30 replies to this topic

[HammR25]

Sony said:

Now that some PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have been restored and you’re once again enjoying online gaming and entertainment, we’re happy to provide details about the “Welcome Back” appreciation program for customers in North America. We developed the program as an expression of our gratitude for your patience, support and continued loyalty during the service outage. From all of us at PlayStation, thank you and welcome back!

This package will be made available to all existing registered PlayStation Network and Qriocity users in North America (US and Canada), and will be made available shortly after we have fully restored the service. More specific details about these offers and eligibility requirements will be posted as the services go live.

All PlayStation Network customers can select two PS3 games from the following list. The games will be available for 30 days shortly after PlayStation Store is restored and can be kept forever.

Dead Nation
inFAMOUS
LittleBigPlanet
Super Stardust HD
Wipeout HD + Fury

For PSP owners, you will be eligible to download two PSP games from the following list. The games will be available for 30 days shortly after PlayStation Store is restored and can be kept forever.

LittleBigPlanet (PSP)
ModNation Racers
Pursuit Force
Killzone Liberation

A selection of “On Us” rental movie titles will be available to PlayStation Network customers over one weekend, where Video Service is available. Those titles will be announced soon.
30 days free PlayStation Plus membership for non PlayStation Plus subscribers.
Existing PlayStation Plus subscribers will receive an additional 60 days of free subscription.
Existing Music Unlimited Premium Trial subscription members will receive an additional 30 days of free premium subscription.
Additional 30 days + time lost for existing members of Music Unlimited Premium/Basic subscription free of charge for existing Premium/Basic members.
To welcome users Home, PlayStation Home will be offering 100 free virtual items. Additional free content will be released soon, including the next addition to the Home Mansion personal space, and Ooblag’s Alien Casino, an exclusive game.

We’d like to thank all of our publishing and development partners who’ve contributed to the Welcome Back program, including Bigbig Studios, Codeglue, Digital Leisure, Guerilla Games, Heavy Water, Housemarque, Lockwood, Loot, Mass Media, Media Molecule, SCE Cambridge Studios, SCE Studio Liverpool, SCE San Diego Studios, and Sucker Punch Productions. We couldn’t have created such a compelling package without them!

As a reminder, you will be able to access the above content shortly after services are fully restored. We are doing everything we can to make that happen as soon as possible. Please visit the following sites for more information about the Welcome Back program in Europe and Latin America.

Thank you again for your support!

I've only got one of the five games already but the list is about what I expected. It's old popular stuff. I'll probably end up picking up Infamous and one other title.

[ComputerSpaceFan]

I'm glad the service is back and I'm certainly not going to complain about them giving me a free couple of gifts. The one thing that I'm not sure about is, at first I heard everyone who is not on Playstation Plus gets a free month. Awesome. Now I am reading that I can get two free games, double awesome, I think InFamous will be one. BUT when I carefully read the way it is worded, I am wondering if they mean I get InFamous but after 30 days I'll only get to keep playing it if I subcribe to Playstaion Plus (which I have no intention of doing). Tell me I'm wrong.

"All PlayStation Network customers can select two PS3 games from the following list. The games will be available for 30 days shortly after PlayStation Store is restored and can be kept forever."

Kept yes, just like if I try out Playstation Plus for 30 days I can "keep" my downloaded games forever, but can I play them forever or do I need to subscribe to Playstaion Plus?

I hope not.

[Chuplayer]

ComputerSpaceFan, on Mon May 16, 2011 6:02 PM, said:

I'm glad the service is back and I'm certainly not going to complain about them giving me a free couple of gifts. The one thing that I'm not sure about is, at first I heard everyone who is not on Playstation Plus gets a free month. Awesome. Now I am reading that I can get two free games, double awesome, I think InFamous will be one. BUT when I carefully read the way it is worded, I am wondering if they mean I get InFamous but after 30 days I'll only get to keep playing it if I subcribe to Playstaion Plus (which I have no intention of doing). Tell me I'm wrong.

"All PlayStation Network customers can select two PS3 games from the following list. The games will be available for 30 days shortly after PlayStation Store is restored and can be kept forever."

Kept yes, just like if I try out Playstation Plus for 30 days I can "keep" my downloaded games forever, but can I play them forever or do I need to subscribe to Playstaion Plus?

I hope not.

What I gathered from that statement was that you'll be able to download them only within those 30 days. In order to keep them, you've got to hope your hard drive never fails or you keep them on a USB drive or something.

[Cynicaster]

I thought inFamous and LBP were disc-based games, no?

[Taskmaster99]

Not a bad little deal. I will take Infamous. Gotta think about the other game though.

[HammR25]

Cynicaster, on Mon May 16, 2011 7:07 PM, said:

I thought inFamous and LBP were disc-based games, no?

They were originally but, I think they've both been in the Playstation Store for awhile now. Those are probably the two I'll get. I already have Wipeout HD + Fury and none of the other ones interest me in the least. Those two are the only ones that kind of interest me.

[cimerians]

Thats not too bad. I'll be grabbing InFamous and LittleBigPlanet.

[Gabriel]

Sony said:

All PlayStation Network customers can select two PS3 games from the following list. The games will be available for 30 days shortly after PlayStation Store is restored and can be kept forever.

Dead Nation
inFAMOUS
LittleBigPlanet
Super Stardust HD
Wipeout HD + Fury

Hmmm. The only one I have any interest in, Super Stardust HD, I already purchased. To me, these are all worthless.

Quote

For PSP owners, you will be eligible to download two PSP games from the following list. The games will be available for 30 days shortly after PlayStation Store is restored and can be kept forever.

LittleBigPlanet (PSP)
ModNation Racers
Pursuit Force
Killzone Liberation

Not interested in any of these either. In fact, my interest in these games can be measured in negative numbers.

Quote

A selection of “On Us” rental movie titles will be available to PlayStation Network customers over one weekend, where Video Service is available. Those titles will be announced soon.

Thanks to Sony providing no possible way to deactivate a dead PS3 for video content, I'll be unable to take advantage of any of these.

Quote

30 days free PlayStation Plus membership for non PlayStation Plus subscribers.

Worthless

Quote

To welcome users Home, PlayStation Home will be offering 100 free virtual items. Additional free content will be released soon, including the next addition to the Home Mansion personal space, and Ooblag’s Alien Casino, an exclusive game.

Useless. Sony could hand me real cash and I still wouldn't use Home.

Quote

We couldn’t have created such a compelling package without them!

And it looks like you couldn't with them either.

Although, so far I can't say I lost anything due to the PSN outage. My gaming wasn't interrupted and neither was my Netflix usage. I don't play multiplayer on the PS3 (other than with friends face to face), and there won't be anything I want to buy from the Playstation Store until Wizardry gets posted. So, I've gotten precisely nothing for nothing.

[rockman_x_2002]

Chuplayer, on Mon May 16, 2011 6:08 PM, said:

ComputerSpaceFan, on Mon May 16, 2011 6:02 PM, said:

I'm glad the service is back and I'm certainly not going to complain about them giving me a free couple of gifts. The one thing that I'm not sure about is, at first I heard everyone who is not on Playstation Plus gets a free month. Awesome. Now I am reading that I can get two free games, double awesome, I think InFamous will be one. BUT when I carefully read the way it is worded, I am wondering if they mean I get InFamous but after 30 days I'll only get to keep playing it if I subcribe to Playstaion Plus (which I have no intention of doing). Tell me I'm wrong.

"All PlayStation Network customers can select two PS3 games from the following list. The games will be available for 30 days shortly after PlayStation Store is restored and can be kept forever."

Kept yes, just like if I try out Playstation Plus for 30 days I can "keep" my downloaded games forever, but can I play them forever or do I need to subscribe to Playstaion Plus?

I hope not.

What I gathered from that statement was that you'll be able to download them only within those 30 days. In order to keep them, you've got to hope your hard drive never fails or you keep them on a USB drive or something.

What seems more likely is that there's a 30-day window open for you to claim your two games. Those then get added to your purchased games list where you can download as desired. But after the 30 days if you haven't made your claim, the window is closed.

[Reaperman]

Overall the package is more complete than I had realistically thought it would be. It's not quite as nice as the free copy of Colony Wars 4 that it would take to make me a happy, future-system-considering customer, but I can picture a bunch of suits thinking that this would be mostly adequate.

Sure it's the contents of their recycle bin, but I'll take it, as long as I don't spot any strings attached in whatever new EULA/TOS is involved. (are there?)

I'll probably go for LBP (ps3 and PSP), Infamous, and Modnation PSP. I'm not thrilled by any of them, but I suppose it's about time for me to try LBP. Modnation on PSP certainly can't be what its big brother is, and Infamous is simply the least objectionable game I don't have.

Not looking forward to signing up for playstation plus, even if there is a 30 day trial--which we should have had form the start. I'll probably go for the PSN home items though. I'm a sucker for buying stuff in Home, even though I don't have any friends there, and have never even spoken to another user.

Edited by Reaperman, Tue May 17, 2011 8:56 AM.

[Tempest]

Is this only for people who paid for the updated service or for anyone who was on PSN?

Tempest

[Reaperman]

Tempest, on Tue May 17, 2011 9:16 AM, said:

Is this only for people who paid for the updated service or for anyone who was on PSN?

Tempest

This is for all of PSN. The only additional bonus that PSN+ subscribers get is 60 extra days of service.

Edited by Reaperman, Tue May 17, 2011 9:35 AM.

[HatefulGravey]

I own those games. Fail.

[onmode-ky]

Gabriel, on Mon May 16, 2011 7:55 PM, said:

Quote

A selection of “On Us” rental movie titles will be available to PlayStation Network customers over one weekend, where Video Service is available. Those titles will be announced soon.

Thanks to Sony providing no possible way to deactivate a dead PS3 for video content, I'll be unable to take advantage of any of these.

I've been wondering about that myself, so I did a Google search for "ps3 deactivate video." That brought up a few forum discussions about the topic, and it seems you can just call Sony customer support and get it done that way, pretty painlessly. E-mailing Sony seems to have a poor track record for this, but calling looks like it should work fine.

Incidentally, since you have a PSP, you could also get and watch video content on either it or a PC (activated via Media Go). If you can connect one of those to your TV, then you're as well off as with a PS3, though only for SD video.

Gabriel, on Mon May 16, 2011 7:55 PM, said:

Quote

30 days free PlayStation Plus membership for non PlayStation Plus subscribers.

Worthless

Might save you some dollars, at least. Maybe Wizardry will have a PS+ discount.

onmode-ky

[godslabrat]

HammR25, on Mon May 16, 2011 7:33 PM, said:

Cynicaster, on Mon May 16, 2011 7:07 PM, said:

I thought inFamous and LBP were disc-based games, no?

They were originally but, I think they've both been in the Playstation Store for awhile now. Those are probably the two I'll get. I already have Wipeout HD + Fury and none of the other ones interest me in the least. Those two are the only ones that kind of interest me.

Eh, if they were offering the disc versions, I'd bite... but I'm looking at this offer and thinking "They screwed up, and they're very carefully only offering things that don't cost them any significant money." I'm not saying they should give me a new car, but this really doesn't scream "mea culpa" to me.

[ATARI7800fan]

This welcome back package seems mediocre in my opinion.

[Seob]

In europa stardust HD+fury is replace with Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty.
And in Germany killzone liberation for psp is replaced with Everybody's Golf 2.

[moycon]

Can anyone actually get into the Sony store? I'm assuming that is where the free games are?
I really don't know, I tried last night and just now and can't get into the store. It just says "undergoing maintenance". Just curious if these free games are even available yet.

[Tr3vor]

If I get an apology and a few new games, I'm 100% good with that.

The people who complain about this: i say you are whiners. I'd say your right, if this was a monthly paid service like xbox live. For a free service, this is good. Also, is there anyone who has had credit card fraud linked to the hacking of the psn? From what I've heard, they may OR MAY NOT have found the credit card data.

[Mord]

Tr3vor, on Tue May 17, 2011 10:41 PM, said:

If I get an apology and a few new games, I'm 100% good with that.

The people who complain about this: i say you are whiners. I'd say your right, if this was a monthly paid service like xbox live. For a free service, this is good. Also, is there anyone who has had credit card fraud linked to the hacking of the psn? From what I've heard, they may OR MAY NOT have found the credit card data.

You make it sound like the Playstation Network Plus members weren't disrupted for the entire month the way you make a distinction with Live. You know, Plus members pay every month. "Oh but they're getting a free month to make up for it." you say? Well, in that case even Microsoft could be forgiven if it ever happens to them. Which means you shouldn't have even bothered to bring that up.

Also, what you've heard is basically what Sony is telling you. They're known to hide or outright lie about information that negatively affects their customers. They won't admit to credit card information being stolen until a large portion of their customers are suddenly being affected by it. Until then they'll treat it as if it wasn't their fault.

And they didn't really apologize about the disruption. Not sincerely at any rate.

[HammR25]

moycon, on Tue May 17, 2011 2:32 PM, said:

Can anyone actually get into the Sony store? I'm assuming that is where the free games are?
I really don't know, I tried last night and just now and can't get into the store. It just says "undergoing maintenance". Just curious if these free games are even available yet.

The Playstation store is still down. No word on when it'll actually be back up and working.

[Reaperman]

Tr3vor, on Tue May 17, 2011 10:41 PM, said:

If I get an apology and a few new games, I'm 100% good with that.

The people who complain about this: i say you are whiners. I'd say your right, if this was a monthly paid service like xbox live. For a free service, this is good.

A lot of us have reasonably high gaming budgets, so if there are sub-$20 games that we don't have, it only makes sense that we're not 100% interested in those titles.

I guess I was personally also hoping that this fruit basket would pay for more than their network shutdown. I've gathered a small laundry list of Sony gripes over the space of more than a year, but 'free stuff' really doesn't address them anyway, it's more policy related.

-----------------------------------------------
As a side note, while PSN is not a pay-by-month service, I do argue that it's not entirely 'free,' and that we have all been indirectly paying for it--Both through game purchases, and the bandwidth we use to host our own games P2P. I actually am a fan of the P2P game hosting, so that's not really a dig on it, but it needs to stay "free."

Edited by Reaperman, Wed May 18, 2011 9:21 AM.

[moycon]

HammR25, on Wed May 18, 2011 4:16 AM, said:

The Playstation store is still down. No word on when it'll actually be back up and working.

Ah thanks HammR25, been trying every day to enter it!
So all these free games people are talking about haven't actually been available yet.
I think I'm going to snag InFamous and Dead Nation... someday.

[MCHufnagel]

HammR25, on Wed May 18, 2011 4:16 AM, said:

moycon, on Tue May 17, 2011 2:32 PM, said:

Can anyone actually get into the Sony store? I'm assuming that is where the free games are?
I really don't know, I tried last night and just now and can't get into the store. It just says "undergoing maintenance". Just curious if these free games are even available yet.

The Playstation store is still down. No word on when it'll actually be back up and working.

It will probably open up in 31 days!

[godslabrat]

Tr3vor, on Tue May 17, 2011 10:41 PM, said:

If I get an apology and a few new games, I'm 100% good with that.

The people who complain about this: i say you are whiners. I'd say your right, if this was a monthly paid service like xbox live. For a free service, this is good. Also, is there anyone who has had credit card fraud linked to the hacking of the psn? From what I've heard, they may OR MAY NOT have found the credit card data.

See, I tried really, really hard to take this approach. "It's free, so if it's down, nobody lost anything." But... if nobody lost anything, then Sony wouldn't need to offer a Welcome Back package, because they wouldn't owe anyone anything. Clearly, both Sony and their customers feel that something is owed. So, with that in mind, I look over what they're offering, and see only things that don't have any monetary value. They're offering free months of a service which most people don't pay for anyway? They're offering trophies and in-game widgets? (remember when you did't pay for those things in the first place?) They're offering some free movies? I guarantee they're only offering movies that wouldn't have cost them anything anyway. Free games? Okay, I admit, that's kind of nice, but the selection seems deliberately slim.

Sony is trying to make it look like this was just a blip... some routine maintenence that just went on longer than expected, nothing to see here, move along. They don't want to admit how bad it was or how much information got out. It's not just about the lost playtime, it's about the fact that customers trust them with their personal info, and not only was the info leaked, but it became VERY obvious that Sony hadn't secured it well in the first place.

I want to just say "Thank you" and let that be that... but this calls for more on Sony's part. How about a real press release, detailing exactly what happened and exactly how they fixed it. That would go a long way toward making me trust their security again. How about some REAL peace offerings, like a few "$10 off any PS3 game or accessory" coupons? Give me the chance to get something I need or want, instead of just whatever you can give away for free!

Edited by godslabrat, Wed May 18, 2011 11:11 AM.