they got some decent ideas for plus, but they don't really offer enough to justify 50 bucks a year as yet imo.

I am not exactly sure how XBOX live Gold is superior to the basic PSN anyway, after they add cross-game chat. If anything, exclusive games on PSN are more likely to have dedicated servers.

And I don't have to shed a buck to play online when I get my PS3.

If it works for you, then the money is well worth it.

If they add more services (like they said in E3), depending on that I might reconsider.

Plus the article is like comparing a baby to a five year old.
Of course the older one would have advantages since the younger one still needs to develop.

I'm not saying that XBL is better or vice-versa.
Just saying that it's too early to compare.

i dont really see how u can compare something that isnt even out with something that has been out for 5 years?? psn plus isnt going to be as good as xbox live yet. but over time i can see sony putting some reallll good features to psn +

XBL Gold = $35 a year (there are deals everywhere online)
PSN+ = $50 a year
Winner is Xbox.

That was a great article. It essentially points out what you're paying with on PSN+, which in the end isn't too great. The way XBL is more streamlined and user friendly for both developers and gamers it's what sets it above PSN at the moment. Sony will have to make everything on PSN run more seamless if they want to catch up to XBL. I guess the statement "you get what you pay for" is also fitting.

Know or see anything that XBL has over PSN period. Anyone with disagrees please tell me something XBL has and PSN doesnt. Sony giving 200+ dollars in content being able to play FULLLLL Games before purchasing the real one xbl doesnt have that not to mention you get PSN games for free while you have the service what MS games you get for free with XBL?

Edit: at below they bringing xchat with premium and I got espn channel for espn why would I watch espn on my console? Can someone give me real difference if not PSN + is better package so far.

I think that the only real problem with PSN is its speed, I mean I loved playing down at college and never worrying about a fee, which is why I didn't get too upset when half my matches lagged out.

PSN is still better. I dont have to pay £40 for a peer to peer connection. All I want is to play online for free. Why should I pay to play the second half of a game.

but the please improve the CORE service. Both businesses have different strategies on making money and the cost involved with maintaining the service.

I'm fine with the original PSN.

Only thing that would make me pay to play online is if they threw in free BJs.

its a no brainer for me day one purchase,@ wintersoldier speed problems on psn i haven,t encounter any .50mb virgin for the win dedicated servers on first party games i,m more than happy to pay sony for the extras.its great sony gives people the choice

I'm, frankly, still on the fence here. It seems a great value for money, but at the same time I don't buy many psn games, so the discount is kinda pointless for me. But then again, discaunted/free dlc is tempting. Music streaming sounds nice, but we need more details on that i.e. streaming from where? Full game demos and early betas is the only feature that realy excites me. And to some degree even CGC, although I really don't see myself using it very often, might be wrong. And all that €49.99...I really can't decide...
Really hoping then there will be more to this when it launches.

http://www.gametrailers.com...

I hate PSN & XLive isn't free & not getting free DLC so PC for me!!

I've never been happier to own both the 360 and the PS3

I think I will keep xbox live and go with Playstation Move, there are so many amazing games coming out on both consoles.

Gee Whiz....Its Playstation + not PSN+, PSN will remain free, with regular updates, Playstation + is an additional service the improves the quailty of life on PSN

I said this would be coming a long time ago and to enjoy as long as it was free. The price is not bad but even that will go up as soon as everyone gets on board and get used to dishing out once a year and paying for downloaded content. THIS IS THE TREND.Even talk about Sega getting back in to get a piece of the pie. AS much as I love to play video games and being amazed by all the new tech features like movies,sports,motion controllers etc... it seems we are going to be working just to pay for entertainment, the cost is sky rocketing with each new advancement that is released how much more can we afford? new 3d tv+ glasses,sound system,internet+cable+cellphon e and service,consoles+added ons, games,the dreaded download content that you never own.We took the blue pill and the matrix has us.

I agree with the article. PSN+ isn't really a good value proposition considering the normal PSN is pretty good anyway. It seems like they didn't know what extra stuff could be offered for a pay service so threw some ill conceived content extras at it and charged 50 bucks.

Live has better features, and on the whole is better than the standard PSN, but you have to pay for it... but for someone like me who doesn't use those extra features all that much, I don't really notice a difference between Live and PSN anyway.

Free Games...nuff said. That and its bound to get a lot of features in the upcoming months. I mean c'mon, your getting Little Big Planet FREE! That's already $30! Then Wipeout HD, $20! Boom! That's your subcription already. Then all those others free stuff, Qore, etc, etc 3 months freen that's a deal. Only thing I see that's a bit of a downer is all the free gifts(except LBP) locks if you dony renew your subscription, but by the years end I mean c'mon, just sacrifice a game and renew it. Hell the day Live starts giving out free games every month, is the day hell freezes over.

PSN+ hands down, mainly because it's doesn't penalize you regarding online play if you don't wish to keep paying.

Has anyone noticed it's called Playstation Plus, not Playstation Network Plus?

All I've seen today is people is moaning or stating that they don't need the extra features because they can already play online. Which is fair enough, Sony arn't taking anything away from you.

The service is to enhance your experience with the PS3 as a whole. It's not about online features. It's pretty much there to give users the option to trail games, get free downloads, beta access etc...

The cross-game chat and background downloading are just nice added bonuses for me.

“Another big draw back is the fact that this free content that you're paying for, isn't really yours.”

- Cory Appleton

This basically means that paying for it individually is different than subscribing to it, but that’s what a subscription is, a rental service. I’m wondering if that’s the full demo feature Sony was talking about or the one free game/add-on downloading feature they were talking about?

Every so often Cory Appleton puts his opinion in there saying things like, “…experience the same old service that is in dire need of help” or “…PlayStation Network is outdated” these are clearly opinions because I disagree. The heart of XBOX Live isn’t the features but the online, and the heart of PSN+ is the features not the online, it makes a difference?

Then the conclusion is that a bunch of *paid* downloads that will be striped from the user once not paying (privileges), versus striping everything from you when you end your subscription to XBOX Live (rights). I have to say, having one free game a month is better than paying for your right to play online especially if it’s a game like M.A.G. or Shadowrun. I’m not sure if I’ll pay for it, but I do think Sony’s direction is more attractive than Microsoft’s, you have to pay for your rights vs. privileges

"Unfortunately, that free content is paid for already with your $49 subscription, so it's not really free"
you cant be serious? man am i the only one who can see its a free psn game every month? psn games are alot of money some 14.99 some ever 19.99 some even 29.99 it will surely make up for the $50 in less then 4 months by 12 months ur the one cheating sony plus demos betas cross game chat music streaming and they will add more the more money they make from it im disapointed to see nobody will get this b/c thats just a stupid move imo and btw on PSN+ even silver memebers can user ur party chat and on PSN+ u pay $49 to buy maybe $300 worth of games (360 u pay for every game) u get free avatars (360 u pay for them) as u see much like the xbox360 xbox live has a ton of hidden fees netflix u have to pay zune u have to pay its just stupid psn plus is a lesser service but cheaper and a better deal and i promise u over the years it will get better just like psn silver did trust me guys buy this...

why the disagree? man fck off everything i said was true u get like $200 worth of free psn games and if u want to add the $49 omg big deal u still get alot of free games the amount of free stuff sony gives u pays way over the $50 u spend on the other hand xbox live xbox live dosen't give u anything free insept party chat and it is a cool feature but its called a cell phone? jesus im already paying my phone bill why not use it in that way? its not that hard just microsoft digging in your wallets again

They haven't even gotten off the ground yet. There is still a lot of things they can and will work on. A least you can still play online for free. Sony once again gives you the opportunity to choose. When it comes down to it you still have to pay to play on the 360.

PS+ price as XBLA, so as a PS3 consumer you can get the standard service, and all the additional content which comes with playstation plus.

Overall, if you're paying for PS plus, PSN offers a better service with various useful features that XBLA doesn't offer. If you're not paying for Playstation Plus then you still have a better service:value ratio (by miles), with it costing nothing.

It's a win-win situation for all PS3 users.

still confused what can i do in xbox live,that i cant do in psn.somebody please explain???

I agree, at this point PSN+ misses the point, it doesnt make gaming any better, just gives you more content, there is no special features to me that spell better gaming, to me the Free psn looks just as good as plus

xbl doesnt give you shit for free. period.... sony offers a bunch of stuff for baskically free hell i spend more than 50 dollars a yr on games so now they are giving me some of these games for free. ill still buy my other one but free games you cant beat that. i really like what sony is doing not focusing on all that stuff that doesnt matter and are just focusing on the games. xbl live doesnt offer sh1t mainly they offer cross game chat espn is a joke since 80% of sports isnt played on espn. what is ms really offering. i dont see how you can compare the two its ridiculous.fanboys are so in love with ms that they pay to play online. if im paying give me some free stuff.

i think its good value tbh plus sony have said they will be adding mroe features each month

I really thought instals as you download and xgame chat would be included very weird.

I said it in a previous post but PSN+ is worth it for me just for the 1 hour demos of the the games. I wasted so much money on games like cash guns chaos,gauntlet 2(i knew i was gonna regret this but bought it anyway),calling all cars, and more i cant think of at the moment. that 1 hour preview would of saved me a lot of money.

People need to stop thinking of them giving you games for free, thats not what it is. It is basically like Gamefly. You get the games until you stop paying and you have to return them. its a subscription. I think this service will be worth it. especially if they keep adding new features

i think its cool, but i believe sony should have priced it at $39. This would have been the way to go since, people can already play for free and Sony kind of always talked about $50 being to much.

I decided to get RDR for my PS3 instead of my 360--BIG MISTAKE! I'm still kicking myself in the ass for it. I could go on and on but this is N4G--most posters here are under the age of 15 and all favor the PS3 it seems, so all my typing would be waisted effort.

PSN - True_Elite_Gamer
XBL - HAPPY70

Here's what I don't get... saying PSN+ isn't worth it, but XBL Gold is (which kinda makes sense, from a single-console owner perspective)

...and 360 fans still insist that XBL is "better" (comparing the two, from the perspective of a new buyer or multi-console owner), when you can play online games for FREE on PSN, and the truth is that, now with PSN+, there's actually no excuse other than, frankly, made up goofy anecdotes like "its too slow" (not for me), "the XBL interface is better" (you *can't* be comparing NXE and the XMB and claim this.. can you?? Wow is THAT backwards), etc.

That's like saying that being male in North Korea is better than in the US, because in NK military service is required by law, whereas in the US, its optional. The irony. Wow.

But if you don't care about all bells and whistles then the psn offers the best online experience. BECAUSE IT'S FREE. Don't want to hear about cross chat. Have a 360 and I tell my comrades that want to talk to me when they are playing that gay ass gears, "I playing red dead. GTFO" Cross game chat is anooying, imo.

Stopped reading after in dire need of help, it plays online games exactly like Live sans cross game chat and parties. This article is clearly fanboy BS.

Ridiculous. The PSN's popularity derives from being free. Any paid service that would compete with XBL would have to be far better than anything Sony currently offers.

PSN still free. Somebody give sony a cookie quick!

this article was pathetic, whoever wrote it is completely misinformed, forgetting a lot of the features of it and it isnt even a comparison

Xbox Live is only $34.54 right now on Amazon.com. I find that it is almost always discounted online. Not sure why some people can figure out how to be smart consumers.

Its very blatant that this article is very biased towards Xbox live. The service hasn't been launched yet and people are writing articles about how much it sucks. Damn. Wait for it to launch first. You don't know what features are offered. And this article treats PS+ as a subscription that's similar to Live but its not. Its an optional service, and without it, you can still play online and do all the awesomes things you can do now on your ps3. Live charges for these functionality. They are two different services. Live is a necessary requirement but PS+ is not. That is why PS+ is only available to psn members of ages 18 and over. The type of members who can make a choice on wanting the service or not and having the finance for it.

for anyone to say the psn is at the same level as xbox live are just fanboys.
Yes you now have cross game chat, but you dont have party chat.
I cant wait to see exactly what psn will offer in the UK, so I can decide whether to pay for it or not.
There are a few things I cannot understand, how can they have early access to beta/demos on psn+?
Does that just mean demos will be released onto regular psn later?
Or is it exclusive over both consoles?
These are the things I want to consider before I decide whether to pay or not.

Who cares? Why is this such a big deal? How much do you ladies need to talk to your buddies when your gaming? Is this coffee talk or something?

i already pay for my internet, i dont pay for online gaming on my pc or my ps3 i wont pay for one now, not on either of the consoles, already tried live for a year and i didnt like it at all.

thats just me tho

I don't like having to pay for Xbox Live Gold, just to play online

Believe me, if I could play online with just Silver, I would never have gold.

But PSN + Doesn't offer enough to make me buy, also sounds a bit dodgy, can keep playing the games while subscribed? pffft, yeah so I rent them not own them.

Cross game chat between two players is a thing of the past, now gamers can get into full on parties and chat with friends playing many different games. No matter where you are in the online world of Xbox LIVE, or what you're playing, you'll be able to get in touch with anyone who's online.

THATS WHAT I WANT OFFERED TO ME WHEN IM PLAYING ONLINE WITH MY FRIENDS.

No one ever mentions the fact that PSN games have more players per game with most 32 player and sometimes more.There's a new point now as well.Valve are bringing Steam to PS3 with Portal2.The browser,though not amazing,works and lets you watch lots of internet video content,like Todays Big Thing.On Videogamer.com PS3 wins the DLC rumble most weeks due to BETTER content.

live is light years of the competition

The Sony camp here on N4G's main defense was not paying a cent for PSN. Now they're on here defending why they will pay 50 bux a year...and for what.

Discounted avatar items? (no thank you, HOME is garbage.)
A free PS1 games and two mini games? (seriously PS1?? How about some PS2 games?)
A hush hush maybe we might do cross game chat?
And early access to betas? (yaaawn)

That's to justify 50 bux a year? I'm sorry but that is seriously lame. PSN offers FREE multiplayer and that is all I need. If you pay 50 bux for PSN+ a year then all your arguments against the Xbox fanboys are null and void, period.

Please don't spin it and act like Sony is giving you the best deals and the most content ever. Because besides multiplayer, Xbox 360 offers the same thing and more and they've done it from the beginning.

xbox live more integrated system then psn and that along makes it better psn system is not just look at the messaged thing u sent a invite n it doesn't even make a sound or went someone sents you a invite come on really what happen if im in the restroom ill check my messaged recived wait a minuted there like 15 messaged invites n my friend is already playing a match so you have to delete those messaged one by one cause if u click to accept is not going to work caused those invites are for party invite i just told one thing that is gay ass hell on the psn that i hate that i traded my xbox for the playstation n xbox live is so much smoother than psn .

I had xbox live for 4 years and i traded for a playstaion slim one a month ago and i can honestly tell you that xbox live is better than psn it so much soother at least in the psn i can join matches a little faster n kill people faster cause thats all its good for theres no balanced in the game and the game is MW2 .

This sucks.Im not a fanboy boy of either systems i love gameing but,id rather have the xbl.i have both consoles i enjoy playing both but,if i should have to worry about my stuff getting taken away cause i didn't have the money at the time.IDK it just sounds like they need the money.maybe the should start a fund raiser.idk sound kinda shady to me.

Flamebait article at best. To pay 50 dollars a year and get free PSN PS ONE games and minis that's more than 50 dollars a year. Cross voice chat for free users (one person must be a PSN plus member) and paid users. To top it all off dedicated servers. Free vs paid I go for subscription that offers free stuff over subscription that I have to pay for every little thing.

Man Blinx is whack as whack as ...Knack.

Man, what i would do for a new Chromehounds. The game was so good imo

I will beat both blinxs one day! The first game got really hard after like 9 or 10 levels. Bling Blinx!

Blinx was terrible. I remember playing it and thinking wtf?

Someone really need to revive Blinx, or make a game like it, the idea of the time power is really good, they just need to improve it, and its way more interesting than in quantum break.

Dammit I want Deathrow!