So just one more day before the Vita is finally released in the US officially. Of course there’s been debates over the pros and cons of what Sony is doing with this release. First and foremost in the arguments has been the memory cards used for the Vita. Unlike the PSP or the DSi/3DS, the Vita uses a proprietary memory card. The cost of these memory cards range from $20 for a 4GB memory card to $99 for a 32GB memory card. I ended up getting a 16GB one since I couldn’t find a 32GB to save my life around here. The memory card is REQUIRED for the Vita to actually save the profile and downloaded games and DLC that doesn’t fit on the game card.
The point of argument is the price and why they didn’t use a known format such as SD or even their own memory stick format. Their argument was an attempt to stop piracy as most of the hacks to open up the PSP were via it’s memory card and an altered save file causing a bug to allow unregistered code to run. The memory card isn’t accessible via normal means so that means you can get into the directory level access even if you plug into a computer. You can back up the files to the computer using the manager software but you can’t copy things the Vita won’t accept. Supposedly some Japanese homebrew groups were able to get some homebrew code to run via the PSP emulator but the question is if Sony has patched that hole yet.
A proprietary memory card does provide some benefits over an open format such as SD cards is that they can control the general quality control over the memory card. As a amateur photographer, I had a crash course in various sub-classes of just ONE format. One SD card from one company is different from another. For example the sped of a Kingston memory card is different from a PNY memory card. Heaven forbid you need to get a class 10 card. Of course if your running a game of a memory card you might need a class 10 SD card for it’s read and write speed. Some are cheap, some are not and not all class 10 cards are created equal. Some are faster and some are slower, as long as they pass a certain threshold. The cheap ones though are like trying to play Russian roulette, you never know when the card will suddenly give out. I’ve already thrown out 2 cheap memory cards because it can’t be written to after filling it up twice then cleaning them off. I was lucky not to lose the content. Can you imagine suddenly losing your 40 hour save file in a game such as Valkyria Chronicles 2 because the cheap 20 dollars 32GB card fails? Of course the cost of the really well made ones may still be cheaper then the Sony Vita cards but not by much.
Of course we’ll see some knock off cards soon enough. Unauthorized reproductions of the memory cards but after getting burned BADLY on the PS One, I lost my Final Fantasy VII safe file late into the game because of a 3rd party unauthorized card, is I don’t trust them. The quality of one brand to another varies and sometimes one brand might have a strong line but their value line is shit.
The second offender in Vita’s anti-piracy isn’t really anti-piracy per say but an attempt to get the user to be someone legit. Of course they may also be a dual purpose it also effects used sales. In most Vita physical games, a piece of paper with a code in it will grant you access to the online pass. Yup, every game so far I’ve seen has an online pass which you have to activate in the PSN store. From my understanding, any game that connects online will have these for the Vita. Of course this prevents pirated games form getting online without buying the online pass from the PSN store which is around $10. The same goes for used copies of the game.
Now i’m not taking a stance on this issue as I see online passes like CD keys or registration codes for games. It’s a proof of purchase of a new game. Something that’s been around the PC industry for some time for physical media releases. I may be use to it but many console gamers aren’t. To them they see it as an affront and a risk that players may not use the online portion since it requires them to register the game in the PSN or Xbox live store. Sure it’s an digital lock on the game which limits access to the online portion but you have the key to unlock it if you bought the game new. It’s when you buy it used where this stings. A game you thought was cheap has a $10 component that didn’t come with the used game. This was always a risk with used PC games when the CD keys came around but unlike the PC games, you can get a new key to be used. With PC games you were shit out of luck sometimes.
Some argue that this will greatly effect the game sales but that’s only in the used side of the market. Those who don’t have a legal copy, well this is their way of controlling them as well. Albeit if they can get a key from the store, they can somehow slip by the detection, they still earn some profit from them.
Used copies of games are how some gamers get their games. The money they pay go directly to the store which is why Gamestop makes a huge deal about used games. It’s more profit for them selling games a little bit below retail of the new games. Instead of getting 5-10 dollars for a brand new 59.99 game, they’re getting around $30-40 for a used one. Of course this means the publisher, and then in turn the developer doesn’t actually count that to a sale of the game nor see any profit from it. Now I don’t know of a studio has closed due to used game sales however it does slow some games sales pace a bit which could translate to slower sales of a particular game which in turn tells a publisher that the game isn’t doing well and which magnifies by the time it gets to the developer.
On the non-legal side, well the PSP had such a large gap in it’s protection that games that should have done well have done poorly and as a result we’re not seeing sequels being released in the US. Not that online passes would have helped these games as many PSP games didn’t support online infrastructures, a requirement of PS Vita games now.
Of course the Vita’s second barrier will be it’s digital release versions. The digital releases for PS Vita games will be 10% cheaper then their retail releases. That is at full price, not sale prices. This also prevents used sales of the game since digital releases can’t be traded-in. One of the golden apples that many companies are looking at going forward. The reason the Vita isn’t a full digital release is after the fiasco that was the PSP Go. This was their attempt to see if a full digital only release would be viable for a game system however publisher backing was lacking as they were still focused on entertaining brick and mortar stores.
I’m sure there are more technologies present in the Vita to stop piracy but these are the most obvious ones there now. This is just my thoughts on the whole thing.
Valkyria Chronicles 2
Doesn’t help that I lost most of my ace drop weapons via the DLC content thanks to me transferring my game to another PSP. My PSP-2000 started to go on the fritz to the point where I couldn’t use the analog pad. Since the Vita comes out soon, I transferred the US account off the PSP-1000 which has been my US system for some time. For some reason something didn’t transfer right and all my DLC had to be re-downloaded and progress in them was all screwed up. Anyway the final boss was outright mean since you can’t actually kill him. I eventually figured it out though. I only have Imca’s ending which I like but probably need to redo the ending to see Reila’s. I’m still playing the game so I can unlock more characters. As if my team wasn’t jammed pack already.
