Playstation Plus Discussion Thread - FAQ in first post

Deja vu of deja vu of deja vu!

A few things to consider:

a) As pointed out above, we have to partially discount the PS4 games given the infancy of the console. It needs at least another six-twelve months to have the catalogue available that they'll reasonably be able to give out free big budget games (although I wouldn't be surprised if there was one given away as part of the Christmas games selection).

b) As a PS3 owner, you're getting three games that have not only been critically acclaimed (to a much greater degree than titles like Remember Me, and at least on a par with the other 2013 titles mentioned above), but also by players. For example, here are the boards threads on Frozen Synapse, Luftrausers and Steamworld Dig:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72442229
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=89735997
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=86441276

I for one am always a bit confused that independent titles are perceived as 'lesser' than their big budget brethren, when very often offer more in-depth mechanics, innovative ideas and longevity (Frozen Synapse and Binding of Issac particularly offer dozens and dozens of hours of play). Are mediocre AAA games really preferable to positively received independent ones?

c) PS Plus has reached a weird point where there is actually fewer games available to offer or perhaps even available to Sony. It's been quite a slow year or two for new titles in the general scheme of things as the transition to next gen has gone down, and many of the major titles that are probably lined-up for somewhere down the line (e.g. Last of Us / GTAV for PS3, Persona 4 for Vita) are very likely still profitable and therefore probably more of a delay in their inclusion in IGC. There's also the fact some publishers probably don't want to give up their games to the service, and the competition from Xbox further eating into the supply of games. PS Plus is a victim of its own success to a degree - there really is an increasingly limited amount of games out there they can offer, and I'd wager they are trying to spread out those titles so there's at least another year or so for PS3 in particular.

Not that there aren't legitimate concerns - on PS3 particularly I think there are a selection of more obscure games (many JRPGs, for example), that would be a nice inclusion every so often, and address some of the complaints. But having played Frozen Synapse, Steamworld, Luftrausers and Binding of Issac (the latter of which is the only one that fell into the 'not for me' category), I'm once again disappointed that these excellent, interesting games are effectively being dismissed before they have even been released on IGC. They are legitimately great games, varied enough that at least one or two of them will stick for the vast majority of players willing to give them a chance, and I'd play them all before all but the most exceptional AAA titles out there.