Work with the issues? Surely this is something that should be put up straight away. What issues are there? This completely defeats any pluses downloadable games on PSPGo have when it takes even a few days longer to launch. Sales are rare too, theres been one of Monster Hunter Freedom for a little while on the european store but you could still get it cheaper in shops. All in all its worth sticking with one of the normal PSP models.
On the other hand the game itself looks fantastic, mind blowing how good it looks on PSP.
@excel_excel: I have the feeling there is some nasty DRM going on there (Sony is famous for that) which probably wasn't enforced for UMD titles but now it needs to be done, which only leads for more developing time.
This is just a guess, but most digital only platforms need these kind of enforcing.
@KamuZ: Great point, that is probably why. But it still doesn't explain why Assasins Creed Bloodlines was on the store the same day it was released at retail.
Well, I have to wait until Friday until I can even get the retail copy and I'm coping just fine so I'm sure PSPGo owners will be willing to wait a couple of days too.
Admittedly, I can't exactly say squat about the Go that hasn't been said a billion times already. But damn do I like downloadable games. I'll reiterate it's my preferred method for purchasing games. I work late nights and odd hours, often times this leaves me awake when everyone else is fast asleep. And without a 24 hour Walmart in the vicinity, my shopping options have increasingly been forced online.
And what I've found online is frankly a lot of great convenience. So far I've bought more PSP games via their store this past month than I have in the past two years. Something about the ease of access makes it's more appealing. And then there's the tangible notion of turning the little machine into a sort of "host" for games. Instead of popping little discs into it for a different game, the thing itself becomes a game center. Host to half a dozen games, and easy access to hundreds more. And that's the appeal of that digital store to me.
But hey, weren't we here to talk about LittleBIGPlanet PSP? Yeah, what's up with that not being available yet?
@statnut: Part of the point I was making was that I'm none too fond of discs either. They're just dead weight that hang in little plastic cases which take up extra travel space for each game. Meanwhile just having all the games available on the machine itself makes it much more attractive a portable device. And then there was the point I was trying to get across, that each game added to the PSP feels as though it's adding to the core functionality of the system itself. This is a bit of a leap to make in terms of how people should think about devices, but having the software installed directly onto the device without need of external sources of memory makes the device itself "better."
so i guess that means there are no download cards out for it either... when i do get a pspgo thats likely the route ill be taking since ill be able to use best buy reward points on those, and im assuming the gaming coupons they have most of the time too.
@fozfan33: Download cards only add money to your PSN account. It doesn't just download that one game for you, so there would really be no point of a card for it. And even if there was a PSN card with a picture of LBP on it, and enough credit to buy it, you still wouldn't be able to download the game.
Just buy any PSN card and you'll have the same result.
All three console companies do downloads this way - either via retail (Sony's PSPgo cards) or as a promotion (Pepsi's Rock Band content, and countless others), they issue codes that add specific games or DLC titles to your account instead of money. If you buy that Gran Turismo card for $40, you don't get $40 you can use on whatever you want. You get Gran Turismo. Period.
@Mister Jack started the Save The Lombax Foundation: if you found yourself in a situation similar to that of the film "Brewster's Millions", i could potentially see someone throwing money away on something stupid like this.
What is the reason to own any console? For the enjoyment.
I don't support the lack of UMD drive or the price point, but if someone wants one, I'm not going to call them an idiot for it. It's all about personal preferences.
@FatherFingers: In all honesty, I think Fahey started the "trolling".
"We recommend that PSPgo owners dejectedly slide their handheld open and closed until the situation is resolved."
The truth is for their price, they didn't really seem worth the loss of some features, specially when Sony hasn't got things together enough to make it feel like the lack of feature isn't a problem (ie, releasing for DL at the same time as the UMD, so people don't care that it can't play UMDs).
@Foxstar is in love with Kotaku's two Brians.: Considering they (we, actually) just paid $249 for a handheld with arguably less feature-wise than the 3000, I wouldn't got the pocketbook route with an argument against the game.
@Omnimon: It is still a valid point when some of the download games cost MORE to download than they did when they were first released in retail several years ago.
@Span_Wolf: Saying that something is a 'valid point' is a matter of perspective. For you, it may be a valid point... for others, if they want a game, they buy it and don't fret over a $5 or $15 difference.
This 'resale culture' is interesting for me to see, as I didn't grow up in it. Not having a physical media is a matter of not having something to sell back these days. Games are becoming disposable, they're no longer a collectible.
For me, not having a physical media is not having something to collect, not having something to look back at 10 years later and pick up, toss in the machine, and reminisce.
All that buying games is to a major portion of consumers any longer, is an extended rental. Pay $50 - $60, play the game for a month or two in most cases, return the game for $10 -$ 20 in credit, rinse and repeat. Let's assume this is done ~6 times per year for the average game 'buyer', you're still spending ~$250 a year on games, and you have no physical media left to show for it.
If having a physical media leftover to sell a game is such a big deal, why not just get a Gamefly account and save some money?
Now, does that $5-$15 per game download make such a huge difference? At least in 10 years there will be something leftover for me to pick-up and play, even if doesn't have a disc and a manual.
The only valid argument left anymore for physical media and instruction booklets is for collection purposes, but collection in media has never stopped technological innovation, at best it has slowed it.
@Omnimon: Well that was quite the meandering diatribe.
Just saying that there is something fundamentally wrong when Sony releases their latest and greatest device and the people that bought and payed an EXORBITANT tacked on premium for it(admitted to openly by Sony) still have to not only wait till after regular retail release for their titles, but often times pay more for them. Sorry no amount of Justification will make the gouging and ill treatment of their newest demographic right .
@Span_Wolf: There's nothing meandering about it, it clearly addressed both your and Foxstar's complaints about the PSPGo.
The justification is that the people that are buying these things aren't asking for a justification... you are. Sony doesn't much care about your opinion, is my guess.
@Omnimon: I didn't say it was new I said it was a new demographic. PSP-Go! owners are a new demographic for them to exploit, which they are with gusto.
@Span_Wolf: Right. And I said it's not a new demographic to Sony. Which it isn't. You have to remember that both MS' and Sony's game divisions are only a piece of their entire companies.
Sony, as a company, has always exploited the expendable income demographic, and now they're doing it in their games division.
@Span_Wolf: Your points are related, which is why I tied them together.
Sony doesn't care about anybody's opinion, but if I were running a company that generated $78B in revenue a year, grossing profits of $18B, and whose common stock was trading at double its 52-week low today, I wouldn't listen, either.
@Omnimon: That's pretty faulting reasoning, "We are doing well so we don't have to listen to anybody." Maybe if they listened they would be doing better than well.
@Span_Wolf: They released the PSPGo, and said it would be at a high price to take advantage of early adopters. If you chose to buy it, that's your own choice.
There are games on PSN across the board, regardless of PSP, PS, PS1, PS2, PS3, port, etc. that are priced as high as they were at release. That's also typically the only way that these games are readily available, as well.
Disgaea's a great game, and I'm glad to have it on my PSPGo. I don't remember what it cost.
@Omnimon: I did not buy a Go because I am not a sucker for the inflated premium pricing, and because it would cost me about 1500 to upgrade from my PSP-3K and retain my 45ish games. What a great deal!
That feeds into another reason I'm a bit bitter over the whole Go situation as the head of marketing and promotion for the PSP in the US looked me square in the face and lied to me about the UMD transfer program during an interview. I was going to buy a Go flat out, I'd played with it quite a bit at press shows leading up to launch and I loved the design, feel and features. But it was the price and abandonment of the UMD good will program that makes it impossible for me to purchase.
The PSN pricing is schizophrenic to say the least. It is rather galling when games are priced at what they were for retail launch several years after release, some even more than that. Some games are fairly priced, but there needs to be more consistency in pricing. We wouldn't stand for an average 3 year old retail PS3 or 360 game being priced 60 bucks still, so why should it be ok on PSN for it to be priced 60 or even 70?(not actual pricing just being kept consistent for the analogy) For some games that might be harder to find in retail stores, the argument doesn't fly for digital distribution, there is no such thing as a rare game online when the public can download as much of it as they want, so don't price for it. Artificial scarcity just pisses people off.
@Span_Wolf: Someone in marketing lied to you, and you're surprised?
He was probably speaking on the best information he had available from people far above him, so I wouldn't be too personally angry.
In order to appease most that had adopted the PSP prior to Go launch, there will need to be some type of conversion program to physical media.
But, my argument is that the Go was never made for converts, it was made for gadget freaks/uber fanboys (guilty of being a gadget freak here), and first-time adopters. Why? To explore software attach rates to a digital-distribution-only handheld. In hand with this experiment comes experimentation with the pricing of the software itself, which is exactly what you address.
Sony has to determine a pricing model for now, and for the future. For now, anything found in a brick and mortar store new will be priced similarly. But what about the remainder of games? What about games that are so not easily found in physical form? It seems that right now the strategy is to price them according to the going physical price. It's my own belief that they will determine that by lowering the price of these games, they will increase demand to the point that they gain higher profits.
Right now they're not only experimenting with the distirbution model, they're also experimenting with the pricing model.
If you don't want to be part of that, it is completely your choice, and I don't think they could have more bluntly said that themselves.
I hate when they do crap like that. "We asked and they responded. Their response? "Yeah we know shut up""
Also I got this game and I am not impressed. It seems like the quality rests in how it looks. Otherwise it's just...generic. The music is cute and the idea that it's a bunch of worlds...made of...crap...for some reason...is kinda cute, but past that...I don't get the big deal. :\
@WhiteMÃ¥ge: It's the user created content (which i hear its a bitch to make any levels) and the multiplayer (which the psp version lacks) that make it so fun. From what I can tell, the PSP version is more of a companion to the PS3 version, you know, for anyone who wants to play another single player campaign. I would have warned you against making the PSP version the first one you played.
@WhiteMÃ¥ge: Play, create, share. I don't know how that works on PSP, but on ps3, it's better than Jesus in a bat-mobile made of cotton-candy, Sprinkled in orgasm.
@John_Norad: it's better than Jesus in a bat-mobile made of cotton-candy, Sprinkled in orgasm.
Which is possible to create in the game...apart from the sprinkling of orgasm, that comes afterwards from an outside source.
@WhiteMage: Did you just play the singleplayer game? Have you even attempted to use the creation feature or check out user levels, you know, the main hook of the game?
Passing judgement without even giving the game a chance or even trying out the parts that make it so great is asinine...though that's not surprising, considering the judge.
@vid3oman64: tell me about it. I feel sorry for the early adopters.
I remember in the past Sony said that they don't have control of when games come out on the PSN Store when the UMD game came out in public. I thought Sony would do a better job with a game that they published, but apparently not.
@spiderweb1986: Based on the amount of content they update on a week to week basis, they have a set number of staffers working on the weekly maintenance of the store and thursday updates... Its kinda like asking for a weekly sales report every friday, but wait, having your boss swing by and ask for a preview copy 3 days before hand...
Creates alot of last minute rushing that throws off my groove...
This PSP edition seems to retain all the key features from the AC franchise! it actually looks pretty polished, kind of reminds me of Chains of Olympus in terms of graphical quality! It looks like my PSP will finally be getting some major play time in November- GTA, LBP and AC! #assassinscreedbloodlines
Uhhh? "Strong contender for game of the year"? Really? I hadn't gotten those kind of vibes from your coverage so far. The vibes have been positive, certainly, but not "Game of the Year" vibes.
@Wolfnave: I don't know... I'm kind of excited for this new Creed- it looks like it's been improved on in every way! I think it would be kind of awesome if it indeed turned out to be game of the year! Enough shooting everything! Even though those two games are marvelous! #assassinscreedbloodlines
@Wolfnave: Really, Modern Warfare 2 is a really good game, but I think its not anywhere close to Uncharted 2 . By the way, a gamestop near my house already had MW2 used. I found that hilarious. #assassinscreedbloodlines
@pd771: Sure, I agree, but as the IW dudes said in the BonusRound episode I watched, "There are so many GOTY awards that we're sure to get at least one of them." MW2 isn't a particularly innovative 500lb gorilla, but it's still a 500lb gorilla. #assassinscreedbloodlines
@dreamfall: I agree... ever since "Higher" and "With Arms Wide Open" stopped being played on the radio, i have been wanting more Creed... #assassinscreedbloodlines
@Wolfnave: Right, the so-called new stuffs are just new banners and emblems, perks & guns are 90% the same from CoD4, sure it looks great and I'm playing it diligently too, but innovation ? No. The Demon's Souls online messenger/blood strain system is more innovative. But we all know that small fan base cult games like Demon's Souls is never gonna get GOTY award, maybe if there is some game industry in-house award voted by ppl within the industry, otherwise awards are more based on sales and publicity. Same thing you get rappers as best singer of the year but no jazz singers will grab that. #assassinscreedbloodlines
Why is it that a PSP game trailer is always framed in a fake PSP? Why can't we they have the video strecthed to the player's border instead? #assassinscreedbloodlines
@rich8606: I'm guessing they don't want there to be ANY confusion that this is a PSP title.
Imagine someone watching these graphics and thinking it was the console version: "Ugh! That looks TERRIBLE! No way I'm getting that game when it comes out!" #assassinscreedbloodlines
@Wolfnave: Cats and dogs...living together... mass hysteria...
No i cant imagine anyone would want to play a psp game with psp graphics on a TV with a DS3 controller... looks at PSPGO specs...*facepalm #assassinscreedbloodlines
Once again, a lot of hate for the PSPgo, I think next time i'll just skip reading the comments section.
Just wanted to point out to all the people weilding their PSP's and DS's, your handheld isnt exactly 1 colour either.
I'm guessing as this is just MR the ones best responded to will maybe see a release, If that Coral one comes out I might actually have to get a second PSPgo, shit is delicious. #pspgo
11/18/09
On the other hand the game itself looks fantastic, mind blowing how good it looks on PSP.
11/18/09
11/18/09
This is just a guess, but most digital only platforms need these kind of enforcing.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/18/09
More interesting, is the use of the the mockup PSPgo picture. Don't they have press imagery for that thing playing LBP yet?
11/18/09
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11/18/09
And what I've found online is frankly a lot of great convenience. So far I've bought more PSP games via their store this past month than I have in the past two years. Something about the ease of access makes it's more appealing. And then there's the tangible notion of turning the little machine into a sort of "host" for games. Instead of popping little discs into it for a different game, the thing itself becomes a game center. Host to half a dozen games, and easy access to hundreds more. And that's the appeal of that digital store to me.
But hey, weren't we here to talk about LittleBIGPlanet PSP? Yeah, what's up with that not being available yet?
11/18/09
11/18/09
#speakup
11/18/09
11/18/09
Just buy any PSN card and you'll have the same result.
11/18/09
Hi. I'm a download card for Gran Turismo.
All three console companies do downloads this way - either via retail (Sony's PSPgo cards) or as a promotion (Pepsi's Rock Band content, and countless others), they issue codes that add specific games or DLC titles to your account instead of money. If you buy that Gran Turismo card for $40, you don't get $40 you can use on whatever you want. You get Gran Turismo. Period.
11/18/09
#speakup
11/18/09
11/18/09
@timothy.rawcliffe: Let's review.
Download cards only add money to your PSN account. It doesn't just download that one game for you, so there would really be no point of a card for it.
He said that there aren't game-specific download cards.
I pointed out that there were, and that all three companies have done games and DLC in this way for a few years now.
I never said that non-specific point cards don't exist, because that would be an idiotic assertion to make when we all know that they do.
Why am I a jackass again?
11/18/09
11/18/09
for the real world... i've got nothing *shrugs*
11/18/09
11/18/09
What is the reason to own any console? For the enjoyment.
I don't support the lack of UMD drive or the price point, but if someone wants one, I'm not going to call them an idiot for it. It's all about personal preferences.
11/18/09
"We recommend that PSPgo owners dejectedly slide their handheld open and closed until the situation is resolved."
The truth is for their price, they didn't really seem worth the loss of some features, specially when Sony hasn't got things together enough to make it feel like the lack of feature isn't a problem (ie, releasing for DL at the same time as the UMD, so people don't care that it can't play UMDs).
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
This 'resale culture' is interesting for me to see, as I didn't grow up in it. Not having a physical media is a matter of not having something to sell back these days. Games are becoming disposable, they're no longer a collectible.
For me, not having a physical media is not having something to collect, not having something to look back at 10 years later and pick up, toss in the machine, and reminisce.
All that buying games is to a major portion of consumers any longer, is an extended rental. Pay $50 - $60, play the game for a month or two in most cases, return the game for $10 -$ 20 in credit, rinse and repeat. Let's assume this is done ~6 times per year for the average game 'buyer', you're still spending ~$250 a year on games, and you have no physical media left to show for it.
If having a physical media leftover to sell a game is such a big deal, why not just get a Gamefly account and save some money?
Now, does that $5-$15 per game download make such a huge difference? At least in 10 years there will be something leftover for me to pick-up and play, even if doesn't have a disc and a manual.
The only valid argument left anymore for physical media and instruction booklets is for collection purposes, but collection in media has never stopped technological innovation, at best it has slowed it.
#speakup
11/18/09
Just saying that there is something fundamentally wrong when Sony releases their latest and greatest device and the people that bought and payed an EXORBITANT tacked on premium for it(admitted to openly by Sony) still have to not only wait till after regular retail release for their titles, but often times pay more for them. Sorry no amount of Justification will make the gouging and ill treatment of their newest demographic right .
11/18/09
The justification is that the people that are buying these things aren't asking for a justification... you are. Sony doesn't much care about your opinion, is my guess.
#speakup
11/18/09
#speakup
11/18/09
Well Sony doesn't much care about anybodies opinion, and that's why they keep doing stupid things.
11/18/09
11/18/09
Sony, as a company, has always exploited the expendable income demographic, and now they're doing it in their games division.
#speakup
11/18/09
Sony doesn't care about anybody's opinion, but if I were running a company that generated $78B in revenue a year, grossing profits of $18B, and whose common stock was trading at double its 52-week low today, I wouldn't listen, either.
#speakup
11/18/09
11/18/09
That is a large part of Sony's market, and again, you may not be the target, but business is going well.
#speakup
11/18/09
Further to that point I am also a Sony consumer, a disgruntled one that is sick and tired of being lied to and mistreated by them.
#speakup
11/18/09
There are games on PSN across the board, regardless of PSP, PS, PS1, PS2, PS3, port, etc. that are priced as high as they were at release. That's also typically the only way that these games are readily available, as well.
Disgaea's a great game, and I'm glad to have it on my PSPGo. I don't remember what it cost.
#speakup
11/18/09
That feeds into another reason I'm a bit bitter over the whole Go situation as the head of marketing and promotion for the PSP in the US looked me square in the face and lied to me about the UMD transfer program during an interview. I was going to buy a Go flat out, I'd played with it quite a bit at press shows leading up to launch and I loved the design, feel and features. But it was the price and abandonment of the UMD good will program that makes it impossible for me to purchase.
The PSN pricing is schizophrenic to say the least. It is rather galling when games are priced at what they were for retail launch several years after release, some even more than that. Some games are fairly priced, but there needs to be more consistency in pricing. We wouldn't stand for an average 3 year old retail PS3 or 360 game being priced 60 bucks still, so why should it be ok on PSN for it to be priced 60 or even 70?(not actual pricing just being kept consistent for the analogy) For some games that might be harder to find in retail stores, the argument doesn't fly for digital distribution, there is no such thing as a rare game online when the public can download as much of it as they want, so don't price for it. Artificial scarcity just pisses people off.
#speakup
11/18/09
He was probably speaking on the best information he had available from people far above him, so I wouldn't be too personally angry.
In order to appease most that had adopted the PSP prior to Go launch, there will need to be some type of conversion program to physical media.
But, my argument is that the Go was never made for converts, it was made for gadget freaks/uber fanboys (guilty of being a gadget freak here), and first-time adopters. Why? To explore software attach rates to a digital-distribution-only handheld. In hand with this experiment comes experimentation with the pricing of the software itself, which is exactly what you address.
Sony has to determine a pricing model for now, and for the future. For now, anything found in a brick and mortar store new will be priced similarly. But what about the remainder of games? What about games that are so not easily found in physical form? It seems that right now the strategy is to price them according to the going physical price. It's my own belief that they will determine that by lowering the price of these games, they will increase demand to the point that they gain higher profits.
Right now they're not only experimenting with the distirbution model, they're also experimenting with the pricing model.
If you don't want to be part of that, it is completely your choice, and I don't think they could have more bluntly said that themselves.
#speakup
11/18/09
PSP LBP seems like a great thing to keep myself entertained when I have to go on long rides in the car.
11/18/09
Also I got this game and I am not impressed. It seems like the quality rests in how it looks. Otherwise it's just...generic. The music is cute and the idea that it's a bunch of worlds...made of...crap...for some reason...is kinda cute, but past that...I don't get the big deal. :\
11/18/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
Which is possible to create in the game...apart from the sprinkling of orgasm, that comes afterwards from an outside source.
@WhiteMage: Did you just play the singleplayer game? Have you even attempted to use the creation feature or check out user levels, you know, the main hook of the game?
Passing judgement without even giving the game a chance or even trying out the parts that make it so great is asinine...though that's not surprising, considering the judge.
11/18/09
11/18/09
I remember in the past Sony said that they don't have control of when games come out on the PSN Store when the UMD game came out in public. I thought Sony would do a better job with a game that they published, but apparently not.
11/18/09
#speakup
11/18/09
11/18/09
[www.psu.com]
11/18/09
11/18/09
As for why...how about so they don't screw PSPgo owners?
11/18/09
Creates alot of last minute rushing that throws off my groove...
#speakup
11/12/09
11/12/09
What with Uncharted 2 and MW2 those are strong words. #assassinscreedbloodlines
11/12/09
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11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
Imagine someone watching these graphics and thinking it was the console version: "Ugh! That looks TERRIBLE! No way I'm getting that game when it comes out!" #assassinscreedbloodlines
11/12/09
No i cant imagine anyone would want to play a psp game with psp graphics on a TV with a DS3 controller... looks at PSPGO specs...*facepalm #assassinscreedbloodlines
11/12/09
Just wanted to point out to all the people weilding their PSP's and DS's, your handheld isnt exactly 1 colour either.
I'm guessing as this is just MR the ones best responded to will maybe see a release, If that Coral one comes out I might actually have to get a second PSPgo, shit is delicious. #pspgo