WipEout HD Free with PlayStation Plus

[drell]

According to my interpretation of Sony's currently ongoing E3 Press Conference:
PlayStation Plus (The premium subscription package unveiled today) will be free for three months for everyone. And for the first month, WipEout HD will be offered for download for free.
The catch is: you will own WipEout HD for as long as you maintain your subscription, which in the ends costs 50$ per year or 18$ per three months (Which you will need to pay after this free trial.)

This has the potential to bring in much more fence sitters (Why would there be any, well for some even 30$ is a steep price for the whole HD Fury package unfortunately) to the game, and combined with the 3D available now, much more exposure to the game. Most likely much more than it has ever gotten before the release and during these two years that we have had the game (Low marketing, you know how it went.)

This is great news for WipEout, and unlike I was thinking earlier, there might still be hope for something new for WipEout. But before that, Motorstorm Apocalypse must come out...

[DreamyElf]

wow you are fast! :)
i just saw the news in the live sony conference.

its very good reason to buy the subscriprion although i guess anyone who wanted to buy WipEout have already bought it.
i mean 25 Euro for the game plus fury, its a steal...

unfortunately, as you said, Sony is currently investing on Motorstorm:Apocalypse and (surprise there) Twisted Metal...
let's hope WipEout's comeback will not be long :)

WipEout will never die!

EDIT: according to the european playstation site, it seems that the WipEout will be free only in USA.
europe will get instead free LittleBigPlanet (plus free 3 months) (if you subscribe before 3 August)

[AG-wolf]

how do people go from boasting about how they don't have to pay to play games online to being excited for it?

And don't say just because they give you something free, Xbox Live gives sales and special offers and exclusive stuff every month if you have a paid subscription.

I'm not trying to start a console war by any means, my brain is just baffled by this logic lol

Is there a link to Sony's E3 press conference? I haven't followed -any- of the Big Three's news lately and I wanna sit down and check them all out at some point.

[DreamyElf]

here you go AG-wolf: http://e3.gamespot.com/press-conference/sony-e3/
you can also check the official playstation site.

Sony have really made things easy for Microsoft this gen.
HUGE marketing mistakes, lost many exclusive games (final fantasy 13, devil may cry, tekken etc.),redundancies to Studio Liverpool, POOR customer support.
what did they expected?
i ' m a loyal Sony customer but i recognise the efforts from microsoft.
yeah, the usually splash cash and buy companies, exclusive DLC and games, "buying" sites (gametrailers anyone?) BUT isn't that what Sony did 15 years ago with Playstation against SEGA and Nintendo? ;)

anyway, i hope they learn from their mistakes! :)

at least PSN will STILL be FREE unlike Xbox LIve... XD

[drell]

how do people go from boasting about how they don't have to pay to play games online to being excited for it?You misunderstand me. I am excited for what this could mean for WipEout HD. It is a good publicity I think. I recognize that some features that could be implemented in the future for the PSN could arbitrarily deemed "premium" for Sony and put in the "You need to pay" bin.
And this still does not mean that everyone will have to pay. Unlike the Xbox, you don't pay to play online on the PS3. Everything we have right now will stay free, that's what they said.
The way they described PlayStation Plus, it seems as a fixed cost you pay to get more games, demos, DLC, invites to beta than you probably can by paying this 50$ to something else than PlayStation Plus.

Is there a link to Sony's E3 press conference?
Sony's E3 Press Conference will be on the PlayStation Store for free download in 720p (Part one was there yesterday already.)

[mdhay]

Isn't it cheaper to just buy it now? It isn't free, not even the PSN's free, seeing as I (being the user) still have to pay for the internet connection.

[Amorbis]

It's nice to have a free trial and a free game, but I already have LBP and HD. :lol

But never mind, the trial might somehow convince me to get Plus. Although as long as the FreeSN remains as it is now there isn't much need for Plus. I really don't mind missing out on a 'beta' or missing timed content, but if it does start to interfere with my gaming interests they might force me to buy it.

The free HD should populate the online severs a bit more though, and that's far from a bad thing!

[someguy789]

cool we should be seeing a few more people online then :)

[blackwiggle]

I hope those that do take up the new subscription service start playing Wipeout.
But somehow I think those who will take up the service will be die-hard Sony fanboys who just have to be 1st on the block with the new.
These will in all probability either already have Wipeout or are not interested in it.
I can't see many taking up the new subscription services to be honest.
Sony has manged to stuff up every new service it brings to the PSN, either due to technical issues or pricing or a combination of the two, so why pay for a even more incompetent service.
There doesn't seem any value to it, and, as with all things Sony, I bet there will be "unspecified at the time of purchase" caveats to what EXACTLY will actually work and what setup is needed for something to work properly, the "fine print" [just like FULL product manuals] that are well hidden away on any of those electronic mazes that are called Sony sites.

Paying for cross game chat seems to be what most are talking about.
Not for Wipeout players when voice chat on HD/FURY doesn't work anyway?
I can't fathom who want's to be suddenly interrupted by somebody talking about something unrelated to the game you are playing at the time anyway, it would be like trying to take a phone call while in the middle of a AVALON meet.
So you might get a few demos, meh, big deal, I've had heaps of those sent to me, I've might of played through them once if they interested me and then deleted them, not even bothered downloading others, there's ways of getting those & beta trials unofficially if you really want something anyway.

A few examples of Sony stuff up's and why I have little faith in these new services.

HOME: Seemed like a good idea and I was really excited about the possibilities, but not being able to launch HD from within HOME and having club membership limited to so small a number made it pointless, and constantly having to re-download the various portions of HOME again and again have put most people off it, I haven't bothered with it for over a year.

MOVIE downloads: The movies are standard definition, you are charged a price not much lower than if you were to buy a DVD copy, you can only view it a certain amount of times, it takes ages to download through the PSN and if things go wrong during the download Sony customer service says tough luck, no refund, add to that it is chewing up your monthly download quota, it's got FAIL! written all over it.

PSTORE: The disparities between what is put up at the various regional stores, in product, release date & pricing.
Despite constant and continued protest about these differences from day one of the PSN they still continue.

[SonicChaos]

From what I heard you can't keep the free games if you cancel the subscription. If so, it makes it rather pointless now doesn't it? Still I'm not terribly interested in it as it really has nothing much to offer.

[DreamyElf]

so the playstation plus probably sucks but it managed to give some serious life-boost to the wipeout servers!
the last 2 days the lobby is full with new level 1 pilots!
the funny thing is most of them jump straight to online and join phantom races! XD
let's hope that with this move from Sony, wipeout will gain more real fans!
Sony for sure will gain more cash whenever one of them buys the fury add-on! lol

[KIGO1987]

Two people i have noticed on my PSN friends list now that have the "Plus Package" subscription. Tug and Kiwi Kyoto.

[Amorbis]

There's two people in my friend list with Plus as well, I haven't seen them on WipEout though. I'll have to go online more to get some of the action, HD probably hasn't been as active since last year.

I'll put Plus off until there is some more content, but if I didn't already have LittleBigPlanet and HD I would probably buy it.

[billychanxtr33m]

a bit of a side note, but i needed to reformat my ps3 after a patch fd up (wipeout hd no less) and when i was looking through the store to make sure i could re-download my stuff i noticed that wipeout hd and fury were not there. i was able to re-download everything thanks to the dl history on my account but this was a bit dissapointing. hopefully they are just preping the package for this freebie download.

[blackwiggle]

I've got around 10 people on my friends list that have bought the premium package so far.
Most of them are Sony Beta Trial members.

Have you guys checked the new features at the PStore?
It's not just for premium uses.
You can now rate each game out of 5, it's one vote per game unless you want to change your vote to a different rating [the latest one counts].
Plus there are now video previews of games so you can see a bit of game play in action pre purchase, which is great as I now don't have to trawl the net looking for this very thing.

[SirSmokalot002]

I was quite happy to see the online in WOHD had become more popular again, untill i tried to race with these noobs. Halfway through any race i found myself the only one left. Finished a couple of races in tournament, but never finished the tournament itself. They all kept leaving, after i darted away at the start from them. Got some really nice mesgs from them, accusing me of cheating and everything. lol. They will learn. eventually

[leungbok]

:brickwall never ending bling brigad request !! :bomb
:D

[UB3R~JKP]

Hopefully PS-Plus gets a killer "app" as it where, to convice us(the on the balance) people to try it out. :D

[Connavar]

Is it me or I notice a lot more players online than usual? :)
Always a good thing.

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

Limitation of PS-Plus:You have to be 18 and older(YAY!)
Tried going online...could not.Will try again tomorrow 2/7/2010 around 10pm GMT+8(3pm GMT)

[AG-wolf]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/6/30/

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/6/30/

[drell]

Well in response to his question "Who does not have WipEout HD"
From the comments of members on this thread, I'd say: lots of people. That is if there are many more online players, I would not know. So it's not entirely worthless, and just like I guessed it gives good exposure to WipEout HD as everyone is trying it out. :)
Next month I think they get a discount on Fury.

[Cyberio]

Only one guy has it in my list for now.


:brickwall never ending bling brigad request !! :bomb
:D
LOL.

Anyway, it's nice for us having 30 races instead of 10.

[DreamyElf]

I was quite happy to see the online in WOHD had become more popular again, untill i tried to race with these noobs. Halfway through any race i found myself the only one left. Finished a couple of races in tournament, but never finished the tournament itself. They all kept leaving, after i darted away at the start from them. Got some really nice mesgs from them, accusing me of cheating and everything. lol. They will learn. eventually
never received any msg so far.
but it is annoying when you are battling for the top spot and you suddenly find them blocking you or leaving bombs and mines.
kinda remind me of wipeout pure where the bombs and mines didn't disappear after a lap, like in hd. lol
another funny thing is i checked by chance a profile of a lvl5 pilot and he/she said on the about me section: ' WipEout HD Legend' !!! :bomb:g
omg, there is no respect...

[UB3R~JKP]

hahaha, I Fricken Lol'd Elf


Yeah, they are E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E!

[mic-dk]

Reminds me of of the September that never ended (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_september) :D

It's nice to see so many on-line, but I'd rather have 10 people that actually finish the races, than a 1000 quitting as soon as they're 5 sec behind. On the bright side, I would never had thought that the day would arrive where I win a race with a +10sec difference :lol

[ACE-FLO]

Not all of 'em are noobs :g seriously, I was racing with my Killer_LoopZ account yesterday against a rank 6 pilot (PSN id SUSLAW) and he managed to take a win off me :eek so I checked his trophy collectionj and the git had completed the campaign back in September 2008. Turns out he only just managed to get online with the game this week :D awesome stuff, so I added him and told him bout WZ :rock

[mic-dk]

Heh, yeah, Klocki_LEGO and Sausehun came around and slapped me a few moments later, so everything is back to normal. I even encountered two below 10 rank players that seemed to know what they were doing, so it's not all bad. Still many quitters among them though.

[Connavar]

I enjoy those new players. If you're too fast, then just give them 15 seconds headstart
before starting the race, or try to kill the 2nd player ... been having some fun this way,
and everyone can finish the race too.

[KIGO1987]

Right ive got 8people now on my PSN friends list with the Plus package. Makes me think whether people just have alot of disposable income and just decided to buy the crap, or whether this is a good deal or not.

Sequent_Blender (guy from Adelaide)
Danterich (Austrian fellow)
micky1984 (guy i use to play alot of online Pulse in the good days)
Senture (a pom i think)
tug_14 (Frenchy)
Livitarium (another Frenchy)
Xtriko (Portuguese mate i play a bit of Gran Turismo with, along with his bro)
djkyoto (kiwi living in Sydney)

[ACE-FLO]

... been having some fun this way,
and everyone can finish the race too.

I'm pleased you did this - coz now I'm gonna have a bash at it :D this sounds like a lot of fun - at least the last 4 laps won't be just me on my jacks. 15 second headstarts :D mosdef ;g take out 2nd position pilot - this is tricky but even more fun :D

[blackwiggle]

I know I've ended up having to do the same sort of race tactic around Xmas time when there seems to be a never ending stream of newbies.

It also helps to give them half a lap head start so they can thin themselves out a bit, what with the "pilot assist ping pong" that tends to happen in these types of fields, your far better off avoiding that mayhem and just cruise past the wreckage on lap 2 8)

[Connavar]

Haha ... you know I managed to win many photofinish races this way, the art is to guess
exactly how many seconds you should give, to win at the end of the last lap.
So you have to know your own skills as well as the skills of the other players, the best
is to do a normal race just before.
And obviously it depends on the tracks too, on Sebenco you can usually give a lot more
than Moa.

About the "Terminator" mode, if you're much faster than the others it's easy because
you can just go behind him and launch the rockets or plasma. But try not to show them
too much that you're faster, otherwise they'll know it and then ally themselves against
you (which is fun) ... or rage quit (not good), also good if they win some races.

Like sometimes I identified a player who was much worse than the other 2, and my
goal (game in the game) was to make him win the race!! So you had to slow down the
other 2 players as much as possible, and never hit the 3rd one... pretty nice :)

[OBH]

Oh dear, today i was in a phantom race with no less than 6 level 1 newbies, and i dont think i made a good impression......

slowing down to blow up the competition really didnt win me any friends :beer

[ACE-FLO]

@Connavar :+ I lol'd man, full respect to you for letting the 3rd nOOb gert a chance at winning, that made me smile...

... I sometimes feel like doing that also, but not really a charitable type :g

[AppleJack]

I started playing online just a day or so ago after not having touched online in months. I think in just two days I went from Rank 5 to Rank 12, won a few races here and there (enough to get Connected 2) and also got the Endurance trophy. So far it's been good fun. HD has once again become my favorite game on the PS3.

[Xavier]

Just played a whole lot of online HD yesterday with new-ish players at levels around 5-15 (I'm at 22). The races would end up with me and one or two others fighting for the top; it was a lot of fun. Until recently, all my opponents would be around level 50 and would thrash me thoroughly.

Particular props to one new guy from France (Mico?) who stuck it out through 10 or so Zone Battles with me; I think I won all of them. Don't feel bad; you'll be beating me soon enough!