PSN : Pay to Play ? - NOW WITH POLL

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nicksfix
  • 100 comments
  • 9,468 views

Would you pay to play on the PSN?

  • Yes, definitely

    Votes: 9 8.2%
  • No, absolutely not

    Votes: 47 42.7%
  • Depends on the cost

    Votes: 33 30.0%
  • Look! A squirrel!

    Votes: 21 19.1%

  • Total voters
    110
It's all speculation about what it will cover exactley (provided this news is infact true and not just a random rumour),
Yeah, considering one the features mentioned, hulu tv, is a US-only service.

We've already got access to the BBC's iPlayer for free via the xmb.
 
PSN is horrible now, it needs a major overhaul. If we get one and they start charging, I will be disappointed. Thanks for the new, OP

Whats horrible about it? :confused:

Still waiting for an answer on this, someone else answer if they share that view. I see this talk going around a lot about PSN being rubbish. Maybe late 2006/early 2007 it was, but it has improved so much since then. I mean, remember how rubbish Xbox live was when it was first launched. PSN has come a long way in a shorter space of time. That and we havn't been charged for its use.
 
You're only going to get so much for free.

PSN is great, but Live whether it be Silver or Gold just functions better.
 
If it improved the PSN I'd pay for it for sure. $50 a year seems more than fair.
 
If it makes the PSN better I'm all for it. Having used both services, I prefer XBL over PSN as it just seems to be smoother and has more features.
Which features? I've been on Live gold for close to a month now and I am not seeing anything, other than cross-game chat (which I have yet to use), that I don't get on PSN. I do see things I have to pay for on XBL that are free on PSN.

That said, I do agree that it seems smoother, but my 360 is wired while my PS3 is wireless (a fact that is not a bonus for the 360 in my book). I will do a more comprehensive comparison once I get my 50ft cable in.

If my cable doesn't come in before my free month of Gold runs out I am not sure I am renewing until I get the cable and can compare side by side. I have a free 48 hour Gold code I will use for that. I understand that even with the cable some localized stability issues may be at play too, so it won't cause me to give up on Live Gold forever, but if a $5 ethernet cable is the difference in my 360 appearing to be smoother then Gold clearly isn't worth it for my situation.

I admit that I might be missing something just because I am not looking for it, so if there is some feature benefit to Gold over PSN I am definitely interested.


As for these potential PSN plans, I would gladly pay for a few of the features individually, but not all of them at these prices.

What I do want from PSN:
  • Subscription video rental service.
  • Subscription game rental service (this should have three plans: PSN games only, disc-based only, combo plan).
  • Subscription DLC service.
  • Subscription Digital Comics or TPB pricing for storylines available in TPB.
 
YES! YES! YES! The PSN needs a premium service! I would happily pay £5 a month JUST for hosted regional servers, never mind all the other bells and whistles that everyone is talking about.

I wouldn't make it compulsory though because the kids/Scots/Jews/*****rds (delete as applicable) would start bleating, but I see nothing wrong with an Opt-in service. After all, If I am willing to pay money, why should I have to suffer a free-low quality service because some refuse to pay?

A premium PSN service makes very good business sense, and if the rumours are to be believed, Sony are finally getting the grasp of the fundamentals.
 
Here's a list of the services PSN premium might have to offer:

  • Customer Service Priority Access
  • Exclusive Experiences with Sony Brands
  • Extended Console Warranty 3 Years
  • Access to Beta Games
  • Early Access to Store Game Demos
  • Early Access to All Store Content
  • Member Demo Sharing of Full Game
  • Cross-game Voice Chat Access
  • Full Title Trial - 1st Hour Is Free
  • Token Wagering
  • User-to-user Challenges
  • Free Access to PSOne Classics, PSP Minis, and PS3/PSP Themes
  • Discounts on Store Content
  • Member Only In-game Content
  • Trophy Alerts
  • Cloud Storage Space for Games
  • Online Music Service
  • Automatic Downloads and Updates
  • Loyalty Program Rewards
  • Facebook Connectivity
  • Catch-up TV
  • Online Video Subscription Service

I just completed a survey asking me which combos of these services I'd be interested in, and how much I'd consider paying for them, ranging from £19.99 to £99.99 a year, or £2.99 to £14.99 a month... my priorities would be these -
  • Access to Beta Games
  • Full Title Trial - 1st Hour Is Free
  • Member Only In-game Content
  • Cloud Storage Space for Games
  • Online Music Service
  • Online Video Subscription Service
 
look! a squirrel!



but to be serious, free online is a reason I bought a PS3 in the first place.
 
Assuming £99.99 would equal $99.99 a year I would have to think long and hard about getting the service. It seems like they are going to offer a lot which is nice, a lot of it I'll never use though. The coolest thing I see is the access to the PS1 Classics.

The thing I have a huge issue with and would probably prevent me from getting the service is that paying members get a bump in customer service priority. Sony's customer service sucks to begin with and I can't imagine what this will do to it. All of their English speaking, intelligent tech support people will only cater to those paying members. While the rest of us, will be stuck with someone from India who doesn't understand English, tells me to check the plug connection and then deems it broken and I need to send the unit in. That's not a good way to keep customers in my opinion.

Some of that stuff seems a bit gimmicky too. I mean really? Paying for a Facebook connection? No thanks, I'll use my PC or iPhone.

I think Sony would be smart to price it at $49.99 to be competitive with Xbox Live. They could probably even inch it out to $59.99 since that is now the standard pricing for console games for whatever reason. If they priced it at $49.99 I'd have no problem signing up for it.
 
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The main thing for me would be the online storage of game saves, it's something I've thought about for a while and would love any saves I make to be automatically uploaded to my online profile without me noticing it was happening.

I can really see the attraction in beta tests but as I'm a beta tester for both Sony & Microsoft at the moment I suppose there's the chance I'll lose the Sony one as I'm not really willing to pay for it.

Free PS1 games would be good but I the SCEE Store is pretty redundant when it comes to PS1 games so most of mine have been bought rom the US, Japanese & Hong Kong Stores so again it's probably not going to get a great deal of use from me.

I'm hoping that one of the advantages of optionally subscription services would be that they would need to improve the overall experience for all users anyway and the subscription fees could go towards that.

I pay the Live subscription even though I very rarely play online games now so the same price for a premium PSN service, as long as they don't remove any features for people not wanting to pay, seems like a good deal to me.

I've personally found Sony's customer services (UK) to be top class but I've only used them once. A couple of years after launch our PS3 died, I phoned up and although it was well out of warranty they sent a courier around the following day and replaced it with another PS2 compatible PS3.

We've had issues with 4 360s before this and it was always a bit of a nightmare being passed from department to department, people trying to charge us and consoles we've posted back going missing for nearly 2 months so it was a hell of a shock to see how quick Sony were. I pay for Sony's Continuous Play protection now so that should ensure that I get good service if something goes wrong again.

I really like the idea of being able to try games for an hour before buying, I'd probably save a fortune doing that.

I know it's a big one for a lot of people but cross game chat really means nothing to me, hopefully if it's added as a premium service then non-subscribers will get free access to in-game chat as standard.

I'd have no use of the Facebook access apart from maybe using it to access things like family photos which is all I really use Facebook for now. It's probably not designed for me though, I wouldn't be too surprised to see other people being more than happy to have it included in a subscription service.

I really can't wait for them to open a music Store, it seems like ages since it was tested in Australia and as long as the prices are OK, the music is lossless and DRM free then I'm all in.

It doesn't mention it in the list as it may be a free to all service but Sony's BRAVIA Internet Video Link is going to be introduced later in the year. It's a free video service which gives access to free video sites such as YouTube (Useful for GT5?), AOL Videos, Yahoo, Grouper as well as premium services such as Netflix & Amazon VOD.
 
My initial response is to scream from the highest vantage point "I WILL NEEEEEVER PAY!"

However if and when SONY do this it really would depend on the cost, because there is some truely great stuff that goes along with the PSN not least GT online!

But by God it better be small ;)
 
I don't even care for the free PSN, why would I want to pay for a "premium" PSN?
 
Is GT4 even reliable, anymore? They once were, but then turned to crap.

What did GT4 do? :p

Jokes aside, I do agree...G4 has turned into the video game-related equivalent of Speed, however, at least Speed sticks to it's core selection - which is anything to do with cars. Oh, and to go off topic for one second...can anyone try and explain to me why G4 shows the Adult expo knowing damn well they're going to blur out every possible, well, let's say "offensive" piece of material there is?

It's just counterproductive.
 
I don't even care for the free PSN, why would I want to pay for a "premium" PSN?

So why are you in this thread?
If you have a ps3 then you're obviously going to appreciate the free service. You don't pay for it and it's there if you ever need it, even if you're an offline kind of person.
 
So why are you in this thread?

You see that thing at the end of my post, it's called a question mark, and it implies that should an answer be provided that would otherwise change my mind from where it is now...I would consider that premium service.

That is why I'm in this thread. Any other questions?
 
The question mark is for the second part, one that asks what the service would offer for the premium. Question that for now no one can answer.
Your first part states that for you PSN = meh, who gives a ****.
 
As said, current level of service will remain free. So long as that remains the case having a paid prescription service does nobody any harm.
 
Uh-huh.....

Seeing as I don't want to get R1600's thread locked over assumptions and words being put into other peoples mouths, I'll just say I'll wait until E3 to see if my mind can be changed about this or not.
 
Was bound to happen, these types of things can only stay free for so long.
It still stays free, by the sound of it you will only be charged for an extended/ more features version of what we already have. Its not like everyone gets cut from PSN because they cant pay, its not like xbox live.
 
Awesome, I've been waiting for something like this!

Lets hope their premium services is better than the 'free' service we get at present. I truly hope though, that the premium service has premium servers (ie no more game hosting by gamers), if that is not a part of the package, then I really cannot see the point in subscribing.

Sony also need to get on top of the cheating. If I am playing games on servers I pay for, then I expect, no demand, that they are cheat proof! 👍
 
How much would you pay to have Sony flip a switch and eliminate "Failed to Connect to Host" from your Prologue game play ?
 
Depends what the services are that they offer, but if they're useful to me and reasonably priced then absolutely I would pay for it.

Hopefully this sort of thing will allow them to improve the quality of the free service somewhat also.
 
Sony also need to get on top of the cheating. If I am playing games on servers I pay for, then I expect, no demand, that they are cheat proof! 👍

Exactly what cheating are you referring to?

If you are talking about cheat codes, then you are barking up the wrong tree, as those are put in by the game developers, not the publishers.
 
Exactly what cheating are you referring to?
People taking advantage of glitches, likely. I think it was one of the Call of Duty games, or some other multiplatform title, where people were using exploits or something to cheat and Microsoft basically reset their accounts or blocked them, but Sony literally said it wasn't their problem since the developer was putting out a patch.

I'm fuzzy on the details since I don't have the game in question and only paid attention from a distance.
 
People taking advantage of glitches, likely. I think it was one of the Call of Duty games, or some other multiplatform title, where people were using exploits or something to cheat and Microsoft basically reset their accounts or blocked them, but Sony literally said it wasn't their problem since the developer was putting out a patch.

I'm fuzzy on the details since I don't have the game in question and only paid attention from a distance.

Like you, I'm fuzzy on the details as well, but as I recall the accounts Microsoft banned were for those that had modded/hacked 360's - which also were used to create cheats, but more importantly to Microsoft, were being used to remove the copy protection and allow people to play illegally obtained games on their modded/hacked 360s.

Much in the same way that hackers were doing the same thing with the PS3 using Linux, which is likely the reason that support for Linux was limited to only those using system software 3.15 or older... which in turn means those using Linux on their PS3 can't play online, as they won't have the most recent system software... thus preventing them from hacking their games to include cheats.
 
Like you, I'm fuzzy on the details as well, but as I recall the accounts Microsoft banned were for those that had modded/hacked 360's - which also were used to create cheats, but more importantly to Microsoft, were being used to remove the copy protection and allow people to play illegally obtained games on their modded/hacked 360s.

Much in the same way that hackers were doing the same thing with the PS3 using Linux, which is likely the reason that support for Linux was limited to only those using system software 3.15 or older... which in turn means those using Linux on their PS3 can't play online, as they won't have the most recent system software... thus preventing them from hacking their games to include cheats.
I am thinking of a different situation.

I found the story at 1UP. It was the Modern Warfare 2 "Javelin" cheat.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177170
 
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