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PS Vita US Launch Details (Launch Games, Accessory Pricing)

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btkadams

Member
Than the MSRP, sure, but you can still get Hot Shots from Amazon for $29, digital seems to be $35.99. I'm sure Amazon will have way more sales than PSN will in the future too.

Sucks, but I'm the stubborn one sticking to my all digital future, so I have no one to blame but myself.
oh i know. i already have hot shots, wipeout, uncharted, and lbp preordered for 25 each from bestbuy.ca.


if the best buy systems are correct, psn vita games will be 10% cheaper than the retail versions. that's not really THAT much. they're going to have to be competitive with sales and price reductions on games if they expect to get a lot of digital sales over the retail ones.
 

mauaus

Member
I just got back from Best Buy. They have one of their employees carrying the system around on his neck to demo. No kiosk for Vita it seems. They only had Little Deviants to try, but I was more interested in the other functions anyway.

The screen is unreal. Large does not begin to describe it. The shots online don’t do it justice either. I was really impressed with the movie trailers they had stored on the memory card. The playback might not have been true HD, but at that small size, it looks damn close.

The analog sticks were also a bit surprising. At first touch they don’t feel like they have the mobility to get the job done. Compared to the Dual Shock or 360 pads, these don’t move far enough in every direction. However, after about ten minutes I adjusted and they felt fine. They don’t stick out nearly as far as the pictures make them seem either, so that was a plus.

Anyway, has anyone mentioned that the digital copies of games seem to be $5 cheaper than the physical cards? Best Buy has a number of games in their pre-order machine, that I can only assume, are codes that you use to download the games off PSN.

Here’s a photo of their titles and prices:

Super Stardust for $10 is good news.
is that Gotham city impostors for Vita??
 

UberTag

Member
Would be nice to know if these PSN price reductions will be in play for non-first party titles as well.
As it is, I'm killing my Rayman Origins retail preorder. Game is only 900MB to download anyway. Will look to make that my first digital purchase.
(Or maybe I'll just wait for the inevitable $19 BOMBA price drop two months later. It's not like I have a shortage of games to play.)
 

Apath

Member
Cheaper than PSN-XBL games like Limbo? No way. Having Stardust or Hustle king for $9.99 is a surprise, not the Escape Plan price.
Stardust at $10 is a surprise? Super Stardust HD launched on the PS3 for $10 -- anything more than that would be ridiculous unless this version is stuffed to the brim with content.

Escape Plan doesn't seem as deep of a title as Limbo was. I haven't played it at all though, so I guess I don't really know.
 
Stardust at $10 is a surprise? Super Stardust HD launched on the PS3 for $10 -- anything more than that would be ridiculous unless this version is stuffed to the brim with content.

Escape Plan doesn't seem as deep of a title as Limbo was. I haven't played it at all though, so I guess I don't really know.

Still the best PSN game to me after 5 years.
 

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
If you go in stores you can pre-order the digital titles at Gamestop.

Hustle Kings | $9.99

Super StarDust Delta | $9.99

Escape Plan | $14.99

Awesome. If I can pick those up in store and not use the PSN funds I'm going to add, I will be a happy camper. I might end up getting 140-160 in PSN funds to I want to be read to spend on some PSN/Vita/PSP games.

Ok maybe I will just get the extra funds to make it around 180-200 in PSN funds and then just buy them on the PSN store. I just hate to download all that data and leave the Vita on. I'm picky like that.
 

theBishop

Banned
Stardust at $10 is a surprise? Super Stardust HD launched on the PS3 for $10 -- anything more than that would be ridiculous unless this version is stuffed to the brim with content.

Escape Plan doesn't seem as deep of a title as Limbo was.
I haven't played it at all though, so I guess I don't really know.

I don't expect Escape Plan to be as unique and stunning as Limbo, but I'm pretty sure it's a bigger team working on it. The wiki entry for Playdead says the core team was 8. The employee pic on FunBit's website shows 13.
 

see5harp

Member
I will pretty much only buy PSN only titles if they are going with the pricing like that. I already think that $40 and $50 is too much. I can just gamefly games until they get sensible.
 

Carl

Member
People are weird.

"I DEMAND A CHEAPER PRICE ON PSN BECAUSE REASONS"

"It's 10% cheaper on PSN"

"THAT'S NOT ENOUGH, I'M GOING TO BUY ALL OF MY GAMES AT RETAIL BECAUSE STUFF"
 

snap0212

Member
I'll buy games that I absolutely plan to keep on PSN.
I usually keep all my games but I'm not willing to pay almost the same when Sony/the publisher saves a lot of money.

I'd rather help out my local retailer. Now if they said "Okay, we pass the savings (retail margin) onto you" I'd have gone PSN only.
People are weird.

"I DEMAND A CHEAPER PRICE ON PSN BECAUSE REASONS"

"It's 10% cheaper on PSN"

"THAT'S NOT ENOUGH, I'M GOING TO BUY ALL OF MY GAMES AT RETAIL BECAUSE STUFF"
Have you taken a look at the chart we got a while back? Retail margin accounts for about 20% of a game's price. If they cut out the middle man, the savings should be passed onto me. Otherwise I'll just continue to support my local game store, pay almost the same price and do something for the local economy.

*edit
 

krae_man

Member
People are weird.

"I DEMAND A CHEAPER PRICE ON PSN BECAUSE REASONS"

"It's 10% cheaper on PSN"

"THAT'S NOT ENOUGH, I'M GOING TO BUY ALL OF MY GAMES AT RETAIL BECAUSE STUFF"

With download caps and memory stick space at a premium, 10% isn't enough to have people switch to download only.
 

Salaadin

Member
So Hot Shots Golf IS 40 bucks. Glad I locked that one in at 30 on Amazon too. I wont be buying the digital version anymore sinces the physical will be cheaper on Amazon.

Looks like Reality Fighters, Modnation, and Little Deviants were the only real 30 dollar Vita games.
Is that a 1 or a 2 in the Escape Plan price? It better not be 24.99.
 

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
People are weird.

"I DEMAND A CHEAPER PRICE ON PSN BECAUSE REASONS"

"It's 10% cheaper on PSN"

"THAT'S NOT ENOUGH, I'M GOING TO BUY ALL OF MY GAMES AT RETAIL BECAUSE STUFF"

Well, it's true....it's not that big of a discount. What else should I say?
 

Massa

Member
Have fun carrying this around people:

00001460.jpg
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
I'm seriously considering buying a Vita, but I haven't been following these threads much, so pardon my dumb question. It's fully b/c with digital PSP games, right? I never owned a PSP, but I have a few remote play games as well as a few digital PSP games I got for free throughout the years. I'd like to be able to finally play those games.
 

test_account

XP-39C²
It seems like people have forgotten the circumstances that let to PS3 dropping PS2 BC.

The first run systems cost $600 (estimated BOM $850) and had PS2's chips on the board. You can play virtually every PS2 game, with saves stored on PS3's HDD. It's a nearly perfect implementation.

Then in the mad rush to slash PS3's bill of materials, the PS2 CPU was removed from PS3's motherboard, leaving only the PS2 graphics chipset. PS2 games could still be played on PS3 via software emulation of the CPU albeit with slightly less compatibility (though significantly more than 360 supported at the time).

In November 2007, Sony was able to get within spitting distance of Xbox360's $400 price when they launched the 40GB model, which dropped all backwards compatibility. This was the period where sales picked up significantly.

If PS3 wasn't dying on the vine at $600, there's no telling if decisions would be made differently. I'm sure Sony would love to be selling (significantly more) PS2 games on the PSN store. BC was just the sad casualty of the market.
That is true. I havnt forgotten about this, i actually wrote it in a previous post here, but i think i edited out to cut down on a lengthy reply.

But yeah, in some cases, BC indirectly might hurt the system because it adds a significantly cost to the production costs, which then results in a higher retail price for the system, just like what happened with the PS3 indeed.

I wonder how it would have affected the Vita sales. If it was an internal UMD drive, then i think this wouldnt have done much good to the system actually. It would increase the production costs, cut down the battery life (at least when it is used), make the Vita thicker and most likely increased the retail price as well. As for an external UMDdrive, i'm not sure if enough people would buy something like this to justify the costs to develope and produce such addon, but who knows.
 

Toki767

Member
I'm seriously considering buying a Vita, but I haven't been following these threads much, so pardon my dumb question. It's fully b/c with digital PSP games, right? I never owned a PSP, but I have a few remote play games as well as a few digital PSP games I got for free through the years. I'd like to be able to finally play those games.

Yes that is correct.
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
Have fun carrying this around people:

Do you really need a separate case? I have like 20 3DS/DS games I carry around with my DS and have never had an issue -- I just throw them in the soft case I have and they barely take up any space at all. I can see why people would go for PSN versions, but I think each version has merit.
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
Yes that is correct.

Cool, thanks. I think I'll act on my impulse and put in my preorder this weekend. The launch lineup is actually quite appealing to me, it's pretty much the main reason I'm taking the plunge. I'll probably start with Wipeout, Uncharted and Rayman.
 
Sony, you are not acting as a sane company would. There are two pieces to this equation. Storage cost and software cost (both in storage and price).


Let's look at Uncharted...


The game costs $50 in stores. Ok. Done. The physical copy also allows you the option to sell the game back in a second hand market for some unknown amount. Obvious, of course.

A 32GB memory card costs $100 (That's $3.13 per GB, the cheapest per-GB option available of any of the memory cards)

Uncharted is a 3GB game (actually 2777MB, but 3GB is a nice round number).

The game costs $45 on PSN --- 10% off stores. Paying for the storage of a 3GB Vita game "costs" you $9.39. The costs to buy Uncharted digitially off PSN has now become $54.39, and there is no second hand resale option available. Now this is not obiviously clean and the memory cards can be rewritten, but again. The argument can be made that digitally you are definitely paying a lot more.

Not quite sure what Sony is thinking, but normally you try to balance the two sides of this equation, that being the cost of storage and the cost of software. Lower storage prices and keep software prices high, or, more common, high storage prices but keep software prices lower. Not sure what Sony is thinking, or what this pricing structure ultimately says about their relationship with retail and their vision of what the Vita is and who it is for.
 

newsguy

Member
Jist a heads up. Call your local gamstops. Looks like nany of them are getting the units to try out. All of my local ones have it in. Gonna try it tonight.
 

BFIB

Member
Sweet! Just remembered that I had some points to use on my Amazon card, which was $30 worth of points. Just reserved WipeOut.

Today, is a good day. Heading out tonight up to the Gamestop in town to see if they have their Vita model on display yet.
 

Salaadin

Member
lol. $24.99 Hot Shots Golf, $30 WipEout and $35 Uncharted from Amazon. What? :)

Woah, when was HSG 25 bucks? I got it locked at 30.


As far as the prices go, the only reason Im sticking with physical on launch day is because of Amazons preorder price guarantee letting me get HSG and Wipeout cheaper than digital. In the future, I might actually go for the digital release and save myself 4 bucks.

The real kicker is going to be whether or not digital releases fall in price like the physical counterparts. Im guessing they wont.
 

see5harp

Member
With UMD's, I actually saw a significant benefit to digital sales because of the reduction in load times, noise, battery life, and not having to carry around those discs. $5 off (or less) is nothing. Even brick and mortar stores will sell software at a $5-$10 discount at launch.
 

BFIB

Member
What do you think the odds are of a B2G1F deal anywhere launch week?

Or, any odds on Amazon offering credit for preorders? Or any other deals?
 

Imbarkus

As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
Oh, like that. That is why i was hoping for to get some techincal readup on how the PS2 emulator stuff works for PS3, if it is something more of a general emulator or if it requires custom tweaking to get a game to work properly. If it is custom tweaking, then it makes sense why playing the game from a disc wouldnt work (at least not properly).

In my alternate reality, I imagine a new PSN product for slim PS3's called em-packs, that were custom-tweaked emulator instruction sets available from $1-$3 (depending on whether or not they supported only a single title or a groups of titles). This would be a fair charge, to my mind, since I'm not trying to ignore that tweaking an emulator or adding additional instructions to an emulator to play certain titles is not a chunk of work that can and should be paid for.

It seems like people have forgotten the circumstances that let to PS3 dropping PS2 BC.

The first run systems cost $600 (estimated BOM $850) and had PS2's chips on the board. You can play virtually every PS2 game, with saves stored on PS3's HDD. It's a nearly perfect implementation.

Then in the mad rush to slash PS3's bill of materials, the PS2 CPU was removed from PS3's motherboard, leaving only the PS2 graphics chipset. PS2 games could still be played on PS3 via software emulation of the CPU albeit with slightly less compatibility (though significantly more than 360 supported at the time).

In November 2007, Sony was able to get within spitting distance of Xbox360's $400 price when they launched the 40GB model, which dropped all backwards compatibility. This was the period where sales picked up significantly.

If PS3 wasn't dying on the vine at $600, there's no telling if decisions would be made differently. I'm sure Sony would love to be selling (significantly more) PS2 games on the PSN store. BC was just the sad casualty of the market.

I guess I can't help but pimp my article, because I tried to anticipate this concern too. In my alternate reality the slim PS3 was just called the PS3, and since it required software emulation of old titles, required the purchase of em-packs to support that emulation. But Sony, in their wisdom, released the slim PS3 at $299, and continued to offer the fat model, renamed PS3+ for $499 with the Emotion Engine and PS2 GPU still on board, for those consumers (such as myself) who would pay a premium for 100% backwards compatibility (and the additional USB and Memory Stick ports).
 

W1SSY

Member
I have mine preordered but haven't bought any games yet. I would love for Sony to have a sale on some PSP games on PSN so I could pick some up. I never did play Valkyria Chronicles 2 and would love to play it.
 
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