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[Roland Deschain]

As soon as I knew that Batman and Dead Island would have DLC, I held off and waited for the GOTY editions. Knowing full well that within a year or so I'd get both games with all the DLC for a much, much lower price.

It's how they trained me.

 

[Canis lupus]

DS is doing pretty good!

 

[Hammer24]

Hey JVM - here comes the monthly ASP begging... if you can share them!

 

[Leonsito]

Fuck yeah Batman!

 

[Opus Angelorum]

PSVita less than 50k? That's nearly as bad as Japan, oh boy.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Pretend I wasn't so lazy that I correctly captioned this so Nero = Sony and Rome = Vita.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Diablo 3 disappeared the fuck out.

 

[liger05]

Vita below 50k? The alarm bells have to be ringing at Sony HQ. It's a crisis!!

 

[Coolwhip]

i wonder how well the xl will do.

 

[Zen]

Vita below 50k? The alarm bells have to be ringing at Sony HQ. It's a crisis!!

They really shouldn't have made buying storage basically mandatory. Lower the specs some and include some decent internal and they would probably has been selling more. 249 is nice and all, but it's not really 249.99.

 

[Canis lupus]

They really shouldn't have made buying storage basically mandatory. Lower the specs some and include some decent internal and they would probably has been selling more. 249 is nice and all, but it's not really 249.99.

I dont think storage is any cause at all for vita doing so bad.

 

[lefantome]

What happened to the may games like max payne 3 and dragon dogma? Very short tail...

 

[LobLob]

I dont think storage is any cause at all for vita doing so bad.

I know i am only one person but i wanted a Vita and the rip off of a memory card that you have to buy was the nail in the coffin for my purchase of the Vita.


With that said, i feel bad about the Vita numbers. Despite it's flaws the Vita is cool in my book.

 

[Ruud_Luiten]

I dont think storage is any cause at all for vita doing so bad.

It's the games.... people still claim that the launch was amazing. It wasn't. All the games are nice, but not of high enough level to get current console gamers out to buy this device.
Plus, the quality isn't better or different than current games, so why would people want to get this portable?

You're not getting anything extra besides making games portable. Which isn't good enough.
Which games define the PSV? Are these good enough to persuade people into buying the device?

The high cost of entry doesn't make things better....

PSV is doomed, no other word can describe the current situation better.

 

[DR2K]

I dont think storage is any cause at all for vita doing so bad.

Games don't work on without the card. So yeah it's a big problem. Overpriced software, memory, and of course hardware does not help. No BC except for PSN garbage, no PS1 emulation in sight, etc. . . this thing is dead unless Sony has some miracle push.

 

[liger05]

It's the games.... people still claim that the launch was amazing. It wasn't. All the games are nice, but not of high enough level to get current console gamers out to buy this device.
Plus, the quality isn't better or different than current games, so why would people want to get this portable?

You're not getting anything extra besides making games portable. Which isn't good enough.
Which games define the PSV? Are these good enough to persuade people into buying the device?

The high cost of entry doesn't make things better....

PSV is doomed, no other word can describe the current situation better.

I know we are less than a year into its life but it really does look like recovering from this situation is going to be a hard ask.

I just dont see the likes of COD, Fifa, Madden etc being the software that changes there fortunes considering this titles are all avaliable on the 360/PS3. If you own a vita then great but I am no way convinced people will lay out another $300 just to play an inferior version of the same game.

 

[electroplankton]

so
theatrhythm < 61k
heroes of ruin = 1/2 theatrhythm
rhythm thief = 1/6 theatrhythm
?

 

[Mpl90]

so
theatrhythm < 61k
heroes of ruin = 1/2 theatrhythm
rhythm thief = 1/6 theatrhythm
?

Yes.

 

[cw_sasuke]

I dont think storage is any cause at all for vita doing so bad.

It is - right now i have money on my account but i still double check any sizes on PSN purchases just because i dont want to delete and copy games all the time. It sucks. Having a wide library of PSP, PSN and Psone titles with these memory card prices is a curse.

Charging more than 50 bucks for a 32GB nowadays is just bad.

 

[electroplankton]

Yes.

Well, if theatrhythm is at 50k, it'd be pretty good imo.

 

[BassForever]

Rhythm Thief sales :'( Not surprised but disappointed

 

[Cosmonaut X]

Games don't work on without the card. So yeah it's a big problem. Overpriced software, memory, and of course hardware does not help. No BC except for PSN garbage, no PS1 emulation in sight, etc. . . this thing is dead unless Sony has some miracle push.

I don't believe they do, and even if they are quietly brewing a relaunch - price-cut, a swathe of internal and external titles and new promotion - the longer they leave it at this level, the harder it becomes to do that.

It's difficult enough launching a new system, but there is an excitement and, I suppose, a kind of goodwill from early adopters that can get you a long way. Apart for a core, I think that goodwill is gone, and there's less excitement in relaunching a device that's already being seen as a "failure".

I did believe Sony could carve out a niche for the system, but as the year has dragged on and there seems to be no direction, no sense of purpose and no end to the decline from launch I'm actually coming to believe that we could be looking at a drastically shortened life for the system and Sony's exit from the dedicated portable market.

 

[electroplankton]

Rhythm Thief sales :'( Not surprised but disappointed

I really don't how many units SEGA expected from this.
On DS, a lot of niche games survived with very small numbers (30-40k), though.

 

[Opus Angelorum]

...a swathe of internal and external titles

Even if they do announce some new titles at Gamescom and TGS, it's unlikely they will be released this year. If a price cut is on the horizon, it needs to happen very soon.

 

[Cosmonaut X]

Even if they do announce some new titles at Gamescom and TGS, it's unlikely they will be released this year. If a price cut is on the horizon, it needs to happen very soon.

...which again brings us back to the problem of not matching a price cut (or other "relaunch" efforts) to game releases.

A price cut would probably bounce the Vita back up, but without new and attractive software *now* - or the promise of something incredibly attractive in the near future (as with the imminent release of MK7, SM3DL and Tri G when Nintendo cut the 3DS price) - that boost will be short-lived. Except in very rare cases, people don't buy consoles based on potential, no matter what the price.

 

[Opus Angelorum]

...which again brings us back to the problem of not matching a price cut (or other "relaunch" efforts) to game releases.

Absolutely, but can Sony wait until Q1 2013 to drop the price?

The 3DS will have a very good holiday period, more so if the PSVita continues on this downward spiral. Sony need to do something, anything.

 

[TheExecutive]

So everything is doing shitty and the vita is on life support...

 

[Cosmonaut X]

Absolutely, but can Sony wait until Q1 2013 to drop the price?

The 3DS will have a very good holiday period, more so if the PSVita continues on this downward spiral. Sony need to do something, anything.

Mm. I don't normally make predictions, but:

-- Sony will use Gamescom to announce a Vita price-cut and will showcase currently-announced-but-unreleased titles again.
-- TGS will have a mini-blowout of new titles, most of which will be fairly low-key and aimed at the Japanese market, but will be heavily promoted by Sony going into the holidays.
-- Vita sales will rebound in the weeks following the price-cut and possibly sustain through the holidays at a respectable level, depending upon the timing of the cut.
-- Hardware sales will drop sharply in early 2013.

 

[Mr Swine]

Diablo 3 disappeared the fuck out.

It laughed its way out with 10 million sales

Bad numbers for everything. I wonder how bad it will be at Black Friday and Xmas

 

[Impeccable]

If the whole gaming industry is selling like shit, if it was healthier, would the Vita sales be healthier too?

 

[Opus Angelorum]

If the whole gaming industry is selling like shit, if it was healthier, would the Vita sales be healthier too?

Well considering the retail industry is down 20%, adding that to PSVita sales still does not make for great numbers.

 

[Throwaway123456789]

PSVita less than 50k? That's nearly as bad as Japan, oh boy.

There are three times more people in the US. It's a catastrophy for Sony.

 

[Opus Angelorum]

There are three times more people in the US. It's a catastrophy for Sony.

Yeah that was my implication, not good at all.

 

[Yoshi]

There are three times more people in the US. It's a catastrophy for Sony.

But Nintendo sells as many 3DS in japan per week, maybe per two weeks as it is selling in a month in the US, so the situation is better in the US, relatively speaking.

 

[Erethian]

But Nintendo sells as many 3DS in japan per week, maybe per two weeks as it is selling in a month in the US, so the situation is better in the US, relatively speaking.

No, it's just the depressed state of videogame retail in the US and the fact the 3DS isn't doing as well as it should.

DS sold (and still sells) best in the US, when it really took off.

 

[benny lava]

I'm a Sony fan, but the whole Vita thing is just stunningly stupid.

Executive 1: "Hey, let's make a product that nobody wants! Oh, and let's further alienate consumers by making it expensive and having it use expensive proprietary flash memory!"

Executive 2: "YES. Great idea! Let's also not market it AT ALL! That way we can alienate 3rd party developers too!"

Executive 1: "Hey, this plane we are flying in is on fire."

Executive 2: "Why, you're right! I'll order the pilot to fly straight into the side of that mountain over there!"

Mind-boggling. Even if they had put together a decent marketing campaign, nobody in the US would have bought it because this is 2012, not 2005. They might as well be selling VCRs or cassette Walkmen.

I kind of hope that Sony stock will drop so low that a smart company like Apple or MSFT will gobble them up.

 

[Dragon]

Mind-boggling. Even if they had put together a decent marketing campaign, nobody in the US would have bought it because this is 2012, not 2005. They might as well be selling VCRs or cassette Walkmen.

I kind of hope that Sony stock will drop so low that a smart company like Apple or MSFT will gobble them up.

You're crazy if you think we'd be better off as gaming enthusiasts with Apple running Sony's properties. Sony may be going back to their roots as far as proprietary crap but they haven't gone all the way yet. Remind me again how you can upgrade the storage of your iPhone/iPod/iPad without buying a new one. Yeah you can't. Apple would be terrible for the game industry (some may argue they may be already).

You can't complain about storage costing money and in the same sentence want Apple to take over for Sony. Crazy talk.

 

[bill0527]

You're crazy if you think we'd be better off as gaming enthusiasts with Apple running Sony's properties. Sony may be going back to their roots as far as proprietary crap but they haven't gone all the way yet. Remind me again how you can upgrade the storage of your iPhone/iPod/iPad without buying a new one. Yeah you can't. Apple would be terrible for the game industry (some may argue they may be already).

You can't complain about storage costing money and in the same sentence want Apple to take over for Sony. Crazy talk.

Ever hear of iCloud?

 

[dallow_bg]

Ever hear of iCloud?

That's not a storage upgrade.
It's a backup solution.

 

[benny lava]

You're crazy if you think we'd be better off as gaming enthusiasts with Apple running Sony's properties. Sony may be going back to their roots as far as proprietary crap but they haven't gone all the way yet. Remind me again how you can upgrade the storage of your iPhone/iPod/iPad without buying a new one. Yeah you can't. Apple would be terrible for the game industry (some may argue they may be already).

You can't complain about storage costing money and in the same sentence want Apple to take over for Sony. Crazy talk.

Fair and correct points. My point, poorly made, was that I want to see smart people with good vision running the company. Apple and Microsoft are far from perfect, but they know how to make products that people want and how to market them effectively.

 

[Curufinwe]

Ever hear of iCloud?

We all have, yes. And it's not physical storage.

 

[gcubed]

man, its pretty clear that dedicated handhelds are dead in the west

 

[Mpl90]

man, its pretty clear that dedicated handhelds are dead in the west

Saying this the month before revision + 2D Mario come? Sure, why not.

 

[Celine]

I'm a Sony fan, but the whole Vita thing is just stunningly stupid.

Executive 1: "Hey, let's make a product that nobody wants! Oh, and let's further alienate consumers by making it expensive and having it use expensive proprietary flash memory!"

Executive 2: "YES. Great idea! Let's also not market it AT ALL! That way we can alienate 3rd party developers too!"

Executive 1: "Hey, this plane we are flying in is on fire."

Executive 2: "Why, you're right! I'll order the pilot to fly straight into the side of that mountain over there!"

Mind-boggling. Even if they had put together a decent marketing campaign, nobody in the US would have bought it because this is 2012, not 2005. They might as well be selling VCRs or cassette Walkmen.

I kind of hope that Sony stock will drop so low that a smart company like Apple or MSFT will gobble them up.

You what?

 

[gcubed]

Saying this the month before revision + 2D Mario come? Sure, why not.

sure, a bump is going to make everything all better! You'll see!

 

[benny lava]

You what?

I know it doesn't make sense, but feelings aren't always logical. Perhaps a better way to phrase it would be, "I'm a Playstation fan". I don't trust Sony's current management to be good stewards of that brand going forward.

 

[Erethian]

I know it doesn't make sense, but feelings aren't always logical. Perhaps a better way to phrase it would be, "I'm a Playstation fan". I don't trust Sony's current management to be good stewards of that brand going forward.

Well you wouldn't want Apple buying them, because Apple isn't a videogame content provider. In the sense that they build a marketplace for other companies to sell games, the sale of which they get a cut of, but that's the start and end of their investment in gaming. They don't, and won't, make games themselves.

Edit: Though I guess whether this is a good or bad thing would depend on how you feel about first-party software.

 

[electroplankton]

sure, a bump is going to make everything all better! You'll see!

3DS is stable month over month in this period. It's not selling well, neither badly.

 

[Subaru]

theatrhythm was sold out @ Amazon, Play-Asia and HKOfferhouse

 

[Pillville]

You're crazy if you think we'd be better off as gaming enthusiasts with Apple running Sony's properties. Sony may be going back to their roots as far as proprietary crap but they haven't gone all the way yet. Remind me again how you can upgrade the storage of your iPhone/iPod/iPad without buying a new one. Yeah you can't. Apple would be terrible for the game industry (some may argue they may be already).

You can't complain about storage costing money and in the same sentence want Apple to take over for Sony. Crazy talk.

At least my iPhone came with storage. I didn't have to buy the phone and also buy a proprietary memory card just to be able to use it.

I also enjoy being able to browse the app store on my computer and buy directly from there and then transfer to my phone when/if I want to. That makes it MUCH easier to deal the limited (and fixed) amount of storage on the device.