Nice article Patrick, but I don't think this makes Xbox Live seem more like a joke. They are both paid services with their fair share of ups and downs. I do believe, however, Microsoft should be closely watching Sony's moves as of late.

@Krataur: Steam does it.

Sony should 'grow a pair' and do this for real...without caveats.

While it's not quite as good as me getting the PC version of Borderlands 2 for $36 (BEFORE it came out) it's a huge step in the right direction. Keep kickin' ass, Sony.

@mrpandaman said:

@Nation764 said:

@Aeneas said:

I don't know why you seem to be on a personal crusade against XBL. The negativity is dismaying.

I agree with this totally. If he doesn't like it, don't use it. To call XBL a joke is one of the stupidest and most biased statements I've ever seen on this website, from a staff member. I think he's just butt-hurt that his new favorite game Mark of the Ninja didn't get all the hype he thought it deserved on day one of its release. Also his hipster indie games do not get the love he wants them to. Sorry Patrick, but Microsoft wants to make as much money as possible, and could give two shits about your opinion of their service. The guy is on an anti Microsoft soapbox right now, and its really apparent and pathetic.

uh... not at all.

He also said it's making it seem like a joke and it's not only Patrick who has said this. They, most of the GB crew, have voiced their opinion on the deteriorating value of XBL when compared to what PSN+ is now offering. You cannot deny that Sony is has been taking better steps into increasing the value of PSN+ and making membership worthwhile, while MS has been adding features that you can ostensibly get better or not hidden behind another paywall to access elsewhere.

As a former Xbox fan boy, I must say I'm embarrassed for XBL. If this keeps up I'll end up on the Sony side next time around, which I never saw coming. Bravo Sony, you're finally becoming worth a shit, don't screw it up.

good job sone, its where we're heading, progressive move

That isn't a significant price difference to really make me take notice. Now, if it were say $15-20 difference, then I would really be excited. As it is, a Steam holiday sale always trumps regular micro-sales - but this is at least going in the right direction.

This might be big enough for me to start buying third party games on my PS3. At least until I own a PC...

@mrpandaman said:

@Nation764 said:

@Aeneas said:

I don't know why you seem to be on a personal crusade against XBL. The negativity is dismaying.

I agree with this totally. If he doesn't like it, don't use it. To call XBL a joke is one of the stupidest and most biased statements I've ever seen on this website, from a staff member. I think he's just butt-hurt that his new favorite game Mark of the Ninja didn't get all the hype he thought it deserved on day one of its release. Also his hipster indie games do not get the love he wants them to. Sorry Patrick, but Microsoft wants to make as much money as possible, and could give two shits about your opinion of their service. The guy is on an anti Microsoft soapbox right now, and its really apparent and pathetic.

uh... not at all.

He also said it's making it seem like a joke and it's not only Patrick who has said this. They, most of the GB crew, have voiced their opinion on the deteriorating value of XBL when compared to what PSN+ is now offering. You cannot deny that Sony is has been taking better steps into increasing the value of PSN+ and making membership worthwhile, while MS has been adding features that you can ostensibly get better or not hidden behind another paywall to access elsewhere.

What you said is mostly right. I do think that Sony is starting to up their game with the PSN, but don't they have to? Clearly, in my opinion, XBL has been the superior service this generation. For Sony to stay relevant at all, and especially after having their whole service hacked and offline for MONTHS, they needed to start making dramatic changes. In the end, this is great for us consumers, because now Microsoft will have to respond to their changes. But to call XBL a joke is showing your hand as a HATER. It may have its faults, for sure, but I don't pay for jokes and the people I know don't as well. Also, I like HALO, and GEARS, so I am biased in that regard, as are MILLIONS of us.

Baby steps.

Wait, this actually matters to some people??

PS+ has been incredible for the past year, and these recent changes have made it a great service to buy into.

There's a good argument to support digital games and physical ones, but that isn't the point here. The point is that PS+ has been doing some awesome things as of late.

I really like the idea of discounting digital games the day of release, and I wish that this became a trend within the industry, but alas, we know how Microsoft is likely to function sitting on top of the video game throne. Not likely to happen.

It's a shame it's all on the PS3, which has a terrible online infrastructure and an even-more dated console than the 360 in terms of how its adapted to the newness around it.

Still, great work you guys.

People are looking at this all wrong. It's not THE reason to join PS+. It's another in a long line of reasons to join the service. This may not be a service I use much, but it's great to know that I'll have that option for a day one DL if I'm feeling it.

Not for me, since I don't have a huge HDD and limited bandwith. But still this is a pretty cool, ps+ keeps on getiing better,

Send me a physical copy instead and I'll maybe invest in PS+. Actually I won't.

I have both consoles and think they're both great, but I think when you compare what you get with a Gold membership vs a plus account that the plus account has more value. First, it's optional, I don't need to pay sony money to play games online for ps3 (not counting potential online passes for used games). Second, the amount of money I've saved in discounts and free games means ps+ has paid for itself multiple times over. I think microsoft knows since everyone on xbl is already willing to give them money just to play online they don't need to offer discounts and free games for gold members (since that would also mean basically everyone would get them). Ultimately the value of either console depends on what you want from it. If you want to play online with a specific group of friends, then you'll need the console and service that they use. I don't know if I'll take advantage of this particular offer, especially since my hard drive space is limited, but it's good to know sony keeps adding more to the plus service.

@Ministry4390: @RoyCampbell: If you put in a larger HDD and set it to download overnight it's really not a big deal. I feel you on the game cases though.

@mrpandaman said:

@Nation764 said:

@Aeneas said:

I don't know why you seem to be on a personal crusade against XBL. The negativity is dismaying.

I agree with this totally. If he doesn't like it, don't use it. To call XBL a joke is one of the stupidest and most biased statements I've ever seen on this website, from a staff member. I think he's just butt-hurt that his new favorite game Mark of the Ninja didn't get all the hype he thought it deserved on day one of its release. Also his hipster indie games do not get the love he wants them to. Sorry Patrick, but Microsoft wants to make as much money as possible, and could give two shits about your opinion of their service. The guy is on an anti Microsoft soapbox right now, and its really apparent and pathetic.

uh... not at all.

He also said it's making it seem like a joke and it's not only Patrick who has said this. They, most of the GB crew, have voiced their opinion on the deteriorating value of XBL when compared to what PSN+ is now offering. You cannot deny that Sony is has been taking better steps into increasing the value of PSN+ and making membership worthwhile, while MS has been adding features that you can ostensibly get better or not hidden behind another paywall to access elsewhere.

What you said is mostly right. I do think that Sony is starting to up their game with the PSN, but don't they have to? Clearly, in my opinion, XBL has been the superior service this generation. For Sony to stay relevant at all, and especially after having their whole service hacked and offline for MONTHS, they needed to start making dramatic changes. In the end, this is great for us consumers, because now Microsoft will have to respond to their changes. But to call XBL a joke is showing your hand as a HATER. It may have its faults, for sure, but I don't pay for jokes and the people I know don't as well. Also, I like HALO, and GEARS, so I am biased in that regard, as are MILLIONS of us.

If Sony drops the price by $10 to $15 meaning $59.99 games become $49.99 or $44.99 and included pre-order downloads with a midnight release code to activate the game this will completely crush GameStop, Walmart, maybe even Amazon. All bundle packs will need to be cheaper or better to get fans to wait in line like they do for COD. Good idea, just needs more money thrown at it on Sony's end.

Six dollars for cool boxart, eh? You win this round, ACIII. But you may not, NFS and DIshonored!

@DystopiaX said:

@aceofspudz

And it’s one more reason Sony’s making Xbox Live seem like a joke.

lolwut

Straight out of the 'forum post school of journalism'.

Yeah it's a weird comment to add in. Although gb's news has always been more editorialised than other sites.

Regardless of what you might thing of the statement from a journalistic point of view, it's totally accurate. Live has become more and more of a joke lately. I actually made a blog post not that long ago about my dissatisfaction with Live lately compared to what Sony's been doing. This just reinforces my feelings.

ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION MICROSOFT?

Seriously, Sony just keeps giving us reasons why their service is worth the money and Microsoft keeps stagnating and resting on its laurels depending on that CoD money. As much as I love Master Chief if this continues into the next cycle I may be giving Sony my money for the first time in years. And I'll have zero problem doing it.

I don't know if I'm the first to say this, but Steam has been doing this for awhile now. And you don't have to buy a subscription in order to get the discount.

Not much savings rather just spend a bit more and get a physical copy.

....But I bet 6 months down the line the download is still $60 when you can buy it 2nd hand or even new for $20.

You have to be able to download before day-1 though, because a 30GB game is going to take 12-20 hours to download! It's also going to destroy our UK internet caps if it takes off....Download a 30GB game for $5 less, but get $20 bill for exceeding your download allowance......DOH!

@Rayeth said:

Hm. I don't think think this is going to add too many NEW customers. It might make some people who were already PS+ members buy more though.

But it may make more people PS+ members. That service right now is pretty baller and I'm pretty sad I missed the opportunity to get a year of it 25% off.

Woah,. good job Sony!

A move into the future is good, no matter how gradual.

@Aeneas said:

I don't know why you seem to be on a personal crusade against XBL. The negativity is dismaying.

Speaking as a person who has always found charging for access to multiplayer servers obnoxious - and therefore have always seen Xbox Live as a joke, no matter how much faster and more elegant an experience it was compared to Sony's offering - I don't see what the big deal is.

Xbox Live has always been poor value. Now it just has competition to reveal it.

More competition cannot be a bad thing, correct?

@Stinky51012: Ah thanks for that, even tho I've got PSN + I never knew that it was the freebies which got locked out.

Good idea, but it will probably be more widely accepted next gen. Then again, I'll probably be playing 100% PC games by then.

I'll wait a year... oh wait, digital games are still $59.99 a year later.

The cheer leading that Patrick and the others have done for playstation plus has been really strange.

@jmood88 said:

The cheer leading that Patrick and the others have done for playstation plus has been really strange.

it's justified

@MOAB said:

@jmood88 said:

The cheer leading that Patrick and the others have done for playstation plus has been really strange.

it's justified

it might still not be enough for me to get a PSN+ subscription, but it applies pressure to XBL, which I'm paying for right now. this competition could very well shape a better value for the next generation digital subscription, in which both services have to make value-added propositions instead of just sitting on their "you'll pay for it anyway" throne.

also: fuck videogame retail. i would love to cut human interaction from my media purchases.

@MOAB said:

@jmood88 said:

The cheer leading that Patrick and the others have done for playstation plus has been really strange.

it's justified

it might still not be enough for me to get a PSN+ subscription, but it applies pressure to XBL, which I'm paying for right now. this competition could very well shape a better value for the next generation digital subscription, in which both services have to make value-added propositions instead of just sitting on their "you'll pay for it anyway" throne.

also: fuck videogame retail. i would love to cut human interaction from my media purchases.

This is pretty cool

@usgrovers said:

I'll wait a year... oh wait, digital games are still $59.99 a year later.

Nice. Yes, they really should get on the ball with updating price points from time to time.

Craziness, bravo Sony for more options. I'd probably still buy physical copies though.

@jmood88 said:

I'm all for the competition between services but it is weird for me to see all the cheering for playstation plus by the giantbomb guys. If they like it, fine, but they've sounded like fanboys at times.

Say positive stuff about 360, "OMG, 360 fanboys"

Say positive stuff about PS3, "OMG, PS3 fanboys"

Say they're playing iOS games, "OMG, Apple fanboys"

Being down on the Wii U, "OMG, anti-Nintendo fanboys"

Whatever they say gets twisted against them.

You have to be PSN+ member, you only save $6, and on top of that you must pre-order? Yeah, no thanks.

@WrenchNinja said:

@jmood88 said:

I'm all for the competition between services but it is weird for me to see all the cheering for playstation plus by the giantbomb guys. If they like it, fine, but they've sounded like fanboys at times.

Say positive stuff about 360, "OMG, 360 fanboys"

Say positive stuff about PS3, "OMG, PS3 fanboys"

Say they're playing iOS games, "OMG, Apple fanboys"

Being down on the Wii U, "OMG, anti-Nintendo fanboys"

Whatever they say gets twisted against them.

That's cool but I wasn't simply referring to them saying something positive about the service. Good try, though.

@jmood88 said:

@WrenchNinja said:

@jmood88 said:

I'm all for the competition between services but it is weird for me to see all the cheering for playstation plus by the giantbomb guys. If they like it, fine, but they've sounded like fanboys at times.

Say positive stuff about 360, "OMG, 360 fanboys"

Say positive stuff about PS3, "OMG, PS3 fanboys"

Say they're playing iOS games, "OMG, Apple fanboys"

Being down on the Wii U, "OMG, anti-Nintendo fanboys"

Whatever they say gets twisted against them.

That's cool but I wasn't simply referring to them saying something positive about the service. Good try, though.

The cheer leading that Patrick and the others have done for playstation plus has been really strange.

They're saying good things about Plus because, guess what, Plus is doing good things. They're being negative about Gold because guess what, there are things to be negative about it.

I guess it's an alright thing for people who want this, but I think I only have a 120 GB HDD that I got with my PS3 last Black Friday for $199, so the number of games I can have on here, especially if any of those games have DLC or huge patches *cough* Battlefield 3 *cough*, it does not leave a lot of space. I would much rather just have a a hard copy of the game. It is a good thing that they are giving discounts, especially since
companies were pushing Digital Distribution as a crutch as to why retail games were so expensive.

@ikabubu said:

@MOAB said:

@jmood88 said:

The cheer leading that Patrick and the others have done for playstation plus has been really strange.

it's justified

it might still not be enough for me to get a PSN+ subscription, but it applies pressure to XBL, which I'm paying for right now. this competition could very well shape a better value for the next generation digital subscription, in which both services have to make value-added propositions instead of just sitting on their "you'll pay for it anyway" throne.

also: fuck videogame retail. i would love to cut human interaction from my media purchases.

You're kidding with this "apply pressure" shit, right?

They could up the price of Live to 80 bucks next year and NOTHING WOULD HAPPEN. They're literally untouchable.