mahouneko

@nerdydesi1
Little Busters is on the PS Vita and that's a visual novel.

@Nanashi
Also, do remember the fact that EA Games completely boycotted the DreamCast because they wanted to monopolize the "football" game genre with Madden.

That was one reason why the DreamCast died.

@Nanashi
No, contracts are signed by suits and notarized on the spot.

Depending on the company, the important negotiations are often held outside the office in private rooms at restaurants.

As for negotiations in the US and lawyers with hostile negotiation practices, I take it that you have never heard of the sort of crap that XBLA developers had to go through?

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-10-04-xbla-has-peaked-says-world-of-goo-dev

Here's the source for that article:
http://2dboy.com/2011/10/03/xbla/

Here is what it says for #1:
Create a fair contract that doesn’t require negotiation. Everyone I know who’s been handed Microsoft’s boilerplate distribution contract for XBLA was angered and offended. It’s the most exploitative, one-sided distribution contract I’ve seen. I suspect it’s a holdover from the days where Microsoft only dealt with large publishers/developers and contracts were handled by teams of lawyers on both sides. Lawyers are probably used to conducting this kind of adversarial negotiation that begins with an unreasonably one-sided version. Smaller developers that don’t have a legal department are not used to this sort of thing. We each waste months of our time and Microsoft’s time negotiating the same stuff out of the contract, over, and over again. All that time, and in some cases money, would be much better spent making the game better. Efficiency aside, it’s a terrible way to begin a business relationship.

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The other issue at play is how much influence retailers have on these strategic decisions. I can easily see GameStop being opposed to this UMD Passport program because it would be dumped with games that wouldn't sell once people have obtained their digital copies. As such, it wouldn't be impossible for GameStop to bully games publishers and whatnot into following GameStop's agenda.

@Salf12345
Actually, publishers do have a lot of power in controlling PSN prices. That and the corporate cultures between American and Japanese companies are wholly different.

Here in the US, you have armies of lawyers with extremely hostile negotiating practices as the norm. Over in Japan, most important discussions and agreements are handled over dinner or at a bar and the lawyer-people are rarely around.

No reason why the UMD program couldn't come at a later time though but it does involve a lot of lawyers here in the US.

@Camel Carcass
It pretty much comes down to retailers bitching hard. People seem to forget this fact.

@GreenElf
No, the FEB _does_ receive the 8 GB card and so on as well:

From the PS Blog:
If you were one of the lucky consumers to pre order the PS Vita First Edition Bundle, in addition to the PS Vita 3G/Wi-Fi hardware, a limited edition case, a 4GB PS Vita Memory Card and Little Deviants game, we will now be including an AT&T DataConnect Pass good for one free 250MB session, and a PlayStation Network game – both provided upon 3G activation. And the best part, you still get it a week before the official launch date.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/01/27/special-launch-day-ps-vita-3gwi-fi-bundle-announced/


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You haven't bothered to read the PS Blog at all.

@Theycallmeramen
Well, this just goes to show people that you didn't bother to read the PS Blog.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/01/27/special-launch-day-ps-vita-3gwi-fi-bundle-announced/

If you were one of the lucky consumers to pre order the PS Vita First Edition Bundle, in addition to the PS Vita 3G/Wi-Fi hardware, a limited edition case, a 4GB PS Vita Memory Card and Little Deviants game, we will now be including an AT&T DataConnect Pass good for one free 250MB session, and a PlayStation Network game – both provided upon 3G activation. And the best part, you still get it a week before the official launch date.

@Theycallmeramen
You are getting 2 memory cards by going with the First Edition Bundle. FEB comes with a 4 GB card. This announcement adds an 8 GB card to ALL 3G capable Vita bundles, including the FEB.

From the PS Blog:
If you were one of the lucky consumers to pre order the PS Vita First Edition Bundle, in addition to the PS Vita 3G/Wi-Fi hardware, a limited edition case, a 4GB PS Vita Memory Card and Little Deviants game, we will now be including an AT&T DataConnect Pass good for one free 250MB session, and a PlayStation Network game – both provided upon 3G activation. And the best part, you still get it a week before the official launch date.

@skbkoy65
Not a contract. It is a month-by-month thing so you purchase the 3G and use it as you see fit.

@(Unverified)
First Edition Bundle is ALSO getting these extras.

From the PS Blog:
If you were one of the lucky consumers to pre order the PS Vita First Edition Bundle, in addition to the PS Vita 3G/Wi-Fi hardware, a limited edition case, a 4GB PS Vita Memory Card and Little Deviants game, we will now be including an AT&T DataConnect Pass good for one free 250MB session, and a PlayStation Network game – both provided upon 3G activation. And the best part, you still get it a week before the official launch date.