will also get discounts on games and DLC on a consistent basis, along with with 1GB of cloud storage, letting users back up their game saves or store DLC.

With PS Plus, PS Vita owners can also take advantage of automatic updates, which will turn your PS Vita automatically to begin downloading game demos, game updates, and system updates. Once the update has finished downloading, the PS Vita will switch into standby mode, meaning that your PS Vita could potentially download updates without you ever knowing – definitely a handy (if not somewhat creepy) feature to have around.

Those who are already subscribed to PS Plus on PS3 will get a PS Vita membership for free, and those who sign up for PS Plus using their Vita will be able to enjoy the PS3 benefits as well. If you aren’t already a subscriber, a membership will cost the going rate of $49.99 annually. As stated above, the PS Vita version of Plus is still lacking a specific launch date, but you can bet that we’ll update you once Sony lets it loose. Stay tuned!

[via Playstation Blog]

PS Vita gets PlayStation Plus in November is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’ve been sat impatiently tapping your fingers on the desk waiting for that extra PlayStation Plus storage, then you might want to give that hand a break. According to the PlayStation blog, it’s coming, and soon. The capacity bump will come in PS3 system update v4.25, and once installed, you’ll just need to head over to the Saved Data Utility under the XMB’s Game column to see it. Our friends over at Joystiq have pushed Sony for a more concrete time on the update’s release, but if you’ve already maxed out that current 150MB, there’s light at the end of the cloud tunnel.

Filed under: Gaming

PlayStation Plus cloud storage boost landing ‘soon’ with system update v4.25 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Sep 2012 11:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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