Sony does indeed have "plans" for UMD owners with the PSPGo

[SunnyD]

Albeit vague plans...

The problem is that many Sony fans already have stacks of UMDs, and the PSP Go has no way to play the games; the system is purely digital. So what does one do with all their physical media? "It doesn't make sense to leave [PSP owners] behind. We're going to have a program put into place that will allow that person to become part of the digital lifestyle. We'll have details closer to launch." In other words, Sony doesn't want your UMD collection to keep you from upgrading to the PSP Go, but it's not ready to announce its plans. It's possible you'll be able to mail in your games for download vouchers, or send in UPC codes, or Sony will come up with some other way for you to play your games on the Go while keeping you honest. Koller promises that before launch gamers will know exactly what to do with their older titles.

 

[erwos]

You believe Sony's promises? How many freaking times do you have to get burned, people?

I'll believe it when I see it. I like the idea, but I am doubtful you'd ever see a 1:1 UMD:digi-copy trade-in with no extra cash involved.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: erwos
You believe Sony's promises? How many freaking times do you have to get burned, people?

I'll believe it when I see it. I like the idea, but I am doubtful you'd ever see a 1:1 UMD:digi-copy trade-in with no extra cash involved.

Well, it's a start. For the record... I currently own an XBox 360 and a Wii. If that answers your question.

I only brought this up because nothing was mentioned about it at E3. I'm still peeved that the PSPGo will be significantly more expensive than the PSP.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Two hundred and forty nine US dollars.

So Sony, being the ever charitable company, will (probably) be happy to take your tangible media with a resale value from you and give you a digital copy (for a nominal fee, of course).

:roll:

Edit: I don't understand how Sony can announce the PSPGo and NOT have this hammered out already. How can someone get excited about the PSPGo when they don't even know what will happen with their UMD games?

 

[Thraxen]

Originally posted by: RyanPaulShaffer
Edit: I don't understand how Sony can announce the PSPGo and NOT have this hammered out already. How can someone get excited about the PSPGo when they don't even know what will happen with their UMD games?

Well, for one the system isn't out yet so their plans wouldn't need to be completely concrete right now anyway. Beyond that though the quote doesn't actually say they don't have their plans hammered out, it just says they aren't ready to reveal those plans yet. It also says they they will reveal the plans before launch, so it's not like someone is going to go out and buy a PSP Go only to find that Sony isn't going to offer anything for those with UMD discs.

Originally posted by: erwos
You believe Sony's promises? How many freaking times do you have to get burned, people?

I'll believe it when I see it. I like the idea, but I am doubtful you'd ever see a 1:1 UMD:digi-copy trade-in with no extra cash involved.

Meh... this doesn't strike me as one of their promise-the-moon type announcements. This is more like promising to start releasing more PS1 Classics in the US PSN store... which so far they have been doing since they said that. I think Sony is fairly dedicated to digital downloads so I think they'll almost certainly go through with this.

As for the actual offer... I have no idea what it will be. Maybe it will be like the Warner Bros HD-DVD to Blu-ray trade where you do have to pay a couple of bucks for each trade, but you get to keep the HD-DVD. You just send in the box sleeve cover. Who knows? They say they'll reveal the plan before launch so I suppose gamers can decide whether it's worth it or not at that point.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Originally posted by: Thraxen

Originally posted by: RyanPaulShaffer
Edit: I don't understand how Sony can announce the PSPGo and NOT have this hammered out already. How can someone get excited about the PSPGo when they don't even know what will happen with their UMD games?

Well, for one the system isn't out yet so their plans wouldn't need to be completely concrete right now anyway. Beyond that though the quote doesn't actually say they don't have their plans hammered out, it just says they aren't ready to reveal those plans yet. It also says they they will reveal the plans before launch, so it's not like someone is going to go out and buy a PSP Go only to find that Sony isn't going to offer anything for those with UMD discs.

Originally posted by: erwos
You believe Sony's promises? How many freaking times do you have to get burned, people?

I'll believe it when I see it. I like the idea, but I am doubtful you'd ever see a 1:1 UMD:digi-copy trade-in with no extra cash involved.

Meh... this doesn't strike me as one of their promise-the-moon type announcements. This is more like promising to start releasing more PS1 Classics in the US PSN store... which so far they have been doing since they said that. I think Sony is fairly dedicated to digital downloads so I think they'll almost certainly go through with this.

As for the actual offer... I have no idea what it will be. Maybe it will be like the Warner Bros HD-DVD to Blu-ray trade where you do have to pay a couple of bucks for each trade, but you get to keep the HD-DVD. You just send in the box sleeve cover. Who knows? They say they'll reveal the plan before launch so I suppose gamers can decide whether it's worth it or not at that point.

But if they are trying to build up hype for their system which is launching in a few months, this is a very important detail that they've left out.

 

[Thraxen]

Originally posted by: RyanPaulShaffer
But if they are trying to build up hype for their system which is launching in a few months, this is a very important detail that they've left out.

Well, I do agree that it's an important factor for current owners looking to buy the PSP Go, so hopefully they won't wait until the last minute to reveal their plans.

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: erwos
You believe Sony's promises? How many freaking times do you have to get burned, people?

I'll believe it when I see it. I like the idea, but I am doubtful you'd ever see a 1:1 UMD:digi-copy trade-in with no extra cash involved.

Why not? They give you something which costs them next to nothing, and you give them something they can eBay or sell in bulk to the likes of Gamestop, etc.

 

[Golgatha]

FWIW, if the PS4 goes this route, Sony has just lost a customer. Downloadable only games and extra DLC are bad enough, but I'm going to refuse $60 vouchers like the black plague. Not only would an all-digital model suck balls for the right to resell your purchase, but it would completely kill the rental market as well.

As far as this all-digital download PSP Go is concerned. It can go DIAF.

 

[Dari]

How about you mail them the UMDs and they give you codes to download the same games? Simple and no worries about abuse.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: erwos
I'll believe it when I see it. I like the idea, but I am doubtful you'd ever see a 1:1 UMD:digi-copy trade-in with no extra cash involved.

They didn't say anything about a trade-in program being free, so you don't have to worry about believing anything. Geez, calm down. You need to differentiate what's in your head with what was actually said.

 

[Golgatha]

With all future PSP releases hitting both UMDs and digital downloads, and so many catalog titles being released, it doesn't seem like content will be an issue.

That's a quote from the ARS Technica article. Sony will make sure the PSP Go is a complete and utter failure if they go with this model. Who will give up the ability to buy used games (or sell them), and pay more for the hardware that strips all these niceties away? Hopefully the industry will see this as a deterrent to an all-digital model.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Some people will buy the Go for shiny newness and some because it's smaller and lighter.

Me, I look at paying $80 more for a smaller screen and no access to used games or rentals and say: No thanks.

 

[Thraxen]

Originally posted by: Golgatha
That's a quote from the ARS Technica article. Sony will make sure the PSP Go is a complete and utter failure if they go with this model. Who will give up the ability to buy used games (or sell them), and pay more for the hardware that strips all these niceties away? Hopefully the industry will see this as a deterrent to an all-digital model.

The price is certainly an issue, but as for the games themselves... look no further than Steam. Wildly popular on the PC side of things and is nothing more than a DRM digital distribution scheme that does exactly what you say. Yet people slobber all over themselves to praise it because it has Valve's name on it.

On consoles there are all kinds of digital distributions... XBLA, PSN Store, and WiiWare/VC. MS announced at E3 that they are going to start selling 360 games as downloads. All of this is getting people used to the idea of digital distribution.

To be fair, digital downloads have advantages, particularly in terms of convenience. You can buy new games at any time of the day without going anywhere plus you can change games with no need to swap discs. I do agree overall though. I do buy digital downloads here and there, though mostly limited to cheap "arcade" type games, but I would be very hesitant to buy a console limited exclusively to digital distribution. I like being able to sell my games and use services like Gamefly.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I slobber over steam when they give me 5 X-Com games for $5 or 4 Ubisoft games for $10. Not when they sell other titles at full retail. I do like not needing to hunt for CDs/DVDs for steam titles though.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
I slobber over steam when they give me 5 X-Com games for $5 or 4 Ubisoft games for $10. Not when they sell other titles at full retail. I do like not needing to hunt for CDs/DVDs for steam titles though.

Indeed, this is the truth. I've taken part in Steam and Stardock... but only with discounted titles. The only title I paid retail for was Sins of a Solar Empire, and even then I bought it retail boxed, only to install it to Impulse much later.

When I buy actual retail box games, I usually end up picking them up used or on clearance. I've only a handful of times within the last year paid retail for a title, and only when it was on sale close to release.

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: Thraxen

To be fair, digital downloads have advantages, particularly in terms of convenience. You can buy new games at any time of the day without going anywhere plus you can change games with no need to swap discs. I do agree overall though. I do buy digital downloads here and there, though mostly limited to cheap "arcade" type games, but I would be very hesitant to buy a console limited exclusively to digital distribution. I like being able to sell my games and use services like Gamefly.

I'd say the two things that get me to buy digital downloads of any kind are exclusivity in digital form, price, and/or convenience.


Exclusivity in Digital Form - It has to either be a must-have item for me (e.g. Dawn of War II and Wipeout HD on the PS3), or something you can't get any other way (e.g. DLC for full retail games).

Convenience - FFVII for $9.99 on PSN or the Wii VC titles I've purchased.

Price - Pretty self explanitory, but examples include $5 Stalker SoC and the $10 Ubisoft game pack with 4 games in it.


The only purchases over $20 I've made are Dawn of War II ($37.50) and Left 4 Dead ($25). I didn't feel too bad about those, as they both have significant replay value due to multiplayer. If all games were distributed in only a digital format, I would definitely buy a whole lot less games as a result.

I think this movement towards all-digital delivery is bad for the industry, as I would think I can't be alone, but maybe eliminating the 2nd hand market will be an overall net profit for the game makers. The only caution they should have though is don't bite the hand that feeds you IMO. If guys like me start buying half or less of the games I normally purchase in a year in droves, I'd like to think the industry would pay attention.

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
I slobber over steam when they give me 5 X-Com games for $5 or 4 Ubisoft games for $10. Not when they sell other titles at full retail. I do like not needing to hunt for CDs/DVDs for steam titles though.

Yeah, I've always (well not really, but let's make this a theoretical wondering) wondered why Steam can't allow transfer of ownership for game titles, which would create a 2nd hand market with enough DRM in place to keep things on the up and up. I'd even go so far to say that when you transferred the rights to a game, it would be mandatory for you to rebuy the game if you want it back in your Steam account. This would prevent friends from swapping games and then just transferring the rights back later.

 

[Ackmed]

Funny how most the people crying, dont even own a PSP.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: Golgatha

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
I slobber over steam when they give me 5 X-Com games for $5 or 4 Ubisoft games for $10. Not when they sell other titles at full retail. I do like not needing to hunt for CDs/DVDs for steam titles though.

Yeah, I've always (well not really, but let's make this a theoretical wondering) wondered why Steam can't allow transfer of ownership for game titles, which would create a 2nd hand market with enough DRM in place to keep things on the up and up. I'd even go so far to say that when you transferred the rights to a game, it would be mandatory for you to rebuy the game if you want it back in your Steam account. This would prevent friends from swapping games and then just transferring the rights back later.

The incentive for doing so would be what for the publishers?

Be real. They want the second-hand market dead.

 

[biggestmuff]

Sony will end up charging money for a digital copy of UMDs that someone already owns. We all know it.

 

[lupi]

anyone that bought into (literally at that) the UMD format from sony deserves whatever they get.

 

[biggestmuff]

Originally posted by: lupi
anyone that bought into (literally at that) the UMD format from sony deserves whatever they get.

That's a silly comment. You could say the same about Gamecube discs or, hell, any console's fame format for that matter.

 

[fatpat268]

Originally posted by: Ackmed
Funny how most the people crying, dont even own a PSP.

That and so many people are crying over the loss of their right to sell their games.

Funny thing is, the vast majority of the gaming base doesn't give two shits about reselling their games, and the ones who do, often resell their games to the likes of gamestop for pennies on the dollar.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Have you ever bought a used game, fatpat268? Sony won't let you do it for the PSP Go.

New only, and almost always at full retail based on how PSN prices are now.

-If- Sony lets Amazon, etc. sell download codes then -maybe- there will be good deals-of-the-day now and then.

+$80 to start, then +$?? per game from then on.