Echochome = Not all that.

I got the import release, and it's only mildly amusing for about 30 minutes. Very import friendly, though.

but but but the more puzzles??? I presume they might release them as an add-on to the PS3 version...hmm...

@PissedPS3Fan:

That's disappointing to hear. I was hoping this one would be good.

I don't see why people slavishly stick to hard copies in certain instances. This is one. Loading off a memory stick is faster and sticks are pretty much dirt cheap. Win for publisher, win for customer. Plus you can use your PC to help manage your library.

Now my question is: is this remote play capable?

after playing the japanese store demo this game is an instabuy. I loved everything about it; the design, the music, the puzzles, the replayability. It's all there and there are tons of different ways to solve the same puzzles so it never gets old. This game can't come soon enough.

i played the demo that was available for download. Penny-arcade linked to it, but i dont remember what site. Anyway, i really like it, and some ppl i showed really liked it too. I plan to buy it and i agree with pot3ntial2suck.

Don't see a reason for it to go on a UMD anyway. It's pretty small isn't it?

I really hope that these digital downloads are signaling where Sony is headed with the PSP.

Hmm, the demo was fun. This game would probably do better as download only anyway. Especially if priced right.

At least it sounds like they've got some stealth marketers behind this game. For me, the demo was so-so, so I guess it will come down to the price point.

No reason for it to go on UMD. It's already in PC form:
[tserve01.aid.design.kyushu-u.ac.jp]

(Yes this is like the 4th time I've posted this under an Echochrome story, but it seems like everyone forgets that there's a make-your-own-level demo free for PC user!)

@AverageJoes: Now my question is: is this remote play capable?

I'm hoping so. Either that, or have it possible to download on PS3 and copy across to PSP. You can already do that with PS1 games, and this honestly doesn't even need that much power.

@AverageJoes: You are less likely to lose a hard copy vs a downloaded one. Since content providers don't always provide methods to re-download legally purchased products without hassle, buying games/music/movies online is more of a risc than buying a physical copy. Add DRM schemes and customer support that automatically assumes you are a pirate and you usually have a very limited and unfriendly experience. There are some exceptions, though; I've been happy with my purchases off of Steam. However, I prefer a physical copy when I can get one.

Hopefully we get a bit of a price cut since there will be no physical form. After all, Sony won't have to pay for manufacturing cost, and I'm sure distribution costs will be less. Maybe they'll put together a cheap bundle for people planning on getting both the PS3 and PSP versions.

got the asian version myself (it's in english).

fantastic game. great puzzles. really challenges your perspective.

also, some of the best BGM in a game ever.

No UMD is telling of a immature US PSP market and greater potential sales in the Asian market.

@Doshu: If the demo didn't have it what makes you think two separate retails products would?

I'd gladly drop the money to try out this game, but sadly I'm a PS3 less Mac user.

I say give customers an option. Make a UMD option available (maybe through mail-order only) and also have a digital dl for those who want it right away and cheaper than the UMD version.

Isn't it all about options? I, for one, really like having my games on disc and don't like digital copies. For me, it's just like movies.

Actually, assuming the echochrome on PS3 is disc based and if they can have that option to put it onto the PSP remote play - then you'd have the best of both worlds.

Well for this game I am cool with it. I have been playing the PSP demo for a while now. Via my Japanese PSN account. Both the PS3 and PSP games are cool and hard at the same time. A lil bit buggy as sometimes the don't walk the way you would think the character is walking. You don't actually control your guys he just walks in a direction and you can stop him but you cant move him. Like if you know the guys gonna fall you can stop him and then you get a few seconds to ajust the puzzle frame your on.

@Doshu: No there no remote play. I tried it. I can remote play that scary asian game I forget the name since it's in Japanes. Oh and playing Vegas Stip is fun via remote play and even online via remote play..lol But no Echo remote play.

Wait a minute. I'm probably temporarily retarded or something, but does this mean i can't get the game if I don't have a PS3?

@Ferris Wheeler: That's what the PC version of the Playstation Store is for, silly.

As much as I am all for digital distro's, I sadly dont have a big PSP memory stick (the 32 meg has served me well for what I do, just games...), so sadly I wont be getting this

Congratulations Sony, you just lost a sale.

Perhaps taking your head out of your ass and realising some people want a physical product will increase your sales in the future, but it won't for this game.

FUCK Digital Distribution.

I bet (and hope) Echochrome bombs to teach you a lesson.

@PooPooKaKaBumBum:

Why, exactly, does this bother you so much?

I wish every gam was available as a digital download.

@Groodle:

I forgot to add, I do think it should be available on both - as should every game.

But I don't get why someone would be so dead set against the entire game now, one they theoretically wanted to enjoy, just because it's not on UMD.

This is a portable device, for cryin' out loud.

@PooPooKaKaBumBum: Seconded, just less emphatically. I like to actually have a physical product (adds for a very impressive game collection) to play with. Especially with the current issues with DRM, I'll take my DVD and case, thank you very much.

@AverageJoes: I don't see why people slavishly stick to hard copies in certain instances.

For me, it's being able to let your friends experience the game too. I purchased Warhawk online (mostly because the disc release lagged behind by weeks here), but I can't lend it to my friends to try out like I've done with all my disc based games. From lending friends my disc based games, there have been 3 additional purchases of Uncharted, 2 additional purchases of R&C and 2 additional purchase of MotorStorm. If I didn't have disc versions of those games, some or all of those additional purchases wouldn't have happened.

Plus, I've also traded in half a dozen games over the last 12 months. You can't trade in any games you get via "digital download".

@Doshu:

Couldn't your friends have downloaded the demos for all of those games you listed? I did, and that's why I bought all of them.

I can totally understand the trade-ins, though.

@dadeisvenm: @Doshu: If the demo didn't have it what makes you think two separate retails products would?

Not saying I thought it would, but it would have been nice if it did. Plus demos are usually "unfinished" work. Just because it isn't in the demo, doesn't mean it isn't in the finished product (and vice-versa).

@JorgieX: @Doshu: No there no remote play. I tried it. I can remote play that scary asian game I forget the name since it's in Japanes. Oh and playing Vegas Stip is fun via remote play and even online via remote play..lol But no Echo remote play.

No remote play for Echochrome? Bugger...
I've been using the remote play for Poker a bit. I was pleasantly surprised that it worked on that game.

@Groodle: Couldn't your friends have downloaded the demos for all of those games you listed?

Only one of them has even connected their PS3 to the internet, and I don't think any of them have even looked at what's on the PSN store (even though I've told them to repeatedly). Apart from that, there isn't a demo for Warhawk anyway.

Who needs Echochrome when you can get Fez?

Hmm kind of dissapointing ill be getting this game for sure even though it wont be a physical copy ill still enjoy i liked the demo enough to warrant the purchase of this game.
Just hoping that there will be the whole 100 levels of the game and not just the 50 level game.
@failbit: ME thats who. ' o ' amazing right?

I tried the demo, and honestly I hated it, it just wasn't fun at all.

They're selling PQ2 in america and not Echochrome? That's messed up, man.

@AverageJoes:
I collect games and return to them way later. I don't want a copy that only works on one PSP, or even one that depends on another machine to load it onto the card and authorize the PSP. I have the ISO already and it's great, but I'm not keeping it on my hard drive forever, and DVD media may last anywhere from 1-10 years, 50 is possible, but not likely. A pressed UMD should be nearly immortal, is visible on a shelf of games, and can simply be dropped into any PSP and played. I also prefer to buy good games when I can, so I'm not just going to keep playing the ISO and not supporting a game as rare as this.

@PooPooKaKaBumBum:
Great, but they won't have a clue unless you say it to them. I'm getting the Japanese UMD myself - it looks like this game will die in obscurity and fast so they're just going to think it sold badly and not realize what they lost to having it download-only.

I plan to shoot them an e-mail to the appropriate place if I can find it. They may ignore it, but at least I'll have made an attempt to communicate my preference.

I don't get it. Was Patapon just an experiment? Sell Echochrome at $20!

Man, it's Vib Ribbon all over again...except this time it actually gets released in the US.

Well, looks like I have to try to find a way to get this game from Japan, as there's no way I'm paying for a DRM'd download. I'll be the one laughing in 10 years time as the ones who bought the rented-until-the-store-goes-away download are unable to play their game, while my UMD is still in perfect working order - in ANY PSP.

They lost a sale from me too. Why should I pay to own an invisible product. I will NEVER buy a game I can't physically hold in my hand. It's an excuse for the company to make more money by still charging a big price but not having to produce a physical product.

I know some people really don't care either way, but for some it is the difference of buying and not buying. It'd be different if it's add-on content, because you still physically own a product, but paying for something that doesn't even physically exist is silly.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GUESS I IMPORT

I DONT CARE. STILL CAN'T WAIT.

By the way this wasn't all that clear...In Japan the UMD had more levels...We'll get all the levels in the download release...

...right guys???

Ok, this is probably too late to be seen by most, but...

[www.play-asia.com]
Play-Asia has the Japanese version for less than the Asian one.

[us.yesasia.com]

Yesasia has the opposite.

[www.us.playstation.com]

And this is one way to talk to Sony North America to let them know that you're a "Western" customer who imported or refused to buy a download version.

System: PlayStation Portable
Topic: General Question

Hello,

I'm writing about the decision to release EchoChrome as download-only content in North America. I understand that this is a small risky game that is not doing well in Asia so far, but I own multiple PSPs, and would like to play freely on either, or even lend out my discs to get friends hooked, and also as a collector, I am only interested in a UMD version.

I will be importing the Japanese edition, and thought that instead of simply doing this, and leading Sony to think that an English audience isn't interested in these games, I would take a second to explain that download-only games are not a viable option for me, and I will not buy any now or in the future unless it is a small, cheap minigame that I do not mind losing a few years later to corrupted or lost media, an error of digital rights management, or the need to replace my hardware.

I have encouraged others to send a quick explanation as well. It is not that there is no interest in such a game, but rather strong resistance from many to a non-tangible version of a product with reduced usability. I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to send this, but addresses for feedback are well hidden apart from this form. Please pass this along the appropriate channels if you can.

Thanks, and have a great day.