Vita?

[amolac]

So what do you guys think about the Vita? I am not quite sure it would be something that would be able to save Sony in their bid to go portable with their game consoles but considering the success the PSP has been able to bring about, it would not be surprising to see them rank high with it.

I would likely consider having a look at it as well if not for the quite hefty price tag it sells with.

 

[meStevo]

compared to the 3DS its a failing handheld so far. I'd stay away until there is a healthy library of games you want to play.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[yourbeliefs]

compared to the 3DS its a failing handheld so far. I'd stay away until there is a healthy library of games you want to play.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Which will probably happen around the time of a price drop. So basically, wait until Sony drops the price and then give it another look.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Here's a 6 month update. Not looking that good, and the solution is fairly obvious..

The PS Vita Still Struggles After Six Months, But The Solution Is Obvious

 

[meStevo]

My opinion, but already their failure to drop the price and spur more adoption should hurt the console for at least the next 18 months as 3rd parties shift resources away from the handheld... which has a self-reinforcing effect that will make the hole deeper and deeper.

The 3DS is proof the market is there, people are buying handhelds, but if Sony finally gets their act together when the 3DS has a 10m unit lead and there are multiple credible Apple and Android tabets that can be had at the same time, the reasons to buy a Vita continue to shrink outside the very specific 'I want a Vita' buyers.

At this point I'd probably stay away until well after a price drop to see if 3rd party developers really go away, and if the quality of games suffers from a lack in confidence (resources) by those developers that aren't owned by Sony.

 

[ohioankev]

...and if I can get just 1% of a billion dollar market I'd be a happy guy, things aren't a given though. The PSP hasn't done poorly for years because it didn't have PS3 graphics, it's done poorly because price, proprietary formats and numerous redesigns lost consumer interest, which made it lose a lot of 3rd party support.

Overpriced, proprietary formats, likely redesigns... check, check, check. Toss in things like cancelling the UMD -> Vita program that they had in Japan (probably same reasoning they got rid of backward compatability... to get people to buy games), the recent downgrade of Sony's credit and debt rating, and dollar/yen making life difficult... they've got a lot riding on this handheld.

I personally want a Vita but that's because I'm in the 1% that doesn't have a cellphone. However right now I have a list of things I need to accomplish before I can even think of buying one. The reason the PSP had a rough time at the beginning is because no one was buying the software, only the hardware. Everyone I knew was loading custom homebrew to illegal obtain PSP games which didn't give game companies a real incentive on releasing quality games. As for hardware change there has only been four different PSP models since release. One was a major change (no umd, all digital download which = major flop and discontinued) In my opinion the worse offender of this strategy is Nintendo with the various incarnations of their handhelds but when you are king you can do what you want. I haven't really been a fan of Nintendo since the mid 90s though. I grew up they didn't.

 

[meStevo]

Yeah, the success of the unorthodox Wii successfully weened me off of the franchises I grew up with.

Not sure that's really a bad thing, for me at least.

Good point with the PSP revisions, I guess since then it has just become a (reasonable) consumer expectation that revisions will happen quickly as efficiencies are realized in manufacturing and the product is further 'right sized' to cut costs (like the PS3 dropping USB ports, etc). The combination of all the hanheld and console makers create an illusion of much more frequent revisions I suppose.

I have a PSP fat, it still has 1.5 firmware or whatever on it to be able to play SNES games. Haven't turned it on in years though.

 

[meStevo]

Sony's financials out today... 1.4m PSP+Vita sales (they won't distinguish the two as to not further expose the poorly performing system) and reduced their target for PSP+Vita from 16m this year down to 12.

By comparison the PSP sold 1.8m last year, and ended up selling 6.8. This year there's a new product out, and it's selling worse than the aging dying platform the PSP was this time last year... and they think it will sell twice as much and is on track to perform dismally.

Sony posted a $300m loss for the quarter.

 

[meStevo]

PSP+Vita sales at 3m worldwide through 2 quarters, expectations lowered again from 12m to 10m.

Just had it's worse week ever in Japan, with a high profile fighting game selling only 5k copies, and Vita not even hitting 6k units sold itself. Meanwhile the PSP outsold it 3:1, the 3DS more than 10:1.

 

[king3pj]

I wasn't planning on getting a Vita because I'm not usually a big handheld guy. However, amazon had a great lightning deal that I couldn't pass on. It was the Assassin's Creed bundle that included the game, the white Vita that is only available in this bundle, and a 4GB memory unit for $179. I also ordered the 32GB memory unit for $80. This is still outrageous for 32GBs but the normal price is $99.

I went with the bigger memory card because I plan on downloading all of my games for portability. That way I can just leave Assassins Creed in the Vita and always have all my games with me without having to grab anything else. If i run out of room games and save data can be backed up to my PC or PS3.

I already had Playstation Plus for my PS3 and this works on the Vita as well so I got 6 free Vita games, including Uncharted, with more free games every month. The Vita made Plus an even better value for me because for the same $50 a year I was already spending I get free games for 2 systems each month now.

I also already had Playstation All Stars Battle Royale for PS3. This is one of the first PS3 games that featured cross buy so I will be able to download it for free on my Vita. It also features cross play and cross save so I can play against friends either on PS3 or Vita in the same game and continue progress on the go with the same save files. Hopefully this is the way of the future for Vita. I would be much more likely to buy a game knowing it will let me play on either system.

Everything should be waiting for me when I get home from work so I'll let everyone know what I think after trying it out.

 

[king3pj]

So I played the first two chapters of Uncharted. They were decent length and basically it felt like Uncharted. It is a nice cinematic experience with great animations. Although, the Vita has dual sticks just like the PS3 they feel way different due to their size. The first few bad guys I came up against gave me trouble because I was having a hard time lining up my shots with the Vita sticks. I'm not sure when it happened because I just forgot about it and kept playing, but I realized about a half hour in that I was lining up my shots fine. It just took a little while to get used to the feel. One of the best parts about this is that I got it as a free download with my PS Plus subscription.

After that I loaded up All Stars Battle Royale. I have been playing this one on PS3 since it came out and since it had cross buy I got the Vita version as a free download. As soon as I ordered my Vita I downloaded Battle Royale to my PS3 so it would be ready to go. It was simple and quick to transfer the file to my Vita through USB. When I fired it up on the Vita all my save progress and trophies were there just like they are supposed to be. This game automatically syncs your save file over the internet between the two systems which is nice.

Anyways, I played Battle Royale the rest of the night with 3 of my friends over PSN. They played on their PS3s while I played on my Vita. Normally I'd rather play on the big screen unless I wanted to get a few rounds in while someone else was watching TV or something but I have to say I held my own. I didn't feel like I was at a disadvantage because I was on the Vita and it actually feels like the same game. We had a blast and it's cool to know that I can get that experience anywhere that has WiFi.

Tomorrow I will probably try out Assassins Creed Liberation and some of the other free PS Plus games. LittleBigPlanet Vita and Sound Shapes are also games I plan on downloading soon but I haven't purchased them yet. I have been choosing these games based on IGN reviews and unfortunately there isn't much else I want to play besides these games so far.

 

[meStevo]

My concern with the Vita is proprietary memory prices and the already shaky if not dwindling 3rd party support. I think you can buy a Wii U for the Nintendo exclusives, I'm not sure you can say the same for Sony's handheld, when you can just get a PS3 for them for the most part.

Things seem to be getting worse, not better, just a week or two removed from it selling only 4k units in Japan. If they can't sell it at home, I'm not sure what's going to move units here. I'd start by keeping the black friday pricing, and dropping the memory at least 50% though.

Note that Nintendo and Microsoft touted crazy figures for Black Friday. Silence from Sony.

 

[yourbeliefs]

My concern with the Vita is proprietary memory prices and the already shaky if not dwindling 3rd party support. I think you can buy a Wii U for the Nintendo exclusives, I'm not sure you can say the same for Sony's handheld, when you can just get a PS3 for them for the most part.

Things seem to be getting worse, not better, just a week or two removed from it selling only 4k units in Japan. If they can't sell it at home, I'm not sure what's going to move units here. I'd start by keeping the black friday pricing, and dropping the memory at least 50% though.

Note that Nintendo and Microsoft touted crazy figures for Black Friday. Silence from Sony.

I'm willing to bet that the Vita did very well on Black Friday considering they had bundles for $200, but until they get some must have games the Vita is going to flounder. They really had a shot with the CoD: Declassified game, but from everything I've read that game turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. Had they pulled off true CoD multiplayer on a portable device, they could have had something special. As it stands though all they have is a cavalcade of ports and "exclusives" that aren't as good as the console versions they are based off of (Assassin's Creed 3 Liberation, Declassified, etc.)

 

[king3pj]

I still haven't started Assassins Creed but I'm really liking Uncharted and All Stars Battle Royale on my Vita. I agree that they are going to need some third party help but they are doing an ok job with at least some of their first party games. I'm really hoping that the upcoming Killzone release continues that trend so we can finally get a good shooter. I stayed away from Resistance and COD because of the reviews but if either of them ever end up on Playstation Plus I will give them a try.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Note that Nintendo and Microsoft touted crazy figures for Black Friday. Silence from Sony.

Sony broke its silence.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/29/playstation-3-vita-black-friday-2012-sales/

 

[meStevo]

Yup, wonder if they'll keep that up. That PR is more detailed than their financial statements about console sales.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[riffjim4069]

I bought my daugher a PSP 2-3 years ago and a DS3 for Christmas last year. We have no interest in ever getting a Vita.

 

[yourbeliefs]

This could help... Sony Vita cut down to $199


http://www.joystiq.com/2013/08/20/vita-price-cut-to-199-in-us-199-in-europe/

?

 

[king3pj]

This could help... Sony Vita cut down to $199


http://www.joystiq.com/2013/08/20/vita-price-cut-to-199-in-us-199-in-europe/

?

I really do love my Vita. Most of my Vita collection has come in the form of free PS+ games and I have plenty to play even though you always hear about the lack of games. Rayman Origins and Guacamelee are probably the two best gaming experiences I have played on the Vita so far but there are lots of other great games on the system. More and more of the best indie games are showing up on the Vita with identical gameplay to the PC and home console counterparts.

I often use my Vita while traveling. This summer I have been out of town almost every weekend and got a ton of use out of it. I also like to play Vita while I have sporting events on the TV. I watch the Tigers almost every night and play a lot of Vita during that time. The same will be true during Saturdays and Sundays this fall during football season. The remote play functionality of the Vita will make this even more useful for me. Soon I will be able to play any of my PS4 games on the small screen while people use the TV to watch something.

 

[Zookster]

I just pre-ordered The Walking Dead bundle on Amazon (comes with 4 GB card) for $199. Can't wait to finally play Golden Abyss. Like King3pj says, this will come in handy during football season. I don't really need it for travel or because I have to share my living room TV with anyone. However, on really hot days, I can take it to my dad's house, where there's AC.