No UMD Transfer for the Vita

[orangeapples]

I really do want the Vita to do well. I wont be getting one at launch because I just can't afford it, but I really do see the potential the system has. I am mostly just disappointed with the whole thing.

They'll have 3 proprietary memory cards under the Playstation name (technically 5 with 4 on the market: PSone memory card, PS2 Memory Card, Memory Stick Pro Duo, Memory Stick Pro Duo Micro and now the Vita memory card). The 3 different cards for 3 different portable systems is just excessive. Here is an artistic reconstruction of Sony's thought process: "We have a new system coming out and it is going to need expanded memory. On the current market we have 2 products only compatible with our hardware that we could use. The problem is that these options are already discounted and if we do use them people will just buy them before we have retailers bring the prices back up. We'll make a new card so people who want to use our new system will have to spend money on new technology."

All of the UMD based games will not be accessible to the Vita, so if you want to play Vita games and UMD games you get to carry both systems around with you. Not very intuitive. By doing this they are asking consumers to embrace dead technology. That's like if software companies started releasing stuff on 3.5 floppy disks. Why would you ever go backwards?

Compare this to the 3DS: It has 99.9% reverse compatibility with the DS library (can't play guitar hero, but that game died with the DSi). The 3DS has 3 cameras as opposed to the DSi family's 2 cameras. Just like the DSi family, the 3DS comes with a 2 GB SD card. Most people don't even know there is an SD card. Why a 2GB SD card? Well I'm no expert, but I imagine it is because the card is cheap lowering production costs, SD is a proven technology and they just have a butt load of them laying around from when they made the Wii; this probably means that we will be seeing SD cards in many Nintendo products to come because Nintendo doesn't know what to do with them all (this last one is a joke). All of this means it is the DS family, but better.

The Vita cannot make a similar claim. The Vita is not the PSP but better; it is the PSPGo but better and sad to say I can't even claim that with a straight face. The Go had 16GB of on board memory.

In the current market, To be able to use the basic Vita properly in the US it will cost (Vita: $250, 4GB card: $20, 1 downloaded game: $35) about $305.
For $305 one could get:
3DS: $170, 3 games: 3x$40 and have a leftover $15.
32GB iTouch: $300 and $5 of apps (1-5 games depending on how you split it?)

No sane person would ever think the Vita in its current form was a good deal.


With everything Sony is doing, all they are telling me is to not let go of my PSP and I really don't need to upgrade for about 2 years. So I'm not going to let go of my PSP and I'm not going to upgrade for at least 2 years.

And for those of you complaining about us not wanting to get the new system, congratulations on your disposable income, but the rest of us cannot and will not waste our money on trash, let alone $300 on trash. We'll just wait until it becomes worthwhile and/or cheaper.

 

[orangeapples]

It feels like people are complaining that they can not play NES games on their SNES.

THANK YOU. People just love getting mad these days at the most minuscule crap.

In our defense you could have both the NES and SNES hooked up to the same TV and it isn't a big deal. It would be annoying to have a PSP and a Vita in separate pockets.

 

[xPixelatedx]

I'd rather that gaming continues to get better. I really don't think the recent trend of negative journalism is helping the case at all.

Self-entitled gamers? Negative journalism? You do of course realize everything happening right now is telling publishers exactly what we are willing to allow them to do to us, and this is a pivotal moment because it will effect all the next generations of consoles to come. They are trying to make gaming as utterly abysmal as possible while still raking in the profit, but they can only go as far as we allow them. Did you know Sony already wanted to make it so used and rented games wouldn't work on their console? (you know, that thing that the next X-box is rumored to do?) The reason why that didn't happen is because they knew we would *****, and many wouldn't buy such a console. The day that we will succumb to their ridiculous stipulations on how games should be played, is the day they will do those kind of things. They have already expressed interest in doing these things publicly, and the only thing stopping them is us. So yes, everyone needs to complain as loud as possible. Negative articles need to be made in the hundreds, in the thousands. Companies need to know we won't buy their products from them if they are determined to make the experience as lackluster as possible. The reason why the Vita is having that program in Japan and not the US is because Sony thinks they get get away with it. Lets tell them they can't, so they will stop trying to screw us over. If you really wanted Sony to succeed you would be more inclined to direct your disapproval towards them instead of the people who are supposed to be buying their products, that way Sony changes their sloppy business pratices and actualy gives consumers what they want. Then their stuff would sell more and they would get more money.

If you think it is self entitlement to want basic and common functionality with consoles, (particularly functionality you know can be achieved, as it is being granted to other countries) then I would hate to see what you would 'allow' a company to do to you before you refused to by one.

 

[Vigilante 989]

I think Sony is suffering from split personality, because even though they encourage consumers to by the Vita, they do stupid shit like this that says "We don't want anybody touching our things".

 

[remnant_phoenix]

I think it was the right decision to skip this generation's handhelds entirely. I think I'll be seeking greener pastures in cellphones.

Same here.

There's a huge backlog of DS and PSP games I haven't played, and the iOS market has tons of fun stuff.

The 3DS gives me a headache and has no games I'm interested in. The Vita expensive memory cards or whatever + this?!

There's no compelling reason for me to get a 3DS or Vita. My DS, PSP, and iPhone are more thaqn enough, thanks.

 

[Epona]

It sucks but honestly... The west won't care. Despite what many think, The PSP IS DEAD in the west. It never sold well here, so this probably will have little effect on sales. Plus, I understand the want to have the ability to play old games, but if you didn't have a PSP (which most likely sales will be full of) then this will have little to no effect.

Would I want this UMD system? Hell yes.

Will it effect sales heavily? No.

That's what I was thinking, I don't know many people that have a PSP, i.e. only one other person, so I don't think it's going to hurt Sony that much in the long run. Yeah it sucks for the people that want to transfer over to the Vita, but really, if you already own the PSP, why would you want to get ride of it when you know for a fact that you can still use it to play games?

Still plan on getting the Vita though, even though this news kinda blows.

Plus, isn't the whole main point of buying a vita is to, you know, play Vita games?

I was under the same impression, but apparently not. Silly us.

It's probably the reason I still have my N64 around, to play games on the N64 because I can't play them anywhere else.

Meanwhile my N64 is packed away because I can play my favorite N64 games on the Wii and it looks much better that way since I play them in 480p. I'll bet that PS2 games played via the PS3 and HDMI look better than the PS2 with AV cables (because that's the best your N64 can do).

Completely ignoring the benefits of backward compatibility is silly.

 

[Quiotu]

Okay, hang on here... who exactly should I be pissed at here?

Oh right, Sony... the company that tried to set up a transfer program. Not the multitude of publishers that told Sony to fuck off, right? No, it's completely Sony's fault that most big publishers never signed on to the program, and maybe a third of PSP games are transferable at all. Chances are most of your games weren't on the list anyway, so what the fuck are you bitching about?

I can't blame Sony for going 'screw this' and letting the program go; clearly it was more work than it was worth, and hardly anyone cooperated with them. Sony can't force publishers to go along with the program, they don't own the games... most of them at least.

I get people being pissed that it's not compatible, but if you have a reasonable solution I'm all ears. What would you have them do? Tack on dated, failed media hardware that would lower the battery life to an hour and a half? Tell every PSP publisher to make their games transferable or GTFO? Anyone have a solution that wouldn't be instant failure for the handheld?

Best they can do right now is stop wasting time and money on the program, and lower the cost of DD PSP games as much as possible. Perhaps if the cost is lowered enough, the price of buying it again will be moot compared to what the cost of transfer would be anyway. Truthfully there is no solution, and Sony knows it... the publishers made the program a failure, and they're just cutting their losses.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

It sucks but honestly... The west won't care. Despite what many think, The PSP IS DEAD in the west. It never sold well here, so this probably will have little effect on sales. Plus, I understand the want to have the ability to play old games, but if you didn't have a PSP (which most likely sales will be full of) then this will have little to no effect.

Would I want this UMD system? Hell yes.

Will it effect sales heavily? No.

That's what I was thinking, I don't know many people that have a PSP, i.e. only one other person, so I don't think it's going to hurt Sony that much in the long run. Yeah it sucks for the people that want to transfer over to the Vita, but really, if you already own the PSP, why would you want to get ride of it when you know for a fact that you can still use it to play games?

Still plan on getting the Vita though, even though this news kinda blows.

Plus, isn't the whole main point of buying a vita is to, you know, play Vita games?

I was under the same impression, but apparently not. Silly us.

It's probably the reason I still have my N64 around, to play games on the N64 because I can't play them anywhere else.

Meanwhile my N64 is packed away because I can play my favorite N64 games on the Wii and it looks much better that way since I play them in 480p. I'll bet that PS2 games played via the PS3 and HDMI look better than the PS2 with AV cables (because that's the best your N64 can do).

Completely ignoring the benefits of backward compatibility is silly.

Well for me I don't own a Wii, so my N64 is not that far away from me.

I'm not ignoring backwards compatibility, but I'm not going to make a big deal out of it if I can't do it. I mean, yeah it sucks and it's questionable why I can't play my PS2 games on my PS3, but oh well, I still have my PS2 so it's not that big of a deal to me. However, I can see it being a big deal to other people though.

Maybe I'm just silly, but playing a PS2 game on my PS3 for looks isn't a factor I look for, but rather convenience. And it sure isn't convenient having to switch cables every time I want to play a game, but that's my problem and I curse my PS3 for not having backwards compatibility.

 

[Vie]

I might pick up a Vita.

In 2 years time, after the price hits the floor when its UMD2/MiniBluRay equipped replacement comes out - and the Vita itself has been hacked to be able to run PSP games not from the store. Though I'll only do it with games I have physical copies of - but more because I have the games I want rather than some aversion to piracy.

 

[Korten12]

It sucks but honestly... The west won't care. Despite what many think, The PSP IS DEAD in the west. It never sold well here, so this probably will have little effect on sales. Plus, I understand the want to have the ability to play old games, but if you didn't have a PSP (which most likely sales will be full of) then this will have little to no effect.

Would I want this UMD system? Hell yes.

Will it effect sales heavily? No.

That's what I was thinking, I don't know many people that have a PSP, i.e. only one other person, so I don't think it's going to hurt Sony that much in the long run. Yeah it sucks for the people that want to transfer over to the Vita, but really, if you already own the PSP, why would you want to get ride of it when you know for a fact that you can still use it to play games?

Still plan on getting the Vita though, even though this news kinda blows.

Plus, isn't the whole main point of buying a vita is to, you know, play Vita games?

Ah, but here is the thing. It discourages people to upgrade their PSP to a Vita. Why should they upgrade if the Vita can't play any of their PSP games?

They don't need to get rid of their PSP. I will be keeping myn after I get a Vita.

 

[Trishbot]

And yet another reason for me to love my 3DS even more... I missed out on the DS, so I've got a ton of quality games my new system can play.

 

[Redd the Sock]

Okay, hang on here... who exactly should I be pissed at here?

Oh right, Sony... the company that tried to set up a transfer program. Not the multitude of publishers that told Sony to fuck off, right? No, it's completely Sony's fault that most big publishers never signed on to the program, and maybe a third of PSP games are transferable at all. Chances are most of your games weren't on the list anyway, so what the fuck are you bitching about?

I can't blame Sony for going 'screw this' and letting the program go; clearly it was more work than it was worth, and hardly anyone cooperated with them. Sony can't force publishers to go along with the program, they don't own the games... most of them at least.

I get people being pissed that it's not compatible, but if you have a reasonable solution I'm all ears. What would you have them do? Tack on dated, failed media hardware that would lower the battery life to an hour and a half? Tell every PSP publisher to make their games transferable or GTFO? Anyone have a solution that wouldn't be instant failure for the handheld?

Best they can do right now is stop wasting time and money on the program, and lower the cost of DD PSP games as much as possible. Perhaps if the cost is lowered enough, the price of buying it again will be moot compared to what the cost of transfer would be anyway. Truthfully there is no solution, and Sony knows it... the publishers made the program a failure, and they're just cutting their losses.

You and others miss some of the point: the vita is compatable with PSP software, there's just no way to take the hard software and convert it to a digital version (legally). While it sucks that Crisis Core and Birth by Sleep won't have a vita alternative (for a while), there are a lot of other games on PSN that can be played on the vita, but it leaves those of us that bought and kept our UMDs in the cold. If I want to play War of the Lions on the vita, I'd have to pay full PSN price to download it, even though I own the physical copy.

I get they're afraid of the used market so they need to maintain tight control of any exchange of physical to digital, and require the UMD to be given up so it can't be claimed more than once, but a very simple UMD for download code exchange isn't asking a lot. In a perfect world, it would be done through retailers, but given the used game market, that won't happen. Still, something through the mail so Sony would receive the UMDs to destroy in exchange for a download code e-mailed for 5 to 10 dollars depending on the PSN price. From a business perspective, not only is this decent goodwill, but think of the 32 gig memory cards it'd move for people wanting their entire PSP collection on the go.

Sadly, it won't happen as long as they think they can get us to pay full PSN price.

 

[Quiotu]

You and others miss some of the point: the vita is compatable with PSP software, there's just no way to take the hard software and convert it to a digital version (legally). While it sucks that Crisis Core and Birth by Sleep won't have a vita alternative (for a while), there are a lot of other games on PSN that can be played on the vita, but it leaves those of us that bought and kept our UMDs in the cold. If I want to play War of the Lions on the vita, I'd have to pay full PSN price to download it, even though I own the physical copy.

I get they're afraid of the used market so they need to maintain tight control of any exchange of physical to digital, and require the UMD to be given up so it can't be claimed more than once, but a very simple UMD for download code exchange isn't asking a lot. In a perfect world, it would be done through retailers, but given the used game market, that won't happen. Still, something through the mail so Sony would receive the UMDs to destroy in exchange for a download code e-mailed for 5 to 10 dollars depending on the PSN price. From a business perspective, not only is this decent goodwill, but think of the 32 gig memory cards it'd move for people wanting their entire PSP collection on the go.

Sadly, it won't happen as long as they think they can get us to pay full PSN price.

... did you even read my post?

I didn't say the program going under was good, in fact it sucks. I'm saying that people can't point the finger at Sony for this one. They tried to get the program working, but publishers wouldn't cooperate. It's not Sony's call... they started the program, but no one backed them up.

Blame the publishers and hate them all you want. Sony did what they could... I just get tired of people throwing the Vita under the bus for a situation Sony can't stop.

 

[karloss01]

OH BOI!

I can't wait to NOT buy this! OH BOI! OH BOI! OH BOI!

this handheld generation is pretty unappealing to me.

...


OH BOI!

 

[Siege_TF]

They seem to be using Games Workshop's business model where they only care about brand new customers, and aren't conscerned about the people who have already given them some of their money. I fit in this demographic myself, not having bought a handheld system since the Gameboy Advance, and as such might actually be one of the very few people who says 'I don't have an Iphone, I just have my PS Vita and cell phone', while sheepishly looking at his shoes and not being terrified of being stuffed into a locker, but only because there aren't any at work.

 

[artanis_neravar]

Guess what I'm not getting?

Though that sentiment seems to be basically universal. Did they want anyone to buy this thing?

Just because you are the most vocal group does not mean that you are the majority

Plus, isn't the whole main point of buying a vita is to, you know, play Vita games?

I was under the same impression, but apparently not. Silly us.

I was wondering the exact same thing

I still want the PSP2 (vita is a crap name) however I'll be keeping my PSP close. Even if they had some transfer plan because seriously that's just dumb.

The only PSP games that I would want to transfer are Birth by sleep and Crisis Core, both of them can't be download, which is exactly why I will keep my PSP.

I still can't believe how self-entitled certain gamers feel. When I bought a UMD I wasn't thinking to myself "oh boy I sure hope this works on every Sony system ever." It' just like a license. When I bought say, God Eater Burst on UMD, I was buying just that. The game on UMD. At no point was anyone obligated to make sure I can download a digital version of the game for use on a new upcoming system.

And for the record, this whole "transfer" system only covered games that already had PSN releases. It didn't cover every UMD, in fact it covered a very limited amount. Hardly "crippling."

Full disclosure here: yes I have the Vita preordered, and I also own a 3DS. I don't care to see any company "fail" or the like. I'd rather that gaming continues to get better. I really don't think the recent trend of negative journalism is helping the case at all.

But people don't want the truth, they want to hate the people who made it big by being good at what they are doing, people seem to mistake "wanting to make money for the job you do" with "being greedy"

I would like to thank the four of you, I was really starting to think the community here was full of people who immediately jump on the hate bandwagon.

And on a side note, are we sure Rupert Murdoch doesn't own the Escapist? because most of these news articles read like something I would hear on Fox News

 

[artanis_neravar]

It sucks but honestly... The west won't care. Despite what many think, The PSP IS DEAD in the west. It never sold well here, so this probably will have little effect on sales. Plus, I understand the want to have the ability to play old games, but if you didn't have a PSP (which most likely sales will be full of) then this will have little to no effect.

Would I want this UMD system? Hell yes.

Will it effect sales heavily? No.

That's what I was thinking, I don't know many people that have a PSP, i.e. only one other person, so I don't think it's going to hurt Sony that much in the long run. Yeah it sucks for the people that want to transfer over to the Vita, but really, if you already own the PSP, why would you want to get ride of it when you know for a fact that you can still use it to play games?

Still plan on getting the Vita though, even though this news kinda blows.

Plus, isn't the whole main point of buying a vita is to, you know, play Vita games?

Ah, but here is the thing. It discourages people to upgrade their PSP to a Vita. Why should they upgrade if the Vita can't play any of their PSP games?

But you are not upgrading, you are buying a new handheld,but ignoring that, any game you already downloaded for your PSP (including the PSone Classics) will be playable on the Vita.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

Yep not getting a PSV, still trying to finish off my UMD games.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

Yep not getting a PSV, still trying to finish off my UMD games.

 

[Zom-B]

I hate to be "that guy", but if anyone one is really that interested in playing their UMDs they will still have their PSP or be able to purchase one very cheaply soon enough. Hell, the whole point of the PSV (aside from the screen, the graphics, the touch screens, the dual analogs) is that it's a digital platform so that we don't have to worry about physical media. The fact that we can play digital PS1, minis and PSP games is plenty of old content available on a new platform, imo. And like I said, anyone with UMD games most likely has a perfectly serviceable PSP to play them on.

I understand from a convenience standpoint if you want to bring your PSV and some PSP games with it, it sucks, but well then I guess you can just choose to download a few of your favourite digital PSP titles and save the UMD games for another time.

Honestly, while this is a disappointing decision by Sony, I won't lose any sleep over it. Heck, I don't even use my UMD games now. I pretty much only play games I've downloaded, just because of the sheer convenience of having them loaded onto one memory stick.