Sony working on "good will" program to give digital copies of your UMD collection

[xtop]

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/04/s...-copies-of-yo/

We just sat down for an interview with Sony's John Koller, who among many other interesting tidbits and factoids (more on those later) assuaged fears that our giant UMD library would be entirely forsaken. While light on details -- they're still figuring it out, he said -- there will be a "good will" program by which owners of current disc-based titles will be able to obtain digital copies for use on the PSP Go -- "a set number of titles for a set period of time," to be exact. He couldn't confirm all games, or at least all your personal collection, would be transferrable -- that might have to do with the number of digitized games they'll have at launch, which will be at least 300 but not the whole back catalog -- but despite calling it a short-term program he did say, should you receive a new UMD game later down the line, you should still be able to make the digital transfer. As for price, we're still looking to confirm something there, but they wouldn't be putting so much effort into the program if it wasn't at least for a discount, if not free.

If you happen to like your discs, Koller said UMDs aren't going by the wayside so long as the PSP is still around, but he expects digital to start taking an increasing share. Looking to the future, he confirmed all first-party titles and most third-party titles (by the developers' own volition, not a mandate) will be available as digital downloads day and date with the UMD hard copies, and yeah, despite the reduced shipping and manufacturing costs, it'll be for the same price, too.

[Goodintentions]

i woudnt bother trading in my current ones anyway im sure itll be more hassle than its worth

[LifeOfAPirate13]

See I feel that if you get a "digital" game from PSN us consumers should pay $5 less a title because there is no trade in program for anything. They will be making money in more than one way ontop of giving us no discounts on anything. Bummer

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by LifeOfAPirate13

See I feel that if you get a "digital" game from PSN us consumers should pay $5 less a title because there is no trade in program for anything. They will be making money in more than one way ontop of giving us no discounts on anything. Bummer

Not to mention no manufacturing, packaging, and shipping costs. They really ought to be 10.00 cheaper.

[groovyone]

Still have to pay sales tax too. Hmm. I do like having discs and actual manuals, but the GO is tempting...

[fsavoie]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

Not to mention no manufacturing, packaging, and shipping costs. They really ought to be 10.00 cheaper.

Burnout and warhawk are sold the same price on disc than PSN... so I don't think it will be cheaper

[sega_smasher]

DD > UMD

i can buy 1 copy of the game and put it on both of my psp's

[AikonEnt]

What about my 30+ UMD films, will I be able to get digital copies of those, I don't think so.

Also I've noticed that the same company produces all the UMD films we get here (regardless of the film studio that makes the films), what's going to happen to them? Be a bit crappy if they go out of business because of digital downloads.

[Goodintentions]

Originally Posted by sega_smasher

DD > UMD

i can buy 1 copy of the game and put it on both of my psp's

or just swap the UMD from one system to the other ..


my concern with downloads is having to upgrade memory sticks .. sorry no i aint buyng ANOTHER psp ive already bought a launch model at 250 and a lite at 200 i cant justify another PSP purchase.. so internal memory isnt an option ..

[Shin-Ra]

Originally Posted by Goodintentions

or just swap the UMD from one system to the other ..

No good for multiplayer unless the UMD game supports Game Sharing.

my concern with downloads is having to upgrade memory sticks .. sorry no i aint buyng ANOTHER psp ive already bought a launch model at 250 and a lite at 200 i cant justify another PSP purchase.. so internal memory isnt an option ..

You can store all your games on your computer or PS3 harddisk or redownload them unlimited times when needed.

[Goodintentions]

well that takes away from the whole "convenience" of digital download now doesnt it ????

[Shin-Ra]

How many big games do you need with you at once?

PSP go can't magically compress games with high production values into 20MB packages.

[cajmoyper]

I've only got GOW and will have RB: Unplugged so it's no big deal to me. I just want LBP, GT, and MGS and I'll be fine.

[Rike255]

For the PSP, I wouldn't mind DD. A 32GB memory card will hold quite a few games. Plus then I don't have to carry my UMD's around with me. Since it's portable, I like to keep everything as compact and together as possible, so DD just makes sense for me.
For the PS3, I'd much rather buy the disc version when there's a choice.

[Batman1980]

Well since I only use my PSP to watch movies the ONLY way I'd go for this is if they both made it possible to trade in all of my UMDs for digital copies and made the larger memory cards more feasible. Will admit having to frequently switch in and out UMD discs is a little annoying.

[awx]

Sony really needs to concentrate on getting this done right (right from the customer's point of view).

I think that every game that's legally possible for Sony to offer as a trade-in should be available. Even if you have to pay $5 USD per trade-in it would keep me in the PSP market. But if it's just a handful of games from a few publishers I will be disappointed and probably won't invest in many more PSP titles, at least until the PSP2 comes out.

And I want all of my PSP/PS3/PSN purchases tied to my PSN account, not to particular pieces of hardware.

[garlad]

How about my sat nav? would that work with psp go? it requires the mini usb port and the UMD. Think there will be a digital version? sure, the maps are stored on the memory stick, but the program itself needs the UMD disk..

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by AikonEnt

What about my 30+ UMD films, will I be able to get digital copies of those, I don't think so.

Also I've noticed that the same company produces all the UMD films we get here (regardless of the film studio that makes the films), what's going to happen to them? Be a bit crappy if they go out of business because of digital downloads.

Did you get them cheap or something?!?

I think you are the first person I know who has more than 1 or 2 UMD movies. I have 1 because I wanted to try it out when I got the thing. Then I came to my senses and stuck with DVDs which I ripped and put onto the MS Duo...

[Sylin]

Don't forget that you can buy 4gb memory sticks for around $10--those can easily hold several games each. Much better to carry a few of those around than a bunch of UMD's. Or invest in a nice 32gb card and keep them all on one chip.

I just bought my 3000 this week, but if the option came up to freely (or cheaply) get DDL copies of my UMD games, I'd probably do it. It opens up the ability to use them on multiple PSP's (assuming they tie it to your PSN account, which makes the most sense), and if your UMD gets damaged you have a backup.

My thinking is that Sony will let you send in the physical UPC code in exchange for a PSN voucher code. You could still sell the UMD in the secondary market. The new buyer would not be able to obtain a digital download since you've removed the UPC, but they could play via UMD.

I do not agree that digital download games should necessarily cost less than a retail packaged one. Don't forget that a lot of retail game purchases are still impulse buys, and with no packaging on the shelf, Sony might lose some retail penetration. If they were smart, they'd sell voucher codes on store shelves for digital downloads, so stores would still give them shelf space.

[Septimus Prime]

Isn't there already a number of UMD-ripping software on the net? I imagine Sony could just license one of those and then slap in some non-intrusive DRM to control over-copying. Then the consumer would still buy the disc and would have both versions of the game.