PlayStation Plus is a fairly new subscription service made available for the PlayStation Network. This service is so new that many PS3 owners are currently wondering what exactly PlayStation Plus is. So here is some clarification on what this service offers, and how it can benefit those who subscribe to it.

First of all, the release date is on June 29th, 2010. Only a matter of days, and it is gearing up for quite the release. 

At launch, the PlayStation Plus will have two full PlayStation Network games (WipEout HD), PSP minis and select PS One Classics such as Fieldrunners, Age of Zombies and Rally Cross, along with the full game trial of inFAMOUS. Free monthly episodes of Qore, a high-definition interactive video game show, will also be offered to subscribers of this new service.

The current PlayStation Network features will still be free. So those of you afraid of losing your ability to play online games for free need not worry. This is one of the PlayStation 3's main selling points, and Sony would not be so rash as to take that away from the masses of fans. 

PlayStation Plus will be able to be purchased via the PlayStation Store on the PSN as a one-year package or a three-month package. These are one time fees, and the three-month package is available for $17.99 while the one-year package is available for $49.99. Three additional bonus months will be added for free if you purchase the one-year package, which will give you a total of 15 months of playtime for only $49.99. These two packages can be purchased either by credit card or PSN Cards. Hence, that is why you are able to get PlayStation Plus for free through my method.

As a subscriber to the PlayStation Plus service, you will be able to get free monthly PlayStation Network games, minis and PS oneclassics from the PSN store. These titles will be downloadable for the month, until replaced by the next months selection. These games will only be available to play as long as you are a subscriber to PlayStatoin Plus. If your subscription ends, your games will be deactivated, and only reactivated when you re-subscribe. If you delete one of your games, that you received for free as a member of PlayStation Plus, and you want to get it back, you can search for it on the PS Store and download it again at no extra cost. 

There will be "dynamic themes", premium avatars and premium game elements/add-ons for you to download every month, many of these being exclusive to PlayStation Plus members. These are yours to keep forever once downloaded. Subscribers will also receive exclusive PlayStation Store discounts every month.  These discounts range from 20% to 50% according to the PlayStation Blog. Also, members will be given priority for beta testing opportunities and select demos before they go live to everyone else. 

Full Game Trials is another feature that is exclusive to the PlayStation Plus service. Each month, members will be allowed to download a full game and try them out for a period of time (usually being one hour). After the game trial is ended, you can purchase the game in order to continue where you left off. This is an interesting way to be able to play the game and truly test out whether you will like it or not. You will not be given a specific level to play, not of your choice. Instead, you will be playing the game from the start, and experiencing the actually content that will be delivered to you if you decided to purchase the game.

Those are the main features of the PlayStation Plus service, but keep in mind that this service is still evolving, still improving month by month. You can expect more features to be made available as it grows.