Retail gets PSN 'Game Cards' in NA, PSN vouchers in the UK

Yes, and now they're starting to do the practice for more games so that retailers won't give Sony the Evil Eye with the Go being download only and all.

The hi res pics in the gallery clearly have them at the very bottom of the cards, description and all.

Uh... how is that amazing? Why wouldn't it be a single download?

With the quality of the game being at such a high bar and all, it seems like they'd have to split it into multiple parts/downloads in order for people to be able to play it without having to wait however long it takes to download.

I think your getting confused Tre, on the PC, you can download GTA4 as a single download, its a large download at 14gb but a single download.

Nothing impressive really, but maybe your impressed because your 12. ; )

Don't mean to insult ya about your age, probably I'm secretly jealous that I could be a kid again. Besides, your far more mature than a troll here we call "Sprinkles" who is twice your age.

@RKN: I am quite a confused person (I even changed my name just to kind of show that to everyone), so that does make sense, and yes, I probably am amazed due to my age.

(I'm not attempting to be sarcastic if it seems that way. Just kind of being the strange person I'm notorious for being at 7th Circle Middle.)

@RKN (2nd comment) Well, it does have its perks and everything, but I'm about to venture into that great and terrible world of...

(DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNN)

ADOLESCENCE. (My 13th is in 18 days.)

No comment on the Sprinkles thing, because I don't really want to sound pompous and pretentious and all of those other P words involving overdoing things.

*giggles*

Join ussss...become a teenager.

Believe it.

But, I don't wannaaaa!!

But, I gotta believe!

Believe it!!

I won't believe it. It's just all a dream.

Thanks.

See, the Playstation Network most likely will never have these sales that retailers do for games and you can never sell the games later on to purchase another game, etc.

I want to see how successful this digital only distribution is going to be.

You forgot the $8 shipping from that third party seller

So true, RKN.

I don't understand the appeal of DD, no freedom, sales are rare.

Each week I get like 5 or 6 retails that send out new ads and deals, although most are crap, it's certainly better then the once a season that the PSN does for a single week.

I think these things are the bridge between the two. I'm hoping these allow deals but still allow us to have something physical to stack up in my collection but without having to swap disks. I'd only wish there was the ability to trade them in or buy used but I obviously understand why it will never happen.

Yup after shipping it would have been damn near equal to buy the digital version.

Also keep in mind that these game vouchers (not the generic PSN cards) can still have sales at the retailer levels just the same as UMDs can. I personally find it ridiculous to go through and manufacture cases and artwork just to give to retailers, but maybe they're just printed on paper? Or the retailers only have 1 case and then give out the vouchers at the register?

Well, either way I think this is a good way to still have pricing competition for digital distributed games, not as good as having 3rd party servers/distributors, but a good start that at least eases the pain for retailers to soften the kick to the nuts.

The vouchers are just little cards like the PSN ones that aren't activated until you take them to the register. Same markup because it's the same price on new titles. Legacy titles will also be comparable and if the retailer doesn't sell them they aren't out any merchandise because there is nothing to liquidate.

Nor, do we want to.
I speak for myself.

Who wouldn't want to hear Kotick make an ass of himself again?

Activision will create their own console like the PSP GO, download only games from their network, their servers and will make their franchises exclusive to their console. You want to play more Call of Duty and Guitar Hero sequels, you have to buy their own console, use their own proprietary system, etc.

Oh, good then. Finally something will sink faster than the 32X...

It'll go down in flames bigger than 32X, Jaguar, CD-i, 3DO, N-Gage, Gizmondo...

It's gonna be greater than any Independence Day fireworks show.

Keep in mind that resources are saved on manufacturing, but what about maintaining those servers, the massive amounts of maintenance and energy they consume?

i dont know why people complain about not being able to resell things... i used to do that when i was younger but i regret loads of those decisions now, i wish i would have held on to so many of my games the only ones that make sense to sell are sports games being yearly iterations...

Yes the new games are the same prices. Pretty much all of the older games (not really old mind you) are about $9 cheaper and some (NIS games) are over 50% cheaper. You can still get deals on these digital games. In gaining the portability you are sacrificing that physical copy. It's a catch 22 and you have to decide whats more important.

Why on Earth would they be heavier than the PSP-3000? These are the lightest PSPs yet.

I was also at Best Buy earlier today. They had a small set-up for the GO (very, very small) and a few of those game vouchers. I scouted it out, gave a little chuckle, and then left with Metalocalypse: The Dethalbum II.

they are smaller that doesnt mean its going to be lighter, my iphone feels heavier then my 3000... can you give me a good reason for that? its smaller!

I bought a PSP Go today (Pearl White FTW) and it's way way way lighter than the 2000 and also much lighter than the 3000. The 1000 is obviously a brick so we won't go there.

I wanted one from the start but the price was sort of an issue for me and the other thing was I wanted to hold it and get a feel for it. Needless to say Best Buy and Gamestop didn't have display models but luckily for me there is a Sony outlet in my area and they had 4 display units. Once I got the thing in my hands and got to play with it I was completely sold. It's built really well and is extremely portable compared to the 3000 (which I still have one) and earlier models.

The design is absolutely brilliant and the screen is the best I've seen on any smaller PMP or handheld gaming device. Everything from the size and shape of the shoulder buttons to the better placement of the stick and d-pad is far superior to the earlier models. Basically, it's superior in every way to the earlier models unless UMD is important to you. I have maybe 20 or so PSP games on UMD and we use the PSP a lot in our household so we are just keeping both of them. I ended up returning a few unopened items to best buy that helped soften the blow.

The cool thing is if you look at a lot of the prices on the digital games that are quite a bit cheaper than their UMD counterparts. I don't really sell my games anyway so the only hit I take is loaning them out to friends. From now on I'll just buy my PSP games digital and play it on both platforms. Win-Win for me personally. I can understand why others would be hesitant but I love the system and it's goal of ultra portability. I can throw it in my pocket now and don't have to carry any games = awesome!

Oh ... go buy Gran Turismo PSP & Beatarator because they are both awesome titles. As it stands now I have 4 GB's taken up between GT PSP, Beatarator, Suikoden, FF7, Medieval, Tekken 2, Everyday Shooter, Stardust Portable & I think there is one more I'm forgetting ... plenty of room for plenty of games and media. I'm going to throw a few shows from PSN and some music on there next.

Dethalbum II is great. Good choice.

@johnny

thanks for the input man, im gonna stop out to my sony style store tomorrow i think cause id love to see it out of the box. The umd issue doesnt bug me cause ive only got maybe 6 games and i can just play those on my vader 3000... but after gaming on iphone, digital is so much better to me cause i always have every game i want to play with me so the idea of the go is becoming more and more enticing.

Your welcome man and like you I also have an iPhone thats all purpose and I actually prefer all digital. Whether it's on a tiny disc with a plastic casing or on a HDD it's all 1's and 0's and you can't take any of it with you after your gone so what does it matter in the long run? I'm telling you man once I got to hold the thing I went from "ehh it's aight" to "GAT DAYMN" and I had to get it. Basically, I decided at the end of the day that the portability and form factor was more important to me than any other consideration. Besides, I have a 3000 with an 8 GB memory stick so I can still play my UMD's and I can play whatever games I buy in digital on both PSPs. If my fiance and I didn't use the damn things to much I wouldn't of picked one up but I game as much on my PSP as I do on my PS3. I'm in real estate and I sit a lot of open houses and floor duty and thats the perfect device for me to portable game. The "Pause Game" feature is also brilliant because it allows you to do a quick game state save without having to reach a checkpoint in a pinch. I got the pearl white (it's gorgeous) and unlike my piano black PSP the Pear White shows no smudges or fingerprints. I'm thrilled with my purchase and I couldn't be happier with the device and all the improvements in the platform. I bet the PSP2 has a similar form factor (all digital) except with 2 analogue sticks. To be honest if the thing had a phone it would be like an iphone to the 100th power. Check out that Beatarator game and also Gran Turismo PSP ... sick sick games.

I'm sure they make something off of it. I'm sure part of the GO's increased price is also more of a retailer margin on the hardware although that hasn't been confirmed. The bread and butter is going to be on accessories and people purchasing extended warranties. When I bought my GO today Best Buy offered a $79.99 2 year accidental damage replacement plan (everything except submersion) and a $49.99 2 year standard warranty plan. Sony had to make concessions on the device somwhere else retailers wouldn't carry it at all.

It's called a "loss leader"

You take a hit in selling one product, in the hope that people will purchase other items.

For instance, your grocery store sells milk pretty cheap. They actually LOSE money selling milk. But, they're hoping that you buy a loaf of bread, ice cream, some cereal, and a box of candy when you leave.
That's how they make money. Advertise something super cheap to get you in there, then sell you a bunch of other items to actually make their profit.
It's the same exact thing as the sales that go on.