Are You PlayStation Plussing?

Today Sony released Firmware 3.40 for the PlayStation 3, which brings us a new photo sharing feature for the photo gallery, a video editor/uploader that is compatible with YouTube and Facebook, a five star rating system for downloadable PSN content, a new Facebook app and a power save option for your PS3.

But what most people are hoo-hawing and blabbing about is the brand spankin’ new PlayStation Plus service.

Plus is a subscription paid service that will, in theory, hook you up with PSN goodies. For $49.99 a year (a promo right now will get you an additional three months free) or $17.99 for three months, Sony promises that  you’ll get your money’s worth of content PLUS (see what I did thare?). 

So what will 50 bucks get ya?

• Free monthly PSN titles, minis and PS One Classics. Each month new titles will be made available for download. They are only available for initial download during their respective month. If you download a title and delete it from your PS3, you will be able to download it again for no cost. If you download a title and your subscription ends, upon reactivating you can download that title again for no cost.

• DISCOUNTS!!!1 20%-50% off of PlayStation Store content.

• Early beta/demo access for members “whenever possible”.

• Themes, avatars and other game elements only available for Plus members.

• Full Game Trials. So, every month you’ll be able to download full games and have a play limit of an hour (or otherwise stated) for free. If you decide you LURVE that game so much, you can purchase it on the spot and continue where your trial left off. Trophies you earned during your trial will become unlocked.

• Automatic Download. Your PS3 will awaken from its slumber (standby) and download/install game updates for titles you’ve been playing.

The ‘catch’ is once you unsubscribe from Plus, all free titles you have downloaded will disappear, poof, be gone. Obviously you’ll be able keep any discounted items you have purchased.

Personally, the current lineup doesn’t do anything for me. I doubt I’ll buy 50 dollars worth of PSN stuff in a year (if I do, it will be for very specific games) therefore I won’t need the discounts, I RARELY do betas, I’m a collector so I want a physical copy of the game (not a download) and I can patiently wait while my PS3 updates.

Not saying I won’t utilize this in the future, but for the time being I’ll just enjoy my free online play. What about you?

Oh Hey! I’m Kristina.

Hello! I suppose I am one of the new Zaxy girls.

It’s a little weird to figure out how to introduce myself on the Internet. It kind of feels like walking into your own house and introducing yourself to strangers who are sitting in your living room for some reason.

So, hello strangers in my living room. I am Kristina, and I am a geek.

(Here I am, rocking out)

My geekdom started young – I was a book nerd, which turned me into a full-fledged Harry Potter nerd. Harry Potter led me to wizard rock (of which I am one member of the band The Parselmouths) which led me to Youtube, where I vlog under the username “italktosnakes”, as well as on the collab channel “fiveawesomegirls”.

Okay, enough about my Internet street cred; I’m about to leave on a month long summer tour with my band, so I wont be posting as often as I’d like. BUT – I’ll be getting some great coverage of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park, VidCon (the YouTube conference in LA) and letting you know about any other hilarious stuff I encounter on my adventure.

With that, I’ll leave the rest to Tara.

Kristina

PS. I’m also in an electronic nerdrock band called ALL CAPS that sings about robots, zombies and World of Warcraft. I just thought you’d want to know.