Sony has dangled a massive carrot for PS3 gamers to sign up for its PlayStation Plus scheme by announcing that members will be able to save game progress online.
Answering huge demand from PS3 owners, PlayStation Plus members will now be able to safely store their progress as well as access their progress on any console they log into.
PlayStation Network Manager James Thorpe said on the official PlayStation blog that the new functionality will provide gamers with piece of mind against theft and breakages.
"In response to overwhelming demand from the PS3 community," he wrote, "we are pleased to announce that Online Storage for Game Saves will be available to PlayStation Plus members from tomorrow, 10 March, allowing you to store your game saves for peace of mind and easy access from any PlayStation 3 system in the world."
Software update 3.60
Software update 3.60 will be available from tomorrow, 10th March, giving gamers 150mb of space and up to 1000 game saves on Sony's make.believe servers.
Once the update has downloaded, PlayStation has issued following instructions for PlayStation Plus members hoping to back up their saves on the cloud:
"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."
PlayStation Plus
The new functionality is without question the biggest incentive yet for PS3 owners to sign up for the £39.99-a-year (90 days for £11.99) PlayStation Plus subscription.
The scheme provides exclusive content and previews to PS3 gamers worth £200 a year. It also offers extensive trials of games and Blu-rays as well as automatic software updates.
