One of the more frustrating aspects of the PSP was (and continues to be) the unfortunately fractured policy on downloadable games. Not every game was available on PlayStation Network--notably, many Square Enix releases.

"It's up to individual third parties to decide if and when to publish their UMD releases on PSN. Most, if not all, are on board, as this is a revenue opportunity for them," said Sony Computer Entertainment America director of network operations Eric Lempel at the time.

At Gamescom today, Sony announced "all" Vita games will be downloadable through PSN, presumably meaning Sony has convinced the holdouts on its last portable to embrace the digital world.

I've asked Sony to confirm whether this really means all Vita games, which would include everything from third-parties. That's a crucial difference. I hear people really like those Final Fantasy games. Right now, I haven't heard back.

For now, it's probably safe to assume it really does mean every Vita game. If that changes, I'll let you know.

One of the more frustrating aspects of the PSP was (and continues to be) the unfortunately fractured policy on downloadable games. Not every game was available on PlayStation Network--notably, many Square Enix releases.

"It's up to individual third parties to decide if and when to publish their UMD releases on PSN. Most, if not all, are on board, as this is a revenue opportunity for them," said Sony Computer Entertainment America director of network operations Eric Lempel at the time.

At Gamescom today, Sony announced "all" Vita games will be downloadable through PSN, presumably meaning Sony has convinced the holdouts on its last portable to embrace the digital world.

I've asked Sony to confirm whether this really means all Vita games, which would include everything from third-parties. That's a crucial difference. I hear people really like those Final Fantasy games. Right now, I haven't heard back.

For now, it's probably safe to assume it really does mean every Vita game. If that changes, I'll let you know.

lots of sony news

is disney onboard?

@C2C said:

lots of sony news

Tends to happen at Sony press conferences.

@Rolyatkcinmai: Ah well that explains it :P

I'm still convinced the Vita is going to fail miserably.

I thought this was already confirmed.

1 day sony will learn its to soon to go digital only especially on hand helds that are mostly bought for kids that don't have a credit card

unless im reading wrong and there will also be disc/umd?

@Patrickklepek: "Third Parties" should not be hyphenated.... just sayin.

All of my PSP, PS1 and Vita games in one place; on my 500gb PS3. Love it!

Yay! Now I won't have to have any form of social interaction with people or couriers when buying games ever again. Really convenient news.

1 day sony will learn its to soon to go digital only especially on hand helds that are mostly bought for kids that dont have a credit card

Make it every PSP game, too (call it PSP Classics or whatever the hell you want), and it's a day 1 purchase for me.

I always wondered why publishers wouldn't pick the method of delivery that ensured that they set the prices, escaped the middle-man, didn't give people the opportunity to re-sell their games, and cost them only bandwidth to deliver. Piracy? I just don't get how it's any more susceptible to piracy as a digital download than it is as a copied ISO image. 
 
Heck you could even ditch the bandwidth problems by embracing something like Bittorrent.

If this is the case, then I guess Gamestop and other stores will sell codes for the games.  Also if I am downloading everything how big of a Hard Drive with the VIta have?  How big are these games?  I think I would want at least a 64 GB HD.  Can I put movies and music on this thing?

cool! but will vita be that big of a hit for this to matter?

I'm ok with this. This gives the industry some room to breathe on costs with less overhead on the physical product.

Ok sony how big is your hard drive and can i plug in like an sd card or what?

Happy to hear about this. Not having to swap cards and discs is a big deal-breaker for me with handhelds. Unfortunately, the prices won't ever go down much on the Playstation store like they will at retail.

Aww yea! everything digital here we come! it would be kind of cool if the next playstation home console would be digital only too, well that would be kind of hard to download metal gear solid 4 :D. Clouds!!! and onLive and shit it's the future!

I think all future consoles need to have this. It's time to move away from physical media for gaming/movies. The logistic or printing, shipping and shelf space is way too dumb these days when considering the alternative.

This is good.

Make it every PSP game, too (call it PSP Classics or whatever the hell you want), and it's a day 1 purchase for me.

buying a PSN card code is easier than importing games from another country 
hooraaaay!  
 
also no word if the PSN versions will be out date to date with the physical game cartridges 

Whatever, I'll stick to buying physical copies.

Yeah suck it retailers! 
Wait... what do you mean you dont stock PS Vita's?

i dont care what people say, Im buying the Vita.  Is it alright to call it the PSV?

Now lets hope the thing doesn't tank.

As long as you're given the option to choose between physical or digital versions of the same games, I'm happy.

@drowsap said:

1 day sony will learn its to soon to go digital only especially on hand helds that are mostly bought for kids that dont have a credit card

...You do realize that the Vita's main game format is physical, right? This would only be an option for people who would want ti.

I see no problems with this, assuming the downloading thing is an option, and there still will be retail games on shelves.

@Rockdalf said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

@drowsap said:

1 day sony will learn its to soon to go digital only especially on hand helds that are mostly bought for kids that dont have a credit card

...You do realize that the Vita's main game format is physical, right? This would only be an option for people who would want ti.

That's not what the article said.

"It's up to individual third parties to decide if and when to publish their UMD releases on PSN"

Download is the option, UMD is the given in this scenario. After this they only say that they've convinced pretty much all of them to exercise that option.

@Rockdalf said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

@drowsap said:

1 day sony will learn its to soon to go digital only especially on hand helds that are mostly bought for kids that dont have a credit card

...You do realize that the Vita's main game format is physical, right? This would only be an option for people who would want ti.

That's not what the article said.

"It's up to individual third parties to decide if and when to publish their UMD releases on PSN"

Download is the option, UMD is the given in this scenario. After this they only say that they've convinced pretty much all of them to exercise that option.

One of the more frustrating aspects of the PSP was (and continues to be) the unfortunately fractured policy on downloadable games. Not every game was available on PlayStation Network--notably, many Square Enix releases.

At Gamescom today, Sony announced "all" Vita games will be downloadable through PSN, presumably meaning Sony has convinced the holdouts on its last portable to embrace the digital world.

In a way, it's a good plan to help prevent piracy but you know....Those hackers always find a way around things....

Excellent. Now if Sony wants my money day 1, they'll make Valkryia Chronicles 3 a US launch title.

I would pay that money.

I would carry that weight.

Excellent. Now if Sony wants my money day 1, they'll make Valkryia Chronicles 3 a US launch title.

I would pay that money.

I would carry that weight.

hmm this is not bad. I just hope the storage is decent. 

Thats good news if you want that one game you really need but has sold out or is now out of print. For me though, ill still be buying the physical media, i like to have something physical to play long after the online service has collapsed.

Very nice, but I still hope there will be some kind of physical versions of the games in the future maybe some very limited collector editions. Being a collector and all. :)

Lots of confusion in the comments by the looks of things.
 
Sony's aim is to to release digital versions of all PS Vita games, however the games will also be released in physical form. As the Vita doesn't have a UMD drive the new format is a data card (visually similar to a memory card or even a 3DS card, see below) known as an NVG. Sony has mentioned that the card can store up to 32GB worth of data. Interestingly, some released information is written as though these cards will also be available empty but this has not been confirmed. EDIT: These cards will be available empty, and there is a good chance they will be replacing the flash storage options of the PSP;  micro, pro duo etc. They are confirmed to be NGP compatible-only. Sony has also released information to the press stating that they intend to make the NGP region free (highlighted because its awesome news if true.)  
    

Good news I guess but I prefer physical copies anyway.

Good. But hopefully this won't increase the already huge mess that is the differences between the US and EU PSN stores.

@Cazamalos said:

buying a PSN card code is easier than importing games from another country hooraaaay! also no word if the PSN versions will be out date to date with the physical game cartridges

I didn't even think of that! Now if only they start making all PS3 games downloadable on day one!

They shoudl take the next step, then and just let any Vita game where the controls aren't contingent on something with the handheld (IE, 90% of the VIta's lineup) be a downloadable PS3 game in addition to something you can play on the Vita.

I wish Nintendo would do something similar. It would be great to buy 3DS games directly from the eShop.

Long as i can buy the physical copy cool.

I don't care for digital games.

I may have forgotten, but did Sony ever say if the Vita was gonna be backwards compatible with PSP titles? I've been holding out on buying PSP games recently because I want to play them on the Vita via PSN.
 
Also, I hope to God the Vita is more hack-proof than the PSP. It really saddens me how few PSP games retailers keep in stock when there are a ton of excellent titles out there and everywhere I go I see DS shovelware

And so it begins...

Good.