Downloading Your PSP UMD Games on Vita Will Cost You

Sony has confirmed that once you have registered a UMD with a PSN account it can't be registered with another PSN account - thus preventing players cheating the system (via Andriasang). Meanwhile, Sony revealed that games downloaded through the Passport program, which begins in Japan on 6th December, can, like other PSP games, be used on your PSP or PSPgo.

PlayStation Vita may not have gone digital-only -- it's not the right time, Sony says -- but that won't help should you want to play your PlayStation Portable's UMD games on the system. With no UMD slot, those games might as well be Coleco cartridges.

Sony does see a business opportunity here and, as previously reported, will allow UMD game owners to purchase a digital version on Vita. Sony has now offered details on this functionality along with prices for how much those in Japan will be paying to do so.

It's important to note that not every game will be available through these means. The initial list is fairly small, although it's expected to end up at around 200 titles.

A dedicated application will be released for free that allows UMD games to be registered to a PlayStation Network account. Once that is done, the game (assuming it's on the list of available titles) will be available at a discount from the PlayStation Store.

Along with the games themselves, your PSP save games will be transferable as well, reports Andriasang. While playing on Vita you'll also have the ability to tweak what the right analog stick does, alter color settings, and choose which of the two cameras is used.

Prices for the early list of games ranges quite a bit: the low end comes in at 500 yen (about $6.50) while the high-end goes all the way up to 2,400 yen (about $31). The latter may not sound like a discount at all in many regions of the world, but in Japan it is -- the 2,400-yen game is Pachi-Slot Simulator, which Amazon.co.jp currently sells for 4,089 yen (about $53).

A list of currently-announced games and their prices can be found here. Many are Japanese games you may not have heard of; others include Persona 3 Portable (1,500 yen, or $19.50), Dirt 2 (1,000 yen, or $13), Patapon 3 (1,000 yen), and Guilty Gear Judgment (500 yen, or $6.50).

Many PSP owners planning to upgrade to Vita likely won't be happy with how much it will cost to bring their PSP back catalog with them. Patapon 3's price, in particular, seems quite high for a game that came out just this past April. Japanese gamers will be able to save money by opting for the digital versions of certain Vita games, which will be priced lower than their physical counterparts.

As of yet, we don't know for sure that this is how the program will operate in North America and Europe, if it even does at all. A UMD conversion program did fall apart once before when the digital-only PSP Go came along, but with an opportunity to bring in a great deal amount of money from Vita buyers, it doesn't seem like that will happen again.

Even so, we'll have to continue to wait for official details on the program for regions outside of Japan. With Vita set for release on February 22 in North America and Europe, it shouldn't be too much longer before that happens.

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SOURCE: EuroGamer, 1Up.