Sony's PlayStation Plus service starts accepting subscribers; a quick first look

PlayStation Plus

With the 3.40 software update to the Sony PlayStation 3 on Tuesday, Sony's new subscription-based gaming service called PlayStation Plus has gone live in several international markets.

Through the PlayStation Store, users can pay $49.99 for a year subscription to PlayStation Plus, or $17.99 for a three-month trial. Once a user's account is activated, content exclusive to subscribers is made available, such as one hour full game trial versions, discounted titles, and exclusive themes and avatars. Content exclusive to PlayStation Plus is marked by a yellow D-pad icon.

In the North American store this morning, only a small amount of content is up, but it is a good example of the privileges afforded to subscribers. The PlayStation Network game WipEout HD, for example, is completely free for subscribers to download and keep, as is the PlayStation Mini game "Age of Zombies" by Halfbrick Studios.

The selection in the North American store is currently quite small, but much more content is expected to come to the service over time, and it will eventually include advance trials and beta versions that have not yet made it to the general population of PlayStation 3 users.

At present, the $17.99 three-month trial is a worthwhile expense if you are interested in picking up the full versions of WipEout HD and Age of Zombies, because they would cost a total of $25 to download regularly. Other than that, it's not a remarkable experience yet, and constitutes only a tiny addition to the PlayStation Store.

*(JWVonGoethe is Tim Conneally's PSN ID if you feel like fragging him.)

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