Mike McCrary

@Gibbeynator No. If you spend an extra 50 dollars to get the gimmicky version, you also get the 8 GB memory card in the box, the game, and one free month of service.

"Koller told the New York Times that the company is spending $50 for commercials, billboards, retail deals, online banner ads, and a Twitter campaign focusing on the hashtag #gamechanger."

Man, 50 dollars sure goes a long way eh? :-)

#corrections

@Dizazter In the same token, the PSP Go is also not a good analogy. The PSP Go is the same exact hardware platform as the PSP. The Vita is a completely different platform.

The PSP Go was like if Sony decided to release a new version of the PS3 without any type of Blu Ray reader, and then saying, well we can't really give you anything for the PS3 games on Blu Ray you already have purchased, sorry. Now that would be completely stupid, and the PSP Go was completely stupid.

But the Vita isn't the PSP Go. It's also not the PSP3000, 2000, or original. It's a completely different system.

Meh. It's not great news by any means, but is it really the end of the world?

If you have UMDs, chances are you already have the PSP that plays them. When/If you get the Vita, that doesn't suddenly make your PSP do any less than it did before. I can understand some disappointment if you were planning on selling/trading in the PSP to make up a bit of the cost of the Vita while also keeping those games that you purchased, but realize that you still have the option to do that if you feel as if you can part with those games. If not, your PSP doesn't suddenly change because you get the Vita.

Would it have been nice for Sony to offer some sort of UMD conversion program? Absolutely. Are we entitled to it? I really don't think so. When you purchased the game on UMD, you were purchasing that specific UMD software title for that platform, and nothing else. It's kinda silly to expect a digital copy of that game for free, no? When I purchase a DVD and then the Blu Ray version comes out, am I entitled to getting the Blu Ray version for free or a even a small fee? No. When DVDs came out, were people expecting to be able to trade their VHS versions of the same movies for free? No. When Betamax failed and VHS reigned supreme, were people expecting to get those movies on VHS for free? No. Would all of those things have been nice? Yes, but companies aren't in the business of being nice, companies are in the business of making money.

What I'm saying is, I do see both sides of the argument. I'd imagine that creating some type of UMD trade-in program in the USA would be costly for Sony and whatever software partners take part in it, and as we know, Sony is tightening the belt right now. And especially in the US where they wouldn't be much benefit as the PSP wasn't as a smashing of a success as in Japan. Plus, you guys gotta remember, the United States has all these tricky licensing fees, laws, and other bs, which is why a lot of the PSP titles never went digital in the first place. Blame the IP laws in this country for that.

So yeah, it would be nice, but there are far too many variables for it to be a good business decision. I really don't think it is the end of the world, or even the end of the Vita.

Translation: We'll only do something when it's convenient for us, and not because we think it might be more convenient for you.

Gotcha

I don't get how the 3G model is at all attractive.

1. You can't play most multiplayer games over 3G anyway.
2. So the only difference I see is that, on-the-go, I'd get my twitter/facebook alerts on my Verizon LTE smartphone rather than on my Vita.
3. Even if I was interested in the Vita being mobile, I could pay an extra 30 dollars to Verizon/month (5 dollars month/more than a new ATT plan), and get the extra LTE Mobile Hotspot feature activated, and also raising my data cap to 6 GB (I have a 4 GB cap now). That's an extra 2 GB of much faster mobile data (LTE via WIFI) that I could use for the Vita, while leaving the 4 GB for my smartphone. And not only is it faster, I could actually, ya know, play multiplayer games on it.

So, why do they want me to buy the 3G model? Seems like a huge waste.

Jeez. About 3 months ago, I paid 10 dollar less than that for a 64GB USB thumbdrive that has one of the fastest R/W speeds you can get.

Pricing like this has me second guessing a day one purchase.

Super!

Now get us an Android version, please?

It's pretty ugly and gives up way too many features and dumbs things down too much in order to remain "symmetrical". If you want something like this, why not go with one of those diamond-encrusted featurephones that seem to pop up every now and then? They are tacky enough to make you look like the douche you always wanted to look like, no smartphone features to confuse you, and unlike this thing, they actually exist and are able to be purchased!

I still can't believe people are so up in arms about this. Let's go over a few things:

1. If you are using the "OtherOS Option" for legit reasons, and not just oohing and ahhing over being able to run Yellow Dog on a console, you most likely have no need to even access the internet, let alone connect to the PSN to play Modern Warfare 2. The people who are using these things as supercomputers, probably haven't updated the firmware even once since their PS3 farms were made operational.
2. The exploit that was the cause of the removal of the feature, could be used to make backup copies of BR games, and might have even been able to play burned copies of said games. Did you honestly think Sony wouldn't protect themselves against that? They already watched one of their platforms succumb to rampant piracy.
3. When you signed up for the PSN, you agreed that at any point, Sony could remove features or contact at their will. If you don't agree, then don't install the firmware. Simple as that.