Topic: PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) - previously known as NGP

[Ceric]

I don't know why you couldn't just use a PSP that you probably own if you have UMDs to just tell the Vita that you own the game so it can be registered.

This is silly.  The more I hear about the Vita the more I keep thinking that it will nickle and dime me to death.  Next they'll have a system where you have to pay a fee to play games online and it takes into account bandwidth usage.

[broodwars]

Sony just announced "UMD Passport" for Vita where you can register your PSP UMDs and get a discount to download them on Vita. Prices average from $6 to $13 but are as high as $31. Source: Joystiq

This is exactly what it sounds like. Sony is charging for "backwards compatibility" and the discounted prices for the downloads are more than what most games currently cost at retail. One could download the free app which is unofficially named "The Consumer Anal Rape Initiative" within Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. or one can spend that money on more productive, non-anus violating ways (example: cupcakes). I think it's more likely that someone will hack Vita to do this without the hassle of repurchasing these games. I don't personally pirate games but I can certainly see why one would when Sony's alternative sucks so immensely. It's like they're encouraging hackers. If i ever even buy a Vita, I'd stick to playing my antiquated UMDs on my regular PSP.

It's not a perfect solution, but considering the Vita flat-out can't play UMD discs I'll take a small fee for the two UMD games I have (which don't currently have a download version: Birth By Sleep and Valkyrie Profile) over not being able to play the games at all (which is the problem Sony introduced with the PSP Go and carried over to the Vita).  All my other games are digital, so they'll transfer right over no problem.  I wager that Sony's charging for the UMD transfer because of concerns about not seeing money from Used games, which is irritating to me as someone who bought these games new but I can understand why they're doing it.

Honestly, I'm far more concerned about the extortion that is Sony's ridiculous prices for their proprietary Vita memory sticks/cards.

[broodwars]

I don't know why you couldn't just use a PSP that you probably own if you have UMDs to just tell the Vita that you own the game so it can be registered.

As I understand this Passport system, that's pretty much how it already works.  You download this program to your PSP, you stick your UMD into the PSP, and then you register it.  Then you pay whatever fee on the Vita to download the registered game to the Vita.

[Ceric]

I don't know why you couldn't just use a PSP that you probably own if you have UMDs to just tell the Vita that you own the game so it can be registered.

As I understand this Passport system, that's pretty much how it already works.  You download this program to your PSP, you stick your UMD into the PSP, and then you register it.  Then you pay whatever fee on the Vita to download the registered game to the Vita.

That makes this make less sense.

[Razorkid]

I don't like the prices none, but I'll have to suck it up to transfer the few games that don't have digital releases. My position on the Vita is that I'm more excited to play a select back category of psp and psone classics on the go than I am about the new games coming out. I've never owned a psp, so my plan is to just purchase the UMD only games I want on the cheap and then transfer them later. With the Vita, I'll be able to finally enjoy all those released psp games while being able to take advantage of the newer generation without having to hassle around with troublesome hardware.

[Adrock]

If I own the UMD, why should I pay for the game again? That's the part I'm having trouble justifying. The game is in my possession so clearly I paid for it... unless I stole it which Sony can't prove anyway.

[broodwars]

I don't know why you couldn't just use a PSP that you probably own if you have UMDs to just tell the Vita that you own the game so it can be registered.

As I understand this Passport system, that's pretty much how it already works.  You download this program to your PSP, you stick your UMD into the PSP, and then you register it.  Then you pay whatever fee on the Vita to download the registered game to the Vita.

That makes this make less sense.

I think the reason Sony has this transfer fee in place is to keep people from stockpiling on Used UMD games (or people loaning their PSP games out to friends) and then just transferring them all to Vita without Sony ever seeing any money on those games.  It's not a consumer-friendly practice (you don't see Nintendo of Microsoft trying to fight you playing old GameCube or Xbox games on Wii or 360) and I'm not fond of it, but I can understand why they're doing it.

Like I said, my irritation over this is tempered by the fact that I went out of my way to purchase my PSP games via digital download to make it easier to bring them over to Vita.  With only 2 UMD games to transfer over (maybe 3 if I get Fate/Extra on UMD), it just won't affect me that much.

[Razorkid]

I don't know why you couldn't just use a PSP that you probably own if you have UMDs to just tell the Vita that you own the game so it can be registered.

As I understand this Passport system, that's pretty much how it already works.  You download this program to your PSP, you stick your UMD into the PSP, and then you register it.  Then you pay whatever fee on the Vita to download the registered game to the Vita.

Well that just puts a monkey wrench in my plans.  So it doesn't work like Club Nintendo games where you just register the game online through a unique code? Oh well, I guess I won't be getting Megaman Powered Up

[broodwars]

I don't know why you couldn't just use a PSP that you probably own if you have UMDs to just tell the Vita that you own the game so it can be registered.

As I understand this Passport system, that's pretty much how it already works.  You download this program to your PSP, you stick your UMD into the PSP, and then you register it.  Then you pay whatever fee on the Vita to download the registered game to the Vita.

Well that just puts a monkey wrench in my plans.  So it doesn't work like Club Nintendo games where you just register the game online through a unique code? Oh well, I guess I won't be getting Megaman Powered Up

I believe MM Powered Up is on the Playstation Store, and I think it only costs like $10 or so.  Or maybe I have that confused with that ugly-looking Mega Man X remake they did.  You could just download the game, assuming you don't own the UMD already.

[Ceric]

I don't know why you couldn't just use a PSP that you probably own if you have UMDs to just tell the Vita that you own the game so it can be registered.

As I understand this Passport system, that's pretty much how it already works.  You download this program to your PSP, you stick your UMD into the PSP, and then you register it.  Then you pay whatever fee on the Vita to download the registered game to the Vita.

That makes this make less sense.

I think the reason Sony has this transfer fee in place is to keep people from stockpiling on Used UMD games (or people loaning their PSP games out to friends) and then just transferring them all to Vita without Sony ever seeing any money on those games.  It's not a consumer-friendly practice (you don't see Nintendo of Microsoft trying to fight you playing old GameCube or Xbox games on Wii or 360) and I'm not fond of it, but I can understand why they're doing it.

Like I said, my irritation over this is tempered by the fact that I went out of my way to purchase my PSP games via digital download to make it easier to bring them over to Vita.  With only 2 UMD games to transfer over (maybe 3 if I get Fate/Extra on UMD), it just won't affect me that much.

Youre Probably right.
 
MM Powered up is on PSN.  Is it just for PSP?

[broodwars]

The thing that really bugs me about the Vita right now is how much of a lie Sony's much-hyped $250 price point is turning out to be.  Considering you'll need a $100-$150 proprietary memory card to play downloaded games (including old PSP games, which you also have to pay for if you have them on UMD), as well as I'm sure even more necessary add-ons that Sony hasn't revealed yet, this is rapidly becoming an extremely expensive handheld.  Right now, I don't know why you'd buy a Vita at launch, rather than wait for both the system and the memory cards to drop in price.

[broodwars]

Well, there might be one upside to all this.  I was just reading Destructoid's article on this, and they make reference to the transferred PSP games having potentially new control options on the Vita.  I'm not sure what that means for digitally-downloaded PSP games (since I'd really like to play Valkyria Chronicles 2 and Resistance Retribution on the Vita with a right analog stick for the camera), but it would be nice to have right analog stick camera support for Birth By Sleep.  I assume the games have to be RE: Coded (sorry, couldn't resist) to allow support for extra buttons and sticks on the Vita, which might be where some of these costs are coming from.

The article also mentions filtering options in transferred games, but I have a feeling that's just part of the Vita's firmware.  The PS3 has similar options for playing PS1 and PS2 games.

[Ceric]

Its easily a $350  handheld.

[noname2200]

Presumably they're doing it for the same reason airlines neglect to add in all their additional charges and fees; because it works.

[Adrock]

Except it's not going to work. The only reason PSP sold was because people were stealing games with relative ease. Vita is even more expensive thus less inviting even if/when it gets hacked. Sure, some people will buy one and may even pay for their rape but Vita is currently riding the Fail Train to Facepalmville. They're doing almost everything Nintendo did wrong with 3DS except worse.

[Shaymin]

MM Powered up is on PSN.  Is it just for PSP?

The only Mega Man game in the PSN store for PSP is Maverick Hunter (which is the X remake). Unless it's in the US store, in which case I'm probably going to hurt something/one.

[Chozo Ghost]

The easiest way to avoid getting "ass raped" by the Vita is just don't buy it at all. If you don't buy it then you can't get ass raped by it. Problem solved. 99% of the games on it are going to eventually be available on the PS3/PS4 anyway, so its not like you'd miss much, except for the portability.

[NWR_insanolord]

The portability is the huge thing, though, for Japan. Handhelds are much more popular than consoles in Japan, and I can see people there paying that markup to get that level of gaming in handheld form. Sony's problem is that Nintendo may have already beaten them by securing the third party support they have, like Resident Evil Revelations and especially Monster Hunter 4. The 3DS is really starting to take off over there, and Sony may be too late to stop that.

[broodwars]

Sure, some people will buy one and may even pay for their rape but Vita is currently riding the Fail Train to Facepalmville.

Yes, judging by your avatar, you would know a great deal about the raping of small things, wouldn't you?   

Honestly, it's getting a little tiresome seeing all the whining across the internet about this.  When you bought these games on UMD, you bought games for your PSP.  They were marketed as games for your PSP.  They function as games for your PSP.  All these companies that released UMD games didn't also sell you a contract guaranteeing that you would have a digital copy when the next handheld generation started.  I can understand and appreciate the irritation at yet another hidden cost for the Vita, a device that's increasingly priced beyond what I think anyone will pay outside Japan.  But keep in mind that if you don't want to pay to transfer your UMD games, they'll function just fine on the PSP you already own.

Sony can't just allow you to transfer all your old titles to the Vita for free.  It would completely destroy the PSN's business model for selling digital downloads of PSP titles since suddenly anyone could just hook up a friend's UMD and turn $20 downloads into $0 downloads.  Sony's still losing potential profit on this deal, as anyone who runs around and scoops up Used UMD games right now can save quite a bit of money they otherwise would be paying to Sony for PSN downloads.  And it's not like you lose your UMD when you do this, as you can still sell the UMD to whoever you want afterwards.  And if what Destructoid says is true, you're getting at least one new feature with these titles in terms of new control options with the Vita that have to be added back in the original code for each game.  Plus, I have to wonder just how much of this is due to pressure from the companies who produced these UMD games, who have a lot of stake in selling these games on the PSN to new Vita owners and whose games Sony has no control over.

It sucks to have to pay for one more thing on a platform already full of hidden costs.  It would be nice to just be able to put in a code and transfer it all over for free.  I get that.  It's nice to want things.  But you were never promised forwards-compatibility when you bought these titles originally and they presumably still work on the platform they were built for.  You don't have to have these games playable on Vita so if you don't want to pay for the service, don't.  But let's not pretend that you have an infinite free ride to play your games on anything other than the platform they were made for.

[Adrock]

The easiest way to avoid getting "ass raped" by the Vita is just don't buy it at all. If you don't buy it then you can't get ass raped by it. Problem solved. 99% of the games on it are going to eventually be available on the PS3/PS4 anyway, so its not like you'd miss much, except for the portability.

Well, obviously. That's not even advice; that's just common sense. In fact, I've been saying all of that for months, in this very thread I believe. That's besides the point. I wasn't planning on buying a Vita and I know exactly why. However, I might buy one eventually if Sony would stop giving me reasons not to. Vita is a shitty deal and every time Sony says something new about it, they make it an even shittier deal. The battery life (or lack thereof), the proprietary memory cards and their prices, the list of 26 titles (some of which aren't even games), and now charging for backwards compatibility. Vita is a system that sounds great on paper, but is so impractical in reality that one has to wonder how it even got out of the research and development lab. Sony has learned NOTHING.

I can understand and appreciate the irritation at yet another hidden cost for the Vita, a device that's increasingly priced beyond what I think anyone will pay outside Japan.  But keep in mind that if you don't want to pay to transfer your UMD games, they'll function just fine on the PSP you already own.

Way ahead of you, slick.

If I ever even buy a Vita, I'd stick to playing my antiquated UMDs on my regular PSP.

The best part about this is that you even quoted that earlier. I get what you're saying... because I already brought it up before you did. See, you're getting this all wrong. I'm not against this because I wanted a Vita and Sony is fucking it up (in fact, I don't want one for previously stated reasons). I'm against this latest episode of Sony's-Management-Sucks-Balls because I want Sony to succeed and they're doing everything in their power to do the opposite. Why wouldn't I want Sony to succeed? Competition is good. It's better for consumers and we get better games. However, Nintendo couldn't sell a $250 handheld and Sony wants to try again. Seriously, they failed to sell a handheld at $250, watched another company fail, and now they want to try it again while adding even more cost on top of it. Right.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Actually, if their is one thing Sony succeeded with, it was selling the PSP. I don't remember if it was @ $250 or not, but they sold quite a bit.

[nickmitch]

I remember all my friends in highschool buying PSPs and playing Super Mario Kart.

[Chozo Ghost]

Sony might have better luck selling the Vita at $250 because they won't be doing so at $80 markup. When you pay $250 on a Vita you are probably getting close to that worth of that in hardware. That said, the lack of games and all this other bullshit is a legitimate concern, but I would think the Vita would sell reasonably well to the hacking/pirating crowd, just like its predecessor did.

So don't be surprised if the Vita hardware sells decently, but the software tie in ratio remains abysmal.

[Ymeegod]

You could say the same thing about the DS though or even consoles like the WII?  People pirate the sh!T out of them as well.

Like insanolord stated in Japan the handheld market rules while the consoles get the back seat, so I think Vita is still going do well over there.

As for the MC and UMD Passport--it's Sony way of trying to make some quick cash back since the system is selling at a loss.  I'm a bit annoyed as well because the MC issue is more or less mandatory since you won't be able to play games without it.  So it's actuall an $280-290 system going with the cheapest MC available.

[Adrock]

Actually, if their is one thing Sony succeeded with, it was selling the PSP. I don't remember if it was @ $250 or not, but they sold quite a bit.

I don't think PSP sold especially well at $250 outside of the launch window. Perhaps better than one would expect, but certainly not well enough to rationally sell its successor for an even higher price after all of the hidden extra cost. I believe the original $250 PSP bundle came with a Memory Stick.

And I don't think Vita will fare better than 3DS at $250. The average consumer didn't balk at the 3DS's launch price because they necessarily suspected the hardware was marked up. They balked because it was $250. Period. The lack of games certainly didn't help. Even if Super Mario 3D Land was available at launch, I still think sales would have been disappointing overall (albeit less so) because people don't want to spend $250 on a handheld. In Vita's case, the hardware is probably worth more than $250. Looking strictly at specs, it's a wonderful deal. Unfortunately, that's not where value begins and ends.