Cross play may have just gotten a bit more relevant.
During today's Gamescom conference in Cologne, Germany, Sony released information about a brand new initiative that will start this fall with the release of its flagship titles. The "Cross Buy" program will allow players who purchase the PlayStation 3 version of a game to also take the same title on the go at no extra cost. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale will lead the initiative, netting owners of the PlayStation 3 title a free digital copy for their portable Vita.
According to Sony, fan-favorites Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time will both carry the same promotion, as well as other first party Sony titles down the line. All three of the titles will offer Cross Play ability, allowing players to sync game saves across both versions, as well as challenge friends online across both platforms.
Third parties are also investigating the program and may offer the same perks for their titles. At this time it's not clear if both digital and physical purchases will qualify for the promotion, nor is it clear how these Vita editions will be redeemable on the portable system.
This is just the shot in the arm the Vita needs. I'd imagine programs like this will be incentive enough for players to drop some cash on a Vita.
Everyone has been saying for years that Sony's portables were basically home consoles on the go and this pretty much cements it. Sony is embracing its strength and I can respect that.
As I was moving into the end game of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, I was tasked with finding three power couplings to unlock a door. It was a simple enough job, but in a game that had been almost entirely a linear affair, I was glad to have the rails taken off if even for a small section. It turned out that this wasn’t the case; any time I got remotely close to one of the power couplings Doktor would chime in on my codec to inform me that I was near my objective. Frowning, I destroyed the coupling and repeated the task with Doktor telling me exactly where to go and what to do. It made me realize just how much game design has changed in recent years, and what needs to be done to combat the need for constant hand holding that game designers have developed.
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