Sony Hints At Digital-Only PSP2

[iFish]

Until the price of digitally distributed games are cheaper (and don't argue the point, because they should be. No plastic case, no disc, no shipping, no manufacturing = CHEAPER), I will not now, nor ever support digital only games.

Not only that, but if you drop your PSP2 and it breaks, its out of warranty and you have to buy new one, you have to buy all the games all over again also.

Oh, and forget about trying to recoup costs for games that you bought, only to beat 5 hours later. They're tied to your account.

Bought a game that didn't have a demo, and decided to take a chance on it, just to find out that the game was total crap, and at worst, totally broken? Too bad. no refund for you.


Bottom line: Unless the digital distribution policies make a MAJOR change, I don't see this ending well at all.

Not true, you can back up your games to another system.... they are tied to your account, also.... You can put 1 games on 5 systems

 

[TM2-Megatron]

The PSP Go is great, haters just don't have one, lack the internet bandwidth to download games or they don't have a credit card. I love mine and prefer digital distribution for everything over having a massive amount of clutter for game discs and stuff.

There are many people who prefer having a physical product... if downloads are made the only method of buying games, then many people won't bother with them. There's also the fact that the "reduced costs" won't be fully transferred to the consumer. Despite the money Sony would save in not having to manufacture packaging, manuals, discs, and the transport costs to retailers... you'd be lucky if the price of the games even dropped by $5. Sony wouldn't be doing this to make life more convenient for people... they'd be screwing over a ton of their actual customers, because they resent that some people pirate.

I, for one, like having a real product... be it cartridge, CD, etc. I like having the packaging and a manual... I like the fact physical media is easily playable on another unit of the same console, if I happen to own 2. I don't like downloads... the price that's barely reduced at all despite much lower costs, the DRM that can make it hard to transfer to other consoles, the lack of any physical product for your money, the fact that the game will only be available for re-download for as long as Sony feels like using up the bandwidth for it. Old games will become truly impossible to find if everything were to move to digtal only... after 10 or 15 years, retro gamers would become a thing of the past... as would the collecting market. Practically every game would become abandonware, after a set amount of time.

And you're one to talk about bandwidth from Canada, lol. Our country is one of the most backwards western nations in terms of telecom policies and regulations. There's barely such a thing as an unlimited bandwidth plan from all but a couple Canadian ISPs. It's an embarassment to the modern world.

While I have no issue with things like Wii Ware, the Virtual Console... basically, old retro games or relatively simple aracde-type games being released as download-only... I hate the idea of major titles being released exclusively as downloads. That's the day I stop buying games, and start pirating everything.

 

[TwinBlades]

:S Wtf is everyone complaining here? I'm guessing like over 90% of us pirate games because we're on GBATEMP, Hello? So why are you guys saying "I rather have a phyiscal copy of the game" ? I know that some of us including myself sometimes actually buy the game to support or because it comes in a nice crafty material. Take the DS for an example, majority of us pirate roms...

I really don't get the point...

EDIT: Although I do agree that they shouldn't make it digital only as myself sometimes rather keep stuff in the system (due to memory for example)

 

[dinofan01]

The day it doesn't take an eternity to download at least 4GB on a standard connection is the day when digital distribution will interest me. Until then, enjoy your time in the gaming ghetto PSP2.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

:S Wtf is everyone complaining here? I'm guessing like over 90% of us pirate games because we're on GBATEMP, Hello? So why are you guys saying "I rather have a phyiscal copy of the game" ? I know that some of us including myself sometimes actually buy the game to support or because it comes in a nice crafty material. Take the DS for an example, majority of us pirate roms...

I really don't get the point...

EDIT: Although I do agree that they shouldn't make it digital only as myself sometimes rather keep stuff in the system (due to memory for example)

Agreed. Since when did we care about the packaging?

Anyway, if they make a download service akin to Steam and make the price point decent, it would work. People just didn't like the Go because it was pricey and didn't have backward compatibility with UMDs, or they were just PSP haters initially and wanted to hate the PSP even more.

 

[Daizu]

Then it will fail.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

Agreed. Since when did we care about the packaging?

A copy of SMB3 with the packaging is a hell of a lot better than a loose SMB3 cartridge. If everything went exclusively digital download, the classics of today would cease to exist once their availability on Sony server's was removed and people dump their consoles (no way Sony is going to keep around every game, once the reach a certain age)... there'd be no fun in collecting, because there was nothing more to collect. It'll be a sad day.

 

[TwinBlades]

Agreed. Since when did we care about the packaging?

A copy of SMB3 with the packaging is a hell of a lot better than a loose SMB3 cartridge. If everything went exclusively digital download, the classics of today would cease to exist once their availability on Sony server's was removed and people dump their consoles (no way Sony is going to keep around every game, once the reach a certain age)... there'd be no fun in collecting, because there was nothing more to collect. It'll be a sad day.

I forgot to mention... I guess I can be wrong because. EBGames/Gamestop or any other companies don't take anything thats already inside the system I believe? So we can't sell our used games (not hacked psp just original). So I guess thats a big fail.

 

[Ulttimaa]

Digital only isn't really that bad when you think about it. For the PSP Go? It was a tremendous fail, but only because UMD already existed, and thus some games were more expensive than a used copy(Or deals at certain stores) as well as the PSP go missing a few games from it's library(Crisis Core and BBS aren't on PSN, as far as I know)
Digital-Only throws the idea of backward compatibility out the window, but being that this is a new system, I don't see it being that bad of an idea. It could work on a new system with new games, just so long as they fix download speed(I don't know if the PSP allows background downloading like the PS3 does, but if it doesn't, then they need that too) and offer occasional deals/price drops.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Agreed. Since when did we care about the packaging?

A copy of SMB3 with the packaging is a hell of a lot better than a loose SMB3 cartridge. If everything went exclusively digital download, the classics of today would cease to exist once their availability on Sony server's was removed and people dump their consoles (no way Sony is going to keep around every game, once the reach a certain age)... there'd be no fun in collecting, because there was nothing more to collect. It'll be a sad day.

It's a sad day but it's a new age. Physical media is going the way of the dinosaur. In the end it's better. Companies spend less coinage on forking out packaging. Indie devs and smaller game companies get a chance to market their game without having to worry of production costs. As game production prices drop, so do game prices. Not to mention if you use Steam, you know you get some great deals.

And games get dumped, companies still sell older games via download services (like the Virtual Console). Saying that games will simply "disappear" because they're only downloadable is absurd.

 

[KingVamp]

well... I know I would not want it if it does go only digital...

3DS ... Nintendo ftw

 

[TM2-Megatron]

It's a sad day but it's a new age. Physical media is going the way of the dinosaur. In the end it's better. Companies spend less coinage on forking out packaging. Indie devs and smaller game companies get a chance to market their game without having to worry of production costs. As game production prices drop, so do game prices. Not to mention if you use Steam, you know you get some great deals.

And games get dumped, companies still sell older games via download services (like the Virtual Console). Saying that games will simply "disappear" because they're only downloadable is absurd.

You're dreaming if you think prices will drop. On the current consoles, most of the downloadable games are fairly cheap beacuse they're either old games which were already released on media ages ago, or because they're relatively simple games from smaller developers. For that kind of stuff, digital distribution is great. But for new major titles, as I said, we'd be lucky if the price went down by $5. Personally, if it comes down to buying a Mario game for $50 on a disc with the manual/etc, or as a download for $45... I'd pay the extra money and get a real copy.

I don't mind the idea of digital distribution, provided the system still has some kind of physical media; and the majority of titles are still made available on it. Shovelware is another good candidate for excluslive digital distribution... ultimately, the type of consumers who buy those games only care about having them for a short time, and couldn't care less about their functionality or availability after that time has passed. But major titles? I see no reason to make them exclusively downloadable. I like having self-contained media and save data for large-ish RPG titles like FF or Pokemon.

Anyway, I wouldn't have been likely to buy a PSP2 anyway, whatever Sony ultimately does. It's clear Nintendo isn't dropping media for the 3DS, though, so I'm okay with that. As I've said, though, the day there's no more physical media is the day I stop buying games... and currently, I buy every game I play, whether I play them from a backup (which I mostly do, for the DS), or the original disc (home consoles).

 

[Joe88]

until I hear it from sony main head or jack trenton I take this news with a grain of salt

 

[elimist]

The day it doesn't take an eternity to download at least 4GB on a standard connection is the day when digital distribution will interest me. Until then, enjoy your time in the gaming ghetto PSP2.

It takes me less than an hour to down 4gb.

 

[Maz7006]

The day it doesn't take an eternity to download at least 4GB on a standard connection is the day when digital distribution will interest me. Until then, enjoy your time in the gaming ghetto PSP2.

It takes me less than an hour to down 4gb.

it will take around a week or so for me.

 

[amptor]

digital only seems like the only way to go, but it is going to cut deep into their sales and likely shorten the product lifespan. Nintendo is going to continue to put games out on cart more than likely.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

digital only seems like the only way to go, but it is going to cut deep into their sales and likely shorten the product lifespan.

If you think digital-only would cut into their sales and reduce the product's lifespan, why do you say it seems like the way to go. If it accomplished those two things, it would seem to me as if it wouldn't really be the way to go

 

[dinofan01]

The day it doesn't take an eternity to download at least 4GB on a standard connection is the day when digital distribution will interest me. Until then, enjoy your time in the gaming ghetto PSP2.

It takes me less than an hour to down 4gb.

There. I tried to make reading key details easier for you. Not everyone can get your downloads speeds and its stupid to split the market like this.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

Hell, for some people, 4GB would put them over their monthly bandwidth limit, and they'd start getting charged extra for each gigabyte they downloaded in excess of it.

**looks to shitty Canadian ISPs and draconian CRTC**

Backwards f#@!s

 

[Jamstruth]

PSP2=Hello large hardware sales
Digital Only=Goodbye large hardware sales.

When it comes to games I want them in a physical form if I'm buying. I dislike buying digital downloads because I feel like I've bought nothing.
Yeah but less clutter and more economically friendly as well since you don't have to pay any delivery form or go to a store to buy the game, just purchase it on your computer and download it.

The PSP Go is great, haters just don't have one, lack the internet bandwidth to download games or they don't have a credit card. I love mine and prefer digital distribution for everything over having a massive amount of clutter for game discs and stuff.

PSN store charges full price for games despite there being no physical media for them to have to pay to manufacture. In fact after Dante's Inferno came out on the PSP I looked it up on GAME online and on the PSN store, the PSN store was a full £10 dearer. The only digital distribution system that works well at the moment is on the PC with places like GoG and Steam. Steam have regular sales and they don't charge complete full price for games and its kind of a third party system as they are setting the prices they sell at not the Publishers whereas with Sony they will charge full price for as much as they can get away with. PSPGo is good but its hampered by the terrible digital distribution system.

QUOTE(dudeonline @ May 26 2010, 12:05 AM)

Bottom line: Unless the digital distribution policies make a MAJOR change, I don't see this ending well at all.

I agree.