What's the Deal With PS Plus' New Game Trials? - Beyond 747

 On this week's episode of IGN's PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Jada Griffin and Mark Medina to dig into the various bits of PlayStation news this week, including new updates for PS5, PlayStation Plus, and PlayStation's PC and preservation plans.

After a brief Beyond Movies and TV podcast interlude about Everything Everywhere All at Once (no spoilers but you can skip ahead with timecodes below!), the gang dives into all the new reports surrounding PS Plus' new game trials. We break down what the deal is with these new game trials, how they affect PS Plus' offerings, what exactly they are as compared to traditional demos, and much more. We break down what it might mean for players, how it could raise questions for developers, and whether the practice might change the expectations for playing on PlayStation with its revamped subscription service

Next, the group discusses Variable Refresh Rate coming to PS5, and also gets sidetracked discussing Ghostwire Tokyo...which does not have confirmed VRR support! But we do discuss the new feature a bit, what games are receiving the update, and Sony's general approach to the feature for PS5 games. Plus, we discuss the release date for the new PS Plus, what games are coming for PS Plus in May, and a lot more news in the world of PlayStation 4, PS5, and more. Topics include PlayStation's reported new preservation team, patches for Elden Ring and Sifu, Mark's marriage, and more.

We also read a beautiful Memory Card story from a Beyond! listener, Jonathon offers a Trophy Test for the panel, and more!

(Headline meant to be read in a Jerry Seinfeld voice)

00:00:10 - Intro & EEAAO Chat!
00:05:28 - PS Plus Announces Game Trial Initiative
00:33:25 - VRR Comes to PS5
00:48:38 - PS+ Games for May
00:56:55 - More News
01:07:36 - Memory Card & Outro