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[sturgboski]

With regards to Sony's support, what is the general definition of a AAA title? Does it have to be a Killzone Mercenary or Uncharted Golden Abyss level title (I am not sure the cost but I am assuming $10m+ development cost)? OR does something like Dragon's Crown, which cost around $1m count? Or a game like Freedom Wars where Sony was looking for a LTD of I think 200k which I'm guessing cost something like $5m (I'm using the 70/30 digital pricing as my assumption)? Personally, as I said on a previous page, I would rather Sony take the cost of Killzone Mercenary and spread it across making a few titles. The issue is, how do you make a game with enough universal appeal to bring in Western audiences as well as the Eastern audience.

While I dont see the ship completely turning around, there are some things that Sony could do to improve the sales rate of the console. As I mentioned in an earlier post, leverage the PS4 audience through the What's New? section to advertise the Vita, especially now with the improved remote play functionality. Would love either a remodel with a price drop or just the straight price drop to $150. Maybe do a "build your own bundle" like they did with the PS4 last holiday season. On top of that, the memory card prices need to drop. Best bet would be drop the 4GB card completely and drop all the other cards' prices to the lower level price bucket (ie 8GB price drop to the previous 4GB price).

Just a couple of things that might positively affect the sales of the console. I doubt its going to be a night and day improvement but, hey, any boost helps.

 

[Chinbo37]

Will someone unlock it so I can have the ultimate portable emulation machine? If so then my answer is maybe. I know I would buy one.

 

[……forgetit]

I will buy a Vita when:

All PS3/PSN games are fully playable. I would definitely own one. This thing needs to be the "PSN" machine - I mean everything is fully supported.

So never? The Vita is much weaker than a lot of people think. There's no way you'll get the biggest PS3 games to run on the thing.

 

[Skyzard]

Will someone unlock it so I can have the ultimate portable emulation machine? If so then my answer is maybe. I know I would buy one.

Coming in from the current 3DS thread on Nintendo and piracy, there isn't enough interest in the vita for that apparently.

 

[Chinbo37]

Funny I was just reading the same thread.

I own a 3dsxl and could care less about emulation or pirating games on it

But vita with its controls, screen etc, would be just perfect. And I don't want to play pirated vita games. Just roms of snes and Saturn games I already own.

 

[VLiberty]

Yes, because claiming that the Vita is dead must mean that is has sold literally zero units! I can just imagine the state of Vita threads years from now:

The Vita is dead.
No way, didn't you see this month's NPD? The Vita sold one unit! One, not zero! VITA MEANS LIFE!

Sony announces they will discontinue the system.
No way, I went down to my local Gamestop and they still had a Vita in stock! It can't be discontinued if there's at least one out on a store shelf somewhere!

No one wants to put games out on Vita.
Don't speak lightly of Betty Boop Bop, you heathen.

I don't know what's more funny, the post itself or the fact that the one you're quoting hasn't even mentioned sales or availability, he was just saying that the system is still getting tons of quality games (which, by the way, is undeniably true)

 

[Deadstar]

I really hope the vita can come back. I've had one since day one and enjoyed it but it needs better games. It was off to a great start with Lumines and wipeout. The hardware is just amazing. I recently got a new 3ds and have been really underwhelmed. The graphics are just bad, I guess people want good gameplay over graphics first and I get that but if vita had the games combined with the awesome graphics, it would be the best handheld out there.

I think one problem is that developers didn't create too many stylized games which would have really popped on the system.

 

[VLiberty]

I really hope the vita can come back. I've had one since day one and enjoyed it but it needs better games. It was off to a great start with Lumines and wipeout. The hardware is just amazing. I recently got a new 3ds and have been really underwhelmed. The graphics are just bad, I guess people want good gameplay over graphics first and I get that but if vita had the games combined with the awesome graphics, it would be the best handheld out there.

Honestly I'm confused. I 'get', to a certain extent, those who want a console experience and don't like smaller games...I mean, I strongly disagree with that vision, but I get their point. But if you think that Lumines is great, how is it possible that you don't like what the console is currently getting?

It's the same thing for those who complain about the system "not getting games on the same level of PSP games" and then bring up Patapon and Locoroco as examples of what made PSP great. Really?

How can you possible love Lumines, Locoroco and Patapon but then skip the DD scene as a whole?

 

[KnockOneOff]

Psp didn't work, playstation mobile didn't work and neither did vita

As cool as all 3 were and I owned all 3 for a short period they just weren't any good as you could play the better versions on your home console and the titles which made it a handheld only version felt like short change I guess compared to the console versions, screen size and home comfort I guess

The vita is an amazing bit of hardware some of those titles felt and looked as good as the PS3 versions, just I prefered playing on the playstation 3 that was my problem

 

[BibiMaghoo]

The sad truth is that no, it is surely dead.

But even worse the knowledge that when it's finally kicked in a hole, memory card prices are actually going to go up considerably, rather than down. A few years later we will all be paying $400 for a 16Gb card, while Sony are slyly listing them on Ebay.

 

[Pankratous]

Posted a couple of pictures of mine on social media since it arrived this morning and people keep asking me what it is. Thing is just so under-marketed clearly. It's like it didn't sell well for the first wave so Sony just didn't bother trying to market again.

Nobody knows what it is!

Cross-posting from the PS TV thread.

For any renaissance to happen it seems clear to me that marketing is the issue that needs to be tackled, for both PS Vita regular and PS TV. People don't know what these things are, nor they do understand their capabilities. Memory card prices are an issue and the lack of first party support isn't helpful, but for either of those problems to be fixed the system needs to have some kind of popularity and that's never gonna happen if people don't know what it is.

 

[Dice//]

This is officially the first system I regret spending the money on.

Ah well, I've had fun enough just putting PSX/P classics on there, so I guess that's something. And I guess the games it DOES have don't really do anything for me.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

Psp didn't work, playstation mobile didn't work and neither did vita

As cool as all 3 were and I owned all 3 for a short period they just weren't any good as you could play the better versions on your home console and the titles which made it a handheld only version felt like short change I guess compared to the console versions, screen size and home comfort I guess

The vita is an amazing bit of hardware some of those titles felt and looked as good as the PS3 versions, just I prefered playing on the playstation 3 that was my problem

Huh the PSP sold something like 80M right?

 

[Shig]

It had a fighting chance at relevance if Sony had done a Minecraft bundle for the holidays. That absolutely would have moved a ton of units.

Now that that ship has sailed, nope, no chance, no how.

 

[Mr. Nice_Guy]

Yep, it's ironic that the best PlayStation system of all time is also the worse selling one.

At least compared to the PS4, PS Vita has:

– Backwards compatibility with digital PSP/PS1 games, your digital licenses can carry over; no need to buy "remasters".

– PS1 Classics compatibility

– A sleek, snappy and customizeable interface

– Great first-party games with great, innovative gameplay (Gravity Rush, Tearaway. @Eurogamer, you know "next-gen gameplay” )

– Plays music, video and photo media files, unlike PS4

– Portability

– Friends notifications

– Free online multiplayer

– A messaging system that works

– DLNA support (Network Media Player app)

And it had the best launch line-up among all new-generation systems of course.

Maybe not best of all time, but after I got mine I couldn't believe how much I adore it. I will be using this thing for years and years to come, the classics and PSP compatibility cements that. And who knows what might be possible down the line with homebrews.

 

[Novocaine]

It is dead, dude. Don't be delussional. That's like saying the Dreamcast is still alive because someone recently released a game for it.

I own a vita, and this is the same talk I heard from people when it came to the Saturn and the Dreamcast. The writing is on the wall, you guys are just acting like you can't read.



^ This guy gets it.

That Dreamcast analogy makes zero sense. The Vita gets at least one new game a week, more commonly multiple releases a week. That's not one game for Dreamcast. Again hyperbole that's not backed up by anything outside of "I have a Vita so my opinion must be valid"

I'm well aware that the Vita is in a bad place, but to call it dead is ludicrous. If the Vita was truly dead Sony wouldn't be supporting it at all anymore. And let's remember that " not making games that I'm interested in" doesn't mean Sony isn't supporting the system. Does it get as much support as the PS4? Of fucking course not, and why would it? Does it get the support it needs to keep fans of the system happy? Absolutely.

 

[rand0mZer0]

As much as I would love to have something like this happen with the Vita (I actually just bought one a couple of weeks back) I just don't have enough confidence that any real "big" games will ever be released for it going forward. I think that a lot of smaller games could find a good home here though, which is also cool.

I'm just gonna enjoy it for what it is.

 

[Valkyria]

I'm not gonna get into the shape of future of Vita market, but I love how people equals USA with the whole world minus Japan. Just for reference, here in Spain Vita sells more games than Wii U and Xbox One.

So Vita is gonna end in 15M with luck, but I will wait for the LTTP claiming how something like that could fail, meanwhile, just like with the Dreamcast, people wants it dead during its life time.

 

[RedSwirl]

Indies felt like such a cop-out. I didn't buy a 180€ device to play games I already played months ago on PC with added price and lessened resolution and frame rate. Thank God for Japan third-party, otherwise my Vita wouldn't have gotten much use. The biggest problem Sony made is that they expected Vita to sell with no killer apps available. No MH in Japan, no GTA or GT in west = failed handheld. They should've stuck closer to their PSP strategy of helping major third-parties make high-calibre games for it. But I guess they weren't up to the investment required. Even major brands like AC and CoD had Vita versions some people consider straight up shovelware.

This. I forgot to mention how Gran Theft Auto on the PSP was actually kind of a big deal. It was the first game I saw a lot of people playing on the PSP out in the wild, indicating a portable full-blown GTA actually meant something. Some kind of San Andreas stories on Vita would have at least made for a bump in sales if it didn't suck. And Sony should have given Capcom whatever it wanted to keep MH. I even think the Vita hardware would have made MH a better game.

If you ask me, I think a game like Elder Scrolls could potentially work really well on Vita. Not a Skyrim port, but maybe a separate mini-Elder Scrolls. I've seen iOS games with very similar systems and content, proving it's definitely possible on current handheld technology. Skyrim sold 30 million copies and no one seems to be capitalizing on it.

For the most part western games on the Vita probably aren't going to work market-wise, but the biggest brands do have an impact if done well. Maybe AC and COD were all Sony could convince third parties to do. COD had potential if they'd found a team actually concerned with making a good game.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=969122


The Vita Isn't dead, in fact there's probably more games coming out for it that I'm interested in than any other format (don't play on PC) It's just doing it's own thing and selling reasonable amounts of software. It's the little arthouse cinema to PS4, Xbox and DS's big multiplexes.

It'll never have the renaissance in to a big selling console though. It didn't do it when it had triple A games support and It didn't do it when it got PS4 remote play. I don't see any other big changes they could make to it to make it a big seller (I'd love them to drop the ridiculous price of memory cards but I don't think that's stopping many people buy one).

I'll say here what I said there, A LOT of the really interesting stuff on Vita or coming to it is Japan-only. More of it is getting localized and that's good though.

 

[vicoakland]

I'm down for purchasing a Vita soon. It just fits my needs in a couple of ways:

-BART and work breaks
-something to jam when there's downtime on visits to gf

Plus, it's likely the only way I'll get to play through some genres (like SRPGs) that have been crowded out by my PS2/3 backlog...and, yeah, someday it could be a nice accessory to a PS4.

I've got a bunch of digital games for the system already.

I've got Binding of Isaac, OlliOlli2, Soul Sacrifice, Muramasa Rebirth, Wipeout 2048, Teraria, Gravity Rush, Fez, Dragon's Crown, Sly Cooper Thieves in Time, Velocity 2x, Sonic Allstars Kart Racing, Rogue Legacy and Hotline Miami among about 20 or so Vita compatible PS+ offerings I've added over the last year or so.

And I own straight up Limbo, Guacamelee, Spelunky, Unfinished Swan, DiveKick, When Vikings Attack and Velocity Ultra along with Harvest Moon, Klonoa and Mega Man X4 through PS+ flash sales.

I've played plenty of iOS on my iPhone but it really doesn't feel satisfying to me, as good as some of those games are...Drop7, Threes, FlickKick, Battleheart, TinyWings and Raid are all very small scale games...with tiny inputs to boot.

Would my purchase of a new Vita count towards a "Vita renaissance." I truly doubt it, Nothing I've ever done has done that, doubt I'd start now.

Personally, I still think a lot more people who hadn't tried PS3 should have purchased a PS3 with PS+ when the Last of Us bundle hit. That deal was insane.

I'm pretty sure I'll feel the same way about the Vita, if I can find one new in the $170 range.

 

[Flunkie]

Not if you live in an apartment

I feel like this is totally subjective. And apartment where you and your roommates are sharing the wifi, sure. Your own apartment/loft/whatever, it shouldn't matter.

 

[The Artisan]

ah, it does not help that I don't have a very good understanding of the definition of "renaissance".

 

[Roto13]

I will buy a Vita when:

All PS3/PSN games are fully playable. I would definitely own one. This thing needs to be the "PSN" machine - I mean everything is fully supported.

You want someone to port every single PS3 game ever released to Vita? Isn't that kind of completely insane?

 

[Rain City Gamer]

Vita issues have always been the price of the unit and price of memory cards. The system is an amazing piece of tech and well worth owning especially now with PS+ / Cross Buy / Remote Play Etc.

If it can get to $150 and cut the Memory Card Prices in half then these would fly off shelves.

 

[autoduelist]

And I say that as an owner of two Vitas. It's a great system but not even Sony wants to support it. It's as dead as the last guardian.

Vita resurrection confirmed.


This 'dead' console gets more games per week than I could possibly keep up with. Definitely my favorite device.

You want someone to port every single PS3 game ever released to Vita? Isn't that kind of completely insane?

It's out there, alright. Not even the ps4 could emulate PS3 games. So yes, that would require porting everything. Wildly silly.

 

[Kas]

No way in hell will it get a AAA resurgence. Sony decided it was dead before they released it. It will get, and it always has gotten, a load of good indie games that are perfect for it. The vita is the perfect niche machine, especially if you like indie games.

 

[Meier]

Even as someone who bought it on day 1, I can safely say this has been impossible since about three months after release. If that.

 

[flatearthpandas]

There's no renaissance coming. Those happy with their Vita are happy and don't require one.

Those of us unhappy with it or the majority of the community who don't want one in the first place are unlikely to be convinced as niche devs continue making entries into niche genres, especially when my experience is that the genres (drpg, vn, even ecchi shit which is the vita's bread and butter) are being better catered in other places.

Would it be cool if people started developing games for it? Sure. And they kind of are. Ys 8 is almost certainly using Vita as a lead platform and just improving everything on the PS4 version. Vita only users will certainly have no shortage of games to play if this pattern continues while PS4 owners will have to make do with up-ports. In Japan, maybe that will be enough to revitalize things a bit.

 

[Boss Mog]

ah, it does not help that I don't have a very good understanding of the definition of "renaissance".

Renaissance means rebirth in French.

 

[toneroni]

My favorite system too these days as I don't get as much console gaming time due to work/life. I loved the PSP as well. Just sucks that Sony is giving up on it so early. We still had awesome PSP games late in its life.

Would LOVE it to be fully unlocked for emus. Not to pirate vita games though.

 

[The Artisan]

Renaissance means rebirth in French.

so i'm guessing in this context it means... the vita somehow receiving reinvigoration in the market and a chance to be much more relevant again, instead of disappearing into the shadows like it's been doing since it's launch?

 

[cris7198]

Even I love my Vita I don't see it happening :C
Its sad to see it die like this, the Youtube app is going to stop working in a few days, Near is gone and the Facebook app has been practically useless from quite some time...

 

[JoJoSono]

I used to think this gif was annoying, then I realized it perfectly encapsulates the only type of game still coming out on Vita.

Well at least the Japanese side. Which is my problem with the Vita. It's a terrible susscor to the PSP. The PSP really was an amazing system. It really felt like an extension of the PS2 in regards to the Japanese support. Square was on it's game, quality ports, and plenty of decent production values made games. There were plenty of Japanese games beyond the typical low budget and otaku garbage that make up the system. I laugh at the idea of the Vita having this amazing JRPG library. I fails compared to pretty much every other Playstation library.

I mean it's a shame. The system itself is quite nice. Very quick and responsive(though not sleek) operating system and plenty powerful for a handheld. It's just not receiving the support that I find enticing.

That said, companies like Falcom still show up on the system. So that's nice. Though with them there's a chance there will be a console version as well. Sqaure is showing some support, but I don't believe it's going to be anywhere near as lavish as it's PSP support. One original game among cellphone ports dosen't inspire much confidence. The big supporters are Idea Factory, Tamsoft, NIS, and so on. Companies that make games that don't really excite me.

So I don't know. I'm not sure the Vita is dead. It's still getting games and whatnot, but it certainly is living off hand me downs and small games for niche audiences. Even in Japan I feel like the Vita is simply a tag along. Make a PS4 and/or a PS3/Vita version and maximize sales. It's nowhere near the main focus of anyone. It simply is there killing time until the pulse dies. The cord has already been pulled.

 

[Sarcasm]

I got my vita for 150 with an expensive 64gb card imported from Japan. Light pink and white.

I live in Taiwan though.

 

[protomouse]

The way I see it, Vita has less competition now as Nintendo making mobile games instead of 3DS games. So that's good news to Vita I think.

1. Nintendo aren't likely making handheld-grade games for mobile. Think Candy Crush Saga.
2. 3DS has healthy 3rd party support.

Vita will continue to exist within its rather niche environment, but I don't think growth is something anyone (including Sony) expects. It's unfortunate, but that's how it is.

 

[cafemomo]

2. 3DS has healthy 3rd party support.

Which is drying up.

Square
- Bravely Second
Koei
-Rorona

and a bunch of Namco licensed nonsense

 

[Small Mailman]

1. Nintendo aren't likely making handheld-grade games for mobile. Think Candy Crush Saga.

Isn't it really DeNA who will make the mobile games? Nintendo is just lending their properties and getting a cut if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Shizuka]

Which is drying up.

Square
- Bravely Second
Koei
-Rorona

and a bunch of Namco licensed nonsense

Sega
- Atlus

 

[Jawmuncher]

The sad truth is that no, it is surely dead.

But even worse the knowledge that when it's finally kicked in a hole, memory card prices are actually going to go up considerably, rather than down. A few years later we will all be paying $400 for a 16Gb card, while Sony are slyly listing them on Ebay.

I never even thought of that. Why sony is so adamant on high prices and proprietary is beyond me.

 

[dtm808]

Unfortunately it just didn't have the vast library and support the PSP had. That's why the PSP was able to compete with the DS. This time around though the 3DS just beat it into oblivion.

 

[ArtHands]

Fixed.

I can find every new released games in the biggest multimedia retailer here (Fnac) and it has a bigger shelf space then the WiiU.



What does it mean then?

It means we are saying its dead not in a literally meaning in the sense that it has been discontinued or selling 0 copy, but more of a metaphorical way in how everyone except the vita fans has moved on and its fate already sealed.

 

[OuterLimits]

One thing I don't understand is why Spotify is on PS3/4 but isn't on the Vita? Music Unlimited was available but Sony can't be bothered to replace it with Spotify? Further proof to me that Sony doesn't care about the device.

 

[Producer]

Which is drying up.

Square
- Bravely Second
Koei
-Rorona

and a bunch of Namco licensed nonsense

You're forgetting Sega/Atlus, Capcom, Marvelous, and other smaller devs.

 

[Josh5890]

Unfortunately it just didn't have the vast library and support the PSP had. That's why the PSP was able to compete with the DS. This time around though the 3DS just beat it into oblivion.

Bingo. Yes the PSP was hacked before it was released but it always had a solid user base. It lasted for 7 years before the Vita was released, which deserves props considering it was a handheld.

As for the library, it sometimes felt like Square was supporting the system more than Sony, especially at the end. That library was loaded with JRPG's. I have about 30-35 in my backlog that I will never get to.

 

[Boss Mog]

Well at least the Vita is delivering on PS+ because personally I have zero interest in all the indie fodder that the PS4 gets every month. Can't wait to play Killzone: Mercenary!

 

[Owwari]

edit: srry for doublepost, internet troubles!

 

[Owwari]

As long as the attach rate for most of the 3rd party releases is as good as it has been so far, the system will not die in Japan. What's more, it's steadily (albeit not by a lot) increasing its sales every week. Now more than ever the Vita is getting bombed with new releases every single month. Don't believe me? Do your research.

On the west though, it's pretty much dead. Only us the ''hardcore'' club care about the system to be honest.

But why should I not like it if boasts an account system, region free-ness and indie ports when I'm away from my PC? To each their own I guess.

 

[vicoakland]

Okay, so this thread inspired me to drive to Fruitvale tonight and purchase a Vita. (Count one for the Renaissance, baby!!)

$170 + $40 for a 16GB card for about $226 all told with tax...and between PS+ (48) and digital purchases (14) I've instantly got 62 games I can play on it.

I'm assuming I should load the internal memory with a couple games first before I load the memory card.

Any advice for a total Vita Noob?

I'm seeing right away that it will allow me to type out messages to my PS friends quicker...and unbelievably, it has PS3 remote play. Does that even work?

 

[Hades Hotgun]

Okay, so this thread inspired me to drive to Fruitvale tonight and purchase a Vita. (Count one for the Renaissance, baby!!)

$170 + $40 for a 16GB card for about $226 all told with tax...and between PS+ (48) and digital purchases (14) I've instantly got 62 games I can play on it.

I'm assuming I should load the internal memory with a couple games first before I load the memory card.

Any advice for a total Vita Noob?

I'm seeing right away that it will allow me to type out messages to my PS friends quicker...and unbelievably, it has PS3 remote play. Does that even work?

PS3 remote play works with a few select PS3 games, but it works with all PSOne games. While that may not sound particularly great, the thing is, using remote play you can play all disc based PS1 games on your Vita. And that shit is awesome. Megaman Legends, for example, looks great on the Vita.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

PS3 remote play works with a few select PS3 games, but it works with all PSOne games. While that may not sound particularly great, the thing is, using remote play you can play all disc based PS1 games on your Vita. And that shit is awesome. Megaman Legends, for example, looks great on the Vita.

Wait....you can do this!?!