Sony's NeoGeo Pocket's (PSP2/Vita) business/non technical ramifications talk

[patsu]

Yeah... people have been doing this with cellphones for sometime now (using all sorts of image encoding). ^_^

Vita needs a redesign of the UI. I read a user preview on GAF claiming that Sony may be considering a new UI, but I don't know if it's true.

 

[KongRudi]

Yeah... people have been doing this with cellphones for sometime now (using all sorts of image encoding). ^_^

Vita needs a redesign of the UI. I read a user preview on GAF claiming that Sony may be considering a new UI, but I don't know if it's true.

Yeah.. That why they (a few news outlets wich got to borrow one) couldn't take picture of the main-menu last week, because Sony representative said they were redesigning it.

I heard also talk about a optionall XMB-interface, if you didn't want the new setup, but that were a few weeks ago, so I don't know if it's true.
Anyway, I don't mind how it looks, as long as it's easy to use, and quick to navigate, and not full of advertising, I hope we get to customize the tuoch-interface aswell, with backgrounds/animation and icons, as we could the XMB.

 

[patsu]

Yeah.. That why they (a few news outlets wich got to borrow one) couldn't take picture of the main-menu last week, because Sony representative said they were redesigning it.

I heard also talk about a optionall XMB-interface, if you didn't want the new setup, but that were a few weeks ago, so I don't know if it's true.

Ah... but if they are still thinking about XMB vs bubble UI, then they may be looking at it from the wrong angle and level. ^_^

The Video Unlimited concept is at the right level (regarding meta-data based navigation). Mango tiles, Facebook timeline, Playstation Home 3D are also at the right level, but Home focuses on the wrong thing.

Anyway, I don't mind how it looks, as long as it's easy to use, and quick to navigate, and not full of advertising, I hope we get to customize the tuoch-interface aswell, with backgrounds/animation and icons, as we could the XMB.

From the Japanese screenshots, it should be save to assume the UI support themes.

It's also not just about navigation and memory load, they need to have an emcompassing concept so that future apps and services can be added without appearing cluttered.

 

[Npl]

whats wrong with the gui? to me it looks very friendly to handle with a touchscreen.

 

[patsu]

What specifically do you like about the Vita UI ? If it's only about easy swipe, point and click, many good and bad designs can do these low level actions. It is not ok to just do a "good enough" interface anymore.

 

[KongRudi]

I never had any problem with the XMB, and I don't expect to have any troubles with clicking a icon, or bubble as you call it.
But I really liked the way multitasking seemingly worked, just open it and pull it away, and it's ready for next session.

 

[patsu]

Ah, multitasking on Vita should be nice given that it has more memory.

XMB as a launcher is not too bad, especially if it's optimized for touchscreen and given sufficient memory.

But I think the end user's digital world has become much more complex, advanced users (the early adopters) will look for specific Vita features to enhance their social, entertainment and general Internet + on-the-go experiences.

Since the users need to carry Vita around, it means Vita has to be exceptionally sexy at these activities. Since exclusive games will be hard to come by, it means Vita will need to value add on top of individual gaming experiences -- unless Sony want to fight by price.

 

[patsu]

Vita owners may get cheap downloads for PSP UMD collection:
http://andriasang.com/comyir/

Earlier, a retailer claiming to be in attendance at a Sony sales briefing said that Sony had distributed a pamphlet outlining how Vita buyers may be able to make use of their current UMD collection on the new system.

...

In an interview with Dengeki PlayStation this week, Matsumoto said that Sony is looking into offering a service where owners of the UMD version of a game would be able to download the same title at a special price.

It's unclear if the service Matsumoto is speaking about is the same as what the retailer was alluding to. The retailer said details would be announced in the coming days, so we'll hopefully get specifics from Sony soon.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Thinking about how this could work, I guess you could take your UMD to a store, pay a trade in price, and get a download code. That makes sense, bu tthe price would have to be very respectable. Nintendo have done okay reselling the same old games over and over, as has Sega with their Collections, but you can't charge too much for old rope without insulting people.

 

[Brad Grenz]

People will bitch no matter what. I'm dubious that any such program would make it out of Japan, anyway.

 

[wco81]

Launch in Japan should be soon, right?

 

[patsu]

People will bitch no matter what. I'm dubious that any such program would make it out of Japan, anyway.

Well, from consumer perspective, we will always want Sony to think hard about the following "bundle" or incentives:
* Buying PS3 and Vita "cross play" games
* Buying PSP games and downloadable Vita games

On the iOS side, the games are cheap enough that buying multiple copies is not an issue.

 

[wco81]

With iCloud, you won't pay for multiple copies.

 

[patsu]

So I heard ! What is the exact arrangement for iCloud ?

 

[dobwal]

So I heard ! What is the exact arrangement for iCloud ?

5 Gb for free. However, most things purchased through itunes (music, books, TV shows and apps) and your photo stream don't count against the cap. After you enable the service, everything is available to all your apple devices. No management or syncing required.

Extra storage goes from $20 a year for an extra 10 Gb (15 Gb total) to $100 a year for an extra 50 Gb.

You never had to purchased multiple copies of games even before iCloud. Movies on the other hand is a different story.

 

[dobwal]

Thinking about how this could work, I guess you could take your UMD to a store, pay a trade in price, and get a download code. That makes sense, bu tthe price would have to be very respectable. Nintendo have done okay reselling the same old games over and over, as has Sega with their Collections, but you can't charge too much for old rope without insulting people.

I think a better ideal is for a gamer to login into their PSN account and fill out a form in which you list the UMDs you own. Sony then emails you a code. You put your UMDs in the box along with the code and ship it to Sony. The code is there to bind the shipped UMDs to your PSN account.

A couple of weeks later, you get to download those games for free.

 

[patsu]

There you go, Sony. You have your work cut out for you.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I think a better ideal is for a gamer to login into their PSN account and fill out a form in which you list the UMDs you own. Sony then emails you a code. You put your UMDs in the box along with the code and ship it to Sony. The code is there to bind the shipped UMDs to your PSN account.

A couple of weeks later, you get to download those games for free.

That has cost for Sony. A trade-in service shifts the onus onto the consumer which seems more likely. I can't recall any similar situation in other areas, such as trading in Betamax for VHS, or DVDs for BRDs - gamers seems a pretty demanding bunch!

 

[patsu]

GDC Online: Sony Confirms Day-And-Date Downloads, Free-To-Play Support For Vita:
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/3785...ate_Downloads_FreeToPlay_Support_For_Vita.php

In a talk aimed at developers, the SCEA senior staff developer support engineer told them that any retail game can be bought on launch day from the PSN Store. This is, in part, he said, so "you can just leave everything on the Vita -- it's a completely-self contained device."

While this has been stated before, it's been unclear at times whether it applied to every single retail-packaged Vita release; Norden confirmed that it does.

...

He also confirmed, in response to a developer question, that the Vita will support the free-to-play business model.

"You are free to explore whatever business model you want. You'll have to talk to your account manager, and say, 'Here's my idea, and here's what I wanna do,' but yes, you're allowed to do that," Norden said.

...

One thing Norden refused to speak about was clock speed -- though he covered other technical aspects of the system in detail.

"Performance is not as good as PS3," he said. Vita is powerful, but that power is also optimized for battery life and power consumption.

While other mobile devices boast chips that run at 1.5 GHz clock speeds, he expressed criticism of that measurement. "We can tell you they don't run at that speed -- just for short times, like sub-second times. The reason is heat dissipation," Norden said. "All modern processors change the clock speed continuously depending on what you're doing... This happens at sub-second intervals."

...

 

[patsu]

GDC Online: North American PS Vita Will Have 20MB Cap Over 3G
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...erican_PS_Vita_Will_Have_20MB_Cap_Over_3G.php

The 20 megabyte file size download restriction over 3G that will affect Sony's portable PS Vita at its Japanese launch will also extend to North America, the company confirmed Wednesday.

During a talk that outlined much of Sony's launch strategy for the device, Sony's Chris Norden confirmed the news (as reported at GameSpot), but clarified that the limitation comes from Sony's 3G partner, AT&T, and not from Sony itself.

...

For reference, 20 megabytes is also the download size restriction for iOS devices over 3G, as well as many other consumer devices.