Sony Wants PSP Vita Owners to Pay Twice for Games
Sony Initiative: Please Buy Again
Sony gets Gamers to rebuy their PSP games for the new Vita.
In a move to get Japanese gamers to relinquish their PSPs, Sony has found an inventive way around the issue of making the Vita backwards-compatible with the UMD format. Gamers have to download a UMD Registration App from the Playstation Network, register the UMD disc in the drive and then download a digital version of the game.
All sounds well and good, but Gamers have noticed two issues concerning the UMD registration. Firstly, once your UMDs have been registered, they will have to purchase their old PSP titles for the equivalent of £4-£12, effectively paying Sony again for the same product. Secondly there are only around 200 titles currently supported by this system, focussing primarily on Sony's own software such as Gran Turismo 3.
Companies such as SEGA, Square Enix, Konami and Falcom haven't yet released any titles, however Sony ensures Gamers that these companies are on board with the program. So the key question, even if a Gamers' UMDs are supported will they be willing to buy their games all over again, even at a discounted price? Only time will tell.
Sources:
Andriasang
MCV
In a move to get Japanese gamers to relinquish their PSPs, Sony has found an inventive way around the issue of making the Vita backwards-compatible with the UMD format. Gamers have to download a UMD Registration App from the Playstation Network, register the UMD disc in the drive and then download a digital version of the game.
All sounds well and good, but Gamers have noticed two issues concerning the UMD registration. Firstly, once your UMDs have been registered, they will have to purchase their old PSP titles for the equivalent of £4-£12, effectively paying Sony again for the same product. Secondly there are only around 200 titles currently supported by this system, focussing primarily on Sony's own software such as Gran Turismo 3.
Companies such as SEGA, Square Enix, Konami and Falcom haven't yet released any titles, however Sony ensures Gamers that these companies are on board with the program. So the key question, even if a Gamers' UMDs are supported will they be willing to buy their games all over again, even at a discounted price? Only time will tell.
Sources:
Andriasang
MCV
Companies:
SCEJ
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Comments
bertybassett 11 Nov 2011 10:17
1/5
on dear sony, oh dear. Another example of just trying to extract cash from the users.
irritant 11 Nov 2011 10:32
2/5
According to Engadget, some titles will be up to £20 to convert.
This is a pretty horrible situation, to be honest. Even assuming it's to cover costs involved in testing and updating an emulator to get the games running on the new chipset, it seems a bit steep. It might have been better to just put the games up for anyone to buy at those (or slightly higher) prices ala Nintendo's Virtual Console and ditch the notion of backwards compatibility for existing owners.
This is a pretty horrible situation, to be honest. Even assuming it's to cover costs involved in testing and updating an emulator to get the games running on the new chipset, it seems a bit steep. It might have been better to just put the games up for anyone to buy at those (or slightly higher) prices ala Nintendo's Virtual Console and ditch the notion of backwards compatibility for existing owners.
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ghoti 11 Nov 2011 11:26
3/5
I suppose it's far too inconvenient to just keep your PSP and use that to play your PSP games.
Daz 11 Nov 2011 12:53
4/5
So registering your UMD only gives you a discount on the download version?
I'm with ghoti, hell I still have my Mega Drive II,
I'm with ghoti, hell I still have my Mega Drive II,
James 27 Nov 2011 21:38
5/5
No way I'm going to do that. I may just purchase LittleBigPlanet and ModNation Racers, but the other games? Mind as well just stick with my old PSP (until that gets the YLOD), until Sony makes that process for free.
Yea, Sony, and on top of that, your online passes, season passes, and all that bull____.
Yea, Sony, and on top of that, your online passes, season passes, and all that bull____.