Jimquisition: Revivify The Cold Vitae

[Something Amyss]

The 16GB memory card is only $40 on Amazon (My 16Gb Flash drive was just about as expensive, barring discounts)

I paid 30 for a 64 GB SD card. If you paid 40 bucks for a 16 GB flash drive any time recently, you got ripped. But in terms of the cost vs the card? Yeah, that's kind of an issue. And honestly, it's not necessarily about what someone "can" afford. Quite often, it's about what they will pay. When someone overvalues their product, people balk. When your storage is as much as another whole game, people will balk. They also have pretty poor read/write speeds, so people will balk. Sorry.

On a related note, I could also afford the Xbox 360 HDDs, but it didn't make them ridiculously overpriced and underperforming. Nor did the fact that they held multiple games make them less so.

You know, I'd swear I remember reading something about the memory card prices where basically it was due to retail stores refusing to stock the Vita unless they *were* expensive, since everyone would just buy their games off PSN instead of buying physical copies. Seeing how petty retail stores can be... I can totally see that happening.

That makes little sense, unless retailers also cut a deal. I've been told the markup on the suckers is low at Wal-Mart, so unless other retailers are getting a special deal, it seems like Sony is the one getting the cash.

 

[Ipsen]

I completely agree, but the reasoning some games like MGS are not available to buy directly through the PS Vita is because of people finding a way to implement homebrew that require such specific games because of a vulnerability, and other such as licensing as you said. I absolutely love my Vita, and I also disagree with you saying games come in drips and drabs, there's tons of great vita games coming out now that some of the much larger Japaneese catalogue is finally getting localized.

Also, the memory cards are not a huge issue. If you can afford the Vita, you should be able to afford the memory cards. I don't see why people can complain about a lack of release and the memory cards at the same time. If you can't spend the money to buy one of their memory cards, what makes you think you're going to buy a much larger sequence of game releases? The 16GB memory card is only $40 on Amazon (My 16Gb Flash drive was just about as expensive, barring discounts), and that's the price of one new Vita game. And that thing will hold 4+. If money for memory cards are an issue, you probably aren't going to be buying the games if it had SD memory.

So, how many hours of play does that memory card give[footnote]Of course, granted 0 games, but that kills the joke![/footnote]?

Kidding aside, I agree; it's not a huge issue. Some disposable income discipline and goal setting, and even 32GB memory cards wouldn't be too much of an issue. While we're at it, some money discipline would resolve the complaints of just anyone griping about exclusives on consoles they don't own.

But as far as anecdotal evidence, I've upgraded memory once before; if I wanted a 32GB next, that would be $125 in memory. All in hindsight, but those are numbers that hurt; hurt enough to not want to reach it.

Just because I should be able to afford them, or even eventually afford them, memory, as far as its use for a system to play games, is tertiary; I should have no reason to never think about their cost, just as much as I'd never have to think about the cost of a good game.

 

[IrisNetwork]

Aku Aku, Crash Bandicoot. Old memories. Sony almost got me to buy a PS Vita but I'm glad they "fixed" that.

 

[dbenoy]

This is what happens when you support copyright.

 

[maximara]

I think Jim nailed it in an earlier vid when he said that Sony is basically begging for piracy. It's such a pity that they still haven't learned their lessons.

I think it goes back to what Moviebob said in his Game Overthinker V39 "The Emperor Has No Clothes"--thanks to Nintendo and Saga majorly dropping the ball in the early 1990s Sony became a major player in the game company market without really understanding what they were doing. They were the man with one eye in a kingdom of the blind but the blindness didn't last and now it has been a case of watch Nintendo and Microsoft do a much better job of selling their consoles.

 

[maximara]

You know, I'd swear I remember reading something about the memory card prices where basically it was due to retail stores refusing to stock the Vita unless they *were* expensive, since everyone would just buy their games off PSN instead of buying physical copies. Seeing how petty retail stores can be... I can totally see that happening.

IMHO that would be considered price fixing...something Apple just into major trouble with the DOJ with regarding the ebook market.

 

[spartandude]

You know what would also help the vita? Actual marketing. I'm a gaming enthusiast and it wasnt until earlier this year that i even knew the vita was a new console. I just thought it was a different PSP model like a slim or an XL, not a different machine.

I do think Sony has really dropped the ball with the Vita and while its not impossible to come back from it, i dont see it becoming a dominant force. I mean it doesnt help when your competition is a Nintendo Handheld console but seriously they could have invested some time into getting a classic game library (ironically something Nintendo is refusing to do with the 3ds.)

 

[sageoftruth]

Basically, I just want to know why they fixed it. The only reason I can think of at the moment is that they're afraid of people getting pissed when they end up downloading games that weren't optimized for the Vita.
I'm seriously hoping they'll consider re-releasing all of them in a format that makes it easy to tell which games will and won't work properly, but that feels like a fool's hope there.

 

[sageoftruth]

This is what happens when you support copyright.

Or at least what happens when you don't support copyright reform. That system is so broken.

 

[Vicioussama]

You know, it pissed me off that when Sony first announced the vita they announced a plan to have you trade in old UMDs from the PSP to be a digital copy so you can play it on your Vita or PSP. Instead they removed that and made it Japan only, telling us to "buy it again on the PSN store" basically. That pissed me off so much.

I really don't get why Sony isn't investing more into the PS Vita either.

 

[Mana Fiend]

I really do want to justify buying a PS Vita - it seems to have a great library of niche games, in particular where RPGs and jRPGs are concerned. However, my current bank balance will not let to buy one. I'm hoping I get a decent sized tax rebate this year, because if so that's what I will spend it on.

 

[Atmos Duality]

This is what happens when you support copyright.

"Big non-sequitur ahead cap'n!"
"Aye! Veer to starboard, get this lunk back on track, ye salty seadogs!"

 

[mechalynx]

You know, it pissed me off that when Sony first announced the vita they announced a plan to have you trade in old UMDs from the PSP to be a digital copy so you can play it on your Vita or PSP. Instead they removed that and made it Japan only, telling us to "buy it again on the PSN store" basically. That pissed me off so much.

I really don't get why Sony isn't investing more into the PS Vita either.

You know I wondered about that. I remember putting off a Vita purchase when a clerk in my favourite game store told me this was in the plans. Seems like a completely shitty thing to do, but then why court us dirty foreigners with our dirty foreign money? Not like there's any money to be made in the long run.. oh wait.

By the by, I came back from Japan a couple of weeks ago. You wouldn't believe the amount of games unreleased outside of Japan, PSP and PS Vita. Granted, a lot of them were dating sims and/or visual novels, but I'd love to play those as well. In the end I picked up 3 Japan-exclusive titles of which two are fucking Tales games. You can't tell me those wouldn't sell outside of Nihon-hoku!

And all the other games I never even knew existed but would give a proverbial left nut to play. I almost burst out in tears in the store.

Seriously, Sony. Get a fucking clue.

 

[hydrolythe]

I think that the reason Sony is largely ignoring the vita, is because they think that the rise of mobile gaming is going to kill handhelds.

I guess so. I remembered a post in which the CEO of Sony, Shueshei Yoshida, said that they will put all their games on smartphones and tablets after the discontinuation of the PS4. Just think a little about that.

 

[hydrolythe]

I think Jim nailed it in an earlier vid when he said that Sony is basically begging for piracy. It's such a pity that they still haven't learned their lessons.

I think it goes back to what Moviebob said in his Game Overthinker V39 "The Emperor Has No Clothes"--thanks to Nintendo and Saga majorly dropping the ball in the early 1990s Sony became a major player in the game company market without really understanding what they were doing. They were the man with one eye in a kingdom of the blind but the blindness didn't last and now it has been a case of watch Nintendo and Microsoft do a much better job of selling their consoles.

I don't agree with this statement. I think its bullshit since Sony was already making video games long before anyone thought that they would make a console. Granted, most of the time their games were crappy, but it would rather be idiotic on Sony's part if they did not use their time and energy to understand nintendo's policies.

 

[Aardvaarkman]

I think that the reason Sony is largely ignoring the vita, is because they think that the rise of mobile gaming is going to kill handhelds.

The utter idiocy that they display with this logic is astounding is it not?

It would be, if Sony had ever actually said or done anything implying the above conclusion. Which is most likely completely baseless speculation on themilo504's part.

 

[Demonchaser27]

Well I don't keep up much on the news with Vita, but I will say I haven't seen much reason to buy one. The only reason it gave me was having two analog sticks which honestly, like the Less Restrictions slogan of PS4, shouldn't be something to brag about. It should be standard. The 3DS pissed me off royally with this. After seeing how bad PSP needed a second analog stick, Nintendo couldn't be bothered to include one? Really?

But back on topic. One thing that would really get me going for a Vita would be a Souls game or something to that degree. Unfortunately I know this wouldn't work well in America, but in Japan? Absolutely. Using the wireless connection you could be invaded by/co-op with other people playing the game in the city. Like Tokyo for instance. Could be interesting. But anyway, at the very least I need to see at least 5 or so really good deep games that I know will keep me playing. The ones I've seen so far I don't really care for. And of course as someone mentioned you should be able to stream the system to your TV when your at home. Because honestly, why the hell not? The PSP did it, albeit poorly. But one of the points of making a next system is to FIX those flaws.

And now off topic again.
This isn't to defend Nintendo either as they are just as guilty of this. You should also be able to play 3DS on TV if you want. The top screen is the only one used for gameplay, mainly because it is the biggest and has the 3D implemented so why not just transport that to the TV. I mean most games kind of ignore the touch screen at this point or else make very little use of it anyway. They even made a 2DS so not having 3D obviously isn't a problem.

Needless to say I'm very disappointed in handheld gaming devices, and I think they both could be implemented better.

 

[orangeapples]

I don't think it is that SOny doesn't want the games on the Vita since it seems they got a lot of them working, but there is a lot of legal red tape before they can legally release the game in our region.

I think this is a similar thing with the WiiU. There are a lot of games Nintendo can get working on the WiiU, but they can't get the rights from the IP holders. Because Nintendo wants to have a steady stream of games from the VC make it over to the Wii U they have to really stagger those Nintendo titles which is why we get another Nintendo published and owned game to the VC every other month. It isn't that they don't want these games on the new console, but they will end up in a lot of legal trouble if they just do it.

Nintendo is lucky they have a full Wii emulator and were able to get the Wii to play off of the gamepad, so it can still buy the games from the Wii VC.

Could Sony get away with releasing a full PSP emulator on Vita?

I think this "accident" may have been Sony trying to force those IP holders into letting them sell the games on Vita. Then again I am a conspiracy nut :3

 

[hydrolythe]

You know, it pissed me off that when Sony first announced the vita they announced a plan to have you trade in old UMDs from the PSP to be a digital copy so you can play it on your Vita or PSP. Instead they removed that and made it Japan only, telling us to "buy it again on the PSN store" basically. That pissed me off so much.

I really don't get why Sony isn't investing more into the PS Vita either.

You know I wondered about that. I remember putting off a Vita purchase when a clerk in my favourite game store told me this was in the plans. Seems like a completely shitty thing to do, but then why court us dirty foreigners with our dirty foreign money? Not like there's any money to be made in the long run.. oh wait.

By the by, I came back from Japan a couple of weeks ago. You wouldn't believe the amount of games unreleased outside of Japan, PSP and PS Vita. Granted, a lot of them were dating sims and/or visual novels, but I'd love to play those as well. In the end I picked up 3 Japan-exclusive titles of which two are fucking Tales games. You can't tell me those wouldn't sell outside of Nihon-hoku!

And all the other games I never even knew existed but would give a proverbial left nut to play. I almost burst out in tears in the store.

Seriously, Sony. Get a fucking clue.

We would probably hear a similar story story if it was about a Japanese fan of First Person shooters which has visited an American gamestop and wants to talk with all other fans of its kind back in its native country about that experience.

 

[Aardvaarkman]

now if only steam released a handheld system...

... it would probably have a terribly complicated controller with 100 buttons, and underpowered CPU and graphics.