Evidently there are actually some people buying the thing, for some reason... not that many though I imagine. :)
(On a related note, Sony has said that no, they will NOT have a program where you can turn in UMD games for DD versions of the same title. Sorry, you have to keep them and re-buy games you already own. Also, while in Europe there's a deal to get several free games, this is not available in America.)
I love how the games on the PSN are selling for full retail value in spite of not having a case, manual, or physical media.
Yeah, that is true. That's usually true on PC too though, digital download titles are the same price as regular boxed games, despite not coming with anything physical... it's a higher-margin medium for the publishers for sure! And yes, kind of annoying, but oh well, they want to make money and (some) people are willing to pay.
Oh, and did I mention that of course only certain titles are available for download, not everything on the system, and you don't need a PSP Go to play download titles, just a memory stick for your regular PSP?
And that the internal flash ram in the Go is probably actually cheaper than the disc drive assembly it replaces from the regular PSP, yet the price is much higher?
... Yes, I definitely hope that it fails. :)
Of course Nintendo's got lots of issues too with the DSi, mostly about how it's more powerful (GBC-style upgrade) so it's got exclusive games now... that's okay though, it is more powerful. The real problem is that it's REGION LOCKED, so all DSi exclusive games will only work on systems from the region they're from, making it the first ever region-locked handheld system... yeah, that's really bad. As a result I'm not sure who's worse with handhelds this year, Sony or Nintendo... both have done some awful things to their customers, really.
But, imagine if your PC could only get software through digital downloads? And had no method to install any disc-based media?
This is, without a doubt, the worst idea for a videogame machine I've ever heard.
True, true, at least with the DSi you can import a Japanese system and play the games that way... though it has download-only titles too of course, as do Wii, PS3, and X360... but yes, I wouldn't want ONLY download-only, I absolutely agree. I always want the option of physical media! I like having an actual thing for my money... I own some digital-download PC games, but I prefer boxed when it's an option.
I hate to be the asshole but... we'll be in full digital distro within 5 years. MS and Sony will lead and Nintendo's Wii2 will probably muck it up somehow, limiting rom sizes or something, i'm getting too used to Nintendo revolutionizing the entire industry just so they can take a step backwards.
MS will go hybrid for some time, right now i'd say MS is about 25% content in digital, once it hits 50% we'll see large scale digital-only flagship titles. Like Halo 5 for example with Natal integration. MS will have an easier time with its followers simply because of Netflix. Did you know you can stream 1080p movies direct to your 360 without any extra fee (as long as you have a goldaccount and a Netflix account)? Sony will follow suit but, of course, Bluray is their brainchild and they want their format to succeed. Movies wont be in full digital distro for a looooong time.
Nintendo's fuckin weird. They have a service in Japan-only for streaming TV and movies, I have no idea how well/krap it's doing. I dont know if the service is any good... it's just Nintendo testing the market again but what they probably fail to realize is that western followers want this more than Japanese.
Anyway, DS2 TBA soon with nVidia's chipset (rumored to be about as powerful as 2 and a half gamecubes taped together) will also probably be full digital distro or a strong hybrid, probably a lot of homeconsole integration and blah blah, once MS starts turning the flame up on digital everyone will have to follow suit close behind. PSPGo is Sony excuse to stay out of it for their home console since the only reason you'd buy a PS3 is for its Bluray player. :P
I know DD will be the standard in five years. Probably sooner.
But, you still have to account for all the physical media-based software that still exists. It sucks that your new machine is really just your old machine that can't play all the games you already spent hundreds of dollars on. Oh yeah, it's also more expensive than your old machine, in spite of its smaller screen and reduced capability.
Way to go, Sony.
Quote:Movies wont be in full digital distro for a looooong time.
They don't really need to be, in the same way as games, because movies cost considerably less money, and most people won't care to save them for future viewing. They'll download (which has been widespread now for years through digital cable), view the movie once, and be done with it.
It will eventually reach the point where only movie buffs will be purchasing physical product, though.
The thing is: downloading movies on demand is much cheaper than buying them retail.
Yeah but Sony just spent a fortune on the HD disk format war and I wondered why Panasonic was so quick to cancel it. It existed in such a disarray that you can still buy HDDVD/Bluray hybrids. Every other house out there will want digital and Sony will be the ones saying no and push BR. It's like Nintendo with carts all over again. But since it will eventually get there, are these digital-only films going to have menus, extras, behind the scenes, etc? Pay per view doesnt - they opt to show some brief and content-lacking quips of behind the scenes banter just to boost interest in the film, not for fanatics or people who just want to get more out of the film. What a weird transition this is gonna be.
I want the PSPGo to do well because looking at the DS I cant find a single reason to upgrade, i'm actually sincerely unhappy with the entire industry at the moment. I knew it couldn't last, I was one of those idiots that happened to love everything on the Gamecube (RPG's, Tactical R/T or T/B, MarioSunshine, WW, Metroid Prime and 2 and so on, even quirky games and sleepers like BG&E) and now with Wii, it's like I have to expect less from my games, I have to look at it like its a casual, 5 minute pick me up. And the DS has followed suit - I didn't like Phantom Hourglass, I probably wont like Spirit Tracks, why? The games are designed for spurts of fun, like mini games you have to travel to.
Where is my Robe of Depression and my $10 peanutbutter cups the size of an infants head while petting a rabbit and/or dog that thinks I died because I haven't moved for 16 hours because I cant get past dungeon/level/boss X? WHERE IS MY REWARD FOR WORKING SO HARD DURING THE WEEK? DO YOU WANT ME TO GO OUT DRINKING NINTENDO? HUH? I'LL DO IT. In the meantime some goth girl with no ass (thank you Japan) just got 40/40 in Famitsu and you need a 360 or PS3 to play it, though the PS3 has the shittier graphics but I always knew it was underpowered when compared to the 360. Either that or devs dont give a flying shit about the PS3's structure which is understandable since the only people that are buying it are either elitist snobs or Bluray consumers.
That being said, 3-D Dot Heroes. You know it, I know it, God probably made it and we'd all suck face with it if given half the chance but just as with LBP it just doesn't warrant the console purchase, not yet. Give me 4 or 5 games on that par Sony and i'll give it a go. Not the PSPGo, though. Since I already have an ipod. Now i'm ranting. But what the fuck is going on in the industry right now? Nintendo's released practically nothing and these next NPD's are going to be to an insult to everyone, the Wii looks like the kid in the back of the class with downs but their parents keep insisting on putting him in mainstream. A 200 dollar console that comes with wifi with the most advanced controller on the market so I can play a local offline multiplayer game that uses no motion controls, yeah leme plunk down 50 bucks for that.
er... so back to PSPGo, I hope its digital distro shines and Nintendo follows suit with a DS shop channel. As for the Go's lack of UMD support that's just hilarious. Everyone should know by now not to get involved with a Sony format, but my opinions on Bluray - If we can honestly stream a 1080p movie to the TV... it's only a matter of time before Bluray goes the path of UMD, And the PS4 will be a hard drive with bluetooth for its Tripleshock SEVENAXIS with 13 new features that no one will ever use. I'm about 100% sure the next MS Box will only have a physical DVD drive to play 360 content. Nintendo's next DS/Gameboy will have a slot for DS/DSi games but I dont see a new format coming out to play on the next gen for that either.
Quote:er... so back to PSPGo, I hope its digital distro shines and Nintendo follows suit with a DS shop channel.
DSi has one, you know.
PSP Go is pretty much DOA. People want the option to use physical media. Stores want it too, and don't want to sell systems which they can't sell games for (for good reason). Consumers also benefit, because when you're the hostage of a single company for all of your sales (that is, the console's maker's own store only), they can charge whatever they want and you can't go somewhere else to get a better deal or a sale, you're just stuck with what they offer and nothing else...
And that's what separates DD on the PC from on consoles, on PC at least you have choice and competition within the platform. On consoles that's not true.
And, of course, you can't sell DD games used, or buy them used... why people actually would prefer all games go digital distribution is beyond me. I mean, I don't mind it as an option, but it should be just that, an option.
You know, like it is with the DSi or standard PSP if you just buy a memory stick/SD card?
A Black Falcon Wrote:DSi has one, you know.
Read what I think, not what I say! :D A real DS shop channel, homebrew and actual games. And VC!
Quote:PSP Go is pretty much DOA. People want the option to use physical media. Stores want it too, and don't want to sell systems which they can't sell games for (for good reason). Consumers also benefit, because when you're the hostage of a single company for all of your sales (that is, the console's maker's own store only), they can charge whatever they want and you can't go somewhere else to get a better deal or a sale, you're just stuck with what they offer and nothing else...
And that's what separates DD on the PC from on consoles, on PC at least you have choice and competition within the platform. On consoles that's not true.
And, of course, you can't sell DD games used, or buy them used... why people actually would prefer all games go digital distribution is beyond me. I mean, I don't mind it as an option, but it should be just that, an option.
You know, like it is with the DSi or standard PSP if you just buy a memory stick/SD card?
On sale competition:
Wii games are 50 bucks, everywhere. Some are budget titles, but then those titles are respectively 40 or 30 dollars everywhere. There is no savings here or consumer advantage - you always pay what the manufacturer wants. Until...
On Old and/or Used:
On Wii a NES game is 5 bucks, a N64 game is 10 bucks. The most expensive a game can become is 15 bucks. Now you're telling me that this puts the consumer in an unfair disadvantage in any way? No, what you're talking about is steals - getting N64/PS2 games at the flea market for 2 bucks or a bucket of NES games for 10. But unlike those flea market/yard sale trophies, your DD game will always work like its brand new - forever. No blowing, no scratches, no disk read errors, and no loading times beyond milliseconds, nothing can persuade me that physical media is better in any way, shape or form. Other than the fact that I love good boxart and I always read the instruction books for the story, art, etc :(
The stores make the most profit from software, but honestly, everyone is getting sick of 60 dollar video games and 20 dollar movies, why do I care if the store makes less money? Fuck em. If they put LittleBigPlanet2 in DD on PSPGo for 50 bucks and sales are slow, guess what? Price goes down - This Friday download LBP2 for half the price! etc. The consumer always wins. Based on the tiering of platforms in WiiVC if the Wii had GC and Wii DD, Gamecube would be 15 wiipoints and Wii would be 20.
20/30 bucks for a full brand new game? Sign me the fuck up. Plus, these new games will have pricing that is balanced to what the content provides? So 3-D Tetris With i-tunes integration would be 10 bucks and Mario Galaxy 3 would be 30? The pants. They tighten.
Look at it this way: Walmart sells music on CD, they also sell ipods and mp3 players. Do they sell digitally distributed music? Bands that have no label? indy (actual indy, not the trash in stores)? I have like 200 bands on my itunes and over 2000 composers/arrangers who have no label at all and no way to buy their music in the store and i'm not a rare case. Walmart/Best Buy/Target/Sears etc has no issue with selling media-less players. It will be no different with DD game consoles.
They dont want to sell the PSPGo because it's shit, the original PSP already burned them, UMD burned them, they think Sony's a liability in the handheld market and dont want to spend resource on carrying their portable efforts. If PSPGo sells well, then stores will want to carry it. It's that simple.
Wal-Mart does, in fact, have a digital music store.
Of course, they don't mind selling media-less players because they sell money cards for iTunes and like services. The profit Wal-Mart makes on a $25 iTunes card is easily ten times what they make on $25 worth of CDs. You can't steal an iTunes card (and have it actually be worth anything), and you can order a thousand cards for next to no real cost. They don't impact inventories, either, because they're usually pay-per-scan.
The stores devoted exclusively to video games will almost certainly go under when digital distribution becomes the standard, but the big retailers will fucking love it. It'll be far more profitable for Wal-Mart to sell PSN cards than actual, physical games. Hell, even the little retailers will love it, because they'll be able to get in on the game, too. You'll see PSN, Live, and Nintendo Shop cards sold almost everywhere in the universe.
Quote:Read what I think, not what I say! A real DS shop channel, homebrew and actual games. And VC!
... DSi doesn't have VC or homebrew, but it is a real shop channel, and all of the games are DSi download exclusives...
They aren't full retail titles, they're smaller and cheaper, like WiiWare games, but that was the model for DSiWare, so that makes sense.
Quote:Wii games are 50 bucks, everywhere. Some are budget titles, but then those titles are respectively 40 or 30 dollars everywhere. There is no savings here or consumer advantage - you always pay what the manufacturer wants. Until...
Not true. Every retailer can set their own price. Often some retailer or other sells a game for a few bucks cheaper than the others -- like this one place around here that usually sells new games at a couple dollars under the retail price. Big stores also can have sales or special deals and such. But when ONE company controls the entire store, this does not happen.
Again, on PC this isn't a problem because there actually is competition...