Slashdot Mirror
First UMD Movie/Game Combo
Gamespot is reporting that, for the first time, Sony is selling a combo UMD movie/game disc. For about $40 you get three levels of Wipeout: Pure and the craptacular film "Stealth", which didn't even manage a 30% recoup on the film's budget. From the article: "On November 15, Sony will release the military sci-fi film Stealth, which slipped under most summer moviegoers' radar, on UMD. The portable version of the $130-million-budget, $31-million-grossing film will come with the first three levels of the best-selling PSP racing game Wipeout Pure. It will also feature a "Stealth" track not found in the regular version of the game, which will let players race as the advanced fighter jet from Stealth."
Pay *me* $40, and I'll think about it...
ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
Van Helsing...
I popped that movie into my Xbox and up came a screen asking if I wanted to play the game or the movie
My UID is prime... is yours?
... is that the introduction of a PSP magazine with a playable demo UMD on the front cover is a possibility. I know I would be keen on paying $8-$10 for the option of trying out half a dozen PSP games just to see if I'm happy with the control scheme or the framerate or simply the game itself.
"Promote the UMDs that no one wants, or sell a 3 level demo for half what the game would cost... either way, it's a shitty deal."
It really is a bummer that Sony didn't think this through a little more. They've got 1.8 gigs to play with here. They have enough space to encode both a PSP version and a TV version of a movie on any given UMD. They could even swing the extras etc. Then they could have included a video out on the PSP (or maybe a peripheral...) so that UMD movies could be played on it. Then they could have made a DVD/UMD combo player. That would have been kinda neat. You could buy UMDs INSTEAD of DVDs. Heck, I might have gone for that.
Oh well.
"Derp de derp."
The stupid thing is, if they had have uploaded a virus into the planes systems to take down it's defences, it would have actually MADE SENSE this time.
Note, not THIS movie.
But if I could buy Spiderman 2 and the Spiderman 2 game on one disc for $50 I would consider it over the $40 game. Or if I could buy a music game (something like Amplitude) and it had the music videos for all the tracks on the disc, I would be willing to pay more for that.
Now of course, they don't offer that. And licensed games basically are ALWAYS TERRIBLE. There are a handfull of exceptions (Spideman 1/2, for example), but by and large they are terrible. They'd still sell very well (those games always do, especially the ones for little kinds because the parents don't look into if the game is GOOD, it just matters that it has Spongebob).
The real problem is that the movie content takes up basically all the disc, so you'd need to ship it in a two disc package (one for the movie, and one for the game) which would just be an excuse to hike the price (but we have to make TWO discs!).
This could work well, especially if they could come up with some more creative uses, but based on this first effort it looks like it will be used to prop up failing movie properties with game demos. Hazaah.
So as long as you are making a glorified demo disc, how 'bout dropping the cruddy movie and selling a disc of 20 working demos of new games for $5 or $10? I am MUCH more likely to buy a game I've played (thus know the quality of) than one I haven't. Demos have done great things for many computer games (can you say Doom?). Now that we have the technology, I don't know why we don't see this more with video games. The DS and PSP can both do it (including wirelessly), and they game companies say they will do that, but they don't (at least not in the US, I hear the DS can get demos at various shops/kiosks and movies in Japan over wireless). I have broadband. Let me try a game if I want to? How does giving me a chance to get hooked hurt your bottom line?
Too bad so many of these companies aren't run by games, or anyone with half a clue. Bad movie + game demo = $60. Yeah right. More like this: bad movie + game demo = $5.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
That Sony will burying these UMDs next to those E.T. cartridges and Jar Jar Binks figurines.
I'd say watch out. AFAIK, newer games are starting to require a firmware update. GTA: Liberty City Stories will be requiring it. I would expect that all the future UMD games will have them built in.
The Sony updater is designed to update if the version is >= to the current one, so they'd have no problem putting forced updaters on discs and forgetting about it.
My answer is simple: I do not buy UMD games. I bought my PSP used with a memory card because I wanted to run homebrew on it anyways. The actual games for the PSP have nothing I want.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
"slipped under most summer moviegoers' radar," == "such a relentless piece of shit nobody bothered to go see it" ?
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
No, no, no... It didn't slip under anybody's radar. That movie showed up on theater-goer's scopes like a great big 747 of suck.
======
In X-Windows the client serves YOU!
I bought it used from someone. Most video game stores don't offer much to people, because they need to protect their margins. For example, EB will give you 175$ for a PSP of store credit; they then sell it for 229$ ish and pocket the 55$ for store profits and in case you trade in garbage.
I was able to do the same thing with textbooks to avoid having to pay out my ass; I bought a complete set of my chem text, student solutions manual, and study guide for 60$ (MSRP: 200$ new) because I offered a bit more than the cash for books lady (who offers 50% of new, if everything's in perfect condition, and won't buy a lot of stuff like the study guide and solutions manual).
Lots of people want to get rid of stuff, and are willing to part with it for not very much money. Take the time to scout where this stuff happens and go for it. EB gives 75$ for a Nintendo DS system. I bet you could beat that if you want to!
I will warn you; my DS is scratched on the case, and my PSP is also scuffed a bit (nothing on the screen, but it's not the same as a new one).
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Simple : Were you dumb enough to buy a PSP? Then you'll LOVE our upcoming lineup!
- GTA : Another Fucking City + the smash hit "Crossroads" featuring Britney Spears!
- Lumines bundled with the New Kids on the Block reunion tour DVD!
- Metal Gear Tactics with cards and "Yu-Gi-Oh : Look, I found this booster pack behind the fridge and it's got a few unco's and rares"!
- "Gran Turismo : We changed the ads on the cars" plus the limited edition of "Autobahn Raser : Original, Uncut, and Undubbed!"
Look for more EXCITING bundles with all the crap you love... At a price that will make you yell for your mama!
There's quite a few people who buy UMDs for the portability of it, given they have purchased a PSP and wish to use the UMD movie feature instead of going out and buying a new device (portable dvd player). I've asked a few guys who work at stores that sell the movies, they're definitely not disappointed by the sales of them.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
For an extra $10 you can get a deluxe edition that *doesn't* come with the movie.
erroneous: look me up in a dictionary