Vita Update Ties Memory Cards to PSN Accounts

ScruffyMcBalls

New member
Apr 16, 2012
332
0
0
Zachary Amaranth said:
ScruffyMcBalls said:
Well other than Persona 4 Golden, there wasn't really anything enticing me to buy one of these before, but I have no fucking incentive to even consider it now. It still galls me that $19.99 for 4GB of data seems acceptable to someone out there, when Amazon sells 32GB cards for £10.
I still maintain Sony is a great company, but their handhelds just stink, they stink worse than Nintendo's, and that's saying something.
It's not so much that their handhelds are awful in themselves, but that they make great hardware and then ask "how can we fuck this up?"
Actually, you do make a good point. It isn't fair to shit on the handheld, the hardware's honestly pretty fucking impressive. The problem is, as you say, the company behind it doing a pretty shitty job of utilizing it.
Sad thing is, all they really need to do is release the same sort of titles they released on the original PSP, but with a control scheme that makes use of the second analog stick for camera controls rather than the D-Pad. I'm looking at you Monster Hunter...
In a year's time maybe it'll get the third-party support it needs and maybe they'll cut the prices on their memory cards and generally make the Vita experience more appealing, who knows?
 

Shinsei-J

Prunus Girl is best girl!
Apr 28, 2011
1,607
0
0
GAunderrated said:
Shinsei-J said:
I really don't get all this Vita hate.
You don't have to agree with it, but to not even understand it is just pure ignorance.
Well I guess I get it but I do feel it's been blow out of the water a little.
Why that is, is what I don't get.

After also reading over my own post I noticed that I may have come across a bit aggressively, Sorry.
 

Callate

New member
Dec 5, 2008
5,118
0
0
Sony was already incurring some ire for demanding people use an expensive proprietary memory format while flash memory prices were falling pretty much across the board for non-proprietary formats. Some will say this isn't a big deal, but it certainly isn't helping Sony's already less-than-sterling reputation for caring about their customers.
 

GAunderrated

New member
Jul 9, 2012
998
0
0
Shinsei-J said:
GAunderrated said:
Shinsei-J said:
I really don't get all this Vita hate.
You don't have to agree with it, but to not even understand it is just pure ignorance.
Well I guess I get it but I do feel it's been blow out of the water a little.
Why that is, is what I don't get.

After also reading over my own post I noticed that I may have come across a bit aggressively, Sorry.
People that blow subjects out of the water do so because the care. I own a vita myself and its been collecting dust for months. The Ps1 support just now came (6 months after launch), the console itself costs too much to be competitive, and the library is thin on RPG or non-shovelware games.

Instead of Sony addressing these problems so the vita can actually start gaining consumer confidence, they are focusing on locking the system down and making sure they have as much control over the system we bought as possible. Which is just insane, the vita isn't doing well in sales at all, so now is not the time to be removing features from an already unappealing system.

Considering the weak library some gamers rely on importing from Japan PSN accounts so they can play their favorite games that are not coming to the US any time soon. Now sony has effectively made the Vita less appealing by saying to all their fans "sorry we know you want to play these games you are paying for but we don't want your money."

So that is my personal reasons on the situation.
 

Quiotu

New member
Mar 7, 2008
426
0
0
I'm about as big of a buyer of Sony products as you can get without becoming a fanboy (hopefully), and this even leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The update wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for several huge factors.

1. Sony hyped putting PS1 compatibility on the Vita since E3. They've been proclaiming 'over 100 PS1 titles availble' for the upcoming update. Then just about the day before the update it's changed to '9 PS1 titles available'. Now sure there's more available through the PS3 transfer... but it looks TERRIBLE. No apology, no statement, no explanation, just narrowing down the compatible game list to 1/10 of what it was for no justified reason. It's a dick move... they should've known better.

2. It looks way worse when you look at Europe who has over 50 games compatible, or Japan that has almost THREE HUNDRED. There were games that were supposed to be available that suddenly weren't, and publishers had to outright apologize for Sony's mistake. MonkeyPaw Games had to backtrack and apologize about Tomba! because after all the hype, America doesn't get it right away. Seriously, that's tactless.

3. It's fine if you're going to lock a memory card to a Vita account further than it already was, but at the least you could provide a warning before the update that it would happen. There were quite a few people that lost content on their memory cards because they didn't know the consequences. That's callous, and it's not winning you any new fans if you're throwing your loyal fans under the bus like that.

Hopefully they'll make a quick turnaround with this and make up for things. I was kinda hoping that with Kaz Hirai in charge, he'd know better than to let these careless mistakes happen. I'm starting to lose my optimism if things don't improve.
 

neonsword13-ops

~ Struck by a Smooth Criminal ~
Mar 28, 2011
2,771
0
0
I don't CAAAAAAAAARE. I just want P4: Golden.

Is that too much to ask for?!

*Ahem*

Not a big issue for me. I don't plan on sharing my PSP/Vita account like I do with my PS3, but I can see how this would be bad for other people.

So, yeah...

PERSONA 4: GOLDEN!
 

Ken Sapp

Cat Herder
Apr 1, 2010
510
0
0
Foolproof said:
Ken Sapp said:
Yet another reason for me to stay away from the Vita. With the rise of Android and iOS devices as mobile gaming platforms, Sony should be trying to make it's mobile devices more appealing, not less.
You do realise the IOS has the exact same restriction, barring you from accessing alternate accounts? OH SHIT I FORGOT ITS TOTALLY WORSE WHEN SONY DOES IT!
Two points:
A} I do not own, nor have I ever owned, any iOS devices. I prefer Android and it suffers from the same restriction as well.

B} Neither iOS or Android started out allowing separate accounts on the same device to use each other's purchased software. As a matter of fact, neither of them allow multiple accounts on one device.


It is only worse when Sony does it because they are removing preexisting functionality, which should come as no surprise to PS3 owners.

BTW, this is not why I am staying away from the Vita, although it does add another mark against the device. I don't own a Vita because I had a PSP. Although I had high hopes for the PSP, it's controls were very uncomfortable for my hands and the games that ended up coming out for it did not interest me. Now I have an Android tablet and phone for all my mobile entertainment needs, and no longer feel the need to have a dedicated mobile gaming device.

All that said, I stand by my original point, Sony should be concentrating on making it's device more appealing to consumers instead of less. Removing functionality is always risky, sometimes no one cares but more often than not you are going to end up pissing off at least some of your customers.
 

Ghonzor

New member
Jul 29, 2009
958
0
0
As long as Sony doesn't pull some major bullshit out before Golden comes out, I'm still probably going to buy a Vita. Stuff like this is irksome though.
 

Squilookle

New member
Nov 6, 2008
3,584
0
0
Supertegwyn said:
Squilookle said:
The sooner Sony bows out of the handheld market completely, the better off everyone in the world will be.
That's a calm and reasonable response.

How considerate of you.
Eeey, what can I say? I'm here to help.
 

Ken Sapp

Cat Herder
Apr 1, 2010
510
0
0
Foolproof said:
Ken Sapp said:
Your point is between utterly nonexistant, to going against you then.

If the device that did not allow multiple accounts ever is outselling the one that did, this proves one of two things

Either A) Nobody fucking cares about multiple accounts, or B) multiple accounts is a mark against the device. Therefore removing the feature is either a non issue or a plus.

It is only to the people who are actively looking for a reason to hate Sony that this matters. People who would never have thought about it in a million years beforehand.
Funny, I don't hate Sony but I don't want a Vita mainly for the reasons I outlined. Having the ability to purchase games from foreign markets through the use of a separate account, although an unintended feature, was apparently a selling point according to some of the responses in this thread. So removing that "feature" may reduce future sales.

To correct my earlier statement though, my Android devices allow me to use different marketplaces if I so choose, and I can use software from multiple Google Play accounts simultaneously. You can not set up multiple profiles on one device though, you just have to associate multiple store accounts with the single profile on the device. As well, my MicroSD card can be easily moved from one device to another with no loss of data.

I don't hate Sony but they do make some bonehead mistakes IMO. I am no longer part of the target market for these devices since I rarely spend more than a few minutes on any game while I am out and about and I have a PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2 and PS1 at home.
 

viranimus

Thread killer
Nov 20, 2009
4,952
0
0
But of course, This is Sony. Same company that started the whole "You must relinquish your rights" garbage. Of course they want to further expand their methods of controling your physical hardware, software, data and anything else they can get their grubby little fingers into where they do not belong.

/disappoint
 

AzrealMaximillion

New member
Jan 20, 2010
3,216
0
0
And the dev behind that massively long delayed Retro City Rampage is still touting the PSVita version as the definitive one....Tsk Tsk
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
24,759
0
0
ScruffyMcBalls said:
Actually, you do make a good point. It isn't fair to shit on the handheld, the hardware's honestly pretty fucking impressive. The problem is, as you say, the company behind it doing a pretty shitty job of utilizing it.
Sad thing is, all they really need to do is release the same sort of titles they released on the original PSP, but with a control scheme that makes use of the second analog stick for camera controls rather than the D-Pad. I'm looking at you Monster Hunter...
In a year's time maybe it'll get the third-party support it needs and maybe they'll cut the prices on their memory cards and generally make the Vita experience more appealing, who knows?
There are stories they were originally going to use SD cards. And then there was the much more reported bit where digital was going to be cheaper than retail until retailers pitched a fit. And then their 3G version was announced to be an AT&T exclusive.

I was really looking forward to the Vita, but it seemed too good to be true. Sony made sure it was.

I'm hoping they fix their attitude, but at this rate, I don't know that they will. You'd think they'd want to make their unit more desirable, not less.
 

ScruffyMcBalls

New member
Apr 16, 2012
332
0
0
Zachary Amaranth said:
ScruffyMcBalls said:
Actually, you do make a good point. It isn't fair to shit on the handheld, the hardware's honestly pretty fucking impressive. The problem is, as you say, the company behind it doing a pretty shitty job of utilizing it.
Sad thing is, all they really need to do is release the same sort of titles they released on the original PSP, but with a control scheme that makes use of the second analog stick for camera controls rather than the D-Pad. I'm looking at you Monster Hunter...
In a year's time maybe it'll get the third-party support it needs and maybe they'll cut the prices on their memory cards and generally make the Vita experience more appealing, who knows?
There are stories they were originally going to use SD cards. And then there was the much more reported bit where digital was going to be cheaper than retail until retailers pitched a fit. And then their 3G version was announced to be an AT&T exclusive.

I was really looking forward to the Vita, but it seemed too good to be true. Sony made sure it was.

I'm hoping they fix their attitude, but at this rate, I don't know that they will. You'd think they'd want to make their unit more desirable, not less.
Having followed the Vita from when it was first announced and keeping a casual eye on Sony as a company, I think it's simply a case that there isn't any real communication inside the business. No one knows what the console was supposed to be, what niches it was supposed to fill and I doubt everyone was fully aware of what tech it'd have.

Other than the memory cards most of the problems with this system can be fixed, and I'm hoping with the new year Sony will be more structured and tighter and capable of fixing those issues. Come to think of it, they could just drop the price of those memory cards, but since they have a monopoly on them, I doubt it.