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[DiscoJer]

I think it's more a case of it being too much like the PSP. It's not that a console experience on a handheld can't sell, it's just that very few people are willing to put the effort into the titles to make them similar to console experiences.

I mean, look at the PSP's bestsellers - most of them were consoles titles (or slightly cut down versions - Dissidia, MGS, Crisis Core). Stuff like Loco Roco/Patapon might have gotten a lot of hype, but not a of sales. And you can play stuff like that on a phone.

But the trouble is, the profit magins are less for the Vita - lower MSRP, higher media costs squeeze from both ends, and you already have lower sales potential.

And Sony itself is setting a poor example with Uncharted by not including multiplayer. They're basically saying "We don't consider this to be anything more than a spinoff".

In order to succeed, the Vita needs major AAA titles. Mass Effect, Skyrim, Diablo 3, etc. All they have is a Call of Duty announcement.

The gloom and doom about the 3DS was ridiculous because Nintendo has all the AAA titles they need to be successful. They don't have to rely on others. They still have Pokemon in the wings. The 3DS might not hit DS heights, but it's probably going to be very impressive when all is said and done.

And Nintendo has actually gone out and courted 3rd parties. They got Monster Hunter. And the other thing is that the 3DS hardware, while not stunning, is still good enough to provide a decent console experience on a handheld. In a way, the DS and PSP served two markets. But the 3DS can serve both.

 

[Father_Brain]

I also think you're going to get devs who will now take a 'let's wait and see' approach rather then jumping in.

That pretty much describes the vast majority of Vita's third-party support, though, considering the lack of major exclusive commitments, so it wouldn't be a dramatic shift.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

Yeah, but they bought it. Feels like vita is suffering from the sins of the 3DS

Makes sense. Day 1 customers who got burned on the 3DS stove are more cautious about pissing their money away on launch games and promise. People who haven't made a decision yet can buy a Vita + memory + game, or a 3DS + four or five games thanks to Nintendo's generous price drop. Either way, $249 was a great price when they announced it, it's a noose now.

 

[Live Free or Die]

oh no the sky is falling, the sky is falling!

 

[krae_man]

Really. US price converted to UK pounds + 20% = £195
UK price (including VAT @ 20%) = £229.

Sony EURO tax in effect right there.

Sub £200 is kinda okay for a next gen handheld. Over £200 and you start have a large psychological barrier for the consumer to overcome. Dumb Sony.

I said as much as people claim, I'm well aware it's still about $50 more but still not the $100-$130 others were claiming. Wages are higher in Europe then the US so it being higher after factoring in the tax is still reasonable. It's probably still higher then it needs to be factoring that in but it's not "OMG Europe is taking it up the ass again" levels here.

 

[sorlin-g]

It's enough because we are going to buy our ViTA in the USA.

 

[Shiggy]

Right now. I wouldn't like to be a developer investing heavily in Vita. It must be a worrying time for them. I also think you're going to get devs who will now take a 'let's wait and see' approach rather then jumping in.

Developers might worry, publishers won't. They love heavy losses and prefer them to prudent business decisions. Just take a look at what they've done with Wii, and look what they're doing right now wirth 3DS. EA, THQ, and the like do not want to make money as they have no reasons to shutter studios then.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Headline: Vita sold out in France!

Always the optimist

 

[mysticwhip]

people don't know wtf is a vita

 

[cyberheater]

That pretty much describes the vast majority of Vita's third-party support, though, considering the lack of major exclusive commitments, so it wouldn't be a dramatic shift.

I didn't realise it was like that already. Hmmm. I've owned every single Sony console and a launch PSP but I think I'm going to wait and see how things pan out for a least 6 months before picking one up.

I said as much as people claim, I'm well aware it's still about $50 more but still not the $100-$130 others were claiming. Wages are higher in Europe then the US so it being higher after factoring in the tax is still reasonable. It's probably still higher then it needs to be factoring that in but it's not "OMG Europe is taking it up the ass again" levels here.

Yes. Still a bit of a hike though.

 

[Foffy]

In a way, the DS and PSP served two markets. But the 3DS can serve both.

I see that, too. After the PSP grew in popularity, you had a number of developers migrate to it because it offered PS2-ish qualities in regards of what you can design and make, which was a step above what could be offered on DS. I think many of those companies that made games almost exclusively for PSP are in a difficult situation if they think they can migrate to Vita, mainly because the costs are now far higher. There was a reason Japanese companies have released few games in the HD era, as they have difficulty making those games.

Perhaps they'll move to 3DS now, but even then I wonder; what about after this generation? It seems the ceiling keeps raising on both consoles and portables. Surely we're going to hit some limit in terms of practical costs, right?

 

[Marco1]

If they are already selling vita at a loss then I can't see a price drop being that significant.
I would really like vita to be a success but after owning a PSP, I won't be getting excited for this.
I am sure Kaz is fuming over this, he has given everyone who complained about PSP what they wanted and still it's failing.

 

[Takao]

If they are already selling vita at a loss then I can't see a price drop being that significant.
I would really like vita to be a success but after owning a PSP, I won't be getting excited for this.
I am sure Kaz is fuming over this, he has given everyone who complained about PSP what they wanted and still it's failing.

People wanted games. At the end of the day that's why PSP didn't catch on in the west. It was about games, and right now Kaz isn't bringing the games people want.

 

[Zutroy]

Sony really are keeping it quite late with the advertisement. They should start ramping it up and let people know they need to start saving for one.

Also, the major supermarkets still haven't even started doing pre-orders in the UK. Where as for the 3DS you could pre-order about 3 months in advance.

 

[antonz]

Wasnt the French launch of the PS3 hyped to be pretty large then the actual launch turned out alot softer?

France seems to really love its Nintendo stuff this gen so Vita not having anything major to draw people in was probably wise to cut shipments and as someone jokingly said they can spin positive headlines out of it maybe

 

[erpg]

Fuck me, this is bad. I don't want a 3DS-only future.

 

[Marco1]

I live in the UK and whole release of vita here is becoming more of a clusterf**k as time goes on.
I suppose advertising worldwide costs to much for Sony and they will probably blitz the ads extremely close to release.

 

[Rebel Leader]

I got some shovels!
Gotta start digging.

 

[Jamie OD]

Yeah that would be great for ga-

Nevermind.

That looks nasty, with the shoulder buttons idea being the worst.

 

[djplaeskool]

Fuck me, this is bad. I don't want a 3DS-only future.

Join me, and my merry band of misfits.
We shall bask in the glow of runner-upmanship.

 

[Takao]

Fuck me, this is bad. I don't want a 3DS-only future.

imagine all the animal crossing games

 

[NHDave]

250 euros for WiFi, that's 317 USD.

300 euros for 3G, which is 380 USD.

C'est incroyable!

 

[test_account]

That pretty much describes the vast majority of Vita's third-party support, though, considering the lack of major exclusive commitments, so it wouldn't be a dramatic shift.

Which developers are waiting to see?

 

[Relix]

Seeing Vita crash and fail so hard is fun. Of course I want one and want them to compete with Nintendo (or they would suck) but the train wreck is hilarious. They can' get one thing right.

 

[test_account]

Seeing Vita crash and fail so hard is fun. Of course I want one and want them to compete with Nintendo (or they would suck) but the train wreck is hilarious. They can' get one thing right.

What trainwreck?

 

[Takao]

Which developers are waiting to see?

As of this writing; Square Enix, Konami, Capcom, and Rockstar are all pretty much playing the wait and see game.

 

[Elios83]

Wow. This doom and gloom needs to stop. It was funny at first but now its just silly.

250 was the same price as 3DS and people bought it. Launch line up is strong and certainly better than 3DS. 'usual' wipeout and golf? Hasn't it been years since either was released?

But it's not doom and gloom, it's a realistic view.
3DS DID NOT SELL at 250$ and when it had no games for it.
Nintendo saved it because they cut the price by 80$ and then released 2 to 3 killer apps at the same time.

Vita is a 250$ device (actually more than that because of the memory card) with a solid but not spectacular launch lineup and then absolutely nothing concrete for the future announced at this stage.
It's really hard to make a purchase under these conditions. With PS3 notwithstanding the price we knew that MGS4 was coming, GTA4 was coming and so were FFXIII and many other titles, with Vita as of today we don't know anything (except for generic COD title, generic Bioshock title and generic AC title) and that's a big mistake on Sony's part....things have started looking not so good for Vita around TGS when the biggest annoucement was the FFX HD thing while NIntendo was grabbing exclusivity on MH4.

Does this mean that the platform is destined to failure? Of course not, not at this stage.
But it's clear that Sony has a lot of hard work to do.
They need to secure big titles, release them asap and realistically by the end of 2012 we'll be able to buy the Wifi model at 199$, with 249$ bundles including a game, the 4GB memory card and the console case.

 

[test_account]

As of this writing; Square Enix, Konami, Capcom, and Rockstar are all pretty much playing the wait and see game.

Sure, i know that there arent any big Vita games announced from them (except that FFX remake from Square Enix), but that doesnt necessarily mean that their waiting to see. Doing that, they can get get way behind, concidering that it can take 2-3 years to make a game. I could be that the games arent far enough in developement to be announced yet.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

but that doesnt necessarily mean that their waiting to see. Doing that, they can get get way behind, concidering that it can take 2-3 years to make a game.

This sounds a lot like the Wii.

 

[test_account]

This sounds a lot like the Wii.

It could be the other way as well of course, but earlier it was said that the developers are waiting to see. I just wonder if this is confirmed.

 

[Wazzim]

Fixed

Best pic of the month

 

[erpg]

imagine all the animal crossing games

Unfortunately, decent competition doesn't improve Nintendo's first party output nor prevent them from re-packaging the same game every three years.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

Getting to play The Show on the road means I'm good with this purchase. Getting a PS2 emu with the ability to run PS2 games that I own is the cherry on top. My reasoning behind my day 1 purchase is different than others, but I'll be damned if there isn't some scary shit being said about this handheld presently. Doom and gloom galore.

 

[Wazzim]

Getting to play The Show on the road means I'm good with this purchase. Getting a PS2 emu with the ability to run PS2 games that I own is the cherry on top. My reasoning behind my day 1 purchase is different than others, but I'll be damned if there isn't some scary shit being said about this handheld presently. Doom and gloom galore.

What PS2 emulator?

 

[Takao]

Sure, i know that there arent any big Vita games announced from them (except that FFX remake from Square Enix), but that doesnt necessarily mean that their waiting to see. Doing that, they can get get way behind, concidering that it can take 2-3 years to make a game. I could be that the games arent far enough in developement to be announced yet.

I wouldn't call FFX HD a big announcement.

 

[test_account]

I wouldn't call FFX HD a big announcement.

I guess it depends a bit on how much work that there is being put into the remake. If it is like a PS2 HD game, then i agree that it isnt really that big of an announcement.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

Getting to play The Show on the road means I'm good with this purchase. Getting a PS2 emu with the ability to run PS2 games that I own is the cherry on top. My reasoning behind my day 1 purchase is different than others, but I'll be damned if there isn't some scary shit being said about this handheld presently. Doom and gloom galore.

Can it do PS2 games? I think you're about to be disappointed

This news will translate to Australia getting about 10 units all up. I'm still wavering on a purchase , but at approximately $450 price of entry including a game and NO incentive to preorder (those bundles with cheap earbuds and an amazing EIGHT dollars off a PSN game, not even a game thrown in) aren't swaying me, unfortunately... I still don't know. Should wait for inevitable price cut. I was completely sold on this thing until the memory card pricing, and the news that it had no inbuilt memory.

So the base price isn't really $250 ($350 for Aussies) at all. Just reeks of arrogance on Sony's part that they couldn't just chuck in even 2gb of memory onboard.

 

[Takao]

I guess it depends a bit on how much work that there is being put into the remake. If it is like a PS2 HD game, then i agree that it isnt really that big of an announcement.

The fact that it's PS3/Vita is what takes the big announcement part away from it.

 

[Marco1]

The lack of memory card amazes me but then I suppose it's the memory card purchase is what the vita loss is on sonys part.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

The lack of memory card amazes me but then I suppose it's the memory card purchase is what the vita loss is on sonys part.

Yeah, I'm sure thats making up part of it for them. Still, that's not really the customer's problem - they're really not giving people much of an incentive to lay down the cash, clearly. The fact the machine's practically unusable without shelling out extra for an accessory is really dodgy, imo.

 

[test_account]

The fact that it's PS3/Vita is what takes the big announcement part away from it.

Yeah, i see that point. But at least a Vita version excist

 

[monome]

Oulala.

Preordered the VITA at Micromania (Gamestop owned I believe), and haven't yet bothered to go get my pre-order pack waiting for me.
I was thinking of cancelling my pre-order and wait for a planned trip to get one.

 

[Marco1]

Yeah, I'm sure thats making up part of it for them. Still, that's not really the customer's problem - they're really not giving people much of an incentive to lay down the cash, clearly. The fact the machine's practically unusable without shelling out extra for an accessory is really dodgy, imo.

Exactly, I don't understand why they would package and sell something that NEEDS an accessory.
They should have stuck a 1GB card in there at least.
Imagine people purchasing this and instead of being pressed to but a strategy guide that they supposedly need, they REALLY need this.

 

[tzare]

people hhave been burying sony for 6 years now. I guess it is forum's bipolar pov where things must be black or white.
I don t see vita beimg a massive success but i am sure it will be ahealthy platform and that is all that matters.

 

[test_account]

Exactly, I don't understand why they would package and sell something that NEEDS an accessory.
They should have stuck a 1GB card in there at least.
Imagine people purchasing this and instead of being pressed to but a strategy guide that they supposedly need, they REALLY need this.

The PS Vita doesnt litterally need a memoryard to work. There are several of games that works without having a memorycard. But you need a memorycard to take full advantage of the Vita.

 

[mj1108]

Iwata: (laughs)

 

[Ollie Pooch]

Exactly, I don't understand why they would package and sell something that NEEDS an accessory.
They should have stuck a 1GB card in there at least.
Imagine people purchasing this and instead of being pressed to but a strategy guide that they supposedly need, they REALLY need this.

I wonder if many people are gonna buy one and go home only to realise they need the card for extra $$$ to be able to use it. It's just one of those things that if you weren't told by the salesperson (tho I have no doubt EB/Gamestop etc will force it down the customers throat) you wouldn't know. Can imagine it souring a few people on their purchase. They shoulda just bundled in a small card as a starter pack- hell, even Nintendo, who are massive cost-cutters did it.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

Iwata: (laughs)

He took a pay cut so that the 3DS could live. I doubt he's laughing.

 

[Fallout-NL]

Yeah, shoulda priced themselves at iPhone $700 range.

Everyone pretty much needs a phone though. Difficult to compare the pricing there. Also, it's often paid for through a subscription model. Few people actually pay that price upfront.

 

[bigtroyjon]

Hmm, I've been thinking they would delay European launch due to the Euro being much weaker than expected but I guess reducing shipments will allow them to "sell out" while also not taking the full on impact of the Euro to Yen currency being 7-8% weaker than they expected.

For those that have been doing it, can't compare prices between the US and Europe, costs are much higher in Europe even when you account for VAT. (see any thread talking about the US minimum wage compared to European countries.)

Is it easy to import stuff from the UK to mainland Europe? If it is, they might be diverting units to the UK since the Pound hasn't weakened against the Yen like the Euro has.