Ever since its announcement at last year's E3 the PlayStation Plus subscription service never really appealed to me that much. The idea of getting "a deal" on downloadable titles only to give them back if you don't renew the subscription was always something that made me a bit skeptical. And while the service doesn't provide what everyone thought it would (the mythical unicorn known as cross-game chat) one feature that did get me excited was cloud storage, which provides the ability to save all those precious game saves, well -- you guessed it, in the cloud. The service has now officially gone live for PS+ subscribers, and we're here to let you know just how to use it, hit the jump to find out how.
PlayStation Plus subscribers can store up to 150MB of PS3 game save data and a maximum of 1000 data files per PlayStation®Network account. “Copy-prohibited save data” is also supported, and all previously backed-up save data may be restored once per 24-hour period. When the new feature launches, most PS3 titles will be compatible with online storage for game saves, and moving forward new titles will have the capability to offer the storage option.
Online storage for game saves ensures that data stored by PlayStation Plus subscribers is more secure than ever and is an integral feature for gamers who wish to access their data on other PS3 systems. Users can check their available/total space at any time via the XMB™ (XrossMediaBar). Users who wish to utilize the feature immediately following the system software update (v3.60), can do so with these instructions:
To back-up:
1. Select [Game] > [Save Data Utility].
2. Focus on the save data you wish to back up.
3. Open up the option menu using “triangle” and select [Copy].
4. Select [Online Storage] as the destination of back up.
To copy:
1. Select [Game] > [Save Data Utility] > [Online Storage].
2. Focus on the save data you wish to copy.
3. Open up an option menu using “triangle” and select [Copy].
PlayStation Plus is available for a yearly fee of $49.99, and for a limited time, gamers will also receive 3 free bonus months when signing up for a one-year subscription. Gamers can also subscribe to the 3-month option for $17.99.
Now It's starting to get harder and harder to NOT sign up for the service. If you're currently a PS+ subscriber, try out the new service and let us know how it works in the comments section. Hopefully it won't take as long as syncing trophies. ZING!