…As long as you are a PlayStation Plus member that is. Yes, Sony has decided to be a little bit more innovative and beat its competitors by bringing online save game storage to the PlayStation 3 console.
From today, PlayStation Plus members who download the 3.60 firmware update for their consoles will have up to 150MB of online storage space to store up to 1000 PS3 game saves in the cloud. Gamers can then access the content from any PlayStation 3 console around the world, in another bedroom or gaming den.
“To do so, simply highlight the game save you want to store in the [Saved Data Utility (PS3)], press the triangle button to bring up the options, select “copy” and then select “Online Storage” as the destination. In turn, you can access your Online Storage list via [Saved Data Utility (PS3)] when signed into PlayStation Network on a friend’s PS3 and download your stored game saves to carry on your game from where you left off.” instructs the PlayStation Blog.
This all sounds less intuitive and slick as it could have been, but as a new cutting-edge feature on a current-gen platform, its implementation is nothing to moan at. Developer support maybe slim at first, but support for saving your games to the cloud should roll out in upcoming PS3 titles as well as older titles via updates. If in-game saving to the cloud is supported by a game, due to the persistent saving of a game there will be a 24 hour period before you are able to download that save to another console online. So don’t expect to save at the end of level one, have dinner, and then download that save and start level two on another console within a 24 hour period.
As mentioned earlier, this cloud storage service is available PlayStation Plus members only, so a subscription fee is required to make sure you maintain the ability to save to your online storage. If your subscription expires, or you decide to stop payments, you will no longer be able to save to or access your online stored saves, which is risky if you don’t wish to keep handing money over to Sony each month, you are bent over a table here if wish to keep the ability to store your saves online. If you decide not to continue your PlayStation Plus subscription your saves remain online during your unsubscribed period for half a year (6 months) so you have time to dip back in and continue to use this service at a later date.
It was only a matter of time before Sony started to monitise its free online service, and although at first for some gamers the PlayStation Plus subscription service was questionable, this new cloud-based storage feature shows that Sony are willing to provide new and unique features to its paid members. Online game saves is a niche feature that will only really appeal to gamers that play on more than one PlayStation 3 console, so it makes sense to be a paid-for service and become another welcoming feature of being a PlayStation Plus member, and I doubt this feature will ever be available to all of its unpaid members, at least in the short term.
So are you an existing PlayStation Plus member that will use this service? Should this service be free to all members? Has this feature now made you decide to purchase a PlayStation Plus subscription? Let us know and discuss in the comments below.
