The next generation PlayStation portable console, the PlayStation Vita, is scheduled to be put onto Japanese store shelves this December 17th, and up until now, Sony has left everyone in the dark regarding game prices.
Sure, we know what the console will be going for, $250, but what about the actual games? Should we expect some form of major next-gen price hike, simply because it’s the next generation?
The answer is; “yes”.
The prices of four major launch titles has been set, and are listed below;
- Uncharted: Golden Abyss: 5,980 Yen/US$78 for the cartridge vs. ¥4,900/US$64 for the download version
- Hot Shots Golf: 4,980 Yen/US$65 vs. 3,980 Yen/US$52
- Ridge Racer (pictured): 3,980 Yen/US$52 vs. 3,580 Yen/US$47*
- Katamari: 4,980 Yen/US65$ vs. 4,480 Yen/US$58*
Well, isn’t that dandy? Looks like you’ll need actual gold to get the new Uncharted: Golden Abyss.
Lets hope that the above prices were caused by the crazy exchange rate between the dollar and the yen, as who in their right minds would pay $60+ for a game, especially in these economically unstable days?
The console itself will be sold in Japan for 25,000 Yen/US$326 (its price will be $250 in the United States and Canada)
I think it’s pretty nice that they’re offering a discounted downloadable version, but WOW, those are expensive. I thought $59.99 for COD:BO was a lot…$65 bones?! I know it’s only 5 bones more but $60 was already making me second guess every game purchase…we’ll see! The Vita does look pretty sweet.
Anyways, we’re pumped to have you using Livefyre, I’m always a fan of another gaming site 🙂 If you ever have any questions or feedback, don’t hesitate to let us know!
@JMattHicks I agree, the prices are incredibly high, especially for a portable game.
Although Sony has yet to comment on the North American prices, it’s likely for the games to be far lower than their Japanese counterparts.
Also, we’re proud to be using the Livefyre system. If we weren’t using Livefyre, some of our key features, such as The Rant Page, simply wouldn’t be functional.
As for feedback, there’s really not much I can say. Livefyre already does exactly what we need.
@GamingRant We’ll we’re definitely loving being a part of your community.
And yeah, hopefully they’d be a bit lower here stateside. I just don’t see a mobile gaming platform moving significant sales numbers at $60+ a pop. I know Uncharted is a hugely popular serious, but still.
@JMattHicks Once again, we’re super glad to have you here. 🙂
Gaming Rant is more than just a news platform, we’re a fully-featured social network with similar features and capabilities to both Twitter and Facebook.
Although you’ll require a Gaming Rant account to use them, as Livefyre only works on news articles and some pages.
That’s another reason we’re using Livefyre. It allows for us to separate our two services. At first, a requirement of having two separate accounts may seem rather silly, however in the end, it helped us to create a virtually spam-free service. In fact, without Livefyre being used here at Gaming Rant, there would be an average of 15 new bot registrations every day, with over 40 new bot-created comments. Livefyre completely reduces that previous statistic to 0 spam submissions. So I would once again wish to thank you guys for creating the Livefyre engine. It truly did help us.
@JMattHicks We used to operate another website that received over 20,000 hits each month. It’s no IGN, but it was decent for its’ time.
However, we were forced to close that website, simply because more spam accounts were using it, than actual human beings.
Although I’m not allowed to mention the name of the site, as the domain name has already been registered by somebody else. However, when that site was in operation, I was looking everywhere for the best anti-spam service available. After trying Re-Captcha, and other popular code-generators, which did nothing more than prevent real people from registering, and not the actual spam bots, I decided to write my own anti-bot/spam script.
That’s about the time I realized I was a horrible coder.
I ended up closing down the website entirely, and selling off the domain.
@GamingRant Those are some very, very kind words and we couldn’t be more appreciative of them. We’re glad it’s working well for you, and excited community members like you is what drives us to keep pushing for new product features and services that can help you to truly get the most from and for your community.
Keep doing what you’re doing, and best of luck moving forward!
I have had a psp for a long time it was great but not perfect. I now read about the playstation vita everywhere and this one really looks like it could be perfect so I really think I will get it. Thanks for sharing!
@JMattHicks I do have one feature suggestion.
The ability to disable Livefyre for specific posts and pages, and replace it with the standard comment system.
I think it’s pretty nice that they’re offering a discounted downloadable version, but WOW, those are expensive. I thought $59.99 for COD:BO was a lot…$65 bones?! I know it’s only 5 bones more but $60 was already making me second guess every game purchase…we’ll see! The Vita does look pretty sweet.
Anyways, we’re pumped to have you using Livefyre, I’m always a fan of another gaming site 🙂 If you ever have any questions or feedback, don’t hesitate to let us know!