In reaction to Microsoft's change of Games with Gold Sony ups the ante for Playstation Plus. It's now 2 games for each of its 3 current platforms each month, available for a month, with entitlement lasting a lifetime, as long as one's a PS Plus subscriber.

Being fully embedded into the Playstation Ecosystem myself. Jesus F. Christ. So many great games. *happyface*

• EU Blog: http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2014/05/29/playstation-plus-june-nba-2k14-dragons-crown-pixeljunk-2/
• US Blog: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2014/05/29/playstation-plus-2-titles-per-month-for-ps4-ps3-ps-vita/

Here's the trailer for the US line-up...

...and here's the European counterpart...

...what a great crops for me. Haven't played any of these yet, and a majority of 'em, I do want to play - very much so.

Harvest!

I still kind of think PS+ is a scam. I guess the sales probably make it worth it but I definitely would save money just buying the games I was interested in when they went on sale.

Ah, the Internet. Where 72 games for 50 dollars can be considered "a scam." That's about 69 cents per game.

On a more serious note, anyone who doesn't have Watch Dogs yet should know about the deal that Target has this week. If you buy the game and a year of PS Plus, you get a 25 dollar discount. It essentially means you're paying half price for PS Plus, which is one of the best deals I've seen for the service.

The most cynical thing I've read all year. Literally.

P.S. The Instant Game Collection is curated to uphold certain quality standards. Its games should have a metacritic average of at least 70%. The point being, even if you wouldn't play most of these games in the normal à-la-carte way, you might play and enjoy them with PS Plus, because there's literally zero friction for doing so, once you're over PS+ paywall. Playing critically well-received games from outside your comfort zone can be an amazing experience.

For example, I've nearly 100% cleared the content of Pixeljunk Monsters Ultimate on Vita, a game that's simply been far enough outside of my wheelhouse, that I'd never have bought it, even when it was on sale. I adore that game, and it put the Pixeljunk games on my map. A clear win-win situation for everyone involved.

Who knows, I might play an hour of Lone Survior this month, a game I have no inherent interest in, and it might turn out to be a new favorite of mine. Same goes for NBA 2K14.

Has it really been that many games already? Man, what a scam. I feel so ripped off.

Nope. That's how many games you get each year from now on, if you have all 3 platforms. 12 months X 6 games (2 per platform) = 72 games per year for 50$, ontop of all the other services and benefits of PS+, like cloud saving and a 10% additional discount on most sales.

Since its inception 4 years ago, it's been many more games than that.

Sorry, are you joking?

Yea, I haven't done the math in a while but the last time I went through my download history and tallied up all the things I bought or received for free from PS+ I was around $1,200 in savings after a year and a half. Before Giantbomb and PS+ my PS3 was basically a media hub and NBA 2Kx device. Other than whatever Rockstar games came out I basically couldn't find any interest in anything else. But now I'm gaming like it's the SNES/N64/PS2 era all over again.

I've got NBA 2K14 for PS4 but as an avid fan I'm actually really curious to see how different the two games are, especially when it comes to feature sets. The PS4 version has some god-awful menus and management of saves/progress, I'm curious if the PS3 version ended up being much more polished in that regard and the PS4 version ended up being all about what's on the court to the detriment of everything outside of it.

Also always been curious about the Trine games, nice to have that to add to my PS4 collection.

@spaceinsomniac: @seppli: I was being sarcastic. I have probably over 120 games from PS+ in the last four years. And I pay on average $40 a year because I buy the subs on sale. His comment was just ludicrous.

Sarcasm on the internet. Guaranteed to misfire 100% of the times.

it's really been four years?????

oh fuck im gonna die soon

For the first year of my PS+ subscription I only had a Vita. It was still worth the 50 eurobucks. Then I found out I could get all the game on all the platforms. So I've a bunch of PS3 games in case I ever buy a PS3. It's seriously not a scam. It's absolutely worth the money.

I think the changes are good. I know a lot of people are freaking out over the removal of the "yearly" games, but really I'd rather get the extra PS4 game every month.

@nodima Trine 2 is a real nice game, gorgeous to look at and fun to play.

Remind me to never read the comments on the Play Station Blog again. What a shit show.

You know... I haven't actually bothered to play any PS+ games in forever so part of me wonders why I continue to subscribe to it but then I remember I need it for PS4 anyways. That being said this months offerings do absolutely nothing for me. I'm sad that europe gets Dragon's Crown for PS Vita though. I'd love to get that.

I really wanted Dragon's Crown...

Oh well, I guess it's time to finally play Trine 2/Pixel Junk Shooter(s)/Terreria/Sly Cooper.

I still love you, PS+.

@hunkulese said:

It's a total scam because all these games on Vita force me to buy a bigger memory card. Fuck you, Sony and your amazing deals.

Awesome. Hopefully they'll continue to largely be decent games.

This can potentially be good or we can get 2 free meh PS3 games a month. Only time can tell...

@demoskinos: I'm in euroland so I'll be getting it, but it mostly looks like if they end up in one of the IGCs they'll end up in the other one in a matter of time. Like you guys are getting Sly Cooper this month, which I think we got last month or the one before.

Isn't that kind of the epitome of a scam? Looks great at face value but isn't actually so. I know I'm probably in the minority on a videogame forum but I have more money than time. If you have more time than money and you're looking for anything and everything to play it's great. If a game interests me, I buy it. If a game looks somewhat interesting, I'll buy it on sale. By the time it gets to PS+ I'm basically paying for games that I couldn't be bothered to buy when they came out. Paying for an unknown set of games that I probably won't end up playing doesn't seem like the greatest value to me.

@nodima: @jesus_phish: Trine 2 is a big step back from Trine. In Trine 2 the secrets are all unlockable poetry and concept art. In Trine it's all eqipable loot with benefits such as +1 to number of planks the wizard can conjure or + 1 to arrows from the thief. It made seeking out secrets in Trine 2 pointless. The benefits from leveling in Trine 2 are also not as rewarding and the story feels like a tacked on excuse to bring these three characters back again. Not sure how good or bad the expansion is. I never bothered to give it a shot.

Playstation Plus is like cable TV. You'd probably never watch Storage wars on netflix or buy it on DVD, but you would if you saw it while flipping through the channels. That's what PS+ is. Games like Bloodrayne Betrayal, Awesomenauts, Crash Commando, Gotham City Impostors, Runner 2 and so on are all channel flipping games that you would never buy or actively seek out.

Hm, can someone enlighten me on what's exactly changing? I'm not a PS+ subscriber so I don't know how the current system works. How is this different?

@xyzygy: There were yearly games, which would be available all year round for the PS3 and Vita systems. These are being phased out. Instead of those there will now be 2 games per system (PS3/4/Vita) totally 6 games per month. That's about it.

@hunkulese: Not everyone can buy every game they want to play. And you discover new games you might not have given any thought to playing. Also its required on the PS4 for 3rd party multiplayer games.

@mosespippy: Exactly. I never bought The Puppeteer for example, due other games coming out around that time. So getting that with PS+ was amazing for me. I get to check it out when ever I want now because its installed on my PS3. There have also been a few games that came out on PS+ that I had a physical copy of. So I added them to my download list and sold the disc copy for a few bucks.

Darn, I got both Lone Survivor and Dragon's Crown earlier this year. Oh well, maybe July will be better to me.

@xyzygy: We're getting 2 games for each system now as opposed to 1 PS4 game, 2-3 PS3 games and 2 Vita games. On top of that, us in NA will be getting all the monthly games on the first Tuesday of the month instead of waiting for 1-2 new games every Tuesday (This starts in July though+EU has had this for a long time).

@jesus_phish: Sheesh. This would kind of piss me off a little. Simply because I would hesitate to buy ANYTHING now. If they're going to be offering so many games, what's the point of even buying one outside of the PS+ program? Then a game will come up later that you already bought and totally could have waited for. Gah.

This isn't a problem with PS+ itself, just the whole system of offering games for "free" in a subscription based program. It's impossible to know a couple months ahead of time if a game you want will be offered, and now even more so with the 2 free games per platform per month.

But, this is amazing for those of us who ONLY use PS+ as a means of gaming, and it makes the program even more attractive to be able to do that now. Who knows, I might buy a few years worth and then just solely use that. Then by the time I'd be finished my backlog might be up ^.^

Neat. This month actually turned out pretty good on PS4. I've been thinking about grabbing Trine 2 anyways. Would anyone call me crazy if I said that I think July is going to be the first month that they offer a retail product for PS+ on PS4? I have a Knack for these kinds of predictions.

Meanwhile nintendo continues to sit in its corner by itself hoping people will buy A Link to the Past for the 5th time...

A company with an insanely large catalog of games continues to be outshined by Sony and Microsoft in this department.

@xyzygy: If you really want a game and can afford it, buy it. If you're going to wait for it to end up "free" on PS+ then you probably didn't really want it all that bad.

We're getting two more rereleased PS3 games. Oh goody! I just want something new and exclusive.

I'm sure I already know the answer to this but thought I might ask anyways, are the free games retroactive for new subscribers or do you have to buy the game at its month in order to get it, or does it stay free as long as you had ps+ during its month?

PS+ not being worth it for you doesn't make it a scam. That just means it is not for you. It might be a great deal for others, like me. I've played several games because of PS+ that I wouldn't have played otherwise, and gotten a bunch of games for 5 bucks or less. It all gets even better when you consider the fact that you can pretty much always get a year of PS+ for 30 bucks instead of 50 around Black Friday.

@hurricaneivan29: It is not retroactive. You have to add the games to your download queue when they are on the service. Then you can download them again for free as long as you remain a member.

Or anytime there after. You can have the subscription lapse (as in it expires and you don't renew). And then sign up again a year later, and you will have access to those games again.

Does it matter? I buy what I want to buy. Play what I want to play. For example - you can be certain Dark Souls 2 will be on PS+ someday. Demon's Souls and Dark Souls have been on PS+. Someday doesn't cut it for people who are into that game. Dark Souls 2 has sold more copies than any entry in the franchise. You can be certain lots of people got into the Souls games for free, and are now ready to pay the premium, because they loved it so much.

I think that's what's most attractive to publishers. These subscription programs aren't just a way to further monetize games that have lost their momentum at retail, more importantly they broaden the audience, and thus the awareness for the brand. For example, I haven't bought Far Cry 3, because Ubisoft games usually annoy the shit out of me for some reason (I think it's because they're somehow too french, up their own ass, and tedious - but what do I know). However, I got access to Far Cry 3 via PS+, and loved the shit out of it. In consequence, I bought the Blood Dragon expansion, and I'll very likely buy Far Cry 4 at a premium on day 1.

It's the same reason why EA is giving away Battlefield 3 right now (on Origin until June 3rd). They're after mindshare for Origin and Battlefield.

@raven10: The best thing to do is to "purchase" them all from the sony website. I do this cause I haven't bought a ps4 yet, but all the ps+ games that have come out on plus I'll have waiting for me when I get my ps4.

@bofooq said:

Similarly, the PS+ game collection was the main reason I bought a Vita.

@seppli: That's some strange quote format you got going on there :P

wow thats pretty great actually.

wow that's amazing.

Pretty happy about my Vita buy. That thing is a really nice piece of hardware and it's finally getting a decent lineup. PS3 continues to be a PS+ game powerhouse. So weird. I'll be playing on that box into 2015. I ended up buying a bunch of oddball PS3 stuff at $15 or so apiece. Games for years.

I know right. Demanding $50 for hundreds of $ in games. Thievery of the highest order.

Good for VIta and PS4 users, PS3 users no longer get 3 games a month sometimes :( Yeah I'll eventually get the other two and have those games, but what about right now? Only 2 free games for my less than 3 bucks? Outrageous...ly good deal.

I like the idea of PS+ but currently I just don't play the games they hand out. After this sub runs out I will plan on just signing up for a 3 month sub every now and again when a game is "free" that I want to play but not purchase but then can play all the games that I've racked up so far.

Awesome, I bought Trine 2 for 360 at a time when I was moving and never got around to playing it. I almost bought it at the PS4 launch but always decided not to.

Also, two free PS4 games sounds great, I just wish they would announce it farther in advance so I don't accidentally buy a game that goes up on it

Your argument breaks down completly when you consider people (including me) paid a higher price for years just to play online on xbox and they didn't think it was a scam.

I was betting money that one of June's games was gonna be Killzone or Knack just to have a big one for E3. Pretty good line up though.

@bofooq: Yup. I do that every month with both the Vita and the PS4.

I pay for PS+ because I need it to play online with PS4. The games are a bonus, thus "free" for me. Also, I got (and will continue to get) my PS+ subscription during Black Friday sales. I got 3 years for like $70. I've been redeeming the PS3 and Vita games on the website even though I don't own them. I'll have a bunch of games lined up on those if I decide to buy one (waiting for the inevitable PS3 price drop announcement at E3, then will buy one).

I'm glad to have two PS4 games now. Pixeljunk shooter is great. I've only played the first, so I'm happy to play Ultimate and have 1 and 2. Trine 2 is good. I've played it already, but I could see playing again co-op.