Sony Releases Info On Their Welcome Back Package

May 16, 2011

Though none could say for certain if Sony would offer any kind of restitution to disappointed gamers, many were hopeful that the mammoth company would do more than simply say "thank you for being patient".

According to a recent press release, that hope has become a reality.

Patrick Seybold the Sr. Director of Corporate Communications & Social Media announced via direct blog the following: 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!

The full list of what gamers will receive can be found here, but the most note worthy are two downloadable games (some good ones like InFamous and Little Big Planent) and a free trial for time lost on various services, such as Plus and Music Unlimited.

Though it's incredibly generous of them, as they could have simply opted to replace lost time for certain subscriptions like Plus, Unlimited or DC Universe Online, after what we've been through is it enough?

My credit doesn't take a hit and no one steals from my bank account, yeah. I think it is. I've encountered worse over my two decades of gaming. Are they totally absolved? Not quite.

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Feedback

jerec - May 16, 2011 (10:55 PM)
I never used my credit card over PSN so it didn't cause any problem for me. I've been wanting to play LittleBigPlanet and inFamous for a while now. Guess I'll get a chance.

True - May 17, 2011 (12:19 AM)
I've never heard of the other three they're offering, so those are two outstanding choices. I would wait on playing InFamous for a while until the sequel comes out, or at least close to it. Once it ends you may have an Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood what does it all mean, I've got to find answers type moment.

Or you may hate it. Either way, I'm curious.

jerec - May 17, 2011 (12:48 AM)
Free games are all I'm getting at the moment. I'm unemployed. Still interested in giving Dragon Age II a go, but it'll have to wait until I have a proper income again.

True - May 17, 2011 (01:09 AM)
What is it that you do, again?

jerec - May 17, 2011 (01:16 AM)
I'm a qualified library person but I also do office work and I can't get work.

True - May 17, 2011 (01:22 AM)
Yeah, it's rough for everyone unfortunately. If you haven't already you might want to try Craigslist. There are a lot of scams but every now and then you find something good.

SamildanachEmrys - May 17, 2011 (06:30 AM)
I don't know if anyone else here is from my continent, but details of the welcome back package for Europe were announced today and then quickly removed. It's much the same as the US one, but with one game variation (Ratchet & Clank rather than Stardust). The fact that they took the list down makes me think it might change again.

(Info from here: http://thegamershub.net/2011/05/psn-welcome-back-package-european-free-games-announced/ )

CoarseDragon - May 17, 2011 (10:42 AM)
Doesn't do me any good which is to bad.

fleinn - May 18, 2011 (10:24 PM)
Mm. WipeoutHD is still the best game ever made. And it's Psygnosis' swansong. As you can see, Sony appreciates that game so much they happily give it away without even having a promotion for a sequel (which will never really be made) to go along with it.

True - May 19, 2011 (12:56 AM)
Sony appreciates that game so much they happily give it away without even having a promotion for a sequel (which will never really be made) to go along with it.

It's possible that's Sony's way of showing appreciation to the enduring fans. Giving it away when it's so great, I mean, when they could easily make more money off of it.

fleinn - May 19, 2011 (01:47 AM)
..yeah. By giving it the promotion package it deserved, and the studio the resources they needed. WipeoutHD also has, as the only PS3 game, a fully working integration of the invite-system. I.e., it detects invitations, and then allow you to "push" with one button-tap the people in your group. So suddenly it's very easy to join friends, instead of using the entire "create message, send, endless spinning back and forth the menus" thing the rest of the games have. This was something Sony could have used, but felt wasn't needed.

They could also have made money off it by pushing the 1080p@60fps angle along with the... "actual functional motion-control in a game, that actually isn't just thrown in there to sell a gimmick" thing. And not having their internal advertisement peddler get Studio Liverpool to throw in an extra piece of software that cause these semi-periodic freezes due to some time-out issue. They never actually fixed that, and just removed the server-download for the terrible advertisements instead. Avoiding that kind of thing would have helped a lot, and not killed off the already small community at the time.

Not removing the connection-limitations, and keeping the checks that were in place at launch, also would have helped to avoid having a glitcher ruin every 2nd game you play - which again would have made the game play better. And not launched the studio into an expensive bug-hunt for exploits that didn't exist until that previous patch. Sure would have helped.

But whatever - Sony had to have their advertisement money, and the "available to everyone, specially people on broken wifi-connections" seal. Even if it meant shafting us, the ones who liked the game. Firing Psygnosis (this is Studio Liverpool - they've made unknowns such as Lemmings, G-Police, a couple of CGI-overlay games a bit ahead of Megarace and so on. Rollcage, Destruction Derby, Drakan, Lander, etc).

So Sony dissolved the studio. Because clearly they suck at making good games, apparently..

..I would like to know which higher-up someone at the studio pissed off, really. I'm sure there's a brilliant story behind all of this that we're never going to know.

But hey - at least you can play the best game on the ps3 for free now.

Masters - May 19, 2011 (06:49 AM)
This is great news.

Looks like I'll be getting four free new games. Extra sweet for me since I was barely using my PS3 for online play, and so the outage didn't impact me very much.

zigfried - May 19, 2011 (07:21 PM)
That Whiteboard link was awesome -- thanks, Fleinn.

//Zig

goatx3 - May 19, 2011 (08:52 PM)
i'll take wipeout. can't decide between infamous and LBP.

Feedback
	jerec - May 16, 2011 (10:55 PM) I never used my credit card over PSN so it didn't cause any problem for me. I've been wanting to play LittleBigPlanet and inFamous for a while now. Guess I'll get a chance.
	True - May 17, 2011 (12:19 AM) I've never heard of the other three they're offering, so those are two outstanding choices. I would wait on playing InFamous for a while until the sequel comes out, or at least close to it. Once it ends you may have an Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood what does it all mean, I've got to find answers type moment. Or you may hate it. Either way, I'm curious.
	jerec - May 17, 2011 (12:48 AM) Free games are all I'm getting at the moment. I'm unemployed. Still interested in giving Dragon Age II a go, but it'll have to wait until I have a proper income again.
	True - May 17, 2011 (01:09 AM) What is it that you do, again?
	jerec - May 17, 2011 (01:16 AM) I'm a qualified library person but I also do office work and I can't get work.
	True - May 17, 2011 (01:22 AM) Yeah, it's rough for everyone unfortunately. If you haven't already you might want to try Craigslist. There are a lot of scams but every now and then you find something good.
	SamildanachEmrys - May 17, 2011 (06:30 AM) I don't know if anyone else here is from my continent, but details of the welcome back package for Europe were announced today and then quickly removed. It's much the same as the US one, but with one game variation (Ratchet & Clank rather than Stardust). The fact that they took the list down makes me think it might change again. (Info from here: http://thegamershub.net/2011/05/psn-welcome-back-package-european-free-games-announced/ )
	CoarseDragon - May 17, 2011 (10:42 AM) Doesn't do me any good which is to bad.
	fleinn - May 18, 2011 (10:24 PM) Mm. WipeoutHD is still the best game ever made. And it's Psygnosis' swansong. As you can see, Sony appreciates that game so much they happily give it away without even having a promotion for a sequel (which will never really be made) to go along with it.
	True - May 19, 2011 (12:56 AM) Sony appreciates that game so much they happily give it away without even having a promotion for a sequel (which will never really be made) to go along with it. It's possible that's Sony's way of showing appreciation to the enduring fans. Giving it away when it's so great, I mean, when they could easily make more money off of it.
	fleinn - May 19, 2011 (01:47 AM) ..yeah. By giving it the promotion package it deserved, and the studio the resources they needed. WipeoutHD also has, as the only PS3 game, a fully working integration of the invite-system. I.e., it detects invitations, and then allow you to "push" with one button-tap the people in your group. So suddenly it's very easy to join friends, instead of using the entire "create message, send, endless spinning back and forth the menus" thing the rest of the games have. This was something Sony could have used, but felt wasn't needed. They could also have made money off it by pushing the 1080p@60fps angle along with the... "actual functional motion-control in a game, that actually isn't just thrown in there to sell a gimmick" thing. And not having their internal advertisement peddler get Studio Liverpool to throw in an extra piece of software that cause these semi-periodic freezes due to some time-out issue. They never actually fixed that, and just removed the server-download for the terrible advertisements instead. Avoiding that kind of thing would have helped a lot, and not killed off the already small community at the time. Not removing the connection-limitations, and keeping the checks that were in place at launch, also would have helped to avoid having a glitcher ruin every 2nd game you play - which again would have made the game play better. And not launched the studio into an expensive bug-hunt for exploits that didn't exist until that previous patch. Sure would have helped. But whatever - Sony had to have their advertisement money, and the "available to everyone, specially people on broken wifi-connections" seal. Even if it meant shafting us, the ones who liked the game. Firing Psygnosis (this is Studio Liverpool - they've made unknowns such as Lemmings, G-Police, a couple of CGI-overlay games a bit ahead of Megarace and so on. Rollcage, Destruction Derby, Drakan, Lander, etc). So Sony dissolved the studio. Because clearly they suck at making good games, apparently.. ..I would like to know which higher-up someone at the studio pissed off, really. I'm sure there's a brilliant story behind all of this that we're never going to know. But hey - at least you can play the best game on the ps3 for free now.
	Masters - May 19, 2011 (06:49 AM) This is great news. Looks like I'll be getting four free new games. Extra sweet for me since I was barely using my PS3 for online play, and so the outage didn't impact me very much.
	zigfried - May 19, 2011 (07:21 PM) That Whiteboard link was awesome -- thanks, Fleinn. //Zig
	goatx3 - May 19, 2011 (08:52 PM) i'll take wipeout. can't decide between infamous and LBP.

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