Patapon 2 won't be sold on UMD, retail to sell PSN vouchers [Update]

by Alexander Sliwinski on Apr 13th 2009 1:45PM

An ArsTechnica "source" -- who has apparently given the site solid intel in the past -- claims Patapon 2 won't have a physical, UMD-based existence when it releases May 5. The game will allegedly be sold on the PSN for $15, with the retail copy, which will be nothing but a PSN redemption code, priced at $20. Customers will also apparently be able to purchase the game through the websites of "certain retailers."

If true, this UMD-less Patapon sequel's invasion appears to be a test run, for not only for digital distribution, but for Dave Perry's anti-UMD PSP2. We've contacted Sony for comment and will update if we hear anything.

Update: Sony's senior director of corporate communications sent us the following statement: "We're considering a digital only format for the Patapon 2 release as a one time test case as we continue to explore consumer preferences for digital content. The downloadable game will be available on May 5th at both retail and via the PlayStation Store. We remain focused on providing superior games and entertainment experiences in both the UMD and digital formats and are working closely with our partners to deliver the best PSP line up in our history. "

Patapon 2

Source

Tags: ars-technica, patapon, patapon-2, sony

Reader Comments (76)

holy crap! now it's 100% instant buy day 1!!!

Well from the sound of things its essentially been confirmed and I can say the exclusive digital download of the game has moved this game from a 100% sure thing 1st day purchase to I'm going to be doing some serious thinking before I buy the game even if buying directly from sony is ~$5 cheaper than buying retail to get a download code. I really like patapon but I am in no way sold on their chosen method of distribution and am already entertaining thoughts of importing the EU version just for the UMD

Well, whenever this PSP-2 does come about, I bet there will be a very large focus on more PS3 integration. What I mean by this is Trophy support and what have you.

One thing I would really like the PSP2 to have is a web browser that at least supports Flash 9. I'm certain it will have TV out like the PSP-2000 and 3000 models have but HDMI out would be very nice, I guess a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable will be needed.

I predict excesses of games stored on the PS3 and played on the PSP2. It'll happen.

Too bad these recent bandwidth caps by ISPs, the worst looking to be Time Warner will very effectively kill digital distribution. Physical media is going to make a comeback it seems. : (

Good.

Patapon 2 will probably be like 500MB.

Digital distribution won't be killed, because it's the media companies (which I believe would include Time Warner) that are pushing it. You can't sell a used copy of a game you downloaded, and you can't return it either. Which makes it perfect for cutting out Gamestop/crazy and their ridiculous used game profit margins.

It's already out on UMD in Europe, so I assume you're talking about the American release.

That is interesting for Patapon 2 to get a UMD release in Europe and probably Asia but not North America. The same happened for Rachet and Clank: Quest for Booty DLC which was released on Blu-Ray in Europe and Asia but download only in North America.

I'm really worried that North American ISP's bandwidth caps will really put a damper on digital distribution downloads. It will soon cost more to download these games than to buy the physical copy. : (

Yeah. If this is true, a download-only PSP with regards to software is inevitable. The future!!!

Right, the future, not present.

I expect this to get a timed exclusive as PSN game at most.

$5 extra for a physical voucher? They should at least put it in an empty UMD case.

Hope it comes with lube, cause you getting screwed.

I meant for those with the need for something physical. Why spend the time and extra money to pay for something you're going to download anyways?

Some people don't have credit/debit cards or are paranoid about entering their's online. The physical vouchers are targeted at them specifically.

Highly unlikely that this is true, since Gamestop's been running the preorder/demo program in partnership with Sony.

Crap! I already paid for mine. Time will tell if I spent an extra 5 bucks on a slip of paper...

*Sigh* Now to remember where I put that clever hint as to the location of the piece of paper with a reminder of what my WPA2 key is.

Who the hell am I kidding. Time to press that "reset" button on the back of my router. Stupid PSP and its lack of ethernet.

or you could just use your PC/PS3 to buy PSP games?...

How would I get the game to my PSP? Can I just USB it over to a memory stick?

Yes, you can access the Playstation Store from a PS3 or PC after instaling the software. You then transfer whatever you download either by the memory stick duo or more commonly, a mini-USB to USB cable.

No offense BananaBoat, but Im amazed at how many people don't even know about the ability to use a PS3/PC to buy PSP games.

Seriously, many aspects of the PSP's PSN implementation seem to not be very well known, even by people that often visit gaming sites...

Sony should be advertising the fuck out of it if they want PSP's DD to work

I can't know everything about everything at all times :P

The truth is, I haven't even looked at my PSP since...mm....the first Patapon, I guess. I'd know more about the functionality if I had more games, but really, I had given up on the PSP completely until Locoroco and Patapon. Since those games, there hasn't been anything else to buy except for some imports.

Thanks though. I really probably would have ended up resetting the router password in order to get Patapon 2.

if they do this and DIDN'T release Resistance: Retribution on PSN the same day it was released I will be wondering what in the FUCK is going on in their heads......

YES! C'MON PSP2!

5 dollars cheaper to purchase via PSN?

count me in. faster load times and no annoying "disc" spinning. sweet.

the load times are already short enough, the difference is negligible. i imported the UMD from europe and ripped it to my memory stick to compare. there might be a second difference. the lack of disc noise is great though.

Not only that but you'd think that battery life would be affected as well. It has to cost the battery something to spin a disc and move the read head around.

That looks really cool! Sigh...I just wish I wasn't so lousy at Patapon in the first place. :(

I think the only DL media that would be better than retail is portable stuff. For my PS3 i will always require a physical copy. But i'll gladly pay 15 bucks to be able to have this as DL.

It better not be download only, I don't want to have to buy a bigger frikken memory stick just to hold a game that COULD have been on a UMD instead for the same price. If dig-dist is coming about they should make some incentive for it and make the games cheaper over disc based games. But they should still give us an option.

"I don't want to have to buy a bigger frikken memory stick just to hold a game that COULD have been on a UMD instead for the same price"

First of all, Memory sticks aren't that expensive anymore, heck, you could get a 2GB one for about $15 to $20, and PSP games are about 600MB in average...

"If dig-dist is coming about they should make some incentive for it and make the games cheaper over disc based games. But they should still give us an option."

The problem lies on the fact that DD games ARE cheaper, but they often have to raise the price to match the retail one JUST to please the vendors

The incentives ARE there:

Cheaper games
Less battery usage
Faster, or close to no, load times

and that's without counting more "up to the customer" advantages such as the ability to carry more games with you....

oh, and I forgot, you can also re-download the game, multiple times....

If the ability to not lose a game isn't an advantage over hard copies, then I don't know what is...

but you still have to pay more for another memory stick, regardless to the cost of the stick itself. And I don't know about you but I don't lose my games. And losing a memory stick means losing all the games on it, having to buy the memory stick again, spend time redownloading it all again (providing that certain companies don't put download caps on their games and/or pull the content off the hosting servers) and risk misplacing that same small object time and again.

While I do agree that it is far less monetarily detrimental in that respect, I still do not it to be dig-dist only. And no, download games aren't cheaper. I can go download a number of games off direct2drive or wherever that are also still sold in stores as well and they'll be the same price. Yes, steam offers incentives from time to time for cheap download games, but that is not the same. Yes arcade games and PSN only titles are cheaper than other games, but it's not the same. When a store copy and a download copy of a brand new game cost the same, and now with bandwidth caps coming up, it's hardly incentive anymore.

patapon 2 is like 500mb. i just got an 8gb stick from best buy for $40. you could easily get a 2gb for $10-15. $15+$10-15 = $25-30. that's still cheaper than most games.

I find it funny when people complain about DD and "needing to buy a new/larger memory stick." I guess all the shelf space in your house/apartment or UMD holders were free?

Actually yes, I made my own shelves.

not to mention you'd only have to buy a new shelf once every few hundred DVD's, depending on the size, where as you'd have to buy a new memory stick every few games if you don't want to delete them and that would add up to much more than a shelf that can hold 100 games.

To each his own I guess. Obviously shelving, etc. is cheap, but I
personally would rather have the space that they shelf is taking up
back. I also like the ability to carry many (probably a good 10 or
so) games on my 8 GB stick with me at all times rather than having my
UMD holders with me.

I don't mind deleting and redownloading if I need to as I can also
start the downloads when I'm sleeping, though I guess it would suck
if you were about to leave and really needed X game with you and you
forgot to start downloading.

My comment wasn't anything personal, I just think that people forget
that shelves, apartments, cubic feet of space usually cost money too.

I've read some of the European reviews and Patapon 2 looks more like an expansion pack. I'll probably still pick it up. But this news is a little discouraging, if true.

UMD or not I already pre order the game so im okay with all that. I liked tons the Demo!

I hope that this isn't true, I would rather have a physical copy of the game than a digital copy.

If that's the case, I want to see the price being cheaper. The idea behind online distribution is to cut cost of physical media and shipping, so I want to see cheaper prices. I can see Gamestop bitching though.

"through the websites of "certain retailers.""

Please tell me the PSN is going to compete with the fact that XBLA games are sold on Amazon now!

i've been waiting for the first one to hit the psn for a while now. super stoked about this one. definitely downloading it!

I guess I saved $20.00. I like UMDs.

As shit as they are, me too.

Yeah honestly I would prefer a UMD to digital distro, companies have let people down too many times in the past with big promises that never materialized, I want a copy of my game in my hand.

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Patapon 2 won't be sold on UMD, retail to sell PSN vouchers [Update]

Patapon 2

Reader Comments (76)

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