Sony may be experimenting with a new retail strategy for their first-party titles, evidenced by two PSP games which will be
released in stores and on the PSN simultaneously in Japan this October. Agoraphobic gamers will be pleased to learn that
Bleach: Soul Carnival and
Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida or2 will both be available via digital distribution on the same day that their respective physical manifestations are shelved at Japanese brick-and-mortars -- better still, the downloadable versions of both games will cost around 1,000 yen (
a little over $9) less than their tangible counterparts.
We wonder if
Gamestop's recent show of boastful confidence was in response to this seeming victory for the digital distribution business model, or whether
Sony's plan just happened to make an inconvenient appearance following Gamestop's announcement -- proving that the gods of gaming retail have a
wicked sense of humor.
{ Aug 23rd 2008 at 3:30PM } 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jakka(Naked Peach Brigade) @ Aug 23rd 2008 3:52PM
Bleach!? Colour me interested...
Jakka(Naked Peach Brigade) @ Aug 23rd 2008 4:00PM
Too bad that my step-brother would probably notice if his PSP went missing.
Draco @ Aug 23rd 2008 4:12PM
Bleach lends itself pretty easily to a video game,
are downloaded games region coded? I don't think the disks are this would make importing games much easier.
WhoMe @ Aug 23rd 2008 5:34PM
They are not region locked. Least I never heard of it and iirc I remember reading that they never are.
Anyway, what victory of digital distribution? Bloggers really [strike]need to pull their heads out of their asses[/strike] take a step back from time to time and consider what they are saying.
Also, I can't remember a digital download being cheaper than the retail version. Seems like most of the time the price is equal. Remember when digital distribution would make for cheaper games? That's right up there with all the DX10 promises.
Noshino @ Aug 23rd 2008 6:51PM
"Also, I can't remember a digital download being cheaper than the retail version. Seems like most of the time the price is equal. Remember when digital distribution would make for cheaper games? That's right up there with all the DX10 promises"
what? most of the games that are released simultaneously on PSN ARE indeed cheaper...