During the year I had it I got early access to a few betas…Little Big Planet, SOCOM, Resistance 2 were the ones I remember.   Nice stuff, but usually it was only a few weeks earlier than public beta.

They also usually had a "free game" or theme you could get.  Unfortunately the games were always something I all ready had.

The extra art was kind of cool, as were the video interviews.  Same sort of stuff you can get on the web, presented in a nicer format.

I don\'t think Sony will do the Live style of pay for online until the PS4. They would really piss off their fanbase and would get hammered in the media. It is still a major part of their marketing and at this point would make no sense to me.

I wouldn\'t blame them for charging. Why not recoup the server costs if you can. Even with Live being PDP, they still have servers to setup games and keep stats.

If Sony does eventually go pay to play, you will be able to find a year subscription much cheaper than retail. 12 month Live can be had for $30 most of the year. Amazon has them for $40 right now. If you game a lot online it really is money well spent if the service is improved over what it is now.

Again, I think you are all safe with free online for the PS3