Sony: No UMD import program for Vita in the U.S.

Sony has confirmed today that it will not be making the UMD import program for the PS Vita available to North American fans of the handheld.

The UMD Passport Service, available in Japan, allows users to transfer their PSP games to the Vita and into their SEN accounts, for a fee ranging from $6 to $31. The only problem with the system is that many big name games from developers like Capcom and Square Enix were not made available and were likely never going to be made available.

Regardless, the news should be sad for many gamers, especially those that owned the PSP and large game collections on the now defunct UMD disc standard. Without repaying fully for their games through the PSN Store, most Vita owners will not get a chance to play their old collections on the new device.

Sony's PS Vita will reach North American shores on February 22nd, priced at $250.

Current lifetime sales are at just 535,000 units in Japan, and sales appear to be weakening by the week.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 7 Feb 2012 23:18

Mysttic

Leave it to Sony to promise a feature and remove it. I really hope VITA fails, not because the system itself is bad or anything (tho it's not great), but because Sony just loves screwing with their consumers.

Oh and another way Sony has screwed Canadians is they have no plans at this time to release the 3G model over to us. They state it's available for North America, but evidently they forgot that North America is a "Continent" and not just USA.

8.2.2012 00:18 #1

elbald90

i will only get one if it gets hacked so as to give sony as little money as possible

8.2.2012 02:27 #2

Linkdx

mhh Mystic i don't think sony removed anything i still think ur going to be able to play psp games from the playstation store... at whatever price they are at. but you wont get them at a discount if you already own it. IT already seemed like a bad deal to me so i guess i can relax about it now <.<

8.2.2012 09:44 #3

DXR88

Originally posted by elbald90: i will only get one if it gets hacked so as to give sony as little money as possible
early models are always more prone to a good
hacking

Originally posted by Mysttic: Leave it to Sony to promise a feature and remove it. I really hope VITA fails, not because the system itself is bad or anything (tho it's not great), but because Sony just loves screwing with their consumers.

Oh and another way Sony has screwed Canadians is they have no plans at this time to release the 3G model over to us. They state it's available for North America, but evidently they forgot that North America is a "Continent" and not just USA. Sony screws Consumers, Consumers screw Sony. its a vicious and never ending orgy of lawsuits, hacks and Pizza. don't be late to the party buy your vita to bring to the orgy today!!!

8.2.2012 09:45 #4

Mysttic

Quote:Sony screws Consumers, Consumers screw Sony. its a vicious and never ending orgy of lawsuits, hacks and Pizza. don't be late to the party buy your vita to bring to the orgy today!!! LMAO that was awesome...

And you have a point, I fully intended to hack my VITA IF I were to buy one. But I just can't support Sony anymore, and since they not bringing 3G model to us, then I won't be getting one for free from my wife's work either. :(

8.2.2012 14:27 #5

hearme0

What a conspiracy JIP for PSP owners!!!!!

8.2.2012 15:57 #6

xaznboitx

SONY knows NA customers going to buy the handheld no matter if it supports it or not that's why they not making it

9.2.2012 04:25 #7

brockie

considering they never said it was coming in the first place were is the story? will it play my minidiscs & betamax tapes? what about all my VHS tapes were is my pass for that some people expect everything.

9.2.2012 09:41 #8

DXR88

Originally posted by xaznboitx: SONY knows NA customers going to buy the handheld no matter if it supports it or not that's why they not making it Sony Knows NA users aren't Going to pay for there games twice, reduced cost or not.

9.2.2012 10:43 #9

Mysttic

Quote:considering they never said it was coming in the first place were is the story? will it play my minidiscs & betamax tapes? what about all my VHS tapes were is my pass for that some people expect everything. Actually Sony did state they would or at the very least look into it; may want to check IGN/Gameinformer about any other site out there. They did it for Japan already, but my guess is it was a flop out there, so that's why they decided not to do it NA side (hence, they looked into it).

Also it's not about being mad about not getting more because you want more, it's about being mad about a company that constantly states 1 thing, than changes their mind the next, without warning, on a whim. Fine, things happen, Sony is under a lot of pressure to reconstruct ALL their businesses; however Sony also put themselves in this state by constantly changing what they state they would do, more so than any other company I know of. Yes MS and Apple are both bad for that as well, but that doesn't mean as consumers we can't be disappointed or upset when these changes occur. If you don't want to be, that's your business, don't tell us how to feel.

9.2.2012 11:48 #10

brockie

@Mysttic not telling anyone how to feel. it is a new format no new console has carried there games over when the format changes.

9.2.2012 14:38 #11

Mysttic

Originally posted by brockie: @Mysttic not telling anyone how to feel. it is a new format no new console has carried there games over when the format changes. @brockie fair enough I stand corrected on the feelings issue; however, that's not entirely true either Quote:(it is a new format no new console has carried there games over when the format changes.) ;

3DS changed the format of their cards and it supports DS(i/XL). DS originally supported GBA until DSi. PS2 used DVDs, but supported PSX cd games. PS3 at first had the same support for their earlier consoles. 360 didn't do a format change from Xbox. Wii did a format change from Mini DVD to DVD yet it could still play Gamecube.

Hence why I said, the ticker is that Sony once again had promised a feature but fell flat on it. (Other OS, backward compatibility, etc...)

9.2.2012 15:43 #12

DXR88

Originally posted by brockie: @Mysttic not telling anyone how to feel. it is a new format no new console has carried there games over when the format changes.
PS3 Could play: PS3(blue-ray)PS2(DVD) and PS1(CD).
Original DS: could play GBC GBA and DS carts.
PSP Vita: can play PSP games and PS1 Games, who woulda guessed.

the problem is Sony Don't want to let people transfer there rightfully purchased games, without them cashing in on it. Even PSP Go Owners will have issues.

9.2.2012 15:47 #13

brockie

Sonys format would be the same as VHS on DVD players it can not happen without a UMD drive. if you own the digital copy's you can transfer them no problem.

9.2.2012 18:24 #14

Mysttic

Originally posted by brockie: Sonys format would be the same as VHS on DVD players it can not happen without a UMD drive. if you own the digital copy's you can transfer them no problem. Do you realize what you just argued? lmao

Seriously you first said it never going to happen, then argued that it can. All the article was stating was that Sony was dropping the program that was going to do exactly what you said above. So the device was more than capable to play PSP games. Not one person here said VITA would play PSP games by inserting the UMDs.

10.2.2012 06:18 #15

brockie

Mysttic http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/02/...les-to-ps-vita/ if you own UMDS then play them on your PSP any ways lol.

10.2.2012 19:08 #16

Mysttic

Quote:Mysttic http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/02/...les-to-ps-vita/ if you own UMDS then play them on your PSP any ways lol. Now that was informative, thank you for the link! The link has your argument make sense. Basically Sony got rid of their program because you can do it manually anyways. Why couldn't that have been said from the get go? lol.

11.2.2012 12:10 #17

aralerm

Same here...will get one but will not give a penny to SONY..hope they hack it asap...

13.2.2012 06:08 #18

DXR88

Originally posted by aralerm: Same here...will get one but will not give a penny to SONY..hope they hack it asap... your contradicting yourself. unless you mean to steal a Vita, also you do realize your money towards games goes to developers/publishers not Sony?

13.2.2012 15:32 #19

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