Sony has a very nice piece of hardware in the Vita it will be launching in just over two weeks. It has a strong launch lineup and a lot going in its favor, but for seemingly every positive, there is some negative to go along with it: pricey memory cards, a confusing requirement for memory cards in some retail games, a limit of one PSN (SEN) account per system, an insubstantial discount on digital games. Now we can add to the list the inability to transfer PlayStation Portable UMD games to Vita.

With the Vita's launch so near -- it will be out on February 22 -- it was starting to look like the conversion program might not make it out of Japan. When I contacted Sony recently regarding the subject it had nothing to say, although it has now come out and revealed the unpleasant truth: North American gamers will not see any form of the UMD Passport program those in Japan did. The news was confirmed with Kotaku today and means Vita's backwards compatibility with PSP is limited only to digital games.

This is not the first time those of us in North America have lost out on the ability to convert UMD games into digital versions. Ahead of the PSP Go's launch, Sony scrapped plans for a UMD transfer program that would have allowed existing PSP owners to build up a library of digital games for use on Go, which, like Vita, lacked a UMD drive. In lieu of this Sony offered a selection of three free games to those in Europe. North Americans were offered nothing.

It is not as if Japan's Vita conversion program was a perfect setup. While the ability to bring over UMD games is very much welcome, not every game was eligible and gamers were asked to pay to do so. And we're not talking about a few dollars -- prices ranged from $6.50 up to as much as $31 depending on the specific game, and remember this is a fee on top of what was already paid for the game. The conversion process itself involves downloading an app on PSP, popping in the game, and paying the discounted price. (Yes, it sounds strange to me, too, that $31 was the discounted price for a digital copy of a game someone already owns.)

To be fair, Sony did have a difficult task in coming up with a method for allowing UMDs to be converted into digital copies. Doing the conversion doesn't eat up the UMD, meaning the owner is free to keep or sell the physical copy. Sony had to worry about finding a way to avoid allowing a single UMD to be passed around where multiple people could pick up a discounted digital copy without even owning the UMD. Despite the challenge, it was a problem it managed to solve.

That said, this is a frustrating situation for PSP owners who hoped they would be able to bring along all of their games to Vita. Instead, the only games which can be transferred are those they already own digital copies of. What could have been a selling point for Vita -- finally play your existing PSP games with the use of a second analog stick, and on a much nicer screen! -- is instead another reason that may motivate some to avoid rushing out to buy the system.

As someone who ditched the majority of my UMDs when the PSP Go came along (and regretted doing so almost immediately), this probably won't have much of an impact on whether or not I keep my Launch Bundle pre-order. Those with an extensive back catalog of PSP games might not feel the same way.

With that in mind, does the lack of a UMD conversion program have any effect on your interest in Vita? Let us know how it will impact your decision to buy (or not buy) Vita below.