When Sony said they would have a solution to solve the UMD to Vita problem, some were skeptical that something would not happen. Now those skeptics can be quiet as Sony Japan announces the UMD Passport. The UMD Passport is a program which allows PSP owners to download a digital copy of a supported game at a special price. That special price will range between ¥500 to ¥1500, which would be, in Australian dollars, $6.40 to $19.10. The software will be available for download on December 6 on the Japanese Playstation Store.
So, how does it work? Well, I hope the following steps will simplify the program:
1. Download the UMD Registration Application from the Playstation Store onto your PSP
2. Boot up the UMD Registration Application and insert the UMD game you want to register.
3. Follow the prompts to register your UMD disc with your PSN account.
4. Now your game is available to download onto your Vita at a special discounted price.
So far, 200 games from 40 compaines have been announced they are (with price tags thanks to NeoGAF):
Guilty Gear Judgment (Arc System Works) 500 yen
Carnage Heart Exa (Artdink) 500 yen
Pachipara Slot: Pachislot Super Sea Story in Okinawa (Irem) 1000 yen
Akiba’s Trip (Acquire) 1000 yen
Last Promise Story (Image Epoch) 1000 yen
Persona 3 Portable (Atlus) 1500 yen
Metal Slug Complete (SNK Playmore) 500 yen
Higurashi Daybreak Portable Me, Mega Edition (Create) 500 yen
Atelier Viorate: Alchemist of Gramnad 2 (Gust) 1000 yen
Shutokou Battle (Genki) 1000 yen
Dynasty Warriors (Koei-Tecmo) 500 yen
Dead or Alive Paradise (Koei-Tecmo) 1000 yen
Colin McRae: DiRT 2 (Codemasters) 1000 yen
Ever17: the out of infinity (Cyberfront) 500 yen
Nanatama: Chronicle of Dungeon Maker (Gae) 500 yen
Ginsei Shogi Portable (Silver Star Japan) 1000 yen
Kuru-kuru Chameleon (Starfish SD) 500 yen
Hot Shots Golf Portable 2 (Sony) 500 yen
Patapon 3 (Sony) 1000 yen
Gran Turismo PSP (Sony) 1000 yen
Nano Diver (Takara-Tomy) 1000 yen
Princess Days Portable (Takuyo) 740 yen
Secret Room Sacrifice (D3 Publisher) 1000 yen
Promise This Blue Sky: Paradise in Hand (TGR) 100 yen
Everybody Read: Masterpiece & Mystery & Horror & Literature (Dorasu) 500 yen
Disgaea 2 Portable (NIS) 500 yen
Phantom Kingdom Portable (NIS) 1000 yen
Tsuyokisu 2 Semester Portable (Netrevo) 500 yen
Pachislot Simulator, Secret Treasure Edition: Sealed Goddess Portable (Paon) 2400 yen
The Convenience Store Portable (Hamster) 1000 yen
Unchain Blaze Rex (FuRyu) 1050 yen
Neon Genesis Evangelion Battle Orchestra Portable (Broccoli) 1000 yen
Kanon (Prototype) 1000 yen
I Conquer the Path I Believe In (From Software) TBA
Harvest Moon: Boy & Girl (Marvelous AQL) 500 yen
Maikomi Best: Mahjong Champion Portable: Mahjong Club Battle (My Navi) 530 yen
Memories Off (5pb.) 500 yen
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (Ubisoft) 1000 yen
Tenshin Ranman: Happy-Go-Lucky!! (Russel) 1000 yen
The following developers/publishers have been announced as supporters but do not have games on the list yet:
Idea Factory
Capcom
Gung-ho Online Entertainment
Konami
System Soft Alpha
Square-Enix
Spike
Sega
Sonic Powered
Chunsoft
Nihon Falcom
fonfun
Media-5
With companies like Sega, Capcom and Square Enix supporting this program, this may open the opportunity for games that were not released on the Playstation Store to be released. Even though the user must pay for the game again, it is quite a generous discount, although getting the game for free would have been the better option.
