Bugs, Glitches and Pesky Laws Prevent Digital PSOne Game Releases

[TxMxRonin]

I remember Jet Moto 3 coming out on PSN and within a month or so it was gone. Allegedly it had to do with music right but I also read it was really buggy.

 

[Sean Strife]

It may be more convenient to buy physical games off of the intertubes, but it may not be cheaper. Many retro gamers love rare games, and just about any rare game can cost quite a bit. Even though I am a huge proponent of physical media, I also believe that digital distribution, DLC, and re-releases can "fill in the gaps" for sought-after, but extremely hard-to-find games.

This is why I'm GLAD I have a game store in a nearby mall that sells retro games and systems, not to mention some decent flea markets... damn shame Nintendo didn't have Earthbound on the Virtual Console, otherwise I probably wouldn't have had to spend over 100 dollars just to get the goddamn thing.

But yes, I basically use the PSN (and XBL to a lesser extent) to get the games I have a harder time finding.

 

[rees263]

So anyone know which of these stupid reasons is the one which means I have to jump through about 10 hoops to be able to buy FF Tactics on my UK PS3? It's not QA, because the game already exists in other coutries.

 

[Andronicus]

I think I speak on behalf of everybody subject to the European PSN's reign of terror insulting ambiguity regarding PSONe classics releases when I say FINALLY!! It sort of makes sense if there's so much damned beaurocracy to sift through to get to the actually game buried deep below, but did they really need to take this long to explain it? There's a truly horrific number of people asking these exact sorts of questions on the PSN section of the Australian/New Zealand forum (let alone all the other countries that encompass the EU store) that simply don't get an answer, myself included. It's so incredibly insulting, especially when they always find the time to come in several times a week to flog all the other crap they actually do release.

Oh, and there's more than one Spyro title in QA at the moment.

It's nice to hear that they have finally managed to get through the red tape with more than one Spyro games (I'm hoping all three, of course). These are probably the most requested games on the AU PSN. But, again, why did it take this long? It's 2011 already. Spyro 2 was original released on the store in 2007, and then retracted almost immediately. OK, there was some problems, it was glitchy, the emulation was bad etc, but honestly, I doubt even SONY would do something as idiotic as release a game before sorting out all the legal issues first, so obviously they couldn't have had that much trouble. It would be nice if they had some more specific answers related to Spyro in the statement, but at least they aren't ignoring it completely; I guess I just have trouble believing that they could have that much trouble with licensing issues for such a popular trilogy of games.

EDIT:

We?ve just sent another round of first-party titles for clearance and emulation to fill in the gaps in the catalogue (yes, one of them is Tombi so stop asking!)

...excuse me for a minute, I think.. yes, I definitely need to change my underwear...

 

[nipsen]

"... Even if cost isn't a factor, it can take a long time to get rights issues cleared up. McGrath said that some games have been waiting for the legal green light since 2007."

"For example," McGrath added with a wide grin, "whenever Sony holds all the rights exclusively, the amount of red tape is incredible. You should see the paper trail! It's epic!".