The Vita doesn’t play UMDs, but it is backwards compatible with downloadable PSP games. However, given how the PSPgo flopped and the affordable price of physical UMDs both used and new, many PSP owners have a rather large UMD library. In Japan, the solution to get people to upgrade was to introduce a UMD Passport more »

Attention potential PS Vita early adopters! Your game library just took a pretty big hit. As we all know, both of the Sony consoles available right now, the PS3 and PSP, have the ability to play Game Archive games. That’s what they’re referred to in Japan. Here, we like to think of them as PSOne Classics or TurboGrafx-16 ports. So you can hop on the PlayStation Store, pay between $6 and $10, and download some of your favorite golden oldies. That may not happen with the Vita.

Sony has a Japanese Vita FAQs website online now that addresses important questions…

It looks like upgrading your PSP collection to go Vita may end up costing early adopters some money. Sony’s been hinting at ways to turn PSP UMDs into compatible Vita downloads for the last few months, and it seems like there’s now a more solid vision of how this plan will work. Dengeki PlayStation magazine talked to Sony’s Yoshio Matsumoto and people may be able to redeem UMDs towards PlayStation Store purchases.

This deal isn’t definite or final, but it is a possible service that Sony is considering providing…

Life is a funny thing. Earlier today, our own Jenni Lada gave me enough reason to uncover my PSP from its cold, cardboard box home. It had been inactive for maybe a couple years, but still worked once charged. After checking out the new features that I’d passed up in during my PSP hiatus, I put it back in the box, expecting to never use it again. Then, Sony announced Patapon 3 is coming out on April 12 on UMD and PSN for $19.99. Is this fate?

This week is full of alleged leaks of future Sony products. The PlayStation phone was leaked in image form along with a few specs by Engadget, and now Kotaku has the skinny on the PSP2. Details about the PSP2 aren’t necessarily new as they date back to several months ago. However these new details convey the possible direction Sony is taking with the handheld.

You’ve got two more years, buddy, because the world is going to end in 2012. No, really. Everyone says so.

In the science fiction disaster movie, 2012, the entire planet is in danger thanks to a massive neutrino burst warming the Earth’s core. And guess when it’s all going to go to pot? (Hint: Read the @#$%! name of the movie.)

Explosions, volcanoes, fireballs hurling from the sky, massive earthquakes, outrunning explosions, ginormous tidal waves, mass hysteria, dogs and cats living together, it’s all in here. But is it worth a dime?

PSP UMDs are fragile little things. Without even realizing it, the casing could crack or the little metal circle in the center of the disc could become dislodged.

When using a third party UMD case, I discovered that the tiny metal circle in the center of the UMD disc had been dislodged, and was now freely and happily roaming around the inside of the UMD casing. After consulting with other PSP owners, who told me to turn to bootlegging, and video game store clerks, one of which told me to buy a new game and the other directed me to buy new UMD casings, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

And, in doing so, discovered a simple and easy way to both fix a broken UMD disc and fix a UMD case. Bear in mind, if you follow these instructions to repair a UMD, you will void your warranty. Of course, if you’ve gotten to this point, you probably have no repair alternatives anyway…

There’s a new rumor out there about the PSPgo, started by CVG. Supposedly, third party peripheral maker Logitech is working on a UMD drive peripheral for Sony’s latest iteration of the PSP. CVG’s source only stated that a product was in development and it would make the PSPgo “bulky,” but didn’t offer any additional information.

CVG also contacted the European branch of Logitech for comment, which denied working on a peripheral of that kind. The European branch did acknowledge that the US branch of the company could be working on a device like that.

I have to wonder if such a peripheral, if it did exist, would really be well received by PSPgo owners. After all, they paid more money initially, when buying a PSPgo, for a system with no UMD drive. Perhaps, if Logitech really is working on a UMD drive peripheral, it’s hoping to cash in on PSPgo owners who are regretting their decision.

Also, how would the drive attach itself to the system…

It was such a shame when it was announced that Patapon 2 and Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This? were going to be PlayStation Store exclusives. A lot of PSP owners prefer UMD releases after all. However, there’s a shining light of hope up ahead. NIS America, who brought Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman! to the US PlayStation Store, has had a change of heart.

Since so many fans asking for a UMD release of Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman!, NIS America has decided it’s worth offering people the option. A UMD preorder of the game is now available on the NIS America RosenQueen shop. If at least 1,000 people preorder the game by November 13, 2009, NIS America will put Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman! on a UMD and send it out to everyone who placed an order.

If you decide to preorder, it will cost you $19.99. You won’t receive your game until sometime after December 18, 2009. Still, it’s well worth the wait…

At the asking price of $249, the PSPgo is a Siren of game devices, offering a lot of sexy style without a lot of substance. There’s no UMD backwards compatibility at this time, leaving anyone with a large collection out in the cold or having to be re-charged admission.

Opening the box of the PSPgo almost feels like unboxing a cell phone especially since the device is much smaller than the previous PSPs and is about the size of an iPod Touch. You flip open the top and there the device is, looking back at you in all it’s $249 glory. Truth be told, love it or loath it, the PSPgo is one sexy piece of hardware and you definitely get that feeling the first time you set eyes on it.