New PlayStation Plus service starts rolling out globally
Sony’s new PlayStation Plus game subscription service has started to roll out globally, with Asian gamers now having access to a heap of classic games.
This revamped subscription service effectively combines the current PS Plus and PS Now offerings into one package, granting access to a host of games from across the history of PlayStation for a monthly fee across three different membership plans.
With PS Plus now accessible in certain parts of the world, we now have confirmation of the identity of those games at launch. Based on the initial Asian rollout, it seems that list runs to 269 games, which is quite a bit smaller than the 700 that were initially promised.
Sony recently explained (via an asterisk) that the availability of these 700 games is to vary “over time and plan”. It should also be noted that the Asia region doesn’t have access to any PS3 games, which are to be supplied via streaming.
“More titles will be added soon,” promises Sony on the official PlayStation website, “along with the lists of catalogue games available in each country/region as PlayStation Plus rolls out.”
One unusual point that’s been picked up on in certain quarters is that some of the initial batch of PS1 games seem to be European PAL versions rather than the NTSC versions that launched in Asia and the US. This means that they run at a lower (and hence inferior) 50Hz refresh rate.
Curiously, all of Sony’s first party PS1 titles seems to be included in this 50Hz downgrade, including the likes of Ape Escape, Jumping Flash, and Everybody’s Golf.