Playstation Plus subscribers will soon be able to trust their precious game save files to the Internet as well as a hard drive.

Sony is adding Cloud Save to the Playstation 3 on Thursday. The feature provides Playstation Plus subscribers with 150 MB of online storage for up to 1,000 save files. This allows users to load their game progress on other PS3s — for example, unlocked costumes in Street Fighter IV — or just keep their files online for peace of mind. The feature will be available for most existing and all future PS3 games, and supports game saves that can’t be transferred by physical media due to copy protection.

This is the first new Playstation Plus feature that isn’t content-oriented. Other features of Sony’s premium service — which costs $50 per year or $18 per month — include exclusive demos, discounts and free downloadable games. Cloud Save, on the other hand, is a service. More features like this could help attract PS3 owners who aren’t interested in Playstation Plus’ rotating grab bag of goodies.

The other interesting takeaway, as MTV’s Adam Rosenberg notes, is that Cloud Save is an incentive for players to go online. PS3 hackers were warned that they face a permanent ban from the Playstation Network if they show up on online, so perks like Cloud Save could be a way to dissuade potential hackers.

In any case, it’s a welcome feature for anyone who’s brought a game to a friend’s house, only to realize that everything they’ve done in the game is stored on a hard drive back at home. I look forward to trying it out.

 
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Read more: Gaming, PlayStation 3, Playstation Network