If you’re gaming on the PlayStation and you want to go online, then you’re going to want to go for a PS Plus subscription. Unlike a gaming PC, the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 both require you to have some form of PlayStation Plus subscription to access multiplayer games and other content online. That said, depending on your subscription, you also get access to a library of free games every month, so you don’t have to spend your money on extra games except for titles that don’t appear on PS Plus on release.
Also, while you’re here, be sure to check out these excellent PS5 game deals and PlayStation deals that include some great games and accessories you can get for a great price.
Along with online multiplayer and other in-game network features, a PlayStation Plus Essential membership grants you access to exclusive discounts and other promotions. Perhaps the most notable benefit of PlayStation Plus is that every month, Sony gives subscribers one PlayStation 5 and two PlayStation 4 games that are free to download. You have one month to add these free PlayStation Plus games to your library.
After that, these titles are yours to keep so long as you have an active PlayStation Plus subscription. The free-to-download games are generally pretty good (they are often some of the best PS4 games that have been out for a little while), and these alone justify the cost of PS Plus even for people who don’t do a lot of online gaming.
If your membership lapses, you lose access to these games; however, you can download them again if you re-activate your PS Plus account. In other words, you don’t need to worry about losing your free games if you decide to go without PS Plus for a while (or if you just forget to add more time to your subscription) — once they are in your library, these free PlayStation Plus titles are yours to play whenever you have an active PS Plus membership. Just note that you may only add them to your library during the month that they are free.
If you want more from your PlayStation Plus membership, there’s also PlayStation Plus Extra. This service gives you all the benefits of PS Plus Essential as well as a downloadable catalog of nearly 400 PS4 and PS5 games.
Not enough for you? There’s always PlayStation Plus Premium which does all that, and adds on PS3 game streaming for select titles) along with some PS1, PS2 and PSP games too. It’s more limited than anyone would like but there are some good titles like Ape Escape, Tekken 2, and Dark Cloud.
In all cases, there’s also access to PS Plus Collection — a roundup of some of the best games seen on PS4 such as The Last of Us Remastered, God of War, and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. This won’t be for long though with Sony discontinuing the library from May 9. Fortunately, if you download any of these games before then, they’re yours to keep unless your PS Plus subscription lapses. It’s a great way of gaining insight into what Sony has to offer but you’re going to need to be fast, making one of these PlayStation Plus deals even more unmissable right now.
PlayStation Plus Essential is the new name for what was previously known simply as PlayStation Plus. The main purpose of signing up for the service is to access the online modes of your favorite games, though there are added bonuses such as free games to download every month. You’ll be able to keep playing these games as long as your PlayStation Plus Essential membership remains active, or you decide to upgrade to the higher tiers — PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium.
Sadly, there aren’t any deals going for any of the subscriptions at the moment so you’ll have to grab a subscription directly from Sony.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.