So it will be a few more days before we get the August PS Plus games since the first Tuesday of the month is August 7th, but the Xbox Live Games with Gold Games are out:

August 1st: Forza Horizon 2 Standard – 10th Anniversary Edition (XB1) and Dead Space 3 (360) rotate in. Assault Android Cactus (XB1) and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction (360) rotate out.

August 16th: For Honor Standard Edition (XB1) and Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (360) rotate in. Death Squared (XB1) and Dead Space 3 rotate out.

My take: It's the Xbox One games that are intriguing this month. Forza is always welcome for free, but weird how it's Standard, but 10th Anniversary Edition. For Honor had a TON of hype and then really melted down on release. I'm hoping it'll be like people said Absolver in PS Plus was last month: Lots of technical issues on launch that killed release scores and perception, but have been fixed now and it's a lot better. Dead Space 3 is the epitome of meh, as it was a PS Plus game 4 years ago, and has been bundled on Origin as well. I bought Epic Mickey 2 on PS3 and never finished it, and at least this will let me clear some space on my PS3's HD. Good freebee.

Moho: All these games are already in the database.

August PS Plus games:

PS4:

• Mafia III
• Dead by Daylight

PS3:

• Bound By Flame
• Serious Sam 3 BFE

PS Vita:

• Draw Slasher
• Space Hulk

My take: Clearly, the big item here is Mafia III, although that game had a ton of DLC that certainly won't be included with the PS Plus giveaway. Dead by Daylight could be fun but will probably become worthless at some point due to no one playing anymore. Serious Sam I already had, but it's a good FPS. Bound by Flame seems interesting. The Vita offerings are a big meh, but that's become par for the course.

My personal winner: PS Plus. Mafia III really outshines Forza Horizon 2 as the big giveaway.

My guess as to public perceived winner: PS Plus

Note to Moho: All games already in the database.

I forgot a couple of PS Plus bonus games.

Here They Lie is for PS VR, and will be available for free 8/7-10/2.

Knowledge is Power is a Playlink game (has functionality with the PS app for mobile devices) and will be available for free 8/7 - 11/6.

Moho, it looks like Here They Lie needs to be added.

Here They Lie has been added!

I'll do a bigger post on next month's offering later, but one of the PS Plus titles for next month is Destiny 2 on the PS4 and it's available early. As in now. Apparently, there's a free weekend for one of the expansions and they wanted people able to try it.

I'm guessing the game isn't doing well since it's been part of a Humble Monthly and now on PS Plus despite not being all that old at all.

OK, here's the big post for September 2018:

Xbox Live Games With Gold:

09/01: Prison Architect (XB1) and Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (360) rotate in. Forza Horizon 2 Standard - 10th Anniversary Edition (XB1) and Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (360) rotate out.

09/16: Livelock (XB1) and Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World (360) rotate in. For Honor Standard Edition (XB1) and Lego Star Wars III rotate out.

PS Plus Instant Game Collection:

All games except Destiny 2 (available now) are available 09/04.

PS4:

• Destiny 2
• God of War III Remastered
• Another World - 20th Anniversary Edition
• Q.U.B.E. Director's Cut
• Sparkle 2
• Foul Play

PS3:

• Another World - 20th Anniversary Edition
• Q.U.B.E. Director's Cut
• Sparkle 2

PS Vita:

• Another World - 20th Anniversary Edition
• Sparkle 2
• Foul Play

My take:

Games With Gold: Indieriffic this month on the XB1 front, but Prison Architect is good, and I've heard good things about Livelock. Lego games are always welcome even though I already had Star Wars III. Monster World might be worth a look. It's important to note that the previously offered Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga is only the 1st two games and doesn't include this one (or Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens).

PS Plus: Destiny 2 is great here if you didn't get the recent Humble Monthly with it, but it does seem to be suffering. God of War is also always good, but the original GoW3 is like $5 used at Gamestop. Very crossbuyariffic this month, but most of the other titles don't do much for me. Foul Play seems to be worth a look.

My winner: PS Plus. Having Prison Architect and LSW3 already takes the thunder out of this month's offerings.

Guess as to public winner: Xbox Live.

Note to Moho: All games already in the database, but Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World needs to be added as a compilation of Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Wonder Boy in Monster World and Monster World IV.

Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World has been added!

Here are the new games for October 2018:

Xbox Live Games With Gold:

October 1st: Overcooked! (XB1) and Stuntman: Ignition (360) rotate in. Prison Architect (XB1) and Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World (360) rotate out.
October 16th: Victor Vran (XB1) and Hitman: Blood Money (360) rotate in. Livelock (XB1) and Stuntman: Ignition rotate out.

My take: I already have everything except Stuntman: Ignition, which I am interested in. But largely a disappointing month.

My guess as to general take: Pretty indieriffic again on the XB1 front and Hitman: Blood Money was once a PS Plus giveaway on PS3. They've done better.

Playstation Plus Instant Game Collection:

PS4:

• Friday the 13th: The Game
• Laser League
• The Bridge
• Rocketbirds 2: Evolution
• 2064: Read Only Memories

PS3:

• Master Reboot
• The Bridge

PS Vita:

• The Bridge
• Rocketbirds 2: Evolution
• 2064: Read Only Memories

My take: I have been wanting to try Friday the 13th, and it's certainly thematic. Laser League looks like it could be fun. The rest seems pretty meh and I don't anticipate anything huge until PS Plus stops offering stuff for PS3 and Vita in March.

My guess as to general take: Pretty much the same as above.

My winner: PS Plus

My guess as to perceived winner: PS Plus.

Note to Moho: All games already in database. No adds needed here this month. :)

A little late, but so were the announcements this month:

Xbox Live Games With Gold

• 11/01/18: Battlefield 1 (XB1) and Assassin's Creed (360) rotate in. Overcooked! (XB1) and Hitman: Blood Money (360) rotate out.
• 11/16/18: Race The Sun (XB1) and Dante's Inferno (360) rotate in. Victor Vran (XB1) and Assassin's Creed rotate out.

My General Take: Race the Sun is hard not to have by this point and isn't that great at all IMO, but the rest are pretty solid. That's the original Assassin's Creed, which I haven't seen in any bundles outside of one uPlay bundle to this point. Battlefield 1 likely doesn't have any of the DLC.

My Personal Take: I already have all of these! But this will let me avoid uPlay with the original AC, and free some space off my PS3 with Dante's Inferno.

PS Plus Instant Game Collection: (all games available Tuesday, November 6th):

PS4:

• Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition
• Yakuza Kiwami
• Burly Men At Sea
• Roundabout

PS3:

• Jackbox Party Pack 2
• Arkedo Series

PS Vita:

• Burly Men At Sea
• Roundabout

My General Take: Pretty good PS4 offerings this month. I have Bulletstorm but never played it and might as well just play the Full Clip Edition now. The Yakuza games are pretty cool, and previous PS Plus offerings have left me Yakuza 4 and 5 to eventually play. That looks like a solid PS3 lineup considering we only have a few more months left of PS Plus support of it.

My Personal Take: The only one of these I had was Burly Men At Sea and I just got that in a bundle yesterday. I was likely going to get the Jackbox Party Pack 2 someday. I already have the 1st one on Steam. It would be nice if this turned into a Cross Buy with PS4. I always wanted try Roundabout but it wasn't worth paying for it.

My guess as to General Winner: Games With Gold. If you don't already have BF1, it blows everything else away.

Personal Winner: PS Plus. Just because of what I already have and don't have.

Moho Note: Arkedo Series needs to be added: https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP4082-NPUB30703_00-SCEAARKEDOSERIES

December 2018 post just in time:

Xbox Live Games With Gold:

December 1st: Q.U.B.E. 2 (XB1) and Dragon Age II (360) rotate in. Battlefield 1 (XB1) and Dante's Inferno (360) rotate out.
December 16th: Never Alone (XB1) and Mercenaries: Playgrounds of Destruction (360) rotate in. Race The Sun (XB1) and Dragon Age II rotate out.

General Take: Meh. Q.U.B.E. 2 was recently a Twitch Prime game and Never Alone has been on PS Plus before. Dragon Age II is nice (especially since the original once came with Games With Gold), but who doesn't already have it? M:PoD could be interesting as it's actually a game from the original Xbox playable on both 360 and the Xbone.

Personal Take: Pretty much the same as the general take. I'm guessing the companies might be expecting Christmas gifts plus Xbox Live Gold and/or Playstation Plus being needed for online play to carry subscriptions this month.

Playstation Plus Instant Game Collection:

PS4:

• Soma
• Onrush
• Iconoclasts

PS3:

• Steredenn
• Steinsgate

PS Vita:

• Iconoclasts
• Papers, Please

General Take: Not much better. Soma was also recently a Twitch Prime game. Papers, Please is a nice little treat as we're winding down support for the PS3 and Vita from PS+ IGC. Depression and feels on the go.

Personal take: Admittedly, I haven't heard of most of these games before except Soma and Papers, Please.

Guess to Perceived Winner: If I had to pick one, PS Plus.

Personal Winner: Same

Moho Note: Steinsgate needs to be added.

January:

XBLGWG:

January 1st: Celeste (XB1) and Lara Croft: Guardian of Light (360) rotate in. Q.U.B.E. 2 (XB1) and Mercenaries: Playgrounds of Destruction (360) rotate out.
January 16th: WRC 6 (XB1) and Far Cry 2 (360) rotate in. Never Alone (XB1) and Lara Croft: GoL rotate out.

General take: Celeste is by far the highlight game here. I missed out on this one, but it's been mentioned by some as a GotY candidate and even made our Top 10 list here this year. WRC 6 has promise. Racing games are never a bad thing. And then the wheels fall off.

While it's unavoidable that sometimes a game you previously bought will be in one of these programs, GoL is actually a repeat in the Games With Gold program, being first given away in January 2014, which is leaving a bad taste in people's mouths. Far Cry 2 was a great game in its day, but it's 8 years old now and one would figure anyone who wants it already has it.

My take: Both the XB1 games are new to me and I'll have to give Celeste a try at some point. While I didn't have GoL from its previous giveaway, I had it on PS Plus and from a Humble Bundle. Far Cry 2 was also on PS Plus back in 2012, so this allows me to reclaim a little hard drive space, but nothing else.

PlayStation Plus IGC: (all games available Tuesday, January 1st, 2019)

PS4:

• Steep
• Portal Knights
• Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion

PS3:

• Zone of the Enders HD Collection
• Amplitude

PS Vita:

• Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion
• Super Mutant Alien Assault

General take: Unless Celeste blows you away, PS Plus is a pretty clear winner this month. I've heard good things about Steep, and Portal Knights is supposed to be good. 2 home runs on the PS3 side of things. Zone of the Enders went from that game you bought to get the Metal Gear Solid 2 Demo to a great franchise in its own right. This collection includes the first game and the European special edition of the 2nd game, both remastered for HD. Amplitude is a rhythm game from Harmonix, the makers of Rock Band. I haven't heard of the PS Vita games.

Personal take: No repeats here for me and a couple I'm excited about.

Guess to perceived winner: Toss up. If Celeste is awesome enough to carry the month, people will prefer Xbox Live this month. Otherwise, PS Plus.

Personal winner: Nothing against Celeste, but PS Plus.

Reminder: After this month, there will be PS3 and PS Vita games for only 2 more months. After March, PS Plus IGC is offering PS4 games only (though there may be some odd instances where games have crossbuy with the older systems.)

Moho note: All games in database for this month, but Steinsgate from last month still needs to be added.

Not gonna lie. Celeste would have been preferred over Steep for me, lol

Steep will still be fun though!

@boffo97 - Sorry about that, I must've missed the note for Steins Gate. Is it this one or something else? https://www.completionator.com/Game/Details/5420

The ";" is probably throwing off some searches, I might need to put some protection around that.

Yep, that's it. I hadn't seen it with a semicolon before. Thanks!

Both sets of games are available for this month.

Despite not being announced as such, Amplitude also ended up Cross Buy with PS4.

Steep is pretty fun. Kinda got that SSX feel I like I find it way better & easier to learn than Infinite Air which is on sale this week, but I didn't enjoy at all. Spent like 10-20 tries on some of the tutorial missions in Infinite Air and knew it was gonna be a bad time, hahaha. Steep meanwhile seems decent for casual play, although the wingsuit missions can get a bit frustrating at times. Portal Knights, idk, it's kinda minecraft like and seems okay, but didn't really grab me (I actually bought it a little while before it went free, derp)

February 2019:

Xbox Live Games With Gold:

February 1st: Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (XB1) and Assassin's Creed Rogue (360) rotate in. Celeste (XB1) and Far Cry 2 (360) rotate out.

February 16th: Super Bomberman R (XB1) and Star Wars: Jedi Knight Jedi Academy (360) rotate in. WRC 6 (XB1) and Assassin's Creed Rogue rotate out.

General Take: Super Bomberman R seems to be the highlight of the month. People might be hit or miss on Jedi Academy, and never want to buy another Assassin's Creed game ever as long as they have Gold. Don't know anything about Bloodstained.

Personal Take: As above, and I like the idea of original Xbox games being part of Games With Gold from time to time.

PlayStation Plus Instant Games Collection:
PS4 games available February 5th - March 4th. PS3/Vita games available through March 8th.

PS4:

• For Honor
• Hitman: The Complete First Season
• Gunhouse
• Rogue Aces

PS3:

• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
• Divekick

PS Vita:

• Divekick
• Gunhouse
• Rogue Aces

Also, the Cloud Storage that comes with PS Plus is increasing from 10GB to 100GB. Also also, these will be the last offerings for PS3 and PS Vita, though one would presume if any future PS4 offerings are Cross Buy, you'd also get the other versions.

General Take: Games With Gold already had For Honor, and Hitman: First Season was a Humble Monthly giveaway. Should be decent for those who only game on their PS4 though. MGS4 was great, but it's over a decade old now. I don't know the others. I'm glad I have Persona 4 Golden and Tearaway for Vita already since there will be some disappointed that neither of the two games generally considered to be the best on Vita were ever given away.

Personal Take: Kind of a meh month and the PS3/Vita era is going out with a whimper. I love me the Metal Gear Solid games (not able to get into 5 really though and am not sure why), but have had 4 for quite a while now and beat it a long time ago.

Guess to Perceived Winner: Games With Gold

Personal Winner: Games With Gold

Note to moho: Gunhouse and Rogue Aces need to be added.

@boffo97 - Those two have been added!

So how does the first PS4 only month of PS Plus shake out?

(Spoiler: Not well.)

Xbox Live Games With Gold:

March 1st: Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion (XB1) and Star Wars: Republic Commando (360) rotate in. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (XB1) and Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (360) rotate out.

March 16th: Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 (XB1) and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (360) rotate in. Super Bomberman R (XB1) and Star Wars: Republic Commando rotate out.

General Take: I've heard that the Adventure Time game is buggy and not very good, but fans should like it. How well GW2 does will depend on how many are playing online and this giveaway will help. People will either love or hate the back catalog of original Xbox Star Wars games, and the same with Revengeance.

My Take: I didn't have any of these games previously, so that's a plus. I'm not an Adventure Time fan, but I'm a big Metal Gear fan and always intended to eventually pick up Revengeance.

Playstation Plus:

PS4:

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered
• The Witness

General Take: Ugh. Of all the approaches Sony could have taken to having PS Plus go to only having PS4 games, simply having the service drop to 2 games per month was the worst one and definitely makes Games With Gold and their 2 native Xbox One games and 2 backwards compatible games per month look so much better. On top of that, what we get is an indie game and a remaster. Games With Gold gave out The Witness nearly a year ago, and Modern Warfare Remastered is said to look nice, but the move to shoehorn lootboxes and DLC into a classic remastered game has not gone over well. In addition, it's telling that the PlayStation Blog turned off comments for this announcement.

My take: Pretty much the same.

Guess of perceived winner: Games With Gold

Personal winner: Games With Gold

Moho Note: All games already in database.

Pretty goddamned unimpressed with Sony, myself. The Witness is a great game, but I already have it. Not to mention it's often on sale (It's been $10 with ps+ before.) Call of Duty is not a game or franchise I give a damn about. So the extra smaller ps3/vita games, that were often cross-buy and playable on ps4, are gone which leaves me with two games I didn't want. If they're planning to go with 2 games per month going forward, it means this will only happen more often too. I was expecting them to at least keep smaller ps4 games in the mix with their headliners even if it dropped to a total of 3-4 games a month.

PS+ has had rough months for me before, I mean, I remember when the service launched and they were giving out crappy $1 flash games. They improved drastically since then, but this is a pretty big step backward.

April 2019:

Xbox Live Games With Gold:

April 1st: The Technomancer (XB1) and Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005) (360) rotate in. Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion (XB1) and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (360) rotate out.

April 16th: Outcast: Second Contact (XB1) and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter II (360) rotate in. Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 (XB1) and Star Wars: Battlefront II rotate out.

General take: I'm not familiar with this month's Xbox One games. The 360 games could be fun.

My take: I think I strained something with that Tom Clancy game title.

PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection (all games available Tuesday, April 2nd):

• Conan Exiles
• The Surge

General take: I don't think this 2 games per month stuff is going to fly long term. Conan is nice, but apparently has been on sale and many are reporting having just bought it.

My take: I actually have both these games on Steam, but Can You Run It basically says "Ha ha, no." to my computer on both. I'll at least check out Conan as one of my favorite gaming channels has a series playing it and it looks decent.

Perceived winner guess and personal winner are going to be Xbox Live unless PS Plus either changes the 2 games a month thing or knocks it out of the park with one of them.

Moho Note: All games already in database.

On a side note, it would be awesome if Games With Gold gave us those three Burger King games from back in the day...

So it's pretty bad this month...

Xbox Live Games With Gold:

05/01: Marooners (XB1) and Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon (360) rotate in. The Technomancer (XB1) and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter II (360) rotate out.
05/16: The Golf Club 2 Featuring PGA Tour (XB1) and Comic Jumper (360) rotate in. Outcast: Second Contact (XB1) and EDF: Insect Armageddon rotate out.

My take: Pretty ugh all around. Marooners has low review scores. EDF: Insect Armageddon scores lower than the first two games, which themselves struck many gamers as "So Bad It's Good". Golf Club 2 is probably the highlight. Comic Jumper seems mediocre.

PS Plus Instant Game Collection:

• What Remains of Edith Finch
• Overcooked

My take: Wow. This is just... bad. Still the two games per month thing which is already bad enough, but Edith Finch was just recently given away for free with no membership required on the Epic Games Store. Overcooked was in Games With Gold previously and was given away on Twitch Prime. They could have at least given us Overcooked II which has online play. There is like no value here.

My winner: Games with Gold
My guess as to perceived winner by everyone: Games With Gold.

Moho note: All games in database.

June 2019:

Xbox Live Games With Gold:

June 1st: NHL 19 (XB1) and Portal: Still Alive (360) rotate in. Marooners (XB1) and Comic Jumper (360) rotate out.
June 16th: Rivals of Aether (XB1) and Earth Defense Force 2017 (360) rotate in. The Golf Club 2 Featuring PGA Tour (XB1) and Portal: Still Alive rotate out.

My take: NHL 19 is nice, given that the most recent one I had was 18. Rivals of Aether seems kind of meh to me. Portal would be firmly in the category of "Great, but anyone who wanted to played it years ago", but the Still Alive version has extra test chambers that might be fun. And I'm guessing we're slowly going to get all the EDF games, just like we got all the 2D Assassin's Creed games over GWG a while back.

Note: Games With Gold games are usually available slightly early for free. NHL 19 is already free. Still waiting on Portal: Still Alive.

Playstation Plus Instant Game Collection:

Available June 4th:

• Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
• Sonic Mania

My take: A pretty solid lineup! It's actually 3 games this month since The Handsome Collection is a compilation and remaster of Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel with all DLC. I was thinking of picking up Sonic Mania, so this is a pleasant surprise.

If PS Plus is going to stick with the 2 games per month model, this is the kind of quality we need to see.

My winner: PS Plus
My guess as to public winner: PS Plus

Moho Note: All games in database already.

No post for July yet as Games With Gold is noticeably late. July 1st is Monday, and we're now past Friday with no announcement.

I'm wondering if it might have something to do with the announcement that there would be no more Xbox 360 backwards compatibility on the Xbox One for at least the near future. That would give Microsoft 3 choices as it pertains to the 360 games:

1. Give 2 a month from the current list that hasn't been already given out (they have repeated once, and it wasn't a popular decision).
2. Give non BC 360 games as part of the program.
3. Follow PlayStation Plus' lead and just cut down to 2 games per month for the current system.

I'm hoping they don't choose Option 3.

I did see a rumor post saying that it would be 10 Second Ninja X and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for Xbox One and Sonic Generations and Portal II for the 360, which I hope isn't true as I have all of those.