Sony's "Welcome Back" program

Cool. I know what two games I'm snagging; ModNation Racers and LBP.

Aaron D. wrote:

^^^ IMO, Wipout HD/Fury is the best game from the whole list.

Yep.
I hope this means a few thousand more wipeout players, because that would be awesome.
I bought it late and everybody online right now can kick my ass like you would not believe.

I think I'll go with Super Stardust HD and LBP.

Looking forward to inFAMOUS and LBP.

I haven't played any PS3 games in almost a year, so it'll be a nice change of pace.

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Is this like a poetry-jam spam bot?

I own 4/5, so Dead Nation it is, then. That said, I have nothing but good things to say about the whole package, though LBP:GOTY would be preferred over solely LBP. I'll probably just get rid of my LBP disc-based copy and download the digital version instead.

Again, they're all excellent games. I played lots of Wipeout when it first came out, and lots of Super Stardust. I rented inFAMOUS and beat it, then bought it when it was released digitally and am about halfway through it for the second play-through.

Honestly, they could have done worse with the list, despite the fact I already own 4 of them. They weren't going to please everyone, and Dead Nation is one of the games I've been eyeing since it came out. Color me "pleased," considering the alternative(s).

I already have Infamous and LBP on PS3, so I'm heading for Wipeout HD and Super Stardust, Dead Nation looks OK but it does not appear to have any co-op. It's nicer selection for me for the PSP, since I don't have any of those games, I'm thinking Killzone Liberation and PSP version of LBP. Not the biggest fan of the Modnation on PS3, and I am unfamiliar with the Pursuit Force.

Stele wrote:
Chaz wrote:

I'll be a dissenting voice for LBP. I HAAAAAAAAAAAAATED the controls. They made me want to toss a controller through the screen. I understand why they are the way they are, but that doesn't mean that I can't HAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE them. Too bad, because the idea of complete custom levels is amazing. I just wish they weren't tied to the awful controls.

Agreed. Floaty ass physics, leading to unresponsive jumping, and the ridiculous lives cap on the main game levels sent LBP back to the pile, probably never to be finished.

I agree. Awesome game that wasn't half as good as it should have been because of the awful controls.

That game needed that tight pixel-perfect Mario control.

Huzsar wrote:

Dead Nation looks OK but it does not appear to have any co-op.

Dead Nation does have co-op.

I already have Wipeout (via PS+) and LBP, so I think I'm gonna have to go with inFAMOUS and Super Stardust HD. I already purchased (long ago) the twin stick: Zombie Apocalypse game. So, comparatively speaking, is Dead Nation still something worth looking into?
And while I'm not that big of a PS Home user, I'm always a fan of free swag, perhaps it will be worth utilizing again for awhile.
And the free 60day PS+ extension puts my coverage to Halloween makes me a pretty happy camper about the whole retribution thing (Hulu+ also credited an additional $4.79 to my account on top of the $2 initially, despite my continued access to Hulu+ exclusive content on my PC) :).

Oh man.... i hope i can take the offer up. Since i moved abroad i'm not sure how the PSN recognises the status of my location... :/

any idea if the LBP offered is the GOTY edition?

Aaron D. wrote:

^^^ IMO, Wipout HD/Fury is the best game from the whole list.

Agreed, although I gave up on it after they added in game video adverts. Nothing like being told to buy Rocky on DVD during a loading screen to ruin immersion.

LBP is amazingly fun, and if want need something that will make kids smile - this is your game. I understand control issues are bothersome, but aside from the Wheel of Death™, I had very little issue with them.

I'm beginning to think that this whole PSN hack thing was just a way to get everyone to try Playstation Plus.

This seems like a somewhat decent initiative to me. Unfortunate to those who have played all the games on offer though.

Eldon_of_Azure wrote:

I already have Wipeout (via PS+) and LBP, so I think I'm gonna have to go with inFAMOUS and Super Stardust HD. I already purchased (long ago) the twin stick: Zombie Apocalypse game. So, comparatively speaking, is Dead Nation still something worth looking into?
And while I'm not that big of a PS Home user, I'm always a fan of free swag, perhaps it will be worth utilizing again for awhile.
And the free 60day PS+ extension puts my coverage to Halloween makes me a pretty happy camper about the whole retribution thing (Hulu+ also credited an additional $4.79 to my account on top of the $2 initially, despite my continued access to Hulu+ exclusive content on my PC) :).

I bought that Zombie Apocalypse game too, and was disappointed with how repetitive it was. Dead Nation actually sounds like you move from one area to another and is a better game for it. Assuming my physical location doesn't interfere with me having a US PSN account, I'll be getting Super Stardust and Dead Nation.

What if you bought your PS3 during the outage?

My first thought is "Wow! I didn't think the free games thing would ever materialise. DLC? Yes? Complete games? No?"

My second reaction is to be a little underwhelmed and a tad cynical. Offering two-year old games, that have long since stopped selling and therefore cost Sony nothing to give away, is hardly the model of generosity. However, as I've played few of the games on the lists, I'll shamelessly be grabbing inFamous and Ratchet & Clank.

My commiserations though to those who've been more avid in their gaming than me and have therefore played and/or owned the free titles.

detroit20 wrote:

Offering two-year old games, that have long since stopped selling and therefore cost Sony nothing to give away, is hardly the model of generosity.

They will have to reimburse the developer for the copies downloaded no?

That's a good question. I guess it depends on the exact contractual arrangements. I think all of the games are published by Sony (though I didn't check them all), so that must put them in a pretty strong position with regard to negotiations with any devs. I don't suppose any of the developers are wholly owned by Sony too?

Given that the rest of the 'Welcome Back' programme appears to be costing them very little beyond lost revenue (which in any case is balanced by the marketing benefits of free trials to paid services), I can't see them making the mistake of putting themselves on the hook for presumably millions of dollars due to free games.

But does anyone out there have a better idea of how the financials of this would work?

I was actually hoping that they'd let us download two titles from the PSN store. That would have had the bonus of spreading the love to a lot more developers (who were all affected by the outage) as well as given players a nicer selection. I had my eye on a couple indie titles that I would have loved to have grabbed. Ah well.

I'll be picking up Dead Nation since that is the one North American offering that I don't yet own. Infamous and Super Stardust HD are great games that I'd happily snap up if I didn't already have, and that I would recommend. I also enjoyed LittleBigPlanet despite its control issues. However, it is pretty much irrelevant at this point since LBP2 can play all the levels created for LBP.

As far as those of you looking forward to plus, I think that many of the better offerings from this year have already rotated off the service for new downloaders. (specifically Stacking and the Sam and Max season). Unfortunately, I think one of the two PSN games that is currently up is the Sonic PSN port. Not really something that will impress new plus users.

Trashie wrote:

Sounds like we might need to get some groups playing Dead Nation once everything goes live.

I would absolutely co-op this again. Stylez and I had a blast with it though be warned, like other Housemarque titles, it gets pretty tough later on. Also I know this is stupid but there's no voice chat in the game. Housemarque promised to patch it in and they may have stealthily done so since Stylez and I beat it but it wasn't there when we did.

I've got Wipeout, but not Fury. Worth using one of my two for that? I have Infamous but nothing else on the list.

You should also note that if you play or ever played an SOE MMORPG you get 45 days free in each one you play/played.

I've played EQ1, SWG, and EQ2 but I'm not planning to play MMORPGs in the near future (time constraints) . I've payed them to play Infantry until around 2007 when it became free to play. Hopefully this outage didn't kill the game completely . I've bought BFBC2 during the outage it's a reasonable alternative for an action game but I prefer infantry (I hardly play FPSs at all). The people in infantry might be "uncivil" (to say the least) but the game can be a lot of fun .

I tell people I never stopped paying for the game because I got the most stable internet connection I can afford (it's called "gamer package") to get QOS in Israel for the past 7-8 years. 220ms 24/7 (close to maximum ping but playable) to the west coast is well worth the price (it's only an extra 7$~ now) .

DanB wrote:
detroit20 wrote:

Offering two-year old games, that have long since stopped selling and therefore cost Sony nothing to give away, is hardly the model of generosity.

They will have to reimburse the developer for the copies downloaded no?

Speaking of this, I wonder how much developers for such games as SOCOM, Killzone, MAG etc. took it in the shorts with this PSN downtown. Will they get some compensation? Will there be litigation? Or all is well in the PSN nation.

MannishBoy wrote:

I've got Wipeout, but not Fury. Worth using one of my two for that? I have Infamous but nothing else on the list.

In my opinion it does. It essentially doubles the content and adds a slew of new gamplay modes.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:

Whatever I said previously is invalid--I want these headphones that compel mountains to bow at my feet!

That would the be the Sennheiser HD-595's!