Veteran Gamer Heads to the Store, Strikes out

With many sites having buy two get one free sales, I set out to get some games for my shiny new Vita today at lunch.  First, I hit up Target.  Sadly, they didn't have the game I wanted most, Hot Shots Golf.  Knowing that nearby was a Gamestop that was also having the same sale, I begrudgingly headed to the gaming industry's largest parasite. 

When I got there, I picked off the three games I wanted and headed to check out.  On my way there, somebody asked from my periphery what I was getting.  I'd snagged Lumines, Hot Shots, and Rayman as my selections and talked with her for a bit.  As it turns out, this wasn't just any random stranger, it was a Sony rep.  What luck!  So I chatted with her for a while, and relayed my tale of woe regarding the not incredibly up front way that the Launch Bundle was marketed.  While I was checking out, she disappeared for a bit.  Once my total was rung up, after I had to explain to the Gamestop guy what the bundle was that I bought and what happened to raise my ire, (One was on his shelf behind him. *FACEPALM*) I noticed that my total was over $120.  I said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa here, this should be buy 2 get one free."  Fine print got me again.  Gamestop's promotion was only for Sony titles.  So I go back and exchange Lumines and Rayman for Uncharted and ModNation Racers.  Get back to the checkout, and then I hear... "Awww, sorry man, the only three we have in the promotion are Hot Shots, Uncharted, and Little Deviants."

I swore.

Yay for swag!

It was in the middle of this that the Sony rep returned with some swag for me, apologizing that the bundle I bought didn't work as I expected it.  It's not much, the cover in the center being the jewel for sure, but it was refreshingly awesome customer service to admit that something probably wasn't very clear, apologize, own it, and give a token of thanks for being a customer despite the issue.  This in the middle of one of the poorer customer experiences I've had in a while.

As she heard the guy explain that it was only Sony titles in the deal, her jaw dropped and as I went to check out what I could get I could hear her say "Isn't the promotion for all games?  I'm pretty sure that's how it's going at other retailers..."  And then when again I couldn't get what I was looking for (I have no desire to get Little Deviants) I could just see her face fall.

It's so lonely!

Gamestop guy tried his best to save a sale and sell me Hot Shots anyhow, but I was kind of insulted that he tried knowing full well that would keep me from getting a discount elsewhere.  I had a choice.  Wait longer, or get something now that I didn't necessarily want.  Patience actually got the best of me, and here I am, still, with nothing to play on my Vita.  This will be remedied after work!

But kudos to the lady from Sony at the Gamesop in Mansfield, Ohio today.  She did a fine job, really knew her product, (I chatted quite a bit with her about the various Vita titles available) and represented her company well today.

Vita 3G Launch Bundle Free Game and Data Pack Require Initial Data Pack Purchase

Well this kinda sucked...

The seemingly awesome deal for Playstation Vita buyers getting the launch bundle lost a bit of its luster as I cracked the box on my new beauty.  There's the small matter of how the bonus items work that seemingly nobody reported on.  While there aren't (and couldn't be) any strings attached to the 8GB memory card that comes with the system, to get the free 250MB data pack and your copy of Super Stardust Delta, you must first purchase a 250MB datapack through AT&T.  While you're still getting $25 worth of free stuff in the deal, having to put out the $15 to get it would have been nice to know ahead of time.

UPDATE - On top of that... you don't get your free game for 30 days.  So if you bought the system thinking you'd have a game to play out of the box, you're sadly mistaken.

Playstation Vita 3G Launch Bundle

As reported by IGN today, Sony has created the Playstation Vita 3G Launch Bundle.  This bundle scores you all of the following for the same $299 that was announced at E3 for just the 3G unit:

• Playstation Vita 3G model
• 8GB memory card
• PSN title to be named later
• 1 free month of AT&T 250MB data service

Both Amazon and Gamestop have listed these bundles for sale, and as soon as I heard about it, I plunked down my pre-order money at Amazon.  How about you guys?  Is this enough to persuade you to buy a Vita?

Editorial: Time For a Mea Culpa

Much like Irrational's Ken Levine on stage tonight, I have to eat some of my own words.  In the wake of the PSN outage, I was an angry, angry PlayStation customer.  My identity was put at risk, I was lied to, and for a while completely ignored.  Then the truth came out, and Sony offered it's apology in the form of their Welcome Back program.  While I still maintain that this program was self serving PR, the complete shocker to even myself is how they actually got my attention again.  Not by the continued apologies, not by the Welcome Back program, but with this:

Yes friends, the NGP was revealed tonight as the PlayStation Vita.  I'm calling it the PSV, because it's nice and short, and still sounds like "PSP".  Astoundingly, it was announced as arriving this holiday season, and at the unbelievably reasonable price of $249 for the Wi-Fi model, and $299 for the AT&T 3G equipped model.  In addition, some rather cool games were demoed, and to sum things up nicely, my jaw is on the floor overall.

In my original editorial on the Welcome Back program, I stated that you've got to vote with your dollars when dealing with companies in America.  In that case, I was extremely dissatisfied, and prepared to take my dollars elsewhere.  On the flip side, you've also got to support what you want to keep around as well.  It's in that spirit that I admit that I've got to back track on my original stance.  Despite Sony's complete incompetence at handling the PSN situation, they've turned around and done something very, very right here.  If anything can unseat Nintendo as the king of dedicated portable gaming, this is the piece of hardware that will do it.  Priced at the same point, and with a wider array of features that will work for every gamer, the PSV has the potential to breathe life back into the dedicated portable gaming market that iOS devices had put on life support.

It's hard to admit that you may have been a bit rash in your decision making, but I'll gladly eat my words in this case.  This is a step in the right direction for portable gaming, and in my opinion will be the definitive platform for dedicated portable gaming for years to come.

NGP Officially Named the PlayStation Vita, Priced at $249 and Coming This Holiday Season

Contrary to the last price announcement Sony made where everyone asked "Are you serious?!?", this one was with positive disbelief rather than the negative variety.  In what's easily been the announcement of E3 to this point, Kaz Hirai dropped a nuke on Nintendo and revealed that the PlayStation Vita would be released this holiday season at an entry price point of $249 for the Wi-Fi only model.  The PSV (as I'll be calling it) will come equipped with 3G on arguably the nation's most terrible network, AT&T, for 50 more clams.  Despite the AT&T announcement which was openly groaned at by those in attendance, this was an absolute dagger to the 3DS.  Same price point, but with a much larger feature set to allow developers a myriad of opportunities.  Get your dollars ready... you'll need a pre-order for any prayer of securing one of these come this Christmas!