Tag Archives: welcome back program

Playstation Store is back!

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ps3

Well, it was previously thought to be set for tomorrow, June 3rd, but Sony pulled a fast one on us and got it up early this morning. They’re saying that there will be another update tomorrow and the Customer Appreciation package is not available yet (they said they’re doing additional testing on that), but there is a lot of backed-up content that is now available for downloading.

But don’t take my word for it. Let’s hear it from them…

PlayStation Plus

Full Game Trial

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Dante’s Inferno Full Game Trial

Featured Games & DLC

SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs SU90-S Shotgun (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs: Abandoned Map (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
MAG Interdiction DLC (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers, regular price $4.99)
Comet Crash (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers, regular price $9.99) (Prior offer, still live)
Vector TD minis (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers, regular price $3.99) (Prior offer, still live)
Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus (PS one) (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers, regular price $9.99) (Prior offer, still live)
Babel the King of Blocks (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers, regular price $2.99)
The 2D Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers, regular price $3.99)
Duael Invaders (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers, regular price $3.99) (Prior offer, still live)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers, regular price $4.99) (Prior offer, still live)
Killzone 3 Steel Rain Map Pack (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers, regular price $4.99) (Prior offer, still live)

Discounted Games & DLC

Red Johnson’s Chronicles Episode 1 (PlayStation Plus price $9.74, regular price $12.99) (Prior offer, still live)
Dungeon Hunter (PlayStation Plus price $10.39, regular price $12.99) (Prior offer, still live)
Ricochet HD (PlayStation Plus price $2.50, regular price $10.00)
Cool Boarder 2 (PlayStation Plus price $3.00, regular price $5.99) (Prior offer, still live)
Under Siege (PlayStation Plus price $10.00, regular price $19.99)
Interpol (PlayStation Plus price $3.99, sale price $4.99, regular price $9.99)
Motor Storm Apocalypse Rare Elite Supercar (PlayStation Plus price $2.24, regular price $2.99)
Motor Storm Apocalypse Revelation Vehicle Pack Bundle (PlayStation Plus price $2.39, regular price $2.99)

And that’s not even close to all of it. Check out the official post on the PlayStation Blog.

Happy gaming, PS3 owners!

Welcome Back: PSN returns…finally

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Playstation 3

Yesterday, Sony finally felt that PSN was ready to be turned back on and initiated a restart internationally. The button was pressed, and people are trickling back online on the Playstation Network. For the moment, not everyone is able to get back on due to delays in certain areas, but for the most part, it’s all green lights. Unless, of course, you live in Japan. Many people may remember when Xbox Live went down during the holiday season. It was down two weeks, primarily because the influx of new users was too much for Microsoft’s servers at the time. It’s good for historical comparison, though it was very different from the problems PSN is currently facing.

It’s been almost an entire month since PSN was taken down, following its being hacked (supposed by the group Anonymous). There has been a lot of back and forth with this issue, and a bit of drama, but it’s good to finally see it getting slowly resolved. April 20th was the day PSN was initially taken down, and that was a long time ago – I’m fairly certain that millions of dollars have been lost, for both Sony and developers. I’m sure even more money will have to be sacrificed to fund the Welcome Back program that they’re running as an apology.

Speaking of that program, here’s what they’re offering:

PS3

Desempaquetando PSP lite

    Dead Nation
    inFAMOUS
    LittleBigPlanet
    Super Stardust HD
    Wipeout HD + Fury

PSP

    Killzone Liberation
    LittleBigPlanet
    ModNation Racers
    Pursuit Force

Based on what Sony is saying, PS3 and PSP owners are able to choose two of the titles from each platform you own, for free. Once the Playstation Store comes back online, they will be available to everyone to choose from for 30 days for download at no cost. The games you choose will be yours forever.

Aside from the free games, current Playstation Plus subscribers are getting an additional 60 days of free use of the service added on to their remaining time. But no gamer will be left behind, as even those who are NOT PSN+ users will still get a free 30 days. Think of it as an extended trial. There are a few other various parts, but the icing on the cake is the 100 free virtual items for Playstation Home. Not sure how many people really use it, but hey, it’s free.

This is definitely a fairly strong gesture from Sony, but with the severity of the situation, it was undoubtedly called for. The Playstation Store isn’t back up yet (at the time of writing), but be sure to check it out and claim your free stuff when you can.