If the PlayStation Vita is from the future, why does it still use game cartridges? Well, Sony's Shuhei Yoshida says it's a matter of practicality. "We believe the time is still not right to go download-only as a platform," Yoshida said. "Some PS Vita titles, like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, will be close to 4GB in size, which could be too large to download for consumers who do not have a fast broadband connection."
UMD storage could hold up to 1.8GB, meaning Vita games are already doubling the footprint of PSP games.
If a game like Uncharted: Golden Abyss were made downloadable, it would take a large chunk of space on Sony's pricey internal memory cards. A 4GB card, which would be sufficient for Uncharted and nothing else, is priced at about $25.
SCEE president Jim Ryan also told Next-Gen that while some consumers may be fine with a 4GB download, "there are consumers in parts of the world--this is a global device--where the digital model has not yet fully been embraced."
With game sizes already reaching 4GB at launch, Sony Japan's decision to restrict 3G game downloads makes a lot of sense. Over a standard 3G connection, it would take about an entire day to download Uncharted. For most people, that's likely much slower than just walking into a store and buying a cartridge.