Transfarring

foil1212 · Jun 5, 2011

That is all.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch the last 20-30 minutes of Konami's pre-E3 press conference.

AlphaMan · Jun 5, 2011

What Does Transfarring Mean for Gaming?
by Benjamin Yoder

E3 hasn't even started yet, but Konami has already released their pre-E3 video, showing off the latest trailers for their upcoming titles, announcing a handful of HD collections and teasing some new titles. For the most part, there's nothing all that surprising. But Hideo Kojima, head of Kojima Productions, talked at length about a new concept called “Transfarring.” Basically it allows players to transfer save data between home and portable consoles. Players can continue playing the same save file in titles like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker across both Sony's portable and home consoles. But do gamers really want to bring the home experience into a portable environment, and is the idea ahead of its time?

It's a concept that sounds great on paper. Have a business trip coming but want to keep playing your favorite game? Transfarr it and take it on the go! Early on, this will be available between Kojima's PSP and PS3 HD remakes of PSP titles. It will then expand to PS2 HD remakes between PS3 and NGP. Both of these sound doable, and actually might be quite convenient for these remastered titles. Where it starts to sound a little shaky is when it comes to original software for NGP and PS3.

We're not exactly sure how the whole procedure works yet. One of the key unknown components is if you need to purchase both an NGP copy and a PS3 copy of a title. And if you do, Transfarring is probably doomed right out the gate. But assuming you get a downloadable voucher for the other version of the title, space issues might arise as a problem. Blu-ray discs can hold so much more than what NGP's card format. Obviously the titles will be optimized to better fit on the cards and whatever internal memory or external memory the system ships with. In combination with differences in hardware, moving your game over to the NGP might make for less of an experience which may make players reluctant to take their game on the go.

Developing titles for Transfarring might also adds another layer of challenge to creating a title. Portable games tend to be designed so you can pick up and play them at any time, then put it down as need be. Whereas on the console side, titles are built more towards players sitting down for a couple of hours at a time. Creating the exact same experience across both platforms might make some difficult challenges for developers, like making titles convenient for portable players while also designing them in a way to encourage players to sit down and play for lengthy periods of time.

And lastly, I'm not sure Transfarring, even if it is seamless, would become anything other than a novelty. For a ten to twenty hour experience, just having a home console version might be enough already. It seems useful for a franchise like Monster Hunter that players pour hours upon hours into, but that's a Capcom title. And unless Capcom develops something similar, it won't fall under Konami's Transfarring line.

Again, it sounds great on paper but I'm not sure how well it will work after it's implemented. There are still a lot of questions left unanswered at this point, so who knows. Maybe Konami has already found ways around all these problems. But it will probably be quite some time till we get our hands on the first original NGP and PS3 Transfarring supported title.

It's a concept that sounds great on paper. Have a business trip coming but want to keep playing your favorite game? Transfarr it and take it on the go! Early on, this will be available between Kojima's PSP and PS3 HD remakes of PSP titles. It will then expand to PS2 HD remakes between PS3 and NGP. Both of these sound doable, and actually might be quite convenient for these remastered titles. Where it starts to sound a little shaky is when it comes to original software for NGP and PS3.

We're not exactly sure how the whole procedure works yet. One of the key unknown components is if you need to purchase both an NGP copy and a PS3 copy of a title. And if you do, Transfarring is probably doomed right out the gate. But assuming you get a downloadable voucher for the other version of the title, space issues might still arise. Blu-ray discs can hold so much more data than the NGP's card format. Obviously the titles will be optimized to better fit on the cards and whatever internal memory or external memory the system ships with, but... In combination with differences in hardware, the probably-tedious process (if current PSP/PC connectivity is any indication) of moving your game over to the NGP might make for less of an experience, which may make players reluctant to take their game on the go.

Developing titles for Transfarring might also adds another layer of challenge to creating a title. Portable games tend to be designed so you can pick up and play them at any time, then put it down as need be. Whereas on the console side, titles are built more towards players sitting down for a couple of hours at a time. Creating the exact same experience across both platforms might make some difficult challenges for developers, like making titles convenient for portable players while also designing them in a way to encourage players to sit down and play for lengthy periods of time.

And lastly, I'm not sure Transfarring, even if it is seamless, would become anything other than a novelty. For a ten to twenty hour experience, just having a home console version might be enough already. It seems useful for a franchise like Monster Hunter that players pour hours upon hours into, but that's a Capcom title. And unless Capcom develops something similar, it won't fall under Konami's Transfarring line.

Again, it sounds great on paper but I'm not sure how well it will work after it's implemented. There are still a lot of questions left unanswered at this point, so who knows? Maybe Konami has already found ways around all these problems. But it will probably be quite some time till we get our hands on the first original NGP and PS3 Transfarring-supported title.

Check out gamrFeed's E3 2011 coverage for all the latest news from the show floor!

Konami, Playstation 3, PlayStation Portable, Kojima Productions, NGP
Click to expand...

This concept sounds like it's right up my alley. I've been doing a lot f consulting lately and that takes me all over the country for weeks at a time. As a result, I haven't had the time to get into games the way I want and incidentally, alone in a hotel room at nights without much for entetainment. If this works as advertised, it could be huge for me.

foil1212 · Jun 5, 2011

I just thought it was hilarious that Mega 64 did a video basically making fun of the word and concept of "Transfarring" like it was a fake thing, then Kojima actually kept going with it. The fact that it was serious was hilarious. Also, they spent a HUGE amount of time explaining what it does which is simple. You can move your saves for peace walker back and forth between the PSP and PS3, and they're planning on doing it with the NGP, or Vita.

I thought the boards they held with the bullet points on them were hilarious. Konami went self aware about their bad press conferences.

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Transfarring

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Transfarring

foil1212 Jose "Mom Fan" Alvarez Staff Member Moderator

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