Happy (almost) New Year! The PlayStation Plus team is gearing up for another banner year in 2013 as we continue to deliver free games, discounts, and access to events, betas and more to give PlayStation fans the edge when it comes to their gaming lifestyle. This week, we welcome PS3 Game NBA JAM On Fire Edition and PS Vita Game Chronovolt to the Instant Game Collection. You’ll also find deeper discounts with the last week of the PSN Holiday Sale.
Important note: We’ll be updating the PlayStation Store today (Monday, 12/31) due to the New Year holiday. Therefore, this Plus update will be live later today when the update has published.
Don’t have PlayStation Plus? Go to the PlayStation Store on your PS3 or PS Vita or click here to get access.
December 31st PlayStation Plus Update
NBA JAM On Fire Edition (PS3)
Free for Plus members
Chronovolt (PS Vita)
Free for Plus members
PSN Holiday Essentials Sale (Week 3)
Various discounts for Plus members
|
Game |
Normal Price |
PSN Sale Price |
Plus Sale Price |
|
Batman: Arkham City |
$29.99 |
$20.99 |
$14.70 |
|
inFAMOUS Festival of Blood |
$9.99 |
$6.99 |
$4.90 |
|
inFAMOUS 2 |
$19.99 |
$13.99 |
Free in Plus |
|
Assassin’s Creed 2 Deluxe Edition |
$19.99 |
$13.99 |
$9.80 |
|
Shadow of the Colossus |
$19.99 |
$13.99 |
$9.80 |
|
Bulletstorm |
$19.99 |
$13.99 |
$9.80 |
|
Sound Shapes (PS3 and PS Vita Cross Buy) |
$14.99 |
$10.49 |
$7.35 |
|
Sound Shapes (PS Vita only) |
$14.99 |
$10.49 |
$7.35 |
|
TOKYO JUNGLE |
$14.99 |
$10.49 |
$7.35 |
|
Skullgirls |
$14.99 |
$10.49 |
$7.35 |
|
Touch My Katamari |
$24.99 |
$17.49 |
$12.25 |
[poll id=”30″]
As the last Plus post from 2012, I also want to extend a sincere thank you to all those who leave their feedback week to week. Whether you’re excited about an update, or giving your feedback about what you prefer, it’s always great to chat with you all. With PlayStation fans like you guys, I’m looking forward to an awesome 2013, and I hope you all will continue to bring the feedback; positive or critical.
We’ll be back next week as usual, but make sure you make your voice heard in the comments below, and also make sure to vote in the polls. You can also delve into the PlayStation Community Forums in the PS Plus space to continue chatting about Plus, or find other great sub-forums to participate in and build your PlayStation community cred. See you in the comments!
Looks like I’ll be picking up sound shapes. I love PS+!
what a crappy games!
@Morgan
Just some feed back I love getting all the discounts but I would really like to see discounted dlc on the store more often. $14.99 just isn’t the sweet spot for what I feel I am getting from the dlc and $9.99 is a bit much for older DLC such the fallout DLC. Thanks for listening and reading the comments,
PS – Happy New Year and thank for the deals.
Talk about ending the year with a dud. Make that a couple of duds. Milk duds for north america. Happy new years everybody!!!
I like the weekly updates, not knowing what were getting week to week is surprising. EU got nothing interesting cause we got 3 of the 6 games they are giving out this month. also i wish people stop comparing US to EU let the Europeans do what they do and leave us to ours.
Still looking forward to Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 showing up on the PS2 list.
Seriously a spin off of a sports game who’s servers are going to go down in like 2 weeks if they aren’t already down…. and what’s with repeating sales for games, I got infamous festival of blood for 2.50 in October, stop putting the same games on sale multiple times, if people didn’t buy them the first time they aren’t likely to buy them the second.
Well, my vote would’ve gone to the Holiday Essentials Sales, but the confusion about the correct pricing for Lumines (or if it’s even on sale at all if this post is to be believed) is pretty off-putting, so my vote went to “Nothing for me this week.” Pretty overwhelming majority in the votes.
I hope this Lumines pricing business gets sorted before the store actually updates. I’ve been waiting for a few weeks for Lumines to go on sale, and now that it finally does, the different branches of PSN not communicating well with each other has soured what should’ve been a great sale.
People doesn’t seem to understand how business works. Sony only publishes so many pS3 titles. If the developer is not first party they have to work a deal with the developer to give the game away, they make no money or are given a fee for allowing it to be free.
Third party do not belong to Sony and have to be willing to either take a fee or live with $0 in sales for the time period the game is available for free. I’m sure most publishers are betting on the DLC sales of titles to bring in the cash, and they might be right or they might be wrong. Which ever it is, they need to be willing to give the product away. There are only so many publishers with titles on the PS3 digital store to choose from, so what you get is limited, what they are willing to give away free is even more limited.
In short, if the publisher doesn’t want to give away a game, they don’t have to, Sony needs to work on their NA relationship to get better titles. But at the same time they can’t force a publisher to make it free.
I would like to put in a vote for seeing rainbow moon on PS+ or The unfinished Swan. But are pub fund games are are unique and I think would be great PSN titles for US PS+.
nothing for me week :-(
wierd a couple of site’s says Jetpack Joyride will be free today but this update says is not gonna be like that.
destructoid and joystiq say that.
Obviously each week you read our comments and make fun of us. How is it that most of us are disappointed and continue with these horrible games.
THIS IS VERY SAD, BUT ILL STILL PAY FOR MY SUBSCRIPTION, CAUSE I HAVE HIGH HOPES FOR 2013.
BOOMSHAKALAKA !!! played a lot of nba jam in the early 90′ , is this december content or january ?
Are you kidding me!? We got NBA Jam @ a sale price not too long ago and now it’s added to the IGC. Is this some sought of sick joke?
Why am I supposed to spend money on sale prices when this keeps happening, I’m sorry but this is a terrible service and I can’t keep supporting it, hasta la vista baby!!!
Why do you people complain about what your getting? It’s completely ridiculous. Just enjoy what you get and the discounts, simple as that, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
NBA Jam: On Fire Edition isn’t being taken off-line – it’s the disc release from 2 years ago that’s losing online servers.
There are several reasons why this is a really bad week for plus users.
I’ll start off with NBA Jams. There was a summer sell in July and you could buy this game for $10.49, or $7.34 for PlayStation Plus Members. So anybody that really wanted it more than likely already has it. This is supposed to be a lot like Blitz, which was the second lowest user rating for plus games (only to be beaten by Anomaly update. The last reason this games sucks to get this week is because it replaced Bioshock 2, which makes NBA JAMS ON FIRE EDITION THE GAME OF THE MONTH. This in my opinion is a crappy game to be the GOTM.
The sells isn’t really that great either if you’re looking to buy full games. There are only four full games in the sell this week, 1 of which we already got for free, but 3 of the full games where already given to EU plus members for free. I don’t see why the US plus only gets discounts for Bulletstrom and Batman: Arkham City, while at the same time EU already got both on plus, and to make it even worse EU got Batman: Arkham City AND THE CAT WOMEN DLC in the plus free, but there isn’t even a discount for it in the US store.
I don’t have a Vita so I’m not going to talk about Chronovolt.
to the people saying that NBA jam is being taken offline on January 11th
that is first NBA jam game that EA made this one will still be online
Happy New Year. I’ve been wanting to play Tokyo Jungle for some time now, and it looks like this is the perfect time to pick it up. Can’t wait to see what comes out next year.
Oh and another question Morgan, does arkham city come with the cat woman DLC that came with the physical new copies of the game?
@107 ShadowRaiserX
Jetpack Joyride is free for everyone not just plus users. Why would they put it on an update that is only for PS Plus?
nothing for me this week, batman is a great deal but i already own it, anyone who has not tired it should. NBA jam, i had my fill of that game when it was on the SNES/GENESIS.
here is to hoping some good DLC is coming this week
also to everyone complaining about EU store, you can always make an EU account, the steps are online ask google. and quit crying.
@ShadowRaiserX it is supposed to be free for everybody not just plus members that might be why it is not shown here
I hope it isn’t the On Fire Edition being taken offline along with the other. I perused the EA forums and no one seems to know and there is no clarification.
I don’t know what people expect from plus. You want the latest game to come out each week? Vita has only been out a 9 months NA. You should expect older titles as part of the free deal and only a “big” game every month or so. The discounts and the big free games a few times a year make the service worth it. Look back over the year and see all the great titles that have been offered. I am very happy with the service and think people need to judge more reasonably the content we have been given. Its a great service and if Sony continues to provide the content and discounts like they did this year I will never be canceling my plus.
Chronovolt for me… Lets try it! Thank you! And Happy New Year! See you Next Year! (about 15 hours left xD?)
Love You Morgan!
Thanks guys. I loved NFL Blitz so I know I’ll enjoy this too. I voted for NBA Jam in the poll. And trying out a new game on my Vita is always a bonus. The sale has some tempting things but I already have a few of them and nothing quite low enough priced to get an impulse buy out of me this time with my backlog so full.
Morgan, I don’t know if you saw this idea from last week since everyone got off for Christmas early so I’ll post it again here for the last time:
I think the biggest underlying issue with PS+ is the fear of a game being given away for free after you buy it. Not only does it force some to hesitate when buying content, but it also makes for a disappointing update when you already own it, even if you bought it a while back. Obviously getting something in return for already owning the game would be the best solution for this, and it would even be enough for me if it was something as simple as an exclusive avatar for that game letting it be known that you supported it before it was free.
Happy new year all
Will we ever see again any free avatars and themes for plus?
I was hoping for MK Vita or at least a discount. I’d like to pick it up digitally, but the conundrum of Plus is now I don’t want to buy it in the hopes it might be available soon. Once a game hits plus in EU, it somewhat devalues it in the US. That being said, parity between regions would be nice. I understand each region is different. Perhaps offer a US discount on the games SCEA can’t secure in the US for Plus. Maybe that’s what’s happening to an extent here, but games from a big publisher not making it here too is frustrating.
Also, most of these complaints are absurd, as people’s expectations are way out of touch with reality. They can’t give away AAA titles for free every month, and most of these are “I don’t like this game” complaints.
Sony has to give more attention to the PSVita, and improve PS+, EU ta very best! at least 2 accounts VITA!!
Chronovolt? Yikes. Granted it only has six reviews on Metacritic but wow are they bad. One of the worst reviewed games I have ever seen.
I honestly think Morgan is just trolling us at this point. I haven’t seen anyone so full of you know what in my life. His word is worth nothing at this point. Talk about over promising and under delivering.
@Morgan
After everything you said about this month and everything you delivered why should anyone on here believe a word you say?
I enjoyed the demo of NBA JAM back in the day but never got around to getting the full game, I will now. I still haven’t played any of the Assassin’s Creed games so I will probably get the Deluxe Edition for $10.
@TwinDad Thanks for taking time out of your day to explain that. Unfortunately I don’t think your message will get through to half the people who NEED to hear it, and we’ll just be hearing the same things next week(or later today when the store updates lol).
@Morgan and PS Plus team, I want yall to know that even though most of the stuff you hear here is negative, there are some people who appreciate what you all are doing. Keep up the good work.
Anyway Happy New Year everyone!
@TwinDad We haven’t got a Sony published game since starhawk single player and that’s not even really a game more like an expanded demo since the game is pretty much online only and that was in September. The last sony published game before that was in august… and they still have a ton of psone games they published a good old psone games would be better then freaking NBA jam on fire especially since servers are going down.
TOKYO JUNGLE plus all the free DLC from before? Talk about a score! I’m on fire! BOOM SHAKALAKA!
NBA Jam is being taken offline January 11th seems to be trueeeee… SMDHH… greatt game i already got but wowww. nothing for me this week. thanks anyways.
Well Tokyo Jungle is an obvious buy. And I suppose it’s time for SotC. Wish Batman: AC was the GOTY edition.
I was actually excited about NBA Jam until I watched that video. I thought it’d be Blitz for basketball, which conceptually it is, but when you watch the video, something is just wrong about it. Oh yeah, it looks atrocious.
Chronovolt. Metascore of 40. Thanks Sony.
I understand that there are a lot of factors that go in to why the EU gets certain games while NA doesn’t so I usually don’t bother with complaining, but jesus, this is just ridiculous. You guys seriously have to do better with the games that you release for NA, the difference in the quality of games that the two territories get is insane. After all the stuff about “look out for great stuff during the holiday month” we get a lame sequel that nobody cared about, a PSN downloadable game, and freaking NBA Jam?! It would be one thing if it seemed like there were some months when NA got the better games or something of equal caliber, but no, literally every single month the EU gets better games than we do.
Mk for Vita?
Red Dead?
Bulletstorm?
Crysis 2?
Nothing again, for weeks and more weeks we have only bad games.
Thanks Sony America, thanks again for nothing.
4 weeks of crap yaaaaaaaaaay SCEA -____-
That’s a pretty valid argument but I don’t really see that as a major problem. The way I see it getting access to the game earlier is its own reward, rather than waiting for it to (maybe) become free in the future. I know I’ve said this before, but I (and I know there are some others) personally would rather get my games discounted than free. That way I can keep them if my subscription runs out. I think actually what is a problem is the other way around. I believe there needs to be a way to purchase games that are free. For example give someone the the option to either get whatever game free, or at a discounted price.
my previous message was directed @Squiggle55 by the way
Still none of the DLC I wanted. At least I got to try out Papo & Yo this holiday season and really enjoyed it. Here’s hoping we get sales of good games and DLC soon! Happy Holidays!
@superfriar19
Here are the current prices for the free games of December, not including these 2.
Bioshock 2 – $13.07 on Amazon
SSF4 AE – $17 on Amazon
Rochard – $10 on PSN
Anomaly Warzone Earth – $10 on PSN
Retro City Rampage – $10.49 on PSN
Total – $50.56
Of course they’re worth less than half that price on PS+ because you need an active subscription to play them.
Bioshock 2 – $2
SSF4 AE – $3
Rochard – $1
Anomaly Warzone Earth – $1
Retro City Rampage – $2
Total – $9
They’re worth way more than that as 1-year rentals to me, but I reduced their prices so much to point out the absurdity of the whining we see every week.
1 year of PS+ is $50 in the US/Canada
$50/12 = $4.17
18 games (12 PS3, 6 Vita) when you sign up + at least 3 games per month for PS3, at least 1 or 2 for Vita per month. That’s at least 62 games for your first year.
forget about posting anything, NOONE at Sony will read these comments and respond until after the New Year, by which everyone, and i mean EVERYONE, will cease their complaining and just turn on their DSs, Wiis, WiiUs, Xbox’s, 360s, and/or PCs.
I don’t have a PS3, got a Vita as Christmas gift. Subscribed for PS+ because I could get Jet Set Radio, FF Tatics and Gravity Rush. Those are great titles, so I’m not expecting many good games for free, but I’m expecting to see discounts on Vita’s top sellers. I understand that you can’t offer discounts on games that have just launched, but I really want to see some discount in the upcoming months.
BTW, I have seen two titles from SEGA that had like 20% discount for PS+ members, but it wasn’t listed under the PS+ section with other discounted and free games. Is it a bug? Because I do not want to miss if a great title is discounted later lol
As for the latest PS+ games in the year, I have to agree with the others. Come on, it’s the last day of the year, this should be epic. I get that PS+ subscribers want Vita’s games for free, but would be way better if you gave a PSP or PsOne game. I mean, Chronovolt as the last free game of the year? Seriously? Any Square Enix’s title would be better than this.
Brutal fan response, but I wanted to say thank you. I hesitated on a purchase of PS Plus for a while, but I’ve absolutely been paid back. Not every week is AMAZING nor can we necessarily compete with the EU which surely has a totally different team and budget, but overall PS Plus is great. Also, I loved Blitz and very much look forward to Jam.
Thanks Morgan and Sony!
Wow what a big disappointment. What a bad December… SONY doesnt know how to make to maintain their customers ( what a shame! ), Im not beeing fooled anymore. each week is a disappointment. Wish I could have my money back…
unless on fire edition is safe and its only the retail version of NBA jam going offline. idk i realy dont care for Online anyways.
“Nothing for me this week” sure is a popular PS+ feature. You’d think Sony would start advertising it to pull in new members. I’m really hoping that the poll at the bottom of each of these posts convinces the higher-ups to provide us with some better value.
The problem with offering big-name PSN games (Sound Shapes, Retro City, etc) discounted or free is that we as hardcore PS gamers likely have already bought them. It just makes us feel bad for buying on day one, and rather encourages us to wait a few months.
*If you offered day-one discounts to Plus subscribers, that would be infinitely better.*
Personally, I’d prefer to get more retail games for free through PS+. Even older games that I might have already on disc. For example, even though I already have GTA and RDR, I’d love to get free downloads of them and ditch my discs.
Also personally, I have ZERO interest in sports games or casual/gimmicky games. The freebies for the past few weeks have been wastes for me, because I either already had the games offered, or I wasn’t interested.
As of now, all PS+ is training me to do is wait until the games I want go on sale a few months after release.