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[DrunknMunky Veteran]

It can still reward veteran owners.  I picked up Crackdown, DR2, and AC2 so far, games that I never owned even though I've owned my 360 since 01/2006 and have a collection of over 40+ disc games and probably 20+ XBLA games.  Just depends on the person.  They can't please everyone with each option.  More would be nice, but they don't really need to offer anything.  I'm happy they finally started to though :yes:

 

Yup it's definitely subjective. Like I say, it gives people the chance to replay some favourites online if the servers are repopulated or even for those who traded in games a long time ago. For me personally, I have a huge library of 360 games and I think I've only benefited from 3 games so far.

[trooper11]

What's the point in owning crap/stuff your 99% sure to already own?

I'm not sure what the point is if you already own it, then again that would apply to both services. But if you don't, there is a point.

If they can get more recent titles under the same system, then suddenly more people won't already own the games they offer.

Fundamentally, most would prefer a system where they are owning the content, but most are willing to give that up if something is given in return. So Sony got beyond it by offering enough titles that a lot of people don't own yet. So you can't keep them, but the selection is great. In effect, you can get away with not buying a single ps3 game thanks to ps+ if your patient, saving you a lot of money.

MS decided to try it differently. We will see how it works for the X1 considering they will have no choice but to offer more recent titles.

[George P Global Moderator]

Everyone wants newer games but what's old for me isn't old for someone else.  People are still buying the 360, new 360 gamers coming to it, for them these are new games.   When the program is extended to the XB1 then they can offer games for both, for those who own both.    Till then what's crap or not and what's old or not depends on the individual. 

[LaP]

I'm not sure what the point is if you already own it, then again that would apply to both services. But if you don't, there is a point.

If they can get more recent titles under the same system, then suddenly more people won't already own the games they offer.

The problem is not really that the games are old. It's that they are best sellers like Halo 3 and GOW and Vegas. It's cool for someone who just bought his 360 but for someone who has it since launch like me those are games i owned and played to death.

I would prefer to see more games like Crackdown. Good games but not that much people played them.

Most of the XBLA games they are giving are laughable at best. You get a better value with Humble Bundles even if you have to pay. Some of them would be okay tablet games on the bus but certainly not great XBLA i want to play when i'm sitting in front of my TV. I watched a video of Kill a truck load of robots and decided to not waste any bandwidth on it. It looks ok like Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken on steam but with all my backlog on steam i don't have time to lose with average titles like those even when free (i gave Rocketbirds when i bought Humble Bundle 9).

Overall it's better than nothing and i wont complain but i would prefer a system requiring me to have an XBox Live Gold sub to play the games and having a little bit better offering. It's 2 months in a row now i don't download any of the games offered for free ... either because i already own them or i don't care. The last one i downloaded was Clash of Hereos.

[trooper11]

Overall it's better than nothing and i wont complain but i would prefer a system requiring me to have an XBox Live Gold sub to play the games and having a little bit better offering. It's 2 months in a row now i don't download any of the games offered for free ... either because i already own them or i don't care. The last one i downloaded was Clash of Hereos.

I agree, but I think this thread also shows that its tough to make everyone happy.

Heck, even with ps+ sometimes there is nothing worth downloading or its all things many people own.

The best thing MS can do to improve it is to increase the quantity a little and make sure they try to stick to above average or higher quality/variety in the game choices.

[LaP]

The best thing MS can do to improve it is to increase the quantity a little and make sure they try to stick to above average or higher quality/variety in the game choices.

I think overall MS does a good job with the non XBLA games. In most of the cases when i don't download a free non xbla game it's because i already played it. Can't complain with Halo 3, GOW, Vegas, Crackdown and such.

I think they could up the xbla offering though. Games like Braid, Dust, Mark, Cave, Gunpoint, etc ...

[trooper11]

I think overall MS does a good job with the non XBLA games. In most of the cases when i don't download a free non xbla game it's because i already played it. Can't complain with Halo 3, GOW, Vegas, Crackdown and such.

I think they could up the xbla offering though. Games like Braid, Dust, Mark, Cave, Gunpoint, etc ...

You got to wonder what the deals are with developers though. Most of the content MS has offered is first party stuff. They have been avoiding 3rd party content for a reason. Maybe because it would cost MS money to do that in most cases.

Hopefully, they have seen it is worth it to expand the catalog offered.

[BajiRav]

You can't hold it against Sony for building a nice ecosystem between their devices and "devaluing" PS+ just because MS don't have a portable. I mean, going forward they could always include WinMo games and Win8.1 store games if they wanted to even it out.

Ecosystem is a good point but that is comparing apples to oranges. You get "Red stripe" deals every week on Windows Phone. It doesn't require any subscription. Vita (probably) has even lower usage share than Windows Phone so those 2 PS+ rentals are meaningless for most people.

[BajiRav]

Minimum PS sub is one month? Well a trial is that, 30 days to play and complete a 'modern' game vs something 7 years old? I'd wage most would prefer Sony's method vs MS' even if you are only renting. Unless MS can improve the quality/relevancy of their output, they might as well just 1:1 copy Sony. You need Live for everything else on the One just about, so it wouldn't really make a difference 'renting' lol.

The quality of games has been there. It is just the "age" and given that they are not rentals, that's probably the reason they won't do recent games. AFAIK Xbox 360 has higher attach rate than PS3 - no matter what they give, somebody's going to complain.

This might be another side effect of Don Mattrick's legacy of closing internal studios.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Ecosystem is a good point but that is comparing apples to oranges. You get "Red stripe" deals every week on Windows Phone. It doesn't require any subscription. Vita (probably) has even lower usage share than Windows Phone so those 2 PS+ rentals are meaningless for most people.

 

Meaningless is a poor choice of word IMO. PS+ on the Vita is still relatively new, but with the new bundles and price drops, it will make a lot more buy one in the future I'm sure. Hell, even I'm tempted and I've never be a fan of the system, purely because I wouldn't have to buy a game for many months. I think there are bundles in shops right now which come with 6 or 8 games (depending on model IIRC) for ?130~, plus they've included nearly all the AAA titles for the system in IGC.

 

Not sure what "red stripe" deals are? If it's just a nickname for discounts then Sony have those for the Vita too and they also offer them for PlayStation Mobile devices, i.e their phones and tablets. In fact they're giving away 10 games throughout December without needing PS+. That's on top of the PS+ discounts you get and the store wide PSN weekly sales.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Ecosystem is a good point but that is comparing apples to oranges. You get "Red stripe" deals every week on Windows Phone. It doesn't require any subscription. Vita (probably) has even lower usage share than Windows Phone so those 2 PS+ rentals are meaningless for most people.

 

You still get to add them to your download library for a future Vita purchase, or maybe more importantly for some, Vita TV.

[BajiRav]

Meaningless is a poor choice of word IMO. PS+ on the Vita is still relatively new, but with the new bundles and price drops, it will make a lot more buy one in the future I'm sure. Hell, even I'm tempted and I've never be a fan of the system, purely because I wouldn't have to buy a game for many months. I think there are bundles in shops right now which come with 6 or 8 games (depending on model IIRC) for ?130~, plus they've included nearly all the AAA titles for the system in IGC.

 

Not sure what "red stripe" deals are? If it's just a nickname for discounts then Sony have those for the Vita too and they also offer them for PlayStation Mobile devices, i.e their phones and tablets. In fact they're giving away 10 games throughout December without needing PS+. That's on top of the PS+ discounts you get and the store wide PSN weekly sales.

Not any more poorer than calling Halo3/Crackdown/GoW1 "crap". Vita is never going to make it in the mobile market. PS mobile devices are even lower in market penetration. :laugh: These game offers are "great" because Vita might be big in future is not really a good argument to make.

"Red stripe" deals are their term for weekly sales and free games. I just pointed that out for the ecosystem angle.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Not any more poorer than calling Halo3/Crackdown/GoW1 "crap". Vita is never going to make it in the mobile market. PS mobile devices are even lower in market penetration. :laugh: These game offers are "great" because Vita might be big in future is not really a good argument to make.

 

I never said that :p

 

As for Vita, it has just as much chance to sell as Win8/WinMo IMO. Besides, my point is that you get a lot for your money with PS+. Singling out Vita means nothing as the games are usually cross-buy and playable on PS3 too. Even more so if Vita TV releases outside Japan or Gaikai supports it.