When the PSPgo was released as an all-digital system, there was a question over whether or not older PSP owners would be able to get digital versions of their old UMD games, should they buy the new system. Sony answered that question by offering f*ck all, but it may change tact with the PS Vita.
Sony Computer Entertainment development head Yoshio Matsumoto has dropped the hints, alluding to older PSP games being available to download at a "special" price, for those who want to play their existing library on the new, UMD-less Vita.
Apparently, Sony is "looking into" this service, which isn't a cast-iron guarantee. Meanwhile, a retailer has claimed that Sony will announce something involving the ability to play UMDs on the PS Vita in the next day. He might be talking about the same thing, but nobody's sure yet.
In any case, it would be a cool thing to have. Then I can keep playing Rock Band Unplugged and absolutely nothing else.
Vita owners may get cheap downloads for PSP UMD collection [andriasang]
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Contest:
8:00 AM on 10.11.2011 | 
they should have a system were you can prove you own the umd and get a digital copy free
(it would be like when you bought dues ex Hr you got an on live version free.... not really the same but similar
The only one i'm yet to get DD is Peace Walker and I'm kinda done with it anyway.
Bring on the Vita! My digital library is READY!
Yes it is stupid but its more that you would be paying for the "service".
Personally I think I would just wait it out for someone group outside Sony to provide the same "service" for free. Of course that would probably involve violating the ToS and voiding the warranty.
Wait what?
If they tried to charge you too much you would keep your existing PSP to play your library of games instead of paying Sony needlessly?
YOU MONSTER!!!!
I do still wonder where the fuck is that UMD drive for the PSP Go that Logitech was working on.
Not that I want to inconvenience or rip off you guys that own UMDs but as someone that never owned a PSP, I'm hoping it's the later, and strongly suspect it probably will be. I can't think of any reasonable way they could establish ownership.
Would've wished that BC would have been a priority with them..
You mean short of actually sending them your physical UMDs.
Hell maybe it is the logictech drive they were talking about years ago, people were musing that it might have some code snippet that would require you to "re-sync" your UMDs every so many days.
But yeah its probably going to be little more than a discount on buying the game again.
See, that sounds unreasonable to me. I couldn't even begin to imagine how many UMDs have been purchased throughout the lifetime of the PSP but I don't think I'm off base in suggesting it's in the hundreds of millions. Can you imagine the logistics of receiving, cataloging and crediting the owners of all those?
Granted I'm sure not ALL of them would be sent it, but they can't make the mistake of underestimating the response of a program like that. Regardless, it would require actual human beings opening all those envelopes/boxes/whatever, making note of each individual UMD, and crediting each person for them, unless someone has invented an automatic box-opening UMD-counting robot I don't know about.
So yeah, no, that's absolutely not even remotely feasible at all and just plain silly to expect.
Simply giving you an option and (hopefully) doing so at a fair price, I mean come on, you will end up with 2 copies of the game, whether you use them both or not - man the internet is full of such whiny little bitches.
Yall need a dose of MAN THE FUCK UP.
Personally, if it's an old game that I'm done with, i don't want a digital version. if it's a game i want to play i have 3 options to play it...
1) Rebuy digital (hopefully at reasonable price)
2) Keep PSP and play it on there
3) Don't play it and man the fuck up.
Sony isn't holding a gun to your head, stealing your UMD's and making you pay for the games again! But from the sound of some of you whiney little bitches you would think that's what they're doing.
Geezus.
Faith in the internt -1.
Hell, I've not even upgraded my iTunes tracks to iTunes plus "for cheap".
I'll bet if it MS or Nintendo doing the EXACT SAME THING you'd be taking potshots at them, but because it's Sony you gotta MAN UP.
On topic, My PSP broke and after the Vita announcement I decided not to fix it. I have a bunch of UMD's I never played so I like this idea as long as the price is reasonable.
What would you prefer them to do, and how would you suggest they go about doing it?
Sony doesn't have a plan for this other than "We'll see if we can get third parties to agree to drop the price of existing games on PSN" and even that's probably a stretch.
Why should they spend money on letting you play old games from another system? It doesn't just happen, it will have a cost. If the cost is low enough then they will include for free. If not then you will have to pay for it.
Freaks me out that people seem to think that games are being made just to keep you happy. Simple answer, look at the specs when released, weigh up benefits versus cost then decide to buy. Just stop fuckin' whining.
Being offered a discounted version is nothing but nice!
Just don't buy it again. Problem solved.
The Silent Protagonist: Considering Vita plays PSP and PS1 games via PSN I'd say it DOES have BC.
Here's my question though: What about 60% of my UMD library that isn't on PSN yet? Including my imports from Europe and Japan? Will they magically show up? Parodius Portable, Salamander Portable, Final Fantasy 1 and 2, Star Ocean 2, Goku Makai Mura Kai, Tales of Eternia, etc. None of those are on PSN in the US yet. Will I still be screwed? That's what killed the PSP Go for me. Not the battery life, not rebuying games I already own, not the fact that it STILL doesn't protect the screen. The fact that I couldn't get all my games on there. I am two things: A Final Fantasy 1 whore and a Disgaea whore. PSP Go only helped me with the latter part. Fucking Squeenix and their shitty support of PSN.
It's not rocket science.
Waaaaaaaaaaaah I want the moon on a stick, but i also want the digital version of a moon on a stick AND the physical version of the moon on a stick! But I don't want to have to pay extra, i want EVERYTHING FOR FREE!!!!
I don't think keeping the UMD drive would have been such a hot idea.
For starters, UMD is an obsolete format. It's not getting any support and it only holds 1.8GB; Vita Carts hold 4GB minumum and don't make a disc drive motor and optical lens bog down the battery.
Then, there's the question of why keeping it at all. As said, the capacity is just not cost effective anymore, so you wouldn't use it for Vita games; would you keep it just for backwards compatibility, even though you can do that via software download? I don't think so.
UMD is dead.
I really don't don't want to repurchase all my stuff over again (Knowing Sony, the 'discount' is probably like a buck or two), and it's really doubtful the imports I own are going to show up in the store.
They'd have to charge for it, and people would still throw a shit fit about having to pay to play games they already paid for.
I'm just happy that they are even thinking about it, logistically this is gonna be big for them considering the volume of processeses they'll have to go through to offer you your games. They wont be making a lot of profit out of this, because if they set the price too high the backlash would be awful.
Regardless. It would be a nice service to offer but how they plan on implementing the program will be interesting. Perhaps like Tristx commented Sony may decide to sell psp titles on the cheap to every adopter of the Vita. It would be nice to transfer your umd to digital, and it is a nice idea. We will see when more information is released,how they plan to do this, and if they decide to follow through.
Dude might be biased towards sony, but dude also has a point. Your ad hominem argument doesn't change that fact. And it's not even just this, there's a LOT of butthurt going on lately where game companies are giving options and consumers are actually bitching about it. Go look at the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer article's comment section, it's a fucking cavalcade of fail and aids.