Sony Still Thinks the Vita is Doing Well

[Jumplion]

Jeez, people really want the PSVita to fail, don't they? It doesn't help that we get these loaded and biased articles (something I've had a problem with the Escapist for a while now, not specifically with Sony related articles mind you), but now everyone is calling for the end of the handheld that has only been released in one territory (pretty much one country anyway), for a few months, with just a few games to show for it. Seriously, the 3DS went through the exact same thing during its first couple months, everyone was screaming bloody murder for the thing trying to prove that Nintendo was going the way of dust.

At least wait a few months after the PSVita's been released in most other territories, yeesh.

 

[FalloutJack]

That would be me with a PSP. That would be plenty of others here too. My city has a strong anime-and-japanese-culture convention aspect to it. Lots of con-goers play DSs and PSPs. The ones I see outside of conventions still do.

So which city are you in? Anime Expo or Otakon?

Funny story. Pittsburgh, home of Tekkoshocon, the Kuro-Kiiro Festival, and the Sangawa Project.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

When will Sony learn that they aren't meant for the handheld market?

It will be interesting to see how well the Vita does when it's released over here...soon, right?

I don't know, but I just can't see a dedicated handheld gaming device really flying off the shelves these days. When was the last time you ever saw someone use a PSP/DS on public transport anyway? Or anywhere public, for that matter...

I could say the same back during age of the Gameboy Advance and even all the way back to the age fo the original Gameboy. Other than me or a friend using one on the school bus, I hardly ever saw handhelds being played out in public. I was alive when the original Gameboy became a big thing, and since then if I really stretch my memory, I could possibly say that I've only seen 30 or so people out in public(not in videos) playing such handhelds.

In public on the go use may have been the intended use for such dedicated gaming handhelds and it might be like that, as I have seen in videos of places in Japan and see many people with handhelds out, but I really don't think it is how the majority of dedicated gamers or regular people use them.

I would say about 95% of the use I got and still get out of my handhelds, happens at my home, or some other non-public place like a friends house. I've had several friends that played their handhelds to death, but when they go out places where they know they will have to wait and do nothing, they don't take their handhelds, though even sometimes say it would have been a good place to take them. At least in the US, most people just don't think of handhelds as in public devices, or even if they do, they don't do it with their handhelds.

For an example of what I determine to be what many people would do:

Last year was the first time I ever got to use my DS's WIFI ability. I have WIFI at home, but I've never been able to get it to work with my DS. It happened when I for the first time decided to actually stay in the nearby laundromat instead of just driving back to my place and waiting for my stuff to get done while I did things I wanted to do at home. The only reason I stayed at the laundromat is because luckily I just happened to have my DS in my pocket, I hadn't consciously taken it with me, it was probably in my pocket from when I took it with me to my bathroom.

So I turned it on and found out that the laundromat had WIFI and got to have my first Pokemon battles with people across the world using my DS. Now the point I'm getting at is that if my WIFI worked at home, I would have just went back home and played the battles at home and then went back and got the laundry. The reason, I don't like sitting around in public unless I seriously have to. What is the point of sitting in public when I can sit in the comfort of my own home/apartment.

The main reason people get handhelds is for times when they can't use a TV to play their games, or they just like playing handheld games. In my time using handhelds, I used them for both reasons, though the TV one happened because it was at a time I didn't have my own TV and my console was hooked up to the TV being used by somebody else.

For the most part, at least when concerning gaming handhelds, the gamers the use them the most in public, basically doing it every chance they get, tend to be the type of people that are thinking, "Look at me I have the latest whiz-bang entertainment gadget! I are special!"

 

[tehweave]

Wait... The Vita is already out?

 

[Sonic Doctor]

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.

Your misspelling of "launch" gave me a good laugh. I especially liked the second instance where it was followed by the word "period".

I agree with you about the Wii. Nintendo failed to hook people during the "lunch period", but they made up for it at "dinner time".

 

[awol360]

There must be somebody doping the water at Sony's corporate offices, some really nasty acid or LSD. Because there's a few simple solutions to marketing the Vita.

1) Advertise GAMES! Don't give slap a personality to market the PSP and Vita (The Annoying GET YOUR OWN Ads, the African-American Kid, ect), Let me know what's coming out! Give me TITLES!

2) Get some BIG NAME GAMES out there! Why can't we get a new Mega Man or Mega Man X game for the Vita/PSP? A new Street Fighter game (even the 3DS got on that)? Castlevania? At least they have Dragon's Crown from Vanilliaware (I loved Odin Sphere).

3) Revive some old series! If they can't be innovative (and let's be honest, they could try harder), Sony has tons of things, games from their past that have gathered so much dust that would astonish people if they brought back. Breath of Fire, Timesplitters (one of my favorites), Wild Arms. If you can't invent, revive!

 

[OldNewNewOld]

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.

Your misspelling of "launch" gave me a good laugh. I especially liked the second instance where it was followed by the word "period".

I agree with you about the Wii. Nintendo failed to hook people during the "lunch period", but they made up for it at "dinner time".

Ah, thanks for correcting. I have no clue how I managed to misspell the same word 2 times...
I was writing fast and didn't really spell check. I let my browser check for me. Unfortunately, lunch is written correctly, just the wrong word...

 

[darksakul]

There must be somebody doping the water at Sony's corporate offices, some really nasty acid or LSD. Because there's a few simple solutions to marketing the Vita.

1) Advertise GAMES! Don't give slap a personality to market the PSP and Vita (The Annoying GET YOUR OWN Ads, the African-American Kid, ect), Let me know what's coming out! Give me TITLES!

2) Get some BIG NAME GAMES out there! Why can't we get a new Mega Man or Mega Man X game for the Vita/PSP? A new Street Fighter game (even the 3DS got on that)? Castlevania? At least they have Dragon's Crown from Vanilliaware (I loved Odin Sphere).

3) Revive some old series! If they can't be innovative (and let's be honest, they could try harder), Sony has tons of things, games from their past that have gathered so much dust that would astonish people if they brought back. Breath of Fire, Timesplitters (one of my favorites), Wild Arms. If you can't invent, revive!

1) Its early so we have see, I agree, I do think Sony should push more games for the Vita rather than pushing the Vita. People buy the system for the games not the games for the system.

2) Uncharted, Blazblue, Rayman Origins and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is already on the list for titles released this month. I know Street Fighter X Tekken, Mortal Kombat (2011 Reboot) and I think Disgea 3 (Vita port) is coming out next month. Titles that are already on the PS3 that are being ported on to the Vita can have there game saves linked. So you can work on the same game at home, and continue the game on the vita on the road with out swapping save files. As the game saves on the "cloud".

3) Vita does play PSP, Mini and PS1 PSN titles
So that will cover there growing list of PS1 re-releases for PSN for the PSP/Vita.
PSN also working on bring back some PS2 titles.

[edit]
correction: PS1 title will not be available for the vita at launch, but Sony states an later update will allow PS1 playability for the vita.

 

[Terramax]

I love how alarmist these stories are getting. Before we all declare the Vita dead and Sony kaput why don't we wait for the international release? We all know that Japan is married to Nintendo handhelds for better or worse.

THIS!

Aren't I right in saying that most of the games for the Vita are targeted more for Western audiences anyway? Wipeout, Uncharted, Rayman, F1, etc. I would also like to point out there aren't many, if any JRPGs for the system. It's a scientific fact the Japanese will not touch a gaming console until at least 50% of all games on the shelf for the system are mediocre JRPGs.

And weren't people saying the same thing about the PS3 a few years back?

 

[keideki]

I love how alarmist these stories are getting. Before we all declare the Vita dead and Sony kaput why don't we wait for the international release? We all know that Japan is married to Nintendo handhelds for better or worse.

THIS!

Aren't I right in saying that most of the games for the Vita are targeted more for Western audiences anyway? Wipeout, Uncharted, Rayman, F1, etc. I would also like to point out there aren't many, if any JRPGs for the system. It's a scientific fact the Japanese will not touch a gaming console until at least 50% of all games on the shelf for the system are mediocre JRPGs.

And weren't people saying the same thing about the PS3 a few years back?

I think the thing that most people tend to forget is that the PSP had terribad sales in Japan right off the bat too. It was only when development costs went way down and eroge and galge makers realized that the PSP was just as good as the PC as a development platform for their kind of games that PSP sales really took off in Japan. Once those tiny visual novel/eroge/galge devs start developing their games for the Vita (and with the multiple touch interfaces they could do all sorts of things) then Vita sales will probably pick up in Japan. In the mean time I think the North American and European launch of the Vita is going to have a bigger impact on sales numbers. More or less exactly for the reasons you mentioned. Sony seems to be trying to focus this handheld for the western market, almost as if they realize that the Japanese market is still too far in Nintendo's pocket for them to make headway there.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Your misspelling of "launch" gave me a good laugh. I especially liked the second instance where it was followed by the word "period".

I agree with you about the Wii. Nintendo failed to hook people during the "lunch period", but they made up for it at "dinner time".

Ah, thanks for correcting. I have no clue how I managed to misspell the same word 2 times...
I was writing fast and didn't really spell check. I let my browser check for me. Unfortunately, lunch is written correctly, just the wrong word...

That's okay, it happens to me too. I usually don't correct people, but since it made for a good joke, I thought it was well worth it.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

I'm just going to assume that I'm not a marketing expert and that I don't pay enough attention to video game console sales, because I've never really understood Sony's plan from the beginning in the handheld market. Nintendo's proven time and time again to simply provide the better (or at least, the more popular) console in this little war, and the last ventures of the PSP have been far from successful in stealing away the market. Sure, the 3DS is probably the biggest bomb in Nintendo handheld history since the Virtual Boy, but I doubt that alone is enough to even give Sony the thought that they might be able to get a win out of this.

 

[Nergy]

I'm not the biggest fan of the Vita by any stretch (I've played on one and was quite underwhelmed for various reasons) But can we stop with the "Welp, looks like handheld gaming is dead, everyone wants iphones instead". Handheld gaming doesn't have to be for the 5 minute bus journey, it's a means of getting your games away from your mostly stationary home console/pc. And not just quick games, ones you'll invest more than 10 hours into. As alien as the concept might seem, people actually want those.

Sure, the iphone/android caters to people who aren't into their video games as much as we are, but that's exactly the point: They are not our market. The success of the 3DS (Yes, it's a success) shows people still care about dedicated handhelds.

Nobody buys an iphone for it's games, they get the games because they are cheap, quick games and simply there. It's like someone buying a Laptop for flash games on Newgrounds.

 

[Strazdas]

People play games with thier phones now. noone wants a handlheld computer anymore.
And before you run saying you want one, go away, your sick.

 

[awol360]

1) Its early so we have see, I agree, I do think Sony should push more games for the Vita rather than pushing the Vita. People buy the system for the games not the games for the system.

2) Uncharted, Blazblue, Rayman Origins and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is already on the list for titles released this month. I know Street Fighter X Tekken, Mortal Kombat (2011 Reboot) and I think Disgea 3 (Vita port) is coming out next month. Titles that are already on the PS3 that are being ported on to the Vita can have there game saves linked. So you can work on the same game at home, and continue the game on the vita on the road with out swapping save files. As the game saves on the "cloud".

3) Vita does play PSP, Mini and PS1 PSN titles
So that will cover there growing list of PS1 re-releases for PSN for the PSP/Vita.
PSN also working on bring back some PS2 titles.

[edit]
correction: PS1 title will not be available for the vita at launch, but Sony states an later update will allow PS1 playability for the vita.

Actually, I'm kind of curious about Street Fighter X Tekken myself, considering that none of the Tekken characters have access to fireball type moves (hadoken, kikoken, sonic boom, ect). I wonder how they're going to balance that.

Your #2 actually reinforces my first point; I didn't know they were putting these good titles out there. Maybe it's the fact that I haven't bought a PS3 or follow Sony, but it seems like unless you follow a Play Station Magazine there's very little game advertising for Sony on TV or the Internet.

And with my #3, I meant make a NEW Wild Arms or Breathe of Fire, not a re-release like Metal Gear Solid HD or a Port. Apparently there's been talk of a new Timesplitters if there was enough public/corporate interest for one.

 

[darksakul]

1) Its early so we have see, I agree, I do think Sony should push more games for the Vita rather than pushing the Vita. People buy the system for the games not the games for the system.

2) Uncharted, Blazblue, Rayman Origins and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is already on the list for titles released this month. I know Street Fighter X Tekken, Mortal Kombat (2011 Reboot) and I think Disgea 3 (Vita port) is coming out next month. Titles that are already on the PS3 that are being ported on to the Vita can have there game saves linked. So you can work on the same game at home, and continue the game on the vita on the road with out swapping save files. As the game saves on the "cloud".

3) Vita does play PSP, Mini and PS1 PSN titles
So that will cover there growing list of PS1 re-releases for PSN for the PSP/Vita.
PSN also working on bring back some PS2 titles.

[edit]
correction: PS1 title will not be available for the vita at launch, but Sony states an later update will allow PS1 playability for the vita.

Actually, I'm kind of curious about Street Fighter X Tekken myself, considering that none of the Tekken characters have access to fireball type moves (hadoken, kikoken, sonic boom, ect). I wonder how they're going to balance that.

Your #2 actually reinforces my first point; I didn't know they were putting these good titles out there. Maybe it's the fact that I haven't bought a PS3 or follow Sony, but it seems like unless you follow a Play Station Magazine there's very little game advertising for Sony on TV or the Internet.

And with my #3, I meant make a NEW Wild Arms or Breathe of Fire, not a re-release like Metal Gear Solid HD or a Port. Apparently there's been talk of a new Timesplitters if there was enough public/corporate interest for one.

There is talk for a development for a Augmented reality game, the Sony people are fishing for ideas for it in the PlayStation forums. I like to see what they come up with all the ideas they are receiving.

Breath of Fire is up to Capcom, although Wild Arms is published by Sony.
Time Splitters for the Vita would be cool as hell.

Street Fighter X Tekken is supposed to have a gem system similar to what the Marvel Super Heroes had with the infinity gems. Gems are picked after character selection that offer various bonuses or buffs to various characters, different gems will work differently with your character selections. Also the Tekken/Namco Characters will have better projectile blocking than the SF. Just Announced by Capcom is that Megaman (from the original game Art) and Pac-man will also be playable characters on the Sony systems (vita and ps3 exclusives)