Digital greetings peoples of the Blog! It’s a beautiful Cinco de Pata-yo and as we speak, thousands of magical keys (read: PSN vouchers) are heading towards a destination near you…ready to unlock the internet’s mighty download powers, filling your PSP with Patapon bliss.
In addition to these vouchers hitting the store shelves, on Thursday, May 7th, you will all be able to download Patapon 2 from the PlayStation Network and the Patapon 2 mass consumption can begin. Nom, nom, nom, nom…
But that’s not the only thing happening on May 7th.
We also wanted to announce really exciting Home exclusives (two actually). First: yours truly will be featured in the Home Theater, answering a few of questions posted in the forums by the Home Community.
Second: We’ve decided that this Thursday is also Home avatar makeover day…so we are giving you an exclusive Patapon 2 t-shirt (for boys and girls!). It’s definitely time for you to upgrade your Home look with something more Eyeballish and warrior like.
Now, be honest…wouldn’t you want to dress up your Home avatar with these fine threads? If so, be sure to head to the Home Mall since they will be flying off those virtual shelves. You know you will look good…in fact, tell us which shirt you think is the best. Maybe we’ll make an actual real-life one. Just hop on over to the official PlayStation Home forums to start-a-votin’ and get-a-wearin’ or just let us know on the comments.
So what else is there to do on these two days between Cinco de Pata-yo and Thursday-download-o day-o? Well, you can hop on over to the Patapon 2 website to download or make your own custom wallpaper:
Of you could just try your luck at winning a Limited Edition Lilac Purple PSP (to go with the stylish Patapon 2 logo), or some Patapon 2 toys, or a big screen tv.
There you have it folks! Happy Cinco de Pata-yo!
Sony could be applauded for selling retail and download copies of this game simultaneously. It would gauge reactions to downloadable major releases for the PSP and allow a cheaper alternative to buying a UMD. I myself would probably buy the PSN copy because it negates the disc whirring and you don’t have to switch it out for another disc each time. But why sell retail *vouchers* and PSN downloads? Why?
Traditionally, the point of having games on removable storage media was 1. to reduce piracy, and 2. so you didn’t have to save large files to your hard drive apart from installation. Now that hard drives (and memory sticks) are larger and PSP download games require a verification before use, one might think that such media are useless. For games on Steam, even single-player games like Half-Life 2 or Portal require an online activation and download, even for retail copies. The in-store copies are priced the same, too, so the only advantage to buying such a PC game in-store is that there might be a sale on games. So why have hard copies at all?
Because if you don’t have wifi or a PC or PS3 with internet and the appropriate cable, you can’t play the game. You can’t lend the game to a friend. If you want something else on your memory stick, you have to re-download it every time you want to play it. This is true for all DRM-locked downloadable exclusives, but most such games on PSP are either legacy copies of existing UMDs, PS1 games, or smaller games that wouldn’t sell at full retail. Since Patapon 2 doesn’t fall into any of these categories, and there’s clearly a market and shipping capabilities for hard copies of the game, why not sell the hard copy? If the rumors are true and Sony is indeed testing the waters for the “PSP Go!”, then why sell an empty box with a voucher, for $5 more, at all? This is at best an attempt by Sony to sell a game without regard to customers without online access, and at worst a way to sell empty boxes to uninformed people who then realize they can’t use the game.
Oooohhh, I love that lilac PSP and I’m a guy! As far as Patapon goes, I’ve been playing the demo for the past several days amassing enough kaching and warriors to make the transition to the real game a lot easier.
@darthmilo77: Have you seen the game box for Patapon 2? Says right on it that it doesn’t have a disk in it and access to PSN is required to play the game. Says it right on top of the box. If a person buying it retail doesn’t see it, they have no one to blame save themselves.
When the PSP GO! is announced, this is the first game I’ll download. :)
“When the PSP GO! is announced, this is the first game I’ll download. :)”
I’m at this point buying games in anticipation for the PSP Go!, but if I were you I’d avoid buying flash memory for it until after the E3 announcement.
@darthmilo77
They are priced the exactly the same. There is no five dollar difference between them.
@EvoAnubis
Yes, but who’s going to notice it if they’re not expecting it? Especially since the decision was relatively recent and they haven’t changed the box art on GameStop.com and many other sites.
@darthlego
Odd, I heard it was going to be $15 on PSN, and it’s $20 at GameStop.
i like the Home support just wish it went more in depth and more things came at a time. i would like to know why on the Resistance 2 case as well as Killzone 2’s it it states that it supports Playstation Home, yet you cant launch those games from Home and all thats there is one outfit for R2. You guys should really just sell the Helghast one as well. As for Patapon there should be a plushie of one like the sackboy version. come to think of it you should be able to by sackboy plushies.
@ 1 & 2
Where’s my UMD disc?
All I have to say to anyone who has dial-up/no access to the Internet:
GET WITH THE TIMES, PEOPLE! IT’S PATHETIC THAT YOU THINK YOU’RE SOMEHOW SAVING MONEY ON NOT GETTING BROADBAND. IF YOU’RE EVEN USING DIAL-UP FOR WORK, I WOULD CONSIDER IT AS A PART OF WASTING WORK TIME! And for those who think of switching “back” to NetZero or something… DON’T. Hell, I’ve been thinking that 3G Networks and even the average DSL speed is too slow.
Pata pata pata pon! God! I love this game! Downloaded the demo, it’s a definite BUY!!!
I can’t wait to download this game. I was beginning to lose interest in PSP games, but I think these type of games are the best for handhelds. I’ve never really gotten into full games, but I love smaller downloadable games such as Flow, Everday Shooter, Beats, and now Patapon.
My favorite is the third one from the top!
I’m afraid they’d be a bit too expensive, though. Any price estimates?
Can you PLEASE give us some info on when Patapon 1 will be released on the store? Really c’mon already :/
cool…i will download it..free stuff who not gonna want it??..but some of them kinna expensive…when HOME gonna finish the beta??
@61:
Not everyone lives in areas with any kind of internet. When you direct uninformed rants at people who obviously can’t read them, it doesn’t help your case.
So Chris…
After several weeks of Patapon 2 posts, you’ve answered lots of questions EXCEPT those from people specifically requesting a UMD release… consumers who’ve provided you with many reasons why simultaneous UMD and PSN releases are the most feasible solution. Are you unable to answer (non-disclosure agreement)… don’t know how to answer… too scared to answer… what?
Please… at least give us UMD folks some sort of reasonable response for our (many) reasonable suggestions…
@61
In some areas, it’s simply not available.
And why is it that *anyone* who approves of downloading Patapon 2 can only insult other users instead of coming up with legitimate reasons for defending DDs?
Oh that’s right, YOU CAN’T!
SWEET! I WILL DEF CHECK OUT PATAPON 2 AND THOSE FREE SHIRT! THXS !
I’ve got to say, I’m really disappointed that Patapon 2 didn’t hit the PSN today, since its download only it should NOT be restricted by the normal PSN Thursday updates, it is complete BS that it has to wait until Thursday, especially since we all know that when E3 rolls around we will be getting daily updates, and since the PSN Video Store can update on days outside of a given day we know its possible, for digital distribution to work the game has to be out ON the day it is announced. If it was never supposed to be released on the PSN today you should have made that very clear, and not have us find out the hard way, also the whole voucher code at the store is very very strange and many people will not like it, it has to be PSN only or UMD only, you can’t have people buy a code at a store, that is borderline ridiculous
so in closing, Knock off the BS “We gotta wait until Thursday for the PSN weekly update” we know it is possible to update outisde thursday , and while two days may not seem like long, it can be very long
If it were on disc, we could buy it any day of the week we wanted.
Chris-
Thank you for responding. I understand what you are saying. Trying to give the retailers a little bit of a courtesy before sony offers a way around the retailers and most distribution costs. If the rumors about the GO are true then sony will by taking business from them anyway. This little bit of a courtesy isn’t really much of anything to speak of.
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@67
I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a response. It’s been how many blog posts since the rumors of digital download, with countless posts about people like me and you wanting a UMD copy, yet they seem to only want to reply to those posts like “I don’t like lilac” or “I don’t care about Home”.
It just goes to prove – Sony just doesn’t care about the people who buy their games.
(continued from above)
I still don’t see the announcing a “ship” date like that as productive. As a consumer I want to know when it will be available. Giving me an almost date just seems insulting. With the way the shipping industry is, there were wheeles turning before today to get those boxes where they are going. Today isn’t the ship date. My local GS, along with most others in major metropolitan areas, will have the game tomorrow. This is something the those involved in the shipping knew, and it was planned to be so. There is no reason why they couldn’t be straight up with the customer and announced the street date as the 6th. Straightforward honesty is what I ask for. With only some of the big name titles, is the “release” date announced the day it can be purchased. Why can’t there be that sort of continuity with all game releases? Consumers that are jerked around like that may put up with it for a long while, but eventually they stop caring. While I love my games, there are nuances of the industry that are wearing me thin.
(continued below)
(continued from above)
have you ever seen a worry quarter? Where a person keeps that coin and rubs it when they worry or are anxious. Eventually the coin becomes flat with no imprint left.
In the end this just a small example. I will have the game tomorrow. It really isn’t a big deal, but maybe that is point. People what are treated with honesty and respect will put up with far more than you could expect. But if that wares thin, then you won’t go far.
-fin
question: does the retail box of patapon2 come with an instruction manual? Does the download come with a digital manual? If so, are the two the same? Sometimes these digital manuals only really show what the buttons do and skip on the details of how to actually play the game, so if there’s a physical manual, that would be my preference.
The retail version comes with a printed manual and both versions will have a digital manual.