PlayStation Plus offers up Helldivers, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax for subscribers in February

By Danny Cowan Published January 27, 2016

Sony announced February’s PlayStation Plus lineup of digital console freebies, revealing that subscribers will receive free copies of Helldivers, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, and other standout titles starting next month.

PlayStation 4 owners with an active subscription to PlayStation Plus can expect to receive two free games in February. PS3 players will also get a pair of freely downloadable games, while PS Vita owners will enjoy three games free of charge as part of next month’s PlayStation Plus lineup.

The PlayStation 4, PS3, and PS Vita versions of Helldivers will be up for grabs for PlayStation Plus members starting next week. Developed by Magicka series creator Arrowhead Game Studios, Helldivers is an explosive twin-stick shooter that lets up to four players team up in local and online cooperative multiplayer modes.

Helldivers saw a DLC-bundled retail release for the PlayStation 4 shortly after its initial launch in 2015, followed by an upgraded PC port available via Steam.

Also on tap for PS4 owners next month is Nom Nom Galaxy, the latest entry in Q-Games’ PixelJunk series. Following up on acclaimed series predecessors like PixelJunk Monsters and PixelJunk Shooter, Nom Nom Galaxy boasts a unique gameplay mixture of platforming, sandbox exploration, and tower defense for up to four simultaneous players.

PS3 owners can look forward to a free digital copy of Codemasters’ racing sim GRID Autosport next month, along with Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, a one-on-one fighter from Guilty Gear studio Arc System Works featuring characters and settings from Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei: Persona RPG series.

Along with Helldivers, PS Vita players will also receive a remake of the classic puzzler Lemmings and Funktronic Labs’ turn-based adventure game Nova-111 next month. All of February’s featured PlayStation Plus titles will be free to download for service subscribers when the PlayStation Store updates on February 2.

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PlayStation Plus is getting a major price hike following Game Pass changes

PlayStation Plus art highlighting the essential, extra, and premium tiers.

Sony confirmed that 12-month subscriptions for PlayStation Plus Essential, Extra, and Premium will all see price increases alongside the reveal of September's new Essential games on the PlayStation Blog.
Starting on September 6, 12 months of PS Plus Essential goes up in price from $60 to $80, PS Plus Extra's yearly price increases from $100 to $135, and an annual subscription to PS Plus Premium will rise from $120 to $160.

Sony says it needs to increase the price of all three versions of PlayStation Plus "to continue bringing high-quality games and value-added benefits to your PlayStation Plus subscription service" and that buying a 12-month subscription is still cheaper than subscribing to any of the shorter-term plans over the same period of time. The price hikes comes just a couple of months after Microsoft raised the price of Xbox Game Pass.
When it comes to the games PS Plus Essential subscribers can expect this month, first up is Saints Row, a 2022 reboot of an open-world crime franchise that garnered mixed reviews upon its release. Next is Generation Zero, an open-world sci-fi shooter where players fight evil machines. Finally, those who have not already purchased a version of the MMO Black Desert on PS4 can redeem Black Desert - Traveler Edition, which comes with some additional items; if you have bought a version of Black Desert, you can just redeem the Traveler Item Pack.

Gaming

Sony’s cloud handheld, the PlayStation Portal, will only stream certain games

Astro's Playroom booting up on the PlayStation Portal.

Sony has unveiled the price for its upcoming cloud gaming handheld, as well as an official name for the device: PlayStation Portal. However, one significant caveat to its functionality might sour people's interest in the handheld: It only supports PS4 and PS5 native games that the owner purchased.
PlayStation VR2 games can't be streamed to PlayStation Portal, which does make sense. More bafflingly, though, is the fact that the PlayStation Blog post states that "games that are streamed through PlayStation Plus Premium’s cloud streaming are not supported." That means you shouldn't pick up PlayStation Portal expecting to stream some PS3 and PS4 games available through PlayStation Plus Premium to the device. That's certainly an odd omission when it's currently PlayStation's most notable cloud gaming effort.
Although Microsoft is more closely associated with cloud gaming, Sony beat it to releasing a dedicated cloud gaming device. PlayStation Portal was first teased as Project Q during May's PlayStation showcase, but now, a PlayStation Blog post more clearly explains what we can actually expect from the handheld. Most importantly, we learned that PlayStation Portal will cost $200, which puts it underneath the cost of a Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S, and other cloud gaming devices like the Logitech G Cloud Handheld.
As for what you're getting for that price tag, it's essentially a decent screen attached to two halves of a DualSense controller. The controllers on each side share all the functionality of the DualSense, including things like haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. In-between is an 8-inch LCD screen that streams games over Wi-Fi at up to a 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second. All in all, that's fairly solid for a cloud gaming handheld that is this cheap.
Sony confirmed that the PlayStation Portal will have a 3.5mm audio jack, but also used the same blog post to unveil two new wireless audio options. There's the Pulse Elite wireless headset that features a retractable boom mic and a charging hanger and Pulse Explore wireless earbuds that offer similar audio quality in earbud form.
None of these products are available for preorder or have a specific release date just yet, but they are all expected to launch before the end of the year.

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Art fights a giant bird in Dreams.

Sony announced the three-game lineup that PlayStation Plus Essential subscribers can redeem for free throughout the month of August. It's an odd batch of titles that includes a sports game, one of 2021's best indies, and a user-generated, content-focused PS4 exclusive that never got the love it deserved.

Specifically, those three games are PGA Tour 2K23, Death's Door, and Dreams.