What is IGN Prime? It's IGN's subscription service that gives those that sign up access to exclusive content including videos and competitions. I had never heard of it before today but I saw that you could get Hamilton's Great Adventure for free on the free trial I thought "Why not? I can just turn off auto-renewal straight away." However, after seeing all of the other 'free' stuff that membership grants you I may just change my mind.

I got:

• Hamilton's Great Adventure
• King Arthur (I have no real interest in this but maybe I can trade it one day)
• Bastion Soundtrack
• Some Sanctum DLC
• This sick briefcase:

Now to be clear, the stuff like the game guides, pro player coaching videos and 'Babeology' wallpapers don't seem great but one steam game every month for less than $60 a year isn't bad (even cheaper if you pay annually).

Now obviously Giant Bomb aren't as huge as IGN and it would be unfair to expect as much stuff with premium memberships but if they ran a competition to win a WWE steel chair then I would upgrade in a heartbeat.

Oh man, King Arthur is a great game. Although the difficulty becomes a bitch when you face those elven fairies with a hero leading them that far outlevels your own hero.

Free stuff isn't free if you have to pay for it to get it. Just wanted to get that out there even though you seem to realize that already.

Also, I dislike IGN for the most part, so, that's about all I'll say on that.

GET OUT OF HERE YOU DAMN VIRAL MARKETER!

Edit: WAIT A PDF OF A GAME GUIDE FOR SWTOR THAT I CAN LIKLY DOWNLOAD FOR FREE ANYWHERE ELSE?! I'M SO FUCKING IN!

Serious edit: Getting stuff is cool and all but I would much rather pay for the original content that Giant Bomb offers and not just pay to get random Games that IGN don't even create that I may not even enjoy to keep me paying. With Giant Bomb. I know it's the good stuff.

@FateOfNever: I agree with you, I doubt there is anybody willing to pay $3.33 upwards a month just for HD downloads of IGN video reviews or an exclusive members only forum but I can see a lot of people willing to pay that for the bonuses. I can also imagine lots of people starting a new 7 day trial every month, getting steam keys etc. and cancelling their account. I wonder if IGN are going to try and combat that by either having a minimum membership length for bonuses or just by making them not worth stealing.

@rmanthorp From what I have seen of it, Giant Bomb's premium content is without a doubt better but IGN's is obviously targeted at a different audience. Some people may find it hard to justify paying for Random Ass PC Game et al. if they aren't heavily invested in the personalities of the staff members. With IGN they can easily tell they are saving money by subscribing (but getting things they wouldn't have bought otherwise) so it seems like a great deal.

I was planning to get the Bastion soundtrack anyway so I may let it renew 3 months and see how it goes.

EDIT: The game guide is literally just the PDF of their accessible to all wiki. All 638 pages of it. Nobody is going to print this out so surely it would be more useful to use the actual wiki than the possibly outdated PDF...

I'll give you this much: That's a pretty class deal IGN are doing.

Too bad I dislike the majority of their staff, articles and quantity-over-quality mentality. Especially that Greg Miller guy, he's far BEYOND using "tool" as a descriptor for anything other than gardening.

I was just about to say that some of the Game Design videos available could be pretty interesting until I started watching one.

"Hi I'm ___________ and on this DVD I will be discussing the basics of character design."

Unoriginal original content.

IGN had the EQ boards. That was good.

I'm torn. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but it also sure sounds to me like a purposeful pitch from someone paid or incentivized to promote the IGN Prime package.

I suppose it also bothers me a bit that you're shilling their subscription here when you haven't jumped on board the ol Giant Bomb Express. *shrug* Maybe that's wrong, but it just kind of rubs me the wrong way. Like someone going into Dillards and telling customers they should check out JCPenney. (and I'd take Giant Bomb's awesome year-long content over even a WWE steel chair any day) Though, hey, maybe you're quite sincere and you really believe its something worth checking out.

Perhaps it's simply my inherent skepticism regarding IGN, but something just doesn't smell right about this. Thanks for the info on the service anyway.

You got a Money in the Bank briefcase? FUCK MAN THAT GOES PERFECTLY WITH MY CM PUNK OUTFIT

@TruthTellah: As I started writing this I could tell that some people were going to have that impression and I assure you there is no incentive for me. I don't think they have a referral system and nowhere in the post did I explicitly encourage others to join. I'm just letting people know that it's there and it's alright.

As for not being a paid member here, it is definitely something I hope to change in the near future. Not just for the extra features but to support a site that is one of my most frequented. I would have a hard time trying to justify that IGN 'needed' my support.

The reason why IGN offers free games as part of the subscription is because they have a games business (i.e. Direct2Drive) @TruthTellah said:

Perhaps it's simply my inherent skepticism regarding IGN, but something just doesn't smell right about this. Thanks for the info on the service anyway.

This topic really does come across more like a subtle advertisement for a competing site's subscription model and we don't allow commercial advertising on the forum, going to lock this down now.

Please click here for further details.... ;)