WHAT IS PLAYSTATION PLUS?

For those that don't know much about Playstation Plus these few points will enlighten you:

• Playstation Plus is a paid subscription which was introduced in June 2010 for Playstation 3 as an optional feature on the Playstation network. A one year subscription is $49.99 for the US or £39.99/€49.99 per year for the EU.
• It offers an instant 10 game collection when you sign up which is a mix up of PS3 titles and PSN indie titles (the 10 games slightly change every month or so)
• You also get free PS3/PSN games added to your subscription every week aswell as free themes/avatars. (these change weekly so it is a good idea to download them all!)
• PS+ members get early or exclusive access to some betas, game demos, premium downloadable content and other content.
• 1GB worth of Cloud Saving Storage to back up saved game data.
• PS+ members also get a system software update which automatically downloads content to the PlayStation 3 and automatically saves your data to your cloud storage (automatically turns on/off your ps3 at a specific chosen time)
• Price % discount off titles on the PS store.
• Game Trials - 60 minute of gameplay from the full game on selected titles.
• Playstation Blog sites for updates on new content.
• VITA games are also included now in the same subscription.

MY PLAYSTATION PLUS EXPERIENCE!

I was always one of those guys who thought that Playstation Plus was just another rip off and never saw any value to anything that it had to offer but after having my original PS3 60GB getting the demon that is the YLOD and losing all my data due to having to reformat the harddrive on my new PS3 and then aswell as my new harddrive for my new PS3 slim 320GB getting corrupted... goodbye demon souls/dark souls saves... :( I then suddenly thought maybe Cloud Saving is needed...

I saw a tasty 25% discount offer for a 1yr sub £29.99 as well as being refunded £15 for the RE Bundle bs from capcom... it had ended up only costing me £14.99 for a 1 year PS+ subscription you can't really go wrong here even with the doubts I had. After getting the subscription merely for cloud saving, I then realised hmm there seems to be some games here too! lol After downloading the 10 instant games collection I thought to myself it has already paid for itself and it hadn't even been the 1st week!

I've been a subscriber for just over a month now and this is the content that I have gotten from PS+ on my account:

PS3 GAMES (12)

• Red Dead Redemption
• Just Cause 2
• Borderlands
• Saint Rows 2
• inFamous 2
• Motorstorm Apocalypse
• Burnout Paradise
• LittleBigPlanet 2
• Starhawk
• Bulletstorm
• Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition
• Darksiders

PSN GAMES (10)

• Machinarium
• Streets of Rage 2
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
• Outland
• Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
• Retro/Grade
• Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planewalkers
• Scott Pilgrim VS. The World: The Game
• Double Dragon Neon
• Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit

PSP GAMES (1)

• Super Stardust Portable

MINIS (2)

• Babel The King of the Blocks
• The 2D Adventures of Rotating Octopus

BETAS (2)

• Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale
• DUST 514

THEMES (54) 

AVATARS (13)

I did download a few other DLC and a few other bits but everything that I have listed I got for free for being a PS+ member which I otherwise would of had to pay for.

SO IS PLAYSTATION PLUS WORTH GETTING?

The simple answer would be: HELL YES!!! For me personally I only got Plus just for Cloud Saving but I feel like the amount of games you get is well worth it, even at full price I have to admit... I kinda wish I had subscribed earlier especially since I missed out on some epic titles such as Stacking, Sonic Adventures and others for free! If you also compare Playstation Plus to a Xbox Live Gold membership which you basically pay the same for it feels like Live totally rips you off as you are only paying to play online! Which had made me originally think that PS+ would be just another rip off which I was completely stupid for thinking so... I would be definitely subscribing again for another year if it continues to bring me these awesome titles in the next 11 months.

In spite of all this awesomeness there are also some cons to Plus which might make you think maybe it's not for me.

Firstly most of the titles that I had got are kinda old and if you are that certain type of gamer who buys all of the new releases then obviously there is a high chance that you have probably played most of the games that Plus has to offer which kinda makes the subscription completely pointless. I personally had 2 games already RE5 and Darksiders but since I didn't complete the gold edition extras and barely played much of Darksiders I can now sell those 2 physical copies and profit from it :P

Secondly if you decide to not want to resubscribe after your subscription has expired then you would lose all the PS+ content that you got for free (excluding content that you actually paid for i.e discounts) 

Thirdly you have to "get what your given" even if you don't like the game or genre there really isn't any alternatives, you either can play it or just pass on it and wait for next week's title/s.

Another problem is the amount memory you need to fit all this content on since everything you get is digital. I had a 320GB HDD and barely used any of it up for months! Now I only have 25GB left and only 1 month of PS+ has gone by.... D: I could simply delete the games after I played them and re-download them at a later date but some of these games take 10-15GB up which are very time consuming to download -.- (Shane on GT.com couldn't understand why the new PS3 models have 500GB and said the extra memory isn't needed I would have to disagree they need more if you have PS+!!!)

CONCLUSION 

Overall Playstation Plus definitely offers great value for money as you get so much gaming content but it simply won't be for everyone.

I would have to highly recommend PS+ to anyone who has been on the fence as to whether or not to subscribe to it as it is simply awesome, I can't wait for the next new games I get next week :)

Playstation Plus really is a Plus! (bad pun but it had to be done :P)

Thank you for reading!

~Gabriel Belmont~

UPDATE (05/01/2013)

So nearly 4 months have gone by since I got PS+ and WOW!!! the new games that they have given out since I have wrote this Blog have been amazing. They also introduced PS Vita games into the PS+ Collection and while I do not actually own a Vita handheld... damn they are making it tempting to purchase one with PS+ since you can still purchase the free Vita games and download them later when you do! It gives you a nice instant collection of games to play before you even decide to buy one :D (it's not a matter of "if" it's only a matter of when I'm going buy a Vita now very clever Sony very clever... /clap /clap lol)

They have yet to give out any JRPGs which is my favourite genre I can't really complain though with the amount of games I have gotten in total now:

PS3 GAMES (19)

• Red Dead Redemption
• Just Cause 2
• Borderlands
• Saint Rows 2
• inFamous 2
• Motorstorm Apocalypse
• Burnout Paradise
• LittleBigPlanet 2
• Starhawk
• Bulletstorm
• Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition
• Darksiders
• Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One
• Crysis 2
• Assassin's Creed II
• Batman: Arkham City
• Vanquish
• Mortal Kombat
• Bioshock 2

PSN GAMES (15)

• Machinarium
• Streets of Rage 2
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
• Outland
• Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
• Retro/Grade
• Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planewalkers
• Scott Pilgrim VS. The World: The Game
• Double Dragon Neon
• Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit
• Cubixx HD
• LIMBO
• Big Sky Infinity
• Knytt Underground
• Guardians of Middle-earth

VITA/PSP GAMES (7)

• Super Stardust Portable
• Gravity Rush
• Uncharted: Golden Abyss
• Chronovolt
• Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack
• Big Sky Infinity
• Mortal Kombat

MINIS (2)

• Babel The King of the Blocks
• The 2D Adventures of Rotating Octopus

BETAS (2)

• Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale
• DUST 514

DLC (4)

• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: Kane & Lynch Character Pack
• Tokyo Jungle Character Pack
• Starhawk Pod & Grizzly Rig Vehicle Pack, Map Pack, Sweet Tooth Character Pack
• Batman: Arkham City Catwoman Character Pack

THEMES (62) 

AVATARS (41)

That's right I've gotten a TOTAL OF 43 GAMES!!! for just my initial £14.99 that I paid, that is what like £0.33 per game and the best part is there is still 8 months left, however it would be closer to £1.00 each if I had paid the full subscription price but who cares the value you get is fantastic! :) I'm so going to re-subscribe once my subscription expires and I have got to hand it to Sony they really added probably the best service in Video Game History!

PLAYSTATION PLUS FTW!

~Gabriel Belmont~