Sony exec says UMD-less PSP was "always the plan"
By Donald Melanson 
posted Jul 2nd 2009 2:39PM
posted Jul 2nd 2009 2:39PM
Well, it's no secret that plenty of folks have been talking about a UMD-less PSP since day one, but it looks like that's been the case behind the scenes at Sony as well, at least according to the company's head of product planning, Naoya Matsui. Speaking with GameBusiness.jp, he said that Sony has "planned to release a PSP model without a UMD drive since the very beginning," but that if "we'd simply released the hardware, there wouldn't have been much for everyone to enjoy," adding that Sony "needed to prepare the right environment for it first - things like the transferal of content with the PS3 and PSN, and PC software to manage content like music and movies such as Media Go." Matsui further went on to explain that Sony also had to wait until the "delivery of digital content was on par with the delivery of physical media," which it obviously thinks has now finally happened.
[Via Joystiq]
[Via Joystiq]
makes sense i guess, digital distribution wasnt as viable back when it first came out.
I just wish they used cartridges instead of UMDs.*looks at my old Phat that suffered a damaged laser*
"digital distribution wasnt as viable back when it first came out"
however, thankfully, attractive styling was.
Yeah except that Sony should've been "leading the charge". Look at Apple - did they wait for smartphones to become user-friendly and have great UI? No, they went and did it themselves. Nintendo - did they wait for somebody to make the first motion controlled controller? No.
Sony, as a big company with plenty of resources should've been at the forefront of the digital distribution system, not playing catch-up with Microsoft, Valve, and heck, even Nintendo.
Now they're trying to appear as if it was all part of the plan but that's BS. They simply lacked the necessary vision and/or drive to truly innovate.
So THAT's the premium you should be proud to pay for!
I love Sony. They're so cocky and they take no effort in hiding that fact.
Keep in mind Sony is Japanese. Japan is a xenophobic and mostly conservative country.
So why does it surprise everyone when Apple comes out with great new products with inspiring engineering, creative design and functionality? Their design arms are located right here in California, a mostly liberal State.
Another thing: Almost every single post here is stupid.
Sure Apple beat Sony to the punch with Digital Distrution, but have you forgot *how* Sony handles digital distribution?
Rootkits, etc. So do you really think that after dealing with the Rootkit ordeal back then, Sony would've been successful in launching a digital distribution store?
(The answer's No.)
then why did they waste our time with another useless format
Because digital distribution would've made the system flop when it first came out. They needed an intermediate step.
Then why didn't they wait to enter the portable arena? Now, the PSPGo is just drawing unsavory comparisons to the current version, since it has less features than the PSP-3000 and costs more.
Why postpone an opportunity to make money? They came out with a first revision and saw down the road where they wanted to take the platform.
Because they're Sony. They've somehow got the idea stuck in their collective brains that the way to make big money is to invent a format that everybody wants to license from them. Hence Betamax, MiniDisc, Blu-Ray, MemoryStick, and the 3.5" floppy.
This is all of course taking their word for it.
Because companies like to admin when they are just pulling it out of their butt as they go along right?
The PSP Go does have bluetooth.
I never understand this argument about "another useless format". I've never heard anyone complain about Nintendo's "useless cartridge format". To me, the UMD is just another type of cartridge.
But they were trying to pawn it off as more than a proprietary format to play games on. If it was JUST games, like with the DS or Game Boy, then you'd be right. But nope... they wanted people to play UMD movies, as well, thus legitimizing it as something else.
why with the useless format? because they thought it was a brilliant breakthrough technology that would catch on, and now that they know it was a utter failure they are trying to cover their tracks by syaing "Oh we planned for this from the start!"
The problem is they even called it "Universal Media Disc." This claim, if (big if) it has any truth at all, is just saying they planned right from the beginning for this so-called "Universal" to only ever be used in early models of a single device, and be obsoleted within a few years. Yep, sounds like Sony alright.
Going UMD-less has been the plan ever since UMD failed and everyone hacked their PSPs to run off memory cards, and not a moment before.
As for the Nintendo comment, Nintendo never called their cartridges universal or gave any suggestion that they'd work in future devices.
What are you talking about? Sony's plan was ALWAYS to eventually support MP3's, and use SD cards. Don't you see the genius of this plan?
What a load of complete bullshit.
Ding! Ding!
Winner!
You've got to give Sony credit for having the front to come out with a two bit story to explain the failure of UMD.
It's just why New Coke came out- to make you appreciate Old Coke.
Gee...this isn't the first time Sony's done this type of thing this generation is it? Remember those psp boys? and the creepy ps3 ads? .......hrm........
transferal? Like with cats?
so basically they don't want to admit that their plans for the UMD's to be the media of the future never went according to plan....
we have a winner!
This is such nonsense and anyone believing this is foolish.
They didn't invest so much money in developing UMD to step to digital distribution, their plan was a proprietary format for big $$$. The problem was that it flopped, and that so many PSP pirates claim they do it for convenience, so Sony is responding.
I could not agree more. Knowing how hooked the AsiaPac folk are about minidisc, I am sure that Sony thought that they would get them just as hooked on UMD.
It is really crazy to see how far off Sony is lately - PSP sans-UMD is _more_ expensive than previous model - which is substantially more than the DS which is just kicking their butts. PS3 has been embarrassed by the 360 and Wii. They are one of the few that came forth with a portable notebook (not a netbook, they would say) that is actually slower than a _regular_ netbook and ~3x the cost.
Oh, and did I mention that failure of a smartphone, the X1? Really Sony - what could be next?
has a second joystick been in the plans from the start too?
dont hold out on us sony, or we'll get sick of your overpriced crap
so make people want their product has never been in the plan?
Unfortunately, since Sony became a content company, this is true. They are far more interested in protecting their content with obscure formats, root kits, and lawyers than they are in making devices that people want. Having a CEO from the movie side doesn't help.
I just wish they'd designed a portable which looked vaguely pleasant!
Perhaps I'm iSpoilt...
I just don't understand why they are releasing this thing as a PSP1 instead of it being the PSP2. The system is 5 years old come December and is due for an upgrade. The same system in new clothing for the same price as the PSP was at launch in 2005 is just plain nuts. It'd be like if they had released the slim PS1 or PS2 at $300. When you do a system redesign at the end of a console's life you lower the price, or at least offer more for the same price. You don't raise it. The thing is going to sell like crap and is only going to piss off those diehards who can't keep themselves from buying one when the actual PSP2 comes out in 2010.
What i bullcrap is the Edge translation, they have translated it to suit their agenda, conviently it also suits Joystiq network agenda too (and keeps their biggest advertiser happy too).
The sad part is there are too many dumb Americans that can't see how the online media is manipulating them.
If you know someone that speaks Japanese, get them to translate the original quote for you, (without showing them the Edge translation), and you will see how desperate and pathetic the gaming press are.
松井：「ネットワークセントリックモデル」が社内キーワードでした。E3で社長の平井からも話がありましたが、実際の企画・開発は2年ほど前からです。もともとUMDドライブを外すという案はPSP誕生時からありましたが、単にそうしたハードウェアだけを出すのでは、ユーザーの皆様にPSPの楽しさを感じていただけません。PlayStation NetworkやPS3とのコンテンツの互換、「Media Go」のようなPC向けのコンテンツ管理用ソフトウェアなど、さまざまな環境準備を整える必要があります。
Mastui: the keyword was "Network-centric model." Though Company pres Hirai talked about it at E3, development started about 2years ago. There were plans of removing the UMD drive from PSP's birth, but simply releasing the hardware, the users would not be able to enjoy the PSP. Content from PSN and PS3 games, PC-oriented content management software like "Media Go..." There were many things that had to be readied before its release.
The translation isn't off, unless you pretend to know the language better than a native speaker such as myself. And it's a load of bullshit coming from marketing in whatever language you choose.
Muu, that's what we call completely and totally pwning someone. Well played.
Full of shit Sony exec says UMD-less PSP was "always the plan", also denies kicking puppies
*Fixed
Or how about, "Sony exec opens mouth, turd falls out."
I think there's truth to both sides of this story. I definitely agree that digital delivery was not viable when the original PSP came out, but to say that the UMD concept (read crisis) was the 'most' logical intermediary step is ridiculous. Ultimately, the gaming industry, much like the tech industry at large, is about profit margins, and after enough focus group questionnaires with enough people in the target sales demographic, Sony decided that even a proprietary formatted portable gaming system would yield $$$, and it has.
I'm sure they'd be saying this if UMD actually took off.
Well Sony this was not a good Idea....
And you know what's my plan? Not buying one. HAHA.
Get the iPod Touch instead.
Not buying one has been my plan from the beginning. Imagine.
Yeah, just get an iPod touch if you prefer crappy $1 remakes of crappy flash games, facebook quizzes and fart apps; get a PSP (or DS) if you'd rather have real, thought out games.
Don't get me wrong, I love my iPod touch, but to pretend it's a replacement for a dedicated gaming console is just trollish. Fanboys make everyone who uses a certain product look bad.
Paul has gotta turn all news articles into an Apple topic.
sony is the biggest lying company ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Man, why can't Sony just admit they made a mistake with UMD?
Should Nintendo admit they made a mistake with DS cartridges? Both are proprietary formats used for no other device.
The fact is all that separates UMD from being a brilliant idea or a mistake is the relative success of the PSP. And the PSP has always had much bigger problems than UMD, suffering as it does from many of the exact same things that doomed previous competitors to Nintendo handhelds (namely, poor battery life, large form factor, and, well, Nintendo).
Going UMD-less is not going to help, quite honestly. The vast majority of people will continue to buy and use physical media in handheld devices. Two years from now, we're going to have threads here wondering why the hell everybody is continuing to buy DS's instead of PSPGo's... and this will be one reason. People *like* cartridges.
Lets recap:
The iphone 3GS is a phone
*Has a chip with a speed of over 600 mghz(about twice as fast as the psp)
*has 256 megs of ram
*has up to 32 gigs of flash memory
*has a high quality camera with video ability
*A USABLE BROWSER
*has an entertainment ecosystem consisting of music, movies, games and apps for all sorts of shit that work flawlessly!!!!!!!!!!!
The killing stoke for Apple is to only put tactile game controllers(dual analog sticks for a real six pack of whup ass!) onto their phone and the psp would be relegated to the tech trash heap! Apple would sell well over 100 million unit and destroy nintendo in the process. Hell, I foresee 200 million units sold.
All this chaos with just a simple tweek and hell would come home for the holidays for you know who.
BOOOHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!
You know that is not far away, with OS 3.0 and the release of the new Bluetooth API. We'll see more BT controllers and keyboards for both the itouch and iphone, which means we might see a BT game controller for that platform!!!
KC:
Forget BT... someone can just make a snap-on controller (perhaps with a battery pack built in) that will barely make the phone larger but will please hardcore gamers. Sony is nuts.
Yeah, tech that looks good on paper! That wins a gaming platform war, every single time!
(See: Jaguar, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Sega Saturn, etc.)
Also, are you guys really arguing that your platform will win because...it might have buttons in the future?
uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...I mean, look....I hate sony as much as anyone else, but let's be fair, an iphone actually costs like $600, not $249 like the PSPGo.
iPhone 3GS costs $1999.
It better have those features for that price.
The soon-to-be-released refreshed iPod Touch will easily be on par with the new iPhone 3GS in power and most of the capabilities (sans camera and cell radio) therefore be a perfect gaming platform to launch from with those accessories at an affordable price point.
@ t
How many kids can afford an iPhone 3G S?
How many kids can pay the monthly contract for an iPhone 3G S?
Man, I only used to get 50p a week pocket money! :(
Also: they planned an UMD PS3 with lots of disk swapping action for the users.
"We've always been at war with Eastasia."
Who's the head of Sony PR? Winston Smith?
Have chocolate rations been increased as well?
Sure it was, just like UMD's failure as a proprietary movie format (Sony's only, of course) was planned from the beginning as well.
Suuuuure Sony, just like their over priced and proprietary memstickpro crap ... 8gb of that is like 70 bucks...8gigs of anything else...15-20 bucks. Sony seems to have this "well do whatever we want, not what our customers ACTUALLY want" attitude ... I won't be buying one...
Stupid UMD's, 'Syntax Error' has it bang on..if UMD took off, EVERYTHING they do would be UMD...right down to a UMD slot on the PS3 probably...
Sony should have waited for the PSP2 to roll out digital distribution instead of removing UMD from a system that even now ONLY has UMD games. They should have kept the UMD and added digital distribution.
The reason they did it was b/c they wanted to have a UMD-less system BEFORE the PSP2. That way, when the PSP2 comes out, they can say "Look, our system is backwards compatible too!" If they waited to remove it, they wouldn't have any previous generation games to play on the new system.
Backwards compatibility is a big issue for a lot of consumers. No doubt, you'll be able to play DS games on the DS2. Sony just wanted to make sure you could play "some" PSP games on the PSP2.
But, I have no clue how you can remove hardware from a system, make the screen smaller, and charge $80 more. They must not want to sell that many for some reason.
They're doing exactly what you're talking about. Did you not hear that they will be releasing the Go along side with the 3000? Or that ALL the models are capable of downloading the games? They already did a test run with Patapon 2. This is an extended test run for a complete digital distribution for the PSP2, that's all.
Like I said, the fact that Sony included an ISO loader in their firmware as far back as the PSP-1000 is a clear indicator that a UMD-less distribution or at least a digital download system would come into play at some point. This extended run is probably a way for them to come up with an anti-piracy measure before opening the door for a new system.
because it would have been soo difficult to put games on 1 or 2gb memory stick cards .....
I don't belevie a word they're saying. It's not their first attempt to try to take the 'leading formart', remember how Minidisc failed?
and then, umd was supposed to be a new standard until that too failed. So how could it be that it was always the plan? when then released 3 differents pspmodel with all of them with umd drives? UMD failed in soo many way, just admit it and move on Sony.
You don't believe it as a statement of truth. Let them save some face.
Sony just keeps digging themselves deeper and deeper.
ssssuuuurrreee it was, just like Minidisc was always planned to be phased out...this is BS Sony, UMD failed and you know it. Proprietary crap for the lose.
Considering that Sony had it's own ISO loader in the firmware since the PSP-1000, the answer is nos**t.
Frankly this is why Sony loses so badly to competition from companies like Apple and Nintendo. It takes a slow, safe route and "waits for the environment," while Apple decides to CREATE environments with its products, and Nintendo isn't afraid to field a flop now and again, as long as they keep learning from their mistakes.
Sony has certainly made its share of attempts into creating markets and marketing flops, but it never seems to learn from its mistakes, or becomes so gun-shy that its afraid to take the important risks when it needs to.
Also: PSP-Go costs too damned much. My son is getting a DS for his birthday.
Sony also can't handle software. Nor are they visionaries like Jobs and Ives.
Anything that comes from the Sony's camp is bullshit covered with more bullshit.
Yeah, I'm so sick of loading digital discs into the iPhone.
If you don't smile and thumbs up in the office three times a day you get sent to the basement and have do write 'Sony never makes mistakes' 1000 times on a mylo.
I'm calling BS on them. You don't launch a new platform then launch a new video delivery system if you had no intent on supporting it. Just like I'm calling BS that the price is set because "you can" or that it's because stores are marking the device up because they won't see any money from software sales. Just admit that you're greedy, because anything else is BULL SHIT!
I love my PSPs but I wont buy this until I see a 1 after the $. They better make up for all the UMDs I bought.
There's a plan? Who knew...
I don't buy it.....they did not have that idea from day one......
Pirates were some of the first to put a UMD-less PSP in the works......I think Sony pirated the idea from pirates......
Sony saw that so many people pirated games and it was MORE CONVENIENT than actually purchasing the games. Now they have the idea.....
Proprietary - (per English Oxford Dictionary) "Belonging to owner; made by firm with exclusive rights of manufacture"
So what? It's just a way for the manufacturer to have control over the entire system.
Why does it bother anyone?
I use iTunes for my iPod but it dos'nt bother me.
I had to fork out for a bigger hard drive for my 360 but it dos'nt bother me.
Look, I play games on PS3 which uses Blu-ray disks. However, can they be used on anything else? No.
I play games on my 360 which uses DVD's. However, can they be used on anything else? No.
People are getting confused here.
A cable such as mini-usb is considered as being the 'standard' for transferring data between a device and pc for example. So, I understand when people get a bit miffed when they have to use various different cables for different devices which are 'proprietary'.
However, the fact of the matter is, even back in the days of the Xbox and PS2, you would still need to buy a DVD for each system, even if it were the same game!
Basically, being for or against proprietary media when it comes to games consoles is pointless.
With regards to the PSP, you would still have had to buy some other media format if it had'nt been UMD...........so what's the difference?
THANKYOU!
I honestly dont get how the UMD is any different to the weird mini discs the Gamecube took, or the cartridges the DS takes or the DVD movies the Wii doesnt read. The PSP's proprietry format is no different from any other console in history except they offered movies as well as games. If you didnt want a movie on UMD then dont buy the freaking disc. At least they gave you the option
so what will happen 2 the UMD u already have? like i dont have a psp yet i was gonna get the 3000 but i want the psp go now...so should i get the 3000 wit games or do i just wait 4 psp go ....or both? lol even if its i waste so like if i buy the games ill just have 2 sell them when i get the pspgo
so do u have 2 buy the if u have them on UMD?
so do gotta buy the games agian u already have on UMD?