Sony Defends Vita Memory Cards, Talks Custom Soundtracks
In an interview with Japanese site Impress Watch, Sony’s Vita development staff explained the reason behind choosing the highly expensive proprietary memory cards, rather than supporting SD cards, as well as discussing the handheld’s custom soundtrack support.
Sony’s Division 2 Software development head Muneki Shimada tried to explain why they opted for a costly memory format, saying that everyone would have the same product, and conditions would be equal for everybody. Sony were also concerned with the security of other memory sticks.
Despite Adobe announcing that it won’t be further developing its Mobile Flash Player, Shimada said that they’re continuing negotiations with Adobe and have not given up yet.
Custom soundtracks will also be supported by first using the system’s Media Player to play music, and switching back to the game. There are still some limitations, but the game’s sound effects ‘should’ be able to overlay directly over the custom sound. The feature is said to work with all games.
Finally, product division chief Hiromi Wakai explained that the PC will recognize the Vita as a mass storage device at launch, but Mac support will come at a later date.
[Via]
14 Responses to “Sony Defends Vita Memory Cards, Talks Custom Soundtracks”
The consumer isn’t stupid Sony. I love everything about the Vita but everyone that buys one of these memory cards knows for a fact that the accessory is a way to increase the hardware’s margins. A 32 GB SD card is $30 and Sony wants over $100 for the same thing. I don’t think I need to say anything else about it.
Those prices are ridiculous no matter how Sony tries to spin it. I’m an ardent Sony supporter, but this is just a big screw you to the consumer. Plain and simple. It makes the Vita a lot less appealing.
I’m guessing no one owned a PSP at launch. because back then it was 32mb at $30 and 512mb at around $60 (1-2 GB memorystick was so expensive, it was out of the question, easily $150)
PSP was different though. It came out when flash memory was still relatively new, and 1-2GB was really the max you could get. Now Sony has no excuse though. i can get a 64GB SD card for way less than $100.
that’s exactly the point though, now large memory cards are very affordable but Sony decided they weren’t going to allow consumers to take advantage of that and instead put us in the same spot we were in at the launch of the PSP
A little lesson from Business 101: Don’t make business decisions you have to publicly defend.
Not always doable, but definitely achievable more often than is the case in our profit-centric, corporate world. Sony already blew it with the Vita before it’s even launched on multiple fronts (proprietary, EXPENSIVE memory cards, short battery life, $250 asking price for the system alone, etc); from here on it’s damage (and loss) control. And it’s a shame, because technically it looks to be a superb portable.
The prices are a bit much, but it’s obvious why they did it. They don’t want their data easily stolen, so they put it on a new memory card which the system is likely to control. It’s an anti-piracy measure. Though the price is high, nobody can deny that, it’s obvious why they did it. Fortunately, there is memory on the system itself if I’m not mistaken, so the memory cards may not be entirely necessary.
$250 to $300 for the handheld console
$30 to $120 for memory cards
$40 to $50 approx. For one game.
If you want buy a memory card and game. Minimum its going to cost you about $350 after sales tax. Maximum it’ll run you $510 or so.
It’s the same mistake they made with the ps3. Way to expensive. And in this economy how many people will pay that much for (depending on the game) 15 hours of entertainment? (Citing previously released God of war games) Then turn around and drop another $40 to $50 on another game. All this for a hand held device.
These are all pricing mistakes and disadvantages. Not to mention the battery life, having to purchase your games again that you already own for the psp (I believe at a reduced cost)
My lousy paycheck is betting that it doesn’t sell well and a lot of people are opting for a 3ds instead just like I am. Sorry Sony. Great console. Horrible price. Some people have bills to pay.
Like I’ve said before, you’d have to be crazy-horny to fork out 300$ after tax for the portable alone, to play already old games that have to be repurchased, even PS3 titles, on a smaller screen, with worse graphics….The accessories are just further hurt to the whole ordeal.
Over $100 for something that is the size of your thumb. Idk I think would rather buy 2 PS3 games
I WAS very excited about the vita up until this week. first they remove psone support, then say that not all ps3 games will work with remote play, then charge up to $120 for memory cards. i am starting to be very confused. my interest in the vita is almost gone.
Makes sense, I guess you could compare it to the PS3, DVD would have been cheaper but Blu-ray is more secure but more expensive because less people have it, and in terms of speed it would have made the same sense I mean you wouldn’t make many Ps3′s with different read speeds not every 1 would have the same experience. That is how I see this. (Plus this would help make it cheaper and with higher capacity, after 5 years it will definitely be cheaper)
This has pretty much deterred me from getting one on launch day. I’ll wait for a bundle that includes the PSVita, a game and a memory stick. I already got screwed paying $80 for a 16GB Sony SD memory card for my Sony HD video camera. I’m not about to make the same mistake twice.
Seems like every day there is another new piece of information that makes getting a Vita less and less worth it.
Give it 2 more weeks and we’ll be finding out that you need to assemble the Vita yourself as well as flash it because it saves $ony time and money.