Interesting article regarding UMD sales

[son_of_bael]

Courtesy of play magazine:

http://www.playmagazine.com/index.php?fuseaction=SiteMain.showJapanPage&Japan_ID=109

Don't think it will catch on in a big way, but it is a pricing structure that makes sense. Too little, too late perhaps?

[Fastware]

Yes, too little far too late.

[MartyG]

It might work; the price of UMD movies has been simply daft. The same price as DVD for a lower quality and inferior product. I do think that they look great on the little PSP screen, when I saw Spider-man on it I was suitably impressed, but portable movies are not something I have that much interest in. Also, buy a memory stick, rip to a suitable format and hey presto, no need to buy a UMD movie at all.

Maybe the move to allow media playback from the memory card wasn't such a smart move

[briareos_kerensky]

Many hollywood firms already stopped supporting the UMD, this can be a good way to clean up stocks, but I doubt they will become popular. They cost as much or just a little less than standard DVDs and can be read only on a rather small screen. I think that the problem does not lie in the price itself, but that people do not want to buy a "home edition" and a "portable edition" of a movie. Also, with the PSP ability to accept MMCs and official and unofficial tools to convert movies freely for the console, they will hardly be a success.

[MikeRox]

I'd gladly hand over ?4-?5 for a film to watch as a one off on a train journey or whatever, certainly wouldn't hand over ?20 tho, the new pricepoint is no different to buying a magazine for a journey, nice cheap impulse buy.

[Solid_snake]

The Warner UMD's already cost about ?10 in Belgium and are selling pretty good.

[squidman]

the new pricepoint is no different to buying a magazine for a journey, nice cheap impulse buy.

Yeah, i'd bite at ?4-?5 too. If they had a little shelf space in Waterloo station then it would be a near guaranteed sale. UMD movie, copy of the paper and a bag of McCoys for the journey home!

[eastyy]

Films are just not the sort of thing i would enjoy seeing on the move as for example if i went on a very long trip i would have to watch a movie from start to finish it would get through the power supply quite quickly

Games i dont mind at least i can play them it short bursts

Much prefer to watch films at home (plus all the extras to)

[Dogg Thang]

Well I'm with the 'too little too late' people. I reckon if they wanted UMD to take off as a format, they should have been bundling them with dvds at no extra cost. Once they became accepted as a format, then they could be sold at a cheap price point.

I think it's already too late for that.

[Anpanman]

I?ve said all along that the price should be around ?5 and no more than ?10. Although I use the PSP every day on the commute it will also be used when we fly to Japan every couple of years and it that mode it will be for watching films.

Ripping to memory stick is fine but I would far rather have the original where I can flip to a particular chapter plus we need subs.

Hopefully the film studios will get their act together and reduce the price across the board.

[John Beaulieu]

Wait till some publisher decides to go the same route with their games, and their sales shoot through the roof ....