I've talked before about how I hope all my lovely UMD-based PSP games will somehow work on the PlayStation Vita. Sony has not said much about how they would offer up support since the product announcement, but a new blurb in a PlayStation Vita FAQ gives me hope.
Q: I have UMD games but do I need to buy them again from PlayStation Store to play the same game on PS Vita?
A: We will consider every possibility for support on bought UMD games but we have nothing to comment at this point in time.
That's far from confirmation, but it does at least sound positive. The FAQ also states that they have no plans to bring any kind of UMD reader out for the device. Sony says that they'll continue the push to get UMD games released on their new game medium. Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
10:36 AM on 06.11.2011 | 
yes I see into the future, no I can't give you the winning lottery numbers.
and unfortunately all your kids are ginger.
I don't imagine there being a whole lot of undecideds at this point, but if there are, this doesn't seem to be the kind of thing that's going to sway the decision a whole lot.
I'm still going to buy one a year or so after release. Which was always the plan.
This is talking about people who already bought the games, but got the physical copy instead.
Their just being positive so they can get a few more sales in, though I'm still going to hang on to my PSP though I fear it will break soon.
Then won't those people still have the PSP to play those games? I'm afraid I'm just not seeing the need for this.
Get over yourself. Backwards compatibility is a common feature in systems, and people who paid money for games on the previous system are doing nothing wrong in asking for it.
It is Square though, so I wouldn't put anything past them.
Other than the PSvita though, was there any news on new PSP games coming? I mean Final Fantasy type-0 is supposed to be coming out, as well as Valkyria Chronicles 3... (all of which I will not buy if they're not digital...)
well one thing about that is I'm not sure about the psn's library. It apparently doesn't have birth by sleep and that's pretty much my most wanted psp game. Also I'd probably be able to find all kinds of deals on used or old UMDs, meanwhile I'm sure the psn probably won't charge less than 20 dollars for any decent games.
If the vita isn't backwards compatible with UMDs, then I'll probably just buy a cheap psp, and wait for the vita to procedrop or get a redesign. It would be nice if I was able to skip that psp step though
Whoa there slick. No need to get defensive, I wasn't attacking. I was sincerely asking a question, and you're going to have to deal with some disagreement from people from time to time. That's life.
All I'm getting from your response, though, is "we need it because we need it." That's not going to cut it. You're demanding what I imagine is probably a pretty hefty time and monetary investment to provide something that just isn't necessary and almost certainly won't sell enough hardware (solely on the merit of this feature) to justify that investment.
Also, to address your point about backward compatibility on other systems, those are all fine examples. You can't download PS2 titles on the PSN and play them on your PS3. You probably won't be able to download Super Mario Galaxy 2 and play it on your Wii U. Thus, there's some merit to backward compatibility there for anyone who did NOT own the previous system and wants to play those older games. That's not the case here. A huge library of PSP games, thanks to the PSPgo, are on PSN and correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they already announce that those can be played on the Vita?
Point being, you've got PSP UMDs. You've got a PSP. Play your PSP UMDs on your PSP. I still really don't see the problem here.
Dale, will we be able to play games we have ALREADY downloaded off of the PlayStation Store on the PlayStation Vita? Or will we have to buy and download old PSP games a second time straight to the Vita for them to work?
And you act like I massively overreacted or something, when I did no such thing Mr. Sensitive. I said get over yourself, because that's honestly my advice. It should be obvious that most people value backwards compatibility, because it's present on pretty much every modern system out there (I forgot to add Xbox to 360 on my list). So, if you are one of the only people that sees no benefit in this, then don't use it. Otherwise, why are you bothering me about this?
Do I have to explain that people don't want to carry around two systems to play all their games, when late adopters don't have to? Do I have to explain that buying the same game twice sucks? That should be enough reasons for you right there, and they were both extremely obvious. You're just trying to be difficult for some reason on this issue. It's fine if you don't want the feature, but I don't know how you can legitimately act like you really don't know why anyone else conceivably would.
I think I can field this one. If the Vita indeed plays PSP games downloaded from PSN, and I believe they said it will, then you'd need to download them again onto your PSV but you wouldn't have to pay for that. Once a game is purchased on PSN, it can be downloaded again as many times as you like at no extra charge.
You can confirm this by looking in the PS Store at something you've already bought. It'll have a little shopping bag icon on it, indicating that you own that product and can download it for free. As far as I know, this information is saved forever.
I understand why people WANT plenty of things. I don't understand why people pitch such a big hissy fit over them and get grumpy when people disagree. Backwards compatibility didn't even exist until... what... this generation of consoles, right? Unless you include the infinite variations of Gameboy systems, which were really just the same system with case redesigns.
You people get something ONCE, in one generation of consoles, and you think it's owed to you in perpetuity. Pretty silly, really. Are you going to be throwing a tantrum like this in 30 years when your dusty old copy of Halo doesn't play on your Xbox 4320? When does it end?
Well, I guess Sony would let me register the device under the same username as my PSP and PS3, but I was getting a little worried. I've been planing on future proofing what I can buy digitally (Crush, Dead Head Fred, Castlevania X), so I was worried about a worst case scenario.
Now, if only they would up Square's games up for download. As much as I whine and moan about Motomu Toriyama writing sexist scripts for some Square games, Square-Enix has still put out the better games on the PSP, like Crisis Core, FF Tactics, Birth By Sleep, and Valkyrie Profile (The latter's Enix, but that's splitting hairs). Kind of odd that there are no digital versions of at least one of those... Don't you think Tristrix?
I have to figure those are probably on their way to the PSN at some point. Sooner would obviously be better but you see more games in the PSP back catalog being added to PSN nearly every week. Ditto the PS1 library. I reckon it's just a matter of time until both those libraries are available in nearly their entirety. If that, then yeah, that's a pretty serious oversight.
Full backwards compatibility would probably push me over the edge of the fence, since I've been thinking about just getting a PSP on its next price drop when the Vita comes out. Wouldn't even bother getting Vita games for a while, I'm just dying to go through the PSP library. Two birds with one stone.
I totally sympathize. But then, I've still got a 25 year old NES that plays just fine as long as I blow really hard into the cartridge slot every now and then and mash the reset button a few times. I still play it pretty often, too. However, if it broke tomorrow, I wouldn't start insisting that the Wii U have a cartridge slot. Ya know what I mean?
I guess the point here is to distinguish between something that you're hoping for that would be nice to have, and something that you expect or else Sony fails at life. I can see how someone with a UMD library would appreciate them working on their PSV, but there's certainly no grounds for insinuating like someone did earlier that Sony had some sort of moral obligation to support old UMDs or else they're "punishing early adopters and loyal sony supporters." They've no more obligation to support UMDs than Nintendo has to put a cartridge slot on the Wii U. That's just silly.
I wish they could convince some of the publishers to allow their products on PSN. That was a huge blow to Sony with the PSPGo, and I'd be seriously pissed off if I were them. I doubt you'll see any kind of UMD exchange for the new flash media, though, since the publishers would have to agree to that, and it would lose money. Whatever the solution, if they offer one, I don't think it will be perfect.
There will always come moments where breaking backwards capability is necessary. This might be one of those moments.
That's also the time that I will buy one...used. lol
"I've still got a 25 year old NES that plays just fine as long as I blow really hard into the cartridge slot"
To this day people still believe in that myth? Blowing into it does nothing. It's the reseating that is done after the blowing that does the trick.
On a more related note.. did you really just compare asking for backwards compatibility from the last generation to asking for backwards compatibility from 25 years ago? Come on.... Why are you up in arms about people asking for their fairly recent video game purchases to work still?
I have PSP games but my PSP is broken so no I don't still have a PSP to play those games.... I'll probably just buy another PSP though.
Happy days.
Actually, the blowing facilitates the initial "getting it to work" because air blows the dust from the cartridge and the moisture inherent in your exhaling coats the metal in the cartridge and helps to bridge the connections on the pins.
What people DON'T realize is that the moisture from your breath is what causes the internal connectors to corrode more rapidly and can make it more difficult in subsequent start-ups.
This is why Nintendo released a cartridge cleaning kit that had you coating the connectors with alcohol in order to remove dust while moistening to pins and without corroding the innards.
What I've found to be a much more reliable method, is placing a second cartridge on top of the one you intend to play in the system. It can push the game in such a way that the connectors fit more flush, making the game work more reliably.
Also, BC is overrated and I don't really care if I have it for the Vita (beyond download BC, anyway). And most of the UMD games I have are dirt cheap NOW and would be even further so upon the release of the Vita.
Maybe Sony should just offer PSP downloadable games at 50% off for Vita owners? I think that actually sounds pretty reasonable.
It's going to be hacked anyway so people can play free games. This would just keep people from using it as some kind of justification.
For me the main reason I want support of PSP UMDs is because the PSP nub is awful, and I'd like to play my games with a proper analog stick, PSN games cost significantly more to buy digitally than they do to buy physically, and PSN is missing 3 of the best PSP games
Gitaroo Man Lives
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
Mega Man Powered Up
Although this sucks I'm happy Sony ditched UMDs, it would have been nice to play my UMDS on my Vita, but I'll deal with it.
Though realistically speaking, they don't need to bring out a UMD converter. Just a wire which connects the PSP to the PSV, and some software which allows the PSV to convert games. Not like they don't have the emulator already. If piracy is a big worry, give the games a one week "shelf life" on the PSV, after which you have to reconnect your PSP (with game) briefly to the PSV to renew it. That takes care of about 95% of the people who could possibly use it to pirate PSP games using this method and would be a strong move, and would mean that if I wanted to switch from a new game to replaying 3rd Birthday or something, I wouldn't have to carry a PSP with my PSV.
Which, of course, is why Sony probably won't do it. Something simple to implement which would benefit the consumer without alienating them? Why do that when they can charge extra money for old games on PSN?