UMD/PSP(Patapon 2) games to be digitally distributed...ONLY!

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Not to be materialistic but I like having the cases etc. I just wish every case on the planet would just morph into standard DVD cases.

[Limewater]

And your second point is my biggest concern. There is this huge assumption that digital distribution will lead to lower priced games, while if you visit PSN, you'll already find that isn't the case, in fact it's the opposite. As I posted earlier LocoRoco (and several others) on PSN cost $23, while it's roughly $9.99 - $19.99 in stores. The lower production costs will lead to lower prices for the consumer...right? Or so we thought. In reality, a lot of what Ziggy says is true. Sony will be the only available retailer to buy PSP games from. And as you said, without the push from new games coming out, there won't be much reason to have sales. Without competition offering lower prices for PSP games, there won't be much stopping them when they start increasing PSP game costs. Hell, we've already seen the average price of home console games go from $50 to $60-$65 this gen. Resistance Retribution cost $40 at launch. Without the option to shop around and find a better deal, I don't know that many people would be willing to dropping $40+ on a DL for their memory card that also costs them over $100. And the 3rd party devs. are going to have to go by the prices that Sony sets, as well.

I tend to agree with most of this post, but I think it might be worth mentioning that Sony will still have to compete with Microsoft and Nintendo. Unless they can pull some Mac-level marketing, going to digital-only distribution will just encourage them to get out of the console market sooner, since people hopefully see all of the advantages the other platforms offer.

I could be totally wrong, though.

[superlarz]

Eventually digital distribution will take over everything. Eventually. And we will all regret it. Not at first, but as soon as you lose everything because of a hard drive failure or the service you use goes out of business, you will miss the physical media. It is a train wreck waiting to happen.

As far as this situation on PSP, I think the majority of the users that are smart enough and have the bandwith and other capabilities required to download full games (1+ GB) as well as large enough memory cards to hold such games are already doing so. Any sony and the game devs arent getting a cut of that money. And those people are going to continue to not pay.

[HellHammer]

...Sony will still have to compete with Microsoft and Nintendo.

As far as price, I don't see this happening. I mean, maybe in the future, if ALL games were digital releases and that was your only option across all platforms. But, Nintendo already has it's prices between $5-$12. And while Sony offers PS1 titles at $6, it also has PSP games at $22.99 and PS3 titles at the full $59.99 retail price. Likewise, if Nintendo were in a position to release full Wii games for download, they'd cost exactly what they cost new in retail stores, EXCEPT retail stores have physical shelf space. And need shelf space for new products. Typically when games sit on a shelf for extended periods of time, you soon see them at the end of the isle in the 'bargain bin'. This is something that doesn't exist in the digital world of online PSNs and ShopChannels. They don't run out of space, they aren't in a hurry to make more room for the next big game release, they aren't clearing stock of last year's edition, and they aren't going to charge anything less than full price.

[vlame]

dont forget the psp gen4 (4000) is suppossed ot have a hdd instead of a umd drive.....

[Niode]

Patapon 2 is a full UMD release. Not that I've bought any games for my PSP aside from Lumines/Liberty City Stories/Wipeout Pulse. Who in their right mind would pay Sony to put a game on a memory stick when you can easily download it for free from torrents and put it on a memory stick yourself? Putting CFW on a PSP is child's play.

Sony's PSN store is ridiculous for full retail games. They sell the games at full retail price. GT5-Prologue is still £24.99. It didn't even sell for that price in the stores in this country, and that's in physical - fully resalable form too. EVERYWHERE sold it for £19.99. You can get it for less than £10 most places now.

I don't understand why Sony thinks people are going to pay those kinds of prices when they can walk into their nearest 24 hour Tesco/Asda and buy the game over the counter (at a price that is competing with most online stores these days, the supermarkets are practically giving games away just to get people into the stores, most of the time if there is a new release I want I will get it from the supermarket, at least it's brand new and still sealed unlike Game/Gamestation who gut their games. Sometimes it's even cheaper than getting it online after shipping is factored in.) The whole 'convenience of digital distribution' argument just isn't even applicable. It's not a convenience when you have to sit and watch a progress bar for several hours while it downloads... I could walk to the supermarket 10 times before it even gets half way, hell I'd even have time to wait for it to take another half hour for it to install itself before I get to play.

The only time DD is a viable option for me is on Steam. They have some crazy sales some times. It's hard to resist buying some of those games. I'm fully prepared to accept the downfalls of steam (even though they are pretty minor and nothing that hasn't been said before about the issues with DD) for the crazy prices they sell their games at from time to time.

DD will only take off if it is cheaper than buying the physical product in the shops. Apple knew for a fact they could never get away with selling albums for more than what you can buy them for in shops. That's why iTunes is the biggest online music digital distributer.

Can Sony do anything right this generation? Where did it all go wrong?

[HellHammer]

Patapon 2 is a full UMD release.

In the NA region, it's been confirmed that Patapon 2 will see a digital distribution only. JP and EU are a different story. Guess I'll be importing, except that makes me worry about losing the ability to transfer my saved game from the first one.

[Limewater]

...Sony will still have to compete with Microsoft and Nintendo.

As far as price, I don't see this happening.

How could it not? I don't understand your response.

Currently, apart from Nintendo's properties, it seems like most of the big games are coming out multi-platform. If Sony goes to only digital download and becomes the sole source of software for their systems, they still face competition from the other two major platforms that do not impose such restrictions. If they do not lower prices appropriately, they will completely die next generation when everyone sees they can get all of their favorite games much less expensively with the competitors.

This situation will exist even if the other two start following that model.

The fact that Sony currently overcharges for their download service doesn't change the fact that competition exists in the video game market.

Look at Monster Cable. They managed to overcharge for cables for years. Now, they're finally hurting.

[Niode]

Patapon 2 is a full UMD release.

In the NA region, it's been confirmed that Patapon 2 will see a digital distribution only. JP and EU are a different story. Guess I'll be importing, except that makes me worry about losing the ability to transfer my saved game from the first one.

Yes I know that. I was stating a fact based on my location. It is a full UMD release in this country. Maybe I should have made that a little bit clearer.

[alienjesus]

The big problem i see here, and possibly this is something sony haven't considered, is that game stores will be losing LOTS of revenue from the lack of A)retail hard copies of games, and B)2nd hand games. especially the 2nd hand games, which is generally a bigger market for game stores than brand new ones. I wonder whether retailers will even bother to promote a console that seems specifically designed to lose them money. Even if they did choose to stock it, i can imagine them promoting nintendo or microsoft more if they have hard copies of games, because they'll be making the shops significantly more revenue.