July 30, 2012July 31, 2012

Get The Walking Dead Episodes 1 and 2 Free With PlayStation Plus

On August 7th, PlayStation Plus members will get Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead Episodes 1& 2 added to their Instant Game Collection. That’s not all – in the next few weeks PlayStation Plus members will also receive significant discounts on the latest and best PSN games a part of PSN PLAY event, beginning tomorrow, July 31st.

July 31st PlayStation Plus Update

The Expendables 2 Video game

20% off for PlayStation Plus Members (PSN Price: $14.99, PS+ Price: $11.99)
The 2012 PSN PLAY event kicks off with a first week discount on one of the most intense co-op shooters on PSN. Grab a friend (or three) and join four of the Expendables (Barney, Gunner, Caesar and Yin Yang) in a mission to rescue akidnapped billionaire. Featuring vehicular combat, four-player co-op story and challenge modes, and a wealth stages set in exotic locales, The Expendables 2 Videogame is a fantastic experience for gamers that dig hardcore shoot em up action.

Also, don’t forget that starting this week PlayStation Plus members can pre-order SoundShapes from the PlayStation Store and get 20% off boththe PS3 and PS Vita versions of the game (of which come bundled together for one price) as well as an exclusive PS3 theme. Note: Pre-orders for SoundShapes will only take place on the PS3 store as the gift with purchase theme is only useable for PS3 systems. Vita only owners don’t worry as you can still snag the 20% Plus discount on the store the 1st week the releases.

August 7th PlayStation Plus Update

The Walking Dead Episode 1: A New Day

Free for PlayStation Plus Members (PSN Price: $4.99)
The first episode from Telltale Games’ universally-acclaimed series The Walking Dead by will be available to all PlayStation Plus members as part of the Instant Game Collection! Follow a set of unique characters as they fight for survival amongst the ever-growing “walker” population, and encounter threats from both undead and human enemies.

The Walking Dead Episode 2: Starved for Help

Free for PlayStation Plus Members (PSN Price: $4.99)
We’re also delivering PlayStation Plus members the second episode in The Walking Dead series as part of the Instant Game Collection! Following the decisions you made in A New Day, you’ll be confronted with even more gut-wrenching scenarios and thrilling action sequences with your fellow survivors. Like Episode 1, Starved for Help was adored by critics for its riveting gameplay and dramatic storyline, where players need to make harrowing decisions on the fly.

SoundShapes

20% off for PlayStation Plus Members (PSN Price: $14.99, PS+ Price: $11.99)
This week marks the release of the highly-anticipated PSN exclusive SoundShapes. Marrying brilliant side-scrolling 2D gameplay with unique musical compositions, you’ll be hooked by the incredible landscapes you’ll see and hear in SoundShapes. Available for both PS3 and PS Vita systems together for one special price, PlayStation Plus members will be getting the absolute best deal with a 20% discount. If you already had your pre-order locked in, you’re all set! Make sure to check out the trailer above, which introduces musicians Beck and Pyramid Attack into the lineup of amazing levels in SoundShapes.

With the August 7th update, you’ll also be able to pre-order the next PSN PLAY game Papo & Yo, which will also have a 20% discount for all PlayStation Plus members. Everyone that pre-orders the game will get an exclusive Papo & Yo theme, so don’t sleep on it!

We’ll be coming at you with another update on August 13th, with more additions to the Instant Game Collection and additional awesome sauce. Until then, watch the PS.Blog for our weekly PlayStation Store Updates to see what additional content is added for PlayStation Plus members. Please leave us your feedback in the comments, and help us by rating the Instant Game Collection lineup on a scale from 1 – 10. If there was one thing you could change about PlayStation Plus, what would it be?

Comments are closed.

392 Comments

12 Author Replies

cusetown313
July 30, 2012 at 12:06 pm PDT

Morgan ? Can We Get 1 Full Game For August, Killzone 3 Or God Of War 3 and then you can 2 psn games of your choice , please it’s my birthday month !
salah75020
July 30, 2012 at 12:08 pm PDT

Gta 3 l UE ??
CDWJUSTIN
July 30, 2012 at 12:08 pm PDT

chop this up as a bad PS plus month for me… crappy thing is AUG will hold 4 ps plus updates and my guess is because i bought the walking dead this month will be dead to me… their will be nothing else i take it
salah75020
July 30, 2012 at 12:09 pm PDT

gta 3 will be released in europe t it? pray answer me please
spaceboy21
July 30, 2012 at 12:10 pm PDT

It’s really best not to think of Plus as a way to get games for free that you really wanted (and were willing to buy).

Think of it as a way to get some free games that you may have passed up or even never really interested in. For the money we spend on Plus, we get a great deal. With all our different tastes, there’s no way every game they offer will be one you don’t own AND you really wanted.

Sure I had JC2, LBP2, Infamous 2 already, but I got R&C which I was tempted to buy several times and my son loves it. I also got Lara Croft which I was tempted to get before and I’m loving it. Plus a 2nd digital copy of LBP2 means easy access for my kids without having to get the disc out.

I never was into Walking Dead but I’ll try these out, if they’re good I’ll get the other episodes probably. If next update gives away something I already own, then so be it. If I already own it I probably really wanted it and probably got a discount on it from Plus.

I think they’re doing a great job offering different genres for free to better the chance everyone gets something they don’t have, plus it helps broaden our horizons into games we passed on or wouldn’t normally buy.
jaimbire
July 30, 2012 at 12:11 pm PDT

Once again, another month that Vita owners get no love while subscribing to PS+. Any idea when some discounts or free games might come for Vita owners?
ZombieLover23
July 30, 2012 at 12:13 pm PDT

Wow, now that you’ve given out episodes 1 & 2 of the walking dead. I hope your not gonna release 3-5 for FREE for everyone! Kinda miffed that ya’ll decided to release 2 episodes for FREE. Kinda a slap in the face to the rest of us that bought the season pass for $19.99 to save $5… Now, it doesen’t really seem that any of us that bought said bundle have saved any money at all now. If anything we all lost money since ya’ll decided to give out episodes 1 & 2 for Free. I saw several people saying same thing as me on here and find it so funny that no one got any feedback\response from “Morgan Haro // Community Manager.” Of course your not gonna respond. I mean, what could you say? I won’t be buying anymore bundles to save money when in fact ya’ll will just turn around and hand them out for FREE… 8/
tbm0987
July 30, 2012 at 12:15 pm PDT

sony do us all a favor & STOP telling us about stuff “coming out soon* without dates attached to them. it just makes us mad that we dont have it & dont know when we will. so stop rubbing our noses in it before u know when we get it. k?
gamepunk86
July 30, 2012 at 12:16 pm PDT

im tired of getting telltale games. jurassic park sucked, too glitchy, boring gameplay. and back to the future was decent story but gameplay was pretty boring also. i’ll see how walking dead is but not hoping for much
DuoMaxwell007
July 30, 2012 at 12:17 pm PDT

@105 that IS how I think of PS+ free games.. RDR, darksiders and motorstorm apoc are games id love to PLAY but wouldnt want to spend money on so getting those for free would be nice… for games i actually WANT to spend money on Id prefer those were discounted for PS+ as opposed to given for free that way if I cancel my subscription at least I get to keep the games i REALLY wanted, and so far theyve been doing great with the discounts.

@Morgan Id love if you guys added final fantasy 11 to PS2 Classics with all its expansions, the game is coming out with a new expansion next year and the PS2 wont be getting that expansion s(even though the PC and 360 and PS2 players all co exist together on the same servers) so us PS2 players are pretty much being phased out (they dont even sell ps2 copies anymore whereas PC and Xbox copies are abundant) It would be great to see the PS2 version rejuvenated as a PS2 classic… heck Id pay 50 bucks for that as a PS2 classic even though its only worth 20 now, that how bad I want it on my PS3. Ill give me my MMO fix until FFXIV come s out on PS3, soo see if you can make it happy Morgan.
samthetiger4376
July 30, 2012 at 12:18 pm PDT

Well, I might as well get Plus now hey keep announcing great games for free and I fill like an idiot for not getting. But will Plus start getting Vita games on discount or free? August 7th Sound Shapes can’t wait!
Paim123
July 30, 2012 at 12:20 pm PDT

Morgan, we will have more free games this month?
- Morgan Haro
  July 30, 2012 at 1:48 pm PDT
  
  yep
God-Of-Lyf
July 30, 2012 at 12:23 pm PDT

I would be weary of this too good to be true offer. If you get episodes 1 & 2 free, then you purchase episode 3 when it comes out what happens if you cancel plus? My bet is you will not be able to start up episode 3 after that time as you no longer have access to the episode 1 install. Any word on this?
Joe-TFW
July 30, 2012 at 12:27 pm PDT

Oh, come on with the Walking Dead now. That’s really a kick in the grapes to those who bought the season pass. The entire thing isn’t even out yet and you’ve made the season pass a waste of money. Coming out with it after all episodes are out, that’s fine, but I honestly feel like members are being punished for supporting the PSN with purchases of new releases.
eddieanton
July 30, 2012 at 12:30 pm PDT

Whoa.. this is beyond lame.. i’m starting to dislike +.. i mean two s***** games of the same series?, didn’t you guys think about the fact that not all people are into whatever semi sorta game thing that that is? (the genre of those games elude me but i know that it’s similar to sam and max and that ilk), at least you could’ve spaced them out.. you get one s***** game this month and some other game (i wouldn’t mind if it’s ancient as long as it’s not cr*p) and the second part to said s***** game the next month.. wow.. and i’m afraid the update mid-month is going to suck monkey orbs too (even more so if possible if previous months are an indication), you guys better redeem yourselves come september big time.. if not this guy will not be renewing this service that started with such promise but has gone down the c****** with each passing month.
spaceboy21
July 30, 2012 at 12:30 pm PDT

@duomaxwell (110)

I’d vot for darksiders as well – I’ve always been on the fence about it. Plus with the 2nd coming out that makes sense to get us into the series. I have RDR and MSA already. By far RDR is better for your money, but MSA is a fun game – kept me busy offline during the PSN outage … I forgot to mention that Warhammer surprised me as being a pretty fun game I’m glad we got free.
Squirtbot
July 30, 2012 at 12:31 pm PDT

If you have PLUS, you really have no reason to complain. I haven’t even finished my first year of subscription and I already had to upgrade my Harddrive just to fit the almost 100 free games I’ve gotten… For $50!

Yes, on occasion, I’ve already owned a game that was offered. Its inevitable, that’s going to happen with the amount of games I buy. I couldn’t, how ever, care less. I love Playstation and I love PLUS. It has been, without a doubt, the best $50 I have ever spent!

I guess I should thank all of the complainers though… Without you, PLUS would probably get less.
Heatseeker125
July 30, 2012 at 12:33 pm PDT

Who in their right mind would prefer old stuff for free compared to recent stuff for free? The complainers will just complain later that there is nothing but old stuff on PS Plus if they got their way. Then if recent stuff becomes free again, they will complain again they bought it already. You just can’t win with some people.
ID_Arti
July 30, 2012 at 12:35 pm PDT

So what your saying is that there is exactly 0 support for users who only have a vita?
Because we cant get PS+ and 2 for 1 sales mean nothing to us.
Note: im sure im not the only PS3-less PSVita user and am not planning on buying a PS3.
Please correct me if im wrong, because if im right i will regret buying a PSVita ( not meant as a threat )
Will appreciate a reply, thank you.
JumpMan33
July 30, 2012 at 12:36 pm PDT

Just a suggestion, but I think good picks for upcoming PS+ games would be Spelunker HD and Arcana Heart 3. Both great game and I already own Spelunker HD but I would like to see its online play more active. :)
eddieanton
July 30, 2012 at 12:37 pm PDT

@118: They should at least give us an option?.. two games of the same series in the same update with no other available option?.. what if you could’nt give a rodent’s behind about said series?… should you be screwed in that update?.. that is wrong.. and the thing about prefering old games i said because maybe the’re having issues in securing GOOD recent games… so instead of getting HO-HUM games (to be nice) we could get an awesome old game instead.
SmittenVixen
July 30, 2012 at 12:41 pm PDT

I’m a gamer on a budget & have been a PS+ member since the end of December 20th of 2010. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my subscription or IMHO rate it a solid 8 out of 10. The first year had too many repeats when there was supposed to be new releases. Granted some of those repeats were Mini’s. On the whole it’s been great being given the chance to play games I otherwise never would have experienced, & being surprised by how much fun I had.

One thing I’d like to see change is the ability to purchase something that has previously been included free with PS+. For example the Sam & Max: the Devil’s Playhouse Bundle (in the store) is completely blocked & I only get a message saying “This content cannot be accessed on your account” because I already have it via PS+ since 12/20/10. I’m concerned this will happen when eventually the Walking Dead episodes will be bundled together, yet episodes 1 & 2 were given by PS+. See where I’m going here? Anyway, if I could choose only one thing to change about PlayStation Plus then it would be to allow us to buy anything we’ve already included in our download list via PS+.

Keep up the great work & thank you!
Scorpion_73
July 30, 2012 at 12:41 pm PDT

I love the updates but i’m upset that Walking Dead is free when i bought the pass and what will happen when the other 3 come to Ps+ Free right into are Ps+ Collection and we the people that payed for them even we have Ps+ will we get back the difference we spent on the Walking Dead episode’s. Added to are account cause pretty much we are Double paying for them.
lisatsunami
July 30, 2012 at 12:43 pm PDT

This is rather surprising & as soon as I read the title I knew there would be much moaning, but I’m sure Morgan anticipated that.

I had absolutely no inclination to buy the Walking Dead. I’m creeped out by zombies! But I’ll try it now since it’s free. Thanks.

For those of you who are hoping for Deus Ex, so am I. I had envied the Euros for getting Trine 2 but with a little patience, was rewarded with that for free recently so I have hopes for Deus Ex.
boomstickbhg
July 30, 2012 at 12:44 pm PDT

What… The… Heck…

Not only are we getting less and less every week as plus members, now this?

How exactly does it make any sort of sense for our Instant Game collection to include 2 ‘chapters’ of a game instead of giving us more of what we’re supposed to get: FULL FREE GAMES???

No qore. Less discount all the time. Less avatar/mini/ps1 classics.

My PS plus expires next month and so far I have no reason to renew.

Since the walking dead 2 parts are only partial games I’m going to assume they don’t count towards the 12 full/complete games we get for the instant collection.
Boe50
July 30, 2012 at 12:44 pm PDT

I wonder where all these ” top tier ” games are….that was the phrase used, right?
We got LBP2, Just Cause 2, inFamous 2, but that’s it for ” top tier ” ?
disappointed again………………..
all I ask for is what YOU advertised
NAPALM71
July 30, 2012 at 12:46 pm PDT

NOW….how freakin kool is THAT…..Walking Dead 1 AND 2 for free….I knew waiting to buy them would pay off sooner or later….and BOY did it pay off

THANX A BUNCH SONY
RonaldLust
July 30, 2012 at 12:49 pm PDT

So what about the people who bought the season pass… Do this before the release or not at all, now again I feel left out because I already paid for the games.
luvtoseek
July 30, 2012 at 12:50 pm PDT

This is a great proposition. TWD series is highly-rated & having the 1st & 2nd episodes free is a great incentive for the last 3 episodes to be purchased later. Everybody’s happy. People, I seriously doubt that the entire series will be free; that’s not good business. If consumers enjoy it, they’ll buy what they don’t own.

I bought the season pass months ago- what right do I have to be at odds about? Only episodes 1 & 2 are free. More users will be interested in trying TWD, +, & its line of membership games- this is a great update!
wtfsoko
July 30, 2012 at 12:51 pm PDT

As a Playstation Plus subscriber and a Playstation geek, I have come to the conclusion that buying games on PSN and being a Plus member is incredibly redundant. The whole business model at this point has me a little flustered (Once you see the sales dropping, you release is on PS+). I realize the goal is to make money, but it is screwing over the dedicated fans who make weekly purchases. I will not make any more PSN purchases from now on.
boomstickbhg
July 30, 2012 at 12:53 pm PDT

I will say the initial Instant Games Collection updates was good.

LPB2, Infamous 2, R&C, Just Cause…

But ever since then we’re only getting PSN games (some multiplayer only, some just bad).

Are we ever going to be getting good games again (full ps3) in the Instant Game collection?

All the PSN games that have been released for it so far are either a)bad (to my tastes) or b) a Day 1 buy I’ve had a long time.

So is the 12 free game collection going to continue to degrade like this? (now adding partial games instead of a full one) or will it go back to being what was advertised and see other top games rotated in? (hopefully before next month when my plus expires).
NAPALM71
July 30, 2012 at 12:54 pm PDT

all you complainers should go and pay MicroSoft then and GTFO of PSPlus. wtf is wrong with you. be HAPPY you are getting these titles for free (well more or less for free) sure beats $40, $50, and $60 prices ANY day!!!
CrashSpyro
July 30, 2012 at 12:59 pm PDT

I already have the season pass for The Walking Dead, so this giveaway is a waste for me. Even though I already have them, I’d love to see you guys give out a great PSN classic like Everyday Shooter in the lead-up to Sound Shapes’ launch along with others like PAIN, echochrome, The Last Guy, and some of the other older games that nobody really pays attention to anymore.
boomstickbhg
July 30, 2012 at 1:00 pm PDT

@whatever number you’ll end up being if you’re not moderated.

Free games are fine.

Except when the free games are ones you hate/a genre you don’t play/can’t stand/etc…

Especially when the ‘free’ games have replaced other better parts of the paid service.

And nothing on here is free we pay for our subscription and have a right to our opinions.
USCCM
July 30, 2012 at 1:03 pm PDT

On a scale of 1 – 10, I’ll rate the games lineup at 8.5. The games are great and they span quite a wide range of genre, but there are really some games that I’d like to see that aren’t there, and will probably never be there. Examples? I don’t know… maybe… say… Uncharted? Killzone? Resistance? God of War? Final Fantasy?

I know that’s asking for too much, but a guy can dream, no? But you know what? Just give me the PSOne Wild ARMS and I’ll be a happy camper till the day PS+ is no longer around, or till the day I am no longer around, whichever comes first.

If there is one thing that I could change about PS+ it would be to include Vita games into the program. It doesn’t necessarily has to be free games. Maybe a huge discount on a single game per month, or something like that. I believe the Vita catalogue is now big enough to handle some discounts, especially on launch ttles that are now almost 6 months old.
helbertpina
July 30, 2012 at 1:07 pm PDT

Great free games for Plus Subscribers! I’m anxiously waiting for SoundShapes to release, and Papo & Yo is going to be in my game collection as well.

I love Plus, DEFINITELY going to renew when the time comes and I give it a 9 out of 10, especially because of the sweet discounts we get. I would, however, love to see some more of them on my Vita…

You could start by giving discounts on classic PSP titles that are also available on the Vita. That would make a lot of PSP owners happy, as well as those rocking the new Sony console.

Another little idea I have is offering fullgame trials on the Vita too. You could give us the chance to try out games for 1h (like we do on the PS3) or 30m, in case you thing 1h is too long for a portable game.

Oh, and thanks for reading the comments, Morgan, you rock!!! =D
MrSoloLobo
July 30, 2012 at 1:22 pm PDT

Playstation Plus is the best $50 I’ve ever spent.
AizawaYuuichi
July 30, 2012 at 1:25 pm PDT

Well, this is interesting. I’ll definitely not be downloading TWD 1-2 when this updates. Same reason I didn’t buy the Season Pass. I still haven’t gotten around to playing BttF and haven’t purchased JP yet. And just like every other series they do, TWD will most likely have some kind of 50% off (either for + or all) after the whole thing is out. If I download these two for free now, I’d be screwed out of buying a bundle for cheap, and it’d cost me $15 to buy the other three individually. So even with this discount, it is still in my and my wallet’s best interests to wait until the whole thing is out, especially since that could take the rest of the year. :(

On the other hand, the PSN Play program has me excited this year. Already pre-ordered Expendables 2 and I plan to pre-order Sound Shapes with the Store update tomorrow. Then I just need Papo & Yo. And whatever other great games sneak out along the way to the payout in September. Hopefully we get the Zen Pinball 2 update tomorrow, or I’ll be *sadpanda.jpg*
NipGrip
July 30, 2012 at 1:26 pm PDT

Whoa, GREAT timing, I almost bought Chapter 2 of the Walking Dead last night after finishing Chapter 1. So glad I waited, but I will be purchasing the rest of the series for sure. Thanks Sony and TT!
ccrogers15
July 30, 2012 at 1:29 pm PDT

Are you KIDDING ME? Those 2 games SUCK and have horrible camera angles and THOSE are the 2 free games for this month???!! You just lost my plus money. Im not renewing plus. Its def not worth it.
SalMoriarty
July 30, 2012 at 1:30 pm PDT

I would like to thank you guys for letting me know my subscription was expiring THE DAY BEFORE IT EXPIRED!

Honestly, you couldn’t have given me a 30-day notice or have an area where I can check when it expires? That’s just poor customer service.
DawningWolf55
July 30, 2012 at 1:33 pm PDT

I wasn’t sure about getting The Walking Dead. I will now have a chance to try it out! Thanks for the free games you give out Sony. I appreciate that you are even trying to give out free games. Don’t listen to the complainers, they should be a little grateful that you decide to give us free games at all.

To all the whiners about the pass, you purchased right away because you wanted it right away. Maybe this deal wasn’t even thought out when they made the season pass. Even though people are still saving money, they still complain that Battlefield 3 came out with a Premium “Season” pass to save money. They wanted their money back. If you hold out for a game, then maybe stuff like this will work in your favor. When a new game comes out, I will wait for the next PS+ update. I want to see if it comes free. If it does not, I buy it.
DawningWolf55
July 30, 2012 at 1:33 pm PDT

Also, there are still quite a few people who haven’t played The Walking Dead because they weren’t show. You may be mad, but some others are happy. Lack of foresight is a terrible thing, but think about the other people. They waited patiently and their patience pays off in getting two of the five games for free, like me. Just try being happy for those people that waited for it to become free. There are still two more free games coming, this isn’t the only thing coming out this month for free. Be glad it’s not like Microsoft when they give out around 5 Call of Duty deals a year, sometimes even more than that.
ccrogers15
July 30, 2012 at 1:36 pm PDT

sorry to keep posting but i wanted to add another point.
Sony is false advertising with this “Instant game collection”. The ad said the collection will fully rotate to 10 new free games each month. All we got last month was 3 removed and 3 added, then this month only 2 added. Thats not right. SONY I WANT WHAT WAS ADVERTISED. FALSE ADVERTISING IS A CRIME.
- Morgan Haro
  July 30, 2012 at 4:50 pm PDT
  
  While I appreciate your passion, I’m afraid we never stated 10 games would be rotated every month for Plus.
DawningWolf55
July 30, 2012 at 1:40 pm PDT

@ ccrogers15 First of all, learn to read through the blog. They have already stated, these two games count as 1 of the 3 free games for this month. That means we could even have two or three games come out next update and it can be counted as one game. I imagine they don’t have much to discount during the summer, it’s during the drought of the game industry. I can imagine big PS3 games coming out around the Holiday times. That seems to be when all good deals come out.
FranklynStreet
July 30, 2012 at 1:42 pm PDT

Great, more free stuff I’ve already paid for. I dropped hundreds of bucks on like 8 ultimate editions, only to have most of those games go up for free as part of the PSN+ revamp 1(!) week later. What seemed like a good deal ended up me being throwing my money down the toilet a few days later– and yeah, I don’t care about the fact that they’re ultimate editions and I have a few extra costumes or maps or whatever. It wasn’t worth the $300– all I really wanted was the games & their DLC. And now my Walking Dead season pass is more money down the toilet. F*** you, PSN.
blakseed
July 30, 2012 at 1:45 pm PDT

:(
Bcrazyman
July 30, 2012 at 1:47 pm PDT

cant wait for these games great update cant wait for us ps+members! cant wait this weenend thanks for the update!
Bcrazyman
July 30, 2012 at 1:50 pm PDT

awsome game cant wait any other games for us ps+members? let us know ok
schreif
July 30, 2012 at 1:50 pm PDT

Im new to plus so not much that i can say i would like to see changed. but one thing that i would like to see is a search in my old downloaded games section. iv gotten tired of this gen’s games and find my self going back to psone games or games i bought a long time a go and find it hard to scroll though all the games and demos and what ever eles i downloaded.