New paradigm: rentable game downloads for handhelds

 

Why go to the store when you can download your games from home? Friendly Computers thinks this will be a cool and “earth friendly” alternative to game discs:

What will happen to the video game rental trade and companies like GameFly and Blockbuster when the market changes, and when the more direct channel -- downloads over the net -- takes over? Sony looks to be thinking ahead to that point, as evidenced by its own recent survey.

The handheld market it going to be the first to drop hard copy and go fully downloadable. With the iPhone unexpectedly proving itself a viable outlet for small-footprint, small-price tag games, Nintendo dropping its customary cartridge slot upgrade on its DSi, and rumors of a new disc-less PSP, the changeover is imminent.

In light of this impending change, Sony has been gauging consumer interest in a direct-to-PSP game rental service. The survey says: "The service will enable you to download a fixed number of games during your subscription period (the subscription period might renew weekly, monthly, or some other time period), you will be able to change the games you have chosen for the download once your subscription term renews. At launch, there will be an extensive catalogue of games to choose from, with more titles being added to the catalogue each month."

It then asks the survey participant to choose which options would most attract them to the service. In April, Sony began to test the consumer predilection for downloads be releasing the sequel to its popular title Patapon only as a download. Sony issued the statement: ""We're considering a digital only format for the Patapon 2 release as a one-time test case as we continue to explore consumer preferences for digital content."

According to an unnamed source speaking to Develop Magazine today, Sony privately informed game studios at the recent Game Developers Conference in March that it planned to open a subscription rental service.

This type of service has been tried a number of times in the past for home video game consoles, going all the way back to the 1980s with the Atari 2600 Gameline and Intellivision's PlayCable. The concept was revisited in the '90s in the United States with Sega Channel on Sega Genesis, and the XBAND for both Sega and Nintendo's 16-bit consoles. These services all charged a monthly fee and gave the user unlimited access to a catalog of game titles, which would rotate in and out of circulation.

This, however, will be the first service of its kind for a handheld.

Source: http://www.betanews.com/article/New-paradigm-rentable-game-downloads-for-handhelds/1242930052

Napster's New Plan: Streaming, Some Free Downloads

 

Download five songs a month and listen to unlimited full tracks on your PC!?! Friendly Computers thinks this may be of interest to you:

On Monday, Napster unveiled a redesigned music service, following its acquisition by Best Buy, with a new subscription offering that may raise a few eyebrows.

For $5 per month, users can download and keep any five DRM-free MP3 tracks from Napster's catalog of more than seven million songs. So far, no big deal; that's the same as what Apple charges for many DRM-free AAC files, and slightly more than many singles from Amazon MP3. It's also reminiscent of eMusic's monthly MP3 download service. But here's where it gets interesting: as part of that fee, you also get unlimited streaming of all seven million tracks, for listening as often as you like.

There are a few strings attached that Napster isn't calling attention to: namely, that those tracks are DRM'ed unlike the MP3 downloads, and that you can only listen to those tracks on your desktop PC. You can't move them to a portable device (a la Napster To Go, which is still available and which costs more, or Napster Mobile--although you may want to skip that last one, given our experience with it).

Essentially, Napster is throwing in unlimited full song previews instead of 30-second clips. That even exceeds Lala's 10-cent-per-song offering for desktop PCs as well (which lets you listen to any song once, but then pay 10 cents and get unlimited listening). Napster is also offering more than 60 commercial-free radio stations, 1,400 programmed theme-based playlists, and an automix "seed" feature that creates a custom, Internet radio-style channel.

Will all this finally turn on more customers to the idea of renting music? At this point Napster is probably sick of playing second fiddle to the iTunes Store, so this move may win them a few converts. Stand by for a full review of how the new Napster compares to Rhapsody, iTunes, Zune Marketplace, Lala, and other services.

 

Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2347208,00.asp