Same was said about the PSP and PS3 that they would lose money, but they both did well. Sony play a long time game so overall this will be a success.
Sony Still Thinks the Vita is Doing Well
- Thread starter The Wooster
- Start date
To be honest, I believe Sony isn't too concerned because they didn't really plan for it to "sell well" in the first place - not to mention, Sony's products nearly always have "slow starts", they are probably used to it.
They were up against Nintendo, they probably figured the situation was hopeless anyway and decided to aim low and trying for a repeat of the PSP. If they could get PSP like numbers (over it's lifetime), they would probably be pretty happy as the PSV was actually cheaper to design and realize than the PSP nearly a decade ago - they learned their lesson well with the PS3 and decide to go the conservative route.
The fact that the 3DS had an unusually bumpy start for a Nintendo handheld was probably a "pleasant surprise".
They were up against Nintendo, they probably figured the situation was hopeless anyway and decided to aim low and trying for a repeat of the PSP. If they could get PSP like numbers (over it's lifetime), they would probably be pretty happy as the PSV was actually cheaper to design and realize than the PSP nearly a decade ago - they learned their lesson well with the PS3 and decide to go the conservative route.
The fact that the 3DS had an unusually bumpy start for a Nintendo handheld was probably a "pleasant surprise".
Almost no one in the US cares about Monster Hunter though ... it's effect probably won't as big as you think. The PSP was the go-to handheld for MH last gen, it did nothing for it's US sales.omicron1 said:
Well, it can play most of the PSP catalog - you have to re-buy them though. The PSP emulator on it allows remapping of keys to the second analog stick too - good for some games.ch0pstixZ said:
Other than that, it's pretty much a bigger and better PSP with a second analog stick, a (IMO novelty) trackpad control on the back, and a bigger screen. Check out the games, if there is something you like, go for it.
As for comparison to your smartphone, well it has better controls for one. IMHO tactile-less on-screen "virtual" controls can suck it.
A few days ago.MarsProbe said:
And by public transport, I'm assuming you mean out in the real world and not the school bus where some bully is going to laugh at someone and call them a nerd in front of everyone for playing a game.
Additionally, lets wait till the system is even on the market internationally for six months before we make it fashionable to consider it a flop.
3DS and Vita do A HELL of a lot more than play games. If My 3DS did nothing but play games, I'd have no reason to bring it outside the house, which I do nearly every day.
Hell, my 3DS can match the base feature set of an iPod Touch, except unlike the Touch where gaming is just coincidental to the purchase, the gaming experience on the 3DS or the Vita is front and center, and that's where the appeal of the 3DS and Vita lie.
Some kid or tween going through growing pains in a rush to "outgrow Nintendo handhelds because it's for kids" and wanting a shiny new something else to be "cool" and "mature" isn't a new phenomenon, kids have been doing that for as long as there's been Nintendo portables, if they're serious about gaming in the long run they aren't going to settle for a platform in which games are generally digital toys meant to be impulse purchased, played with for a while, and then discarded.
Yeh, I meant actual public transport, though at least in this neck of the woods, not being on the school bus is not a cast iron guarantee that you won't receive unwanted attention for using a handheld console. Granted, it probably doesn't happen as often, so you just have to pick your moments. But yeh, I haven't seen anyone use a DS/PSP in public a good few years.SuperTrainStationH said:
Still, one thing the Vita will have over things like the iphone with its touchscreen only controls is the dual analogue sticks. Bound to be a good sight better than trying to play a platform type game on an iphone when your thumbs are covering up a good chunk of the screen.
I want the Vita to succeed for one reason and one reason only. Nintendo has always had an iron grip on the handheld market, and because of that they've never had to step up their game, and it's shown. Imagine how much more advanced handheld games would be if the PSP was an actual threat, if Nintendo actually had to work for their market share. Nintendo has become complacent. They've figured they have been around for so long, been a leader in the industry for so long, that they don't have to try very hard, and with the safety net created by their huge lead in the handheld market, as well as their, for lack of a better term, "legacy", they were pretty much right. A company with no real competition stagnates, and that is what has happened with Nintendo.
They already suckered my friend into pre-ordering one. So I think their western sales will do okay.
Me, I'm not getting it. The only reason I might've wanted it was the fighting games at launch but I can play those on the PS3. With a fightstick. Without squinting at a 20cm tall Dormammu...
Me, I'm not getting it. The only reason I might've wanted it was the fighting games at launch but I can play those on the PS3. With a fightstick. Without squinting at a 20cm tall Dormammu...
So now the question is, "Nintendo's latest handheld or Apps" in the battle for the handheld market.
Nintendo stagnating with their portables due to lack of competition?wintercoat said:
Are you freaking kidding me? Where have you been since 2004?
If it weren't for the PSP, Nintendo likely would have sat on their ass and milked the Gameboy Advance for all it was worth till at least 2006, and then released a single screened, touch-screen less "Gameboy Advance 2" that was little more than a Nintendo 64 port machine.
Instead, realizing that they'd be crushed if they tried to rely on the success of GameBoy, they instigated RADICAL change in the way systems and games are designed with Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS.
If it weren't for the threat of increasing competition from mobile gaming and and an eventual next generation Sony portable game system, Nintendo would have never went through the trouble of engineering a more powerful successor to the DS with a robust eShop (yeah, I said it), built in glasses free 3D, and innumerous other features they could have saved themselves a great deal of expense and risk by doing without.
As stone sharpens stone so does one man sharpen another, the unique features and game selection of DS and 3DS thanks mostly due to the threat of competition from Sony.
As a Nintendo fanboy, I have to say that I'm disappointed with the Vita. I was really hoping for a real competition on the handheld market. I love my Nintendo, but competition would surly lower the prices and increase the quality of the games (tho that's not possible with N. first party games).
I hope that the Vita gets better accepted and starts selling more.
Also, don't forget that the 3DS has a Monster Hunter game, while the Vita doesn't.
And we all know that everything sells good as long as you can play Monster Hunter on it. Vita doesn't have any (AFAIK) titles currently out that would sell much in Japan. All games are for the western audience. Which confuses me. Why the hell didn't they get some games for the region where you lunch the console? Vita not selling is bad news since it will discourage later sales even if it gets the best games of all times.
Just look at the Wii. The Wii suffers from not having more hardcore games during the lunch period. Most hardcore games don't like the Wii because of that. Even tho the Wii does have a great hardcore library now, people don't want to realize that. They will still trashtalk it and say it doesn't have any hardcore games.
The first impression is really important. Most people won't read news after the first few during the release. If the news are bad, it will be hard to fix that.
I hope that the Vita gets better accepted and starts selling more.
Also, don't forget that the 3DS has a Monster Hunter game, while the Vita doesn't.
And we all know that everything sells good as long as you can play Monster Hunter on it. Vita doesn't have any (AFAIK) titles currently out that would sell much in Japan. All games are for the western audience. Which confuses me. Why the hell didn't they get some games for the region where you lunch the console? Vita not selling is bad news since it will discourage later sales even if it gets the best games of all times.
Just look at the Wii. The Wii suffers from not having more hardcore games during the lunch period. Most hardcore games don't like the Wii because of that. Even tho the Wii does have a great hardcore library now, people don't want to realize that. They will still trashtalk it and say it doesn't have any hardcore games.
The first impression is really important. Most people won't read news after the first few during the release. If the news are bad, it will be hard to fix that.
Me too, I tried it out in store a few days ago, it looks and sounds great and feels like a winner. But the price tag, and the risky near-future discontinuation of support for platform, is a really straining my desire to buy it.Strain42 said:"If you don't see the crazy person on the bus, it's probably you."MarsProbe said:
I wonder if that applies to handhelds too? I have no shame about playing a game in a restaurant or on a bus or something. The whole point of handhelds is they're meant to be portable after all lol
...well...portable and not steal your TV so you can watch Netflix or something while you play them
In regards to Vita sales...I'm actually a little sad. Not because I'm some die hard sony fan, but because about 85% of my gaming now days is on handheld consoles, and since I've yet to pick up a 3DS and the last DS game I bought was almost a year ago, it was nice to be excited for what the Vita might offer us.
Like most consoles, it's trying to sell itself on future potential, because right now it has a small library made even smaller by most of its games being ports or remakes.
I do hope it picks up some, but if it doesn't...oh well.
The cruel irony is, I want it to succeed so I can feel confident in purchasing it, but others are likely not buying for similar reasons and it ultimately fails due to peoples fears. I'm pretty sure there are enough people out there who would like one and be able to turn this initial flop around... if only the incentive was greater. Another gaming rig is not exactly necessary. It would be nice for sure, but it's not worth it if the support is as bad as it was for PSP.
That said, the current Big Boss of Sony is aiming to completely overhaul the Sony label from it's core outwards. This means changes to all of Sonys platforms and also increases the risk of this commercial flop getting axed altogether. Conversely, they might have long term plans for it that will save it in the coming years... but boy it's hard to see what they might be.
I maintain my view that the old style handheld is getting completely outpaced by the cellphone/tablet market. Thats the sexy market that the companies want to develop in, because they are playing in a space where the hardware is getting willingly scrapped and upgraded by the consumer at least every two years-- and they can piggyback their software on someone elses investment in hardware. Plus, you carry them everywhere, and can download software on a whim while sitting at a bus stop.
Nintendo, smart or dumb as it may have been, at least tried to do *something* different going back to the DS. Two screens, now 3d. Phones can't do what the ds can do. I don't own a nintendo device, but since they're stupid and didn't develop a nintendophone beginning almost 10 years ago, at least they're trying.
I just do not see the appeal of the sony handhelds from a user or investment standpoint.
Nintendo, smart or dumb as it may have been, at least tried to do *something* different going back to the DS. Two screens, now 3d. Phones can't do what the ds can do. I don't own a nintendo device, but since they're stupid and didn't develop a nintendophone beginning almost 10 years ago, at least they're trying.
I just do not see the appeal of the sony handhelds from a user or investment standpoint.
The DS was released a month before the PSP. Since then, the DS, DS Lite and DSi have doubled the PSP's sales. Nintendo hasn't seen the PSP as a threat in a few years. Now we have the 3DS, which is barely an upgrade from the DSi, and almost all of Nintendo's first party releases have been either re-releases of old games or their usual stale fare. Yes, Nintendo has stagnated, and no, they don't have any real competition in the handheld market. They know this, and are riding it for all it's worth.SuperTrainStationH said: