Sony's Maguire: UMD 'wasn't brilliant' for third parties

Nintendo was definitely on the ball with the whole Downloading of the digital content onto a portable device (DSi). Good to see Sony following suit.

Actually, Nintendo was the last one to implement Digital Distribution to a portable device.

Na. I hope it'll have a SSD. Even the most rugged HDDs are prone to knocks.

I hope it won't happen so that the homebrew community can keep their efforts focused on the first one. We don't need another failed portable - a failed portable which, before someone calls me a deranged Ninty fan, I DO own.

The size might have been impressive, but the load times completely whitewashed that imo.

Those UMDs are noisy little bastards too.

In a tree by the brook
Theres a songbird who sings,
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.

NO STAIRWAY.

Denied!

We have to wait till 2012 for that.

A little off subject but I had some games fail the DL from the store too. The culprit? The system time on my PSP was off by an hour. When the PC store checked and saw the problem, it balked and the transfer ended abruptly.

Nowhere on Sonys site nor with emails to tech support did anyone suggest this. I had to figgure it out myself. And the last time I checked they STILL didn't have this as a possible solution for the error I got from the PC store.

i'm with you!
but, i'll have to buy two, (i gave my PSP1000 to my lil girl when i got the PSP2000)
one for me and one for my lil girl!

That's odd, I found the GC discs to be an intrical part of actually playing games on the system.

Funny side note: Intrical isn't even a word. Yet somehow we use it in the english language daily.

That's due to the word you're looking for is integral.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vjornaxx/294168009/

Oh snap!

It could also be 'intrinsic'!

@ Cody

wow, just wow...

"Physical media is far superior"

Well, not really, both have their pros and cons. Personally I do prefer to have the discs, but it is rather naive to downplay Digital Distribution. Til not too long ago I was against Digital Distribution, but seeing how PSN Store has been developing, and how both Sony and Nintendo have stepped up to the handheld DD wagon, well, one would be dumb to say that DD is notthe way to go.

"no central servers you have to rely on (meaning no risk of servers going down)"

But that only affects the purchasing/downloading aspect, it doesn't affect the game content in any way or form. One could also say that the same about the discs, what if the store is closed? what if there is a bad weather? what if they are out of stock? those are aspect that don't really apply to Digital Distribution.

"the ability to buy and sell used copies"

Ok, that is a good argument

"increased competition (multiple stores selling the game, rather than just one online store - more chances for sales, preorder bonuses, etc.)"

Uh, its easier for them to actually slash the prices online. And competition will still be there, not only between consoles, but also between games, meaning that companies will still be eager to lower their prices.

As for pre-order, you really like the fact that these companies give demos as pre-order bonuses? Also, with Digital Distribution there wouldn't be a reason to pre-order.

I don't think Sony would go download only with a UMD-less PSP, there are plenty of people out there who, like yourself, prefer physical media if available. I do also. Most likely there will be protected Memorysticks or something of like that.

@Noshino

I'll give you a perfect example of what I mean by relying on a central server. This weekend I held a Lan Party with a bunch of my friends - one of my friends didn't own a copy of UT3 (one of the games we were planning on playing), so he figured he'd jump on Steam's deal and buy UT3. But, this past weekend, Steam's servers were overloaded with people dling UT3, plus a glitch was preventing UT3 from appearing in his game list. He finally just got a leaked serial off the Internet and installed it with my legit DVD. Sure, if he went to Best Buy, they might have been out of stock - but, the difference is (and here's the big part), he hasn't given Best Buy his money yet! He'd just go to a different store and buy it there instead.

Plus, next time he reinstalls his computer, who's to say Steam's servers will be online? Or if Steam will even be in business? Unless the game is crippled with activation, it doesn't matter if the company exists anymore.

Let's say you own a 360 and the hard drive fails 20 years from now - I bet you'll be able to still buy a hard drive, but do you think Microsoft will still be running their 360 servers? I highly doubt it. Sure, maybe you aren't interested in playing old games, but every now and then I still pull out my NES or Commodore 64.

As for the competition part, no, there's less competition. Right now, there's still competition between consoles and other games - but, because stores want you to buy from them, there's also competition between stores (meaning some stores will have sales when others won't). Take out the stores, and you've just removed another factor that will help drop prices lower for the consumer.

As for preorders, actually, I think giving a demo as a bonus is retarded - the purpose of a demo is to let someone try it before buying. If they're already bought it, who cares? Honestly, I don't see a major reason for preordering - with a few rare exceptions, games can usually be found the day they're released.

And I'll give you an example. When R&C Future came out, neither GameStop nor BestBuy had it, so I had to go to Wal-Mart, I paid for it, got to my car, and decided to open it there, guess what? there was no disc inside. i went back inside, and told them about it, they said that since I hadn't opened it in front of them that they couldn't do anything about it and that they would contact the manufacturer about it. To this day I still have the empty case and I have yet to receive a call from them.

Problems happen, they are the exception, not the rule.

I don't know about the 360, but you do know that the games you download for your PS3 stay on the HD right? of which you can do a back up, not sure if that also applies to downloaded games as well, but even then, Sony stores everything that you have downloaded, even if now its discontinued. Just go to your download history, and download it once again from there. Also, all the games can be plaid without having to access your PSN account, or internet for that matter.

Let's say you own a 360 and the hard drive fails 20 years from now - I bet you'll be able to still buy a hard drive, but do you think Microsoft will still be running their 360 servers? I highly doubt it. Sure, maybe you aren't interested in playing old games, but every now and then I still pull out my NES or Commodore 64.

So you are already thinking 20 years from now? also, unlike catridges or memory sticks. optical discs can be scratched and so on, I have some PS1 games that no longer work (CTR, and Crash Bash >;C ).

As for the competition part, no, there's less competition. Right now, there's still competition between consoles and other games - but, because stores want you to buy from them, there's also competition between stores (meaning some stores will have sales when others won't). Take out the stores, and you've just removed another factor that will help drop prices lower for the consumer.

Well, right now the competition on the online fronts is not as big mainly because they haven't put their full catalogs online, But once they do, Im pretty sure that will see the 3 of them doing their best to attract costumers, since, like I explained before. they get a piece of the pie.

Heh, it was you that mentioned the lack of pre order bonuses as a disadvantage of DD.

@ noshino

dude, that same missing game situation happened to me at walmart except with Heavenly Sword. But, i was able to call the manager and convince them to let me trade it for one with an actual disc in it.

""the ability to buy and sell used copies"

Ok, that is a good argument"

Haha, I bet Gamestop is loving this. NOT! =)
I'd love to see Gamestop suffer because of this.

so, what are you going to tell those GBA users that just got a DSi?...


Also, Sony hasn't officially said anythign about the PSP2, so why are you getting ahead of yourself?

The most viable option in that case would probably be to pursue a strategy similar to Microsoft and the Xbox Originals/Xbox BC. Choose those titles that were most significant and re-host them online. Possibly a serial numbering system to allow for free re-downloads of games you already own

And that's a problem with storage formats and Sony - they always manage to release a format right before there's a technological leap forward. If they had introduced the Mini-Disc in America in 1995 or -96, they might have caught on, instead of languishing for a year or two and then getting swamped by the Ipod. Sony should have just accepted the SD card format instead of trying to create the Pro and Pro Duo sticks for its cameras. If the UMD had been released well before the threshold of downloadable movies....well, Sony's idea for the PSP didn't work all that well in America because their target demographic doesn't need a portable visual media platform while it's on the move, because usually the demographic is behind a steering wheel.

MiniDiscs were available in 1995/1996, in fact Sony introduced their first MD unit in the US in December of 1992.

You should probably go to the doctor. ; )

If I can't resell the digital downloads I'm not interested. When I get bored of a game I sell it. Why have old games sitting around? I just made about $40 selling metroid fusion and metal gear solid for gameboy color. tell me I'm wrong.