Welcome back to PSN [2 Free Games from Sony]

CrystalGipsy wrote:What is Dead Nation by the way.

Say what you want about Sony's freebies – the wider reaction is the real story here

Let's be clear. Sony could have announced last night that all PS3 and PSP owners were to be given £1,000 in gold bullion personally signed by Brad Pitt, free PS3 games for life, a trip to two to Mars and free handjobs from Yano Shiho and people would have still complained.

What they did announce was a choice of two free games from a selection of five, with a different selection for each platform. Users will also get a month's free access to PlayStation Plus. Existing PSN+ users will get two months free. US users will also get some free movie rentals.

Inevitably, the self-entitled internet masses reacted with uproar. Old games. Old games that perhaps they already own. The offer is not tailored to their individual taste? GOD DAMN YOU SONY!

"Five games that can be picked up for less than a tenner, and you get to pick two of them. And one of those is riddled with advertising," infamous (and anonymous) industry observer RAM Raider stated.

"I bet a strawberry floating good percentage owns 4/5. It's disappointing that they couldn't have offered at least 1 decent title. Don't feel sorry for Sony, people – they lost your information because of their shit-poor security. They're not doing you any favours here."

Please don't misunderstand – I'm a big fan of RAM Raider. He offers intelligent and learned criticism where others offer unbalanced and poorly targeted whining. But his reaction in this instance is, I feel, sadly indicative of a wider attitude that does none of us any favours.

Another point of clarification – Sony should not have lost user data. Security should have been better. They are guilty, in this respect. And, as RAM Raider also claims, perhaps "[PSN] credit would have been a guaranteed winner".

But let's be clear. PSN is a free service. Free. We were without it for a month. Annoying? Absolutely. Especially so if you've paid £40 for a copy of Black Ops (or, god forbid, Portal 2) and have been unable to play it online. And PSN forms such an integral part of the PS3 offer that to be without it for a whole month cannot be brushed aside.

But it's not like Sony came to your house, spat in your tea, shat in the garden and kicked the cat. I don't wish to make make excuses for them, but it's really not the end of the world. Let's not forget that the hackers are the real villains here, yet they seem to be reverenced for "putting it to the man".

LittleBigPlanet, Quest for Booty, WipEout and inFamous are really good games (I haven't played Dead Nation so cannot comment).

They're only a tenner on the High Street? Well, that's a tenner saved then. Sony didn't have to offer us anything, remember. Don't fancy the look of any of them? Don't download them, then. This time you miss out. Shame, but let's move on, eh?

And as Mediakick editor David Howard points out, much of the most vocal criticism game from games journalists themselves.

"I doubt that the 'average' gamer owns all of them," he observed. "I think [games journalists are] different in our bubble."

Games journo Simon Phillips added: "Seemed to be journos moaning that they already had the games. 'I got those games for free – want new ones'.

"Maybe Sony should have consulted them first, to see which obscure freebies they didn't have? Folks on the Sony gravy train should have been the last to complain. But then, their free copy of LA Noire should be arriving (or have arrived), so all will have been forgotten about by now."

Author James P Smythe perhaps sums the whole saga up the best: "The sense of entitlement amongst internet idiots is heavingly strong today, apparently."

Magius wrote:From MCV:

Say what you want about Sony's freebies – the wider reaction is the real story here

Let's be clear. Sony could have announced last night that all PS3 and PSP owners were to be given £1,000 in gold bullion personally signed by Brad Pitt, free PS3 games for life, a trip to two to Mars and free handjobs from Yano Shiho and people would have still complained."

Magius wrote:free handjobs from Yano Shiho

Peter Crisp wrote:She would not look like that after tens of millions of hand jobs.

1. For eligibility for the welcome back programme consumers must be an account holder on 20 April 2011. Specific details about these offers and eligibility requirements will be posted as the services go live. All existing PSN registrants have 30 days from when the welcome back programme goes live to redeem their content.

Xbox live went down for like a fortnight

Rik wrote:

Xbox live went down for like a fortnight

Can we stop saying this like it is true. Live didn't go down for 2 weeks, it was patchy for 2 weeks at Xmas when Halo 3 was released, it depended on time of day and region. At times you could play fine and at others you couldn't. I think it was mainly due to a massive increase in 360 sales during that period in the US.

The issue here is that Sony have spilled your personal details that you entrusted to them, that's what they should be compensating for not the fact it's been down for 3-4 weeks.

Falsey wrote:I dont have any of those games so will be getting Infamous and LBP, or maybe Ratchet & Clank. Also, it turns out I used my old email and insecure password for PSN and had no bank details etc on there, so this has affected me very little. Good times.