PSN Play - How It Works

Sony is offering PlayStation 3 owners a very special offer as part of its freshly-minted annual PLAY programme.

There are four games included in the promotion: Street Fighter III Third Strike Online Edition, The Baconing, BloodRayne: Betrayal, and Renegade Ops. Each title purchased during PLAY will include a separate piece of free DLC, along with a brand new theme for those titles you pre-order before release. PlayStation Plus subscribers can also get a 20 per cent discount off each of the featured games.

On top of all that, if you grab all four of them by the 20th September you'll also receive Payday: The Heist completely free of charge when it releases on 5th October. The offer ends on the 20th September.

Street Fighter III Third Strike Online Edition

• Release Date: 24th August
• Price: €14.99

As well as a cast of 20 fighters, updated HD graphics and more than 200 pieces of unlockable content, Street Fighter III Third Strike also boasts over 100 trials and challenges to get your teeth stuck into. Purchase this lovingly re-created Street Fighter favourite through the PLAY promotion and you'll also unlock Gill - the hard-as-nails fighting god - without having to go through the usual process of beating the game with every character.

The Baconing

• Release Date: 31st August
• Price: €12.99

Following up on the release of DeathSpank and DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue, Hothead Games' latest outing for DeathSpank sees him taking the foolish decision to try on all six Thongs of Virtue at once - an act that, of course, creates an evil version of himself. Only by travelling the land to destroy five of these Thongs in the Fires of Bacon can he hope to take on his nemesis, and restore order to SpankTopia once more. Purchase The Baconing during the PLAY offer and you'll also receive an extra co-op character, Roesha, free of charge.

BloodRayne: Betrayal

• Release Date: 7th September
• Price: €12.99

BloodRayne: Betrayal is the side-scrolling platform action game from Majesco Entertainment that brings gaming's favourite femme-fatale Rayne back in a rollicking adventure. There are over 15 levels in the game, which include puzzles, brutal combat and a satisfying bevy of flesh-ripping, bullet-sniping weapons with which to dispatch your enemies. Purchase before the 20th September and you'll also receive an item for your PlayStation Home avatar, as well as an exclusive dynamic theme.

Renegade Ops

• Release Date: 14th September
• Price: €12.99

A top-down treat from SEGA, Renegade Ops sets players on a series of battlefields that feature guns, armoured assault vehicles and a huge array of enemies to take to task. With open-ended sandbox missions, there's no shortage of ways to play, and the replay potential is endless. Order during the PLAY promotion and you'll also receive a Vehicle & Character Pack, which includes two new vehicles as well as some extra special weapons.

Payday: The Heist

• Release Date: 5th October 2011
• Price: TBC

Payday: The Heist lets players execute a series of ingeniously conceived criminal endeavours across six missions, with plenty more to come in the form of downloadable content. Those who pre-order the game will receive a static theme for their PlayStation 3. Best of all, if you purchase all four of the other games included in the PLAY program, you won't have to pay a penny for Payday.