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The 3DS beating the Vita is the most unjust result in the history of console wars

About a month ago or so I ordered a Vita (slim aqua blue) and a 2DS XL from Japan on Ebay. The 2DS arrived first and I spent about a week playing Chrono Trigger, which is now one of my favorite games of all time. While I was deciding what to play next (basically toggling between Dragon Quest VIII and Radiant Historia), the Vita arrived and I've barely been able to pick up the 2DS since.

The Vita is hands down the best designed portable device I've ever used, and that's including smartphones. Everything about it is perfect, from the size to the build quality and materials to the battery life. The 2DS XL is a total piece of junk next to it, with its 95 ppi (!!!) screen, slippery analog pad, ineffectual Thinkpad camera control nipple, janky resistive touchscreen, and borked ergonomics. Then there's the fact that all the games look like shit - I know the 3DS is supposed to be more powerful than the Wii, so why is it that direct ports of sixth generation and Wii games like Xenoblade Chronicles and Dragon Quest VIII look so goddamn awful? The 3DS is so compromised and poorly designed that it's almost shocking these two devices were released at around the same time.

The problem, of course, is that the only good Vita games appear to be a handful of PS2 ports (Persona 4, FFX, MGS2+3) and I guess some indies. I've been using it for PS1 and PSP JRPGs mostly and it feels like it's going totally to waste. A real shame that a handful of idiotic decisions from Sony (proprietary memory, adding to the cost with superfluous cameras and that back touchscreen, no plan for PS2 hardware emulation, no first-party games with appeal to the Japanese market) killed the best-designed handheld system of all time and allowed its thoroughly unworthy rival to run away with all the profits.
 

MayauMiao

Member
I read that the complaints regarding Vita was the system had packaged with mobile phone service for using 3G capabilities as well as ridiculous memory card price.
 

Fredrik

Member
It started so well, I remember taking it to work to show it off with Uncharted, everybody was so impressed. It even had gyro aiming before anbody had even heard of that term. Just awesome.

Then Sony stopped caring about it. Just like that.
So why should anybody else care about it?
Sony honestly killed Vita by dropping the software support long before 3DS dominated. PSVR is the same btw. Sony just can’t do secondary platforms, they don’t realize you need to use the AAA teams to get AAA success. It’s like they only care about having a good launch and think that’ll be enough, extremely shortsighted thinking.
 
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Alan Wake

Member
I agree completely. I'm not a handheld gamer but even I had to buy the Vita. What a first class product. But then there was the memory cards... and the lack of games. Games like Tearaway showed what the system could do when developer's used all its functions. But Sony apparently lacked confidence in the Vita, which is sad. Such a waste.
 

Halo0629

Member
Nintendo has the exclusives to make their handheld division competitive and sold out even without third party support, something that sony doesn't really have the luxury with the vita since they're too focused on their consoles. Once the 3ds starts getting its paced and third party starts jumping to the 3ds that's basically it for the vita.
 

kretos

Banned
Alright so you are a blatant troll, because no one can possibly have such terrible taste. I've been wondering for a while, glad to have it clarified.

troll why exactly? i hate handhelds and i don't want Sony blockbusters to be wasted on a stupid handheld, to this day i can't play Uncharted golden abyss because it's still stuck on vita and i certainly won't buy it for 1 or 2 games
 

sunnysideup

Banned
troll why exactly? i hate handhelds and i don't want Sony blockbusters to be wasted on a stupid handheld, to this day i can't play Uncharted golden abyss because it's still stuck on vita and i certainly won't buy it for 1 or 2 games
I agree.

If you take all handhelds ever. There are maybe 30 games that i would like to play. Handheld games always have an aura of being almost there but not quite.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
That’s how I feel whenever I boot up Suikoden II, Vagrant Story, Parasite Eve or even Lunar Silver Star Harmony. Why did this go downhill? The top of the line console manufacturer (Sony) and their portable gaming device that plays a very good selection of PS1 classics. On top of that the PSTV where you can use a DualShock 3 and a TV. My 3DS XL is great. I have everything from Mario, Zelda, Castlevania, Dragon Quest, and Chrono Trigger (the best version of the game to date). I also remind myself that I could play Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX, Guilty Gear Accent Core, and various Genesis/Capcom collections on my Vita via PSP classics. Sure, most of the stuff I mentioned are PSN titles. They aren’t Vita games in the sense that that would sell the console. The Vita had Ninja Gaiden Sigma 1 & 2 for it, a very mediocre Silent Hill spin off, ports of Final Fantasy X and MGS. It seemed okay. The hardcore fan’s type of system. There are good games on the 3DS like Dragon Quest VII and VIII. You had remakes of older Dragon Quest games too. It’s a hard argument to make. I personally enjoy my Vita, but maybe I also use it for a ton of classic PSN titles. I have the games I listed for Vita, including Persona 4 Golden, but for me the Vita made up for it with PSN games. It makes me wonder about the PSPGo. I always wonder what some people have against classic PS1 games. This is when we got Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Parasite Eve, and a host of other awesome JRPGs. Nintendo gets the formula right when it happens, but there’s also a lot of titles the just simply never bother with. Good luck finding a lot of the physical DS/3DS games anymore. Same goes for Vita. I’ve mainly stuck to buying digital on both platforms.
 

Codes 208

Member
ergonomically yes the design was amazing. Everything else about it sucked however. Lack of first party support. Super expensive proprietary memory cards and no real system seller. The 3DS may have had a predictable lineup of games but it’s library of first party games blew the vita’s library out of Sony’s own ass to the point they gave up shortly after launching the damn thing.
Also I didn’t care for the touch gimmicks. Trying to play Minecraft or borderlands 2 without L2/R2 felt like a half-baked emulation rather than a port
 

cireza

Member
troll why exactly? i hate handhelds and i don't want Sony blockbusters to be wasted on a stupid handheld, to this day i can't play Uncharted golden abyss because it's still stuck on vita and i certainly won't buy it for 1 or 2 games
Well that's fine because I don't buy handhelds to play the shit cinematic emotional third person action games we get on home console. Sony can keep them. The fact that they tried supporting the Vita with games like these shows that they had no clue about handheld consoles ti begin with.
 

kretos

Banned
Well that's fine because I don't buy handhelds to play the shit cinematic emotional third person action games we get on home console. Sony can keep them. The fact that they tried supporting the Vita with games like these shows that they had no clue about handheld consoles ti begin with.
giphy.gif
 

Graciaus

Member
It's unfortunate the 3DS was so low res but the library obliterates Vita's making up for it. I got a Vita for free and barely ever used it. Can't say the same for the 3DS.
 
Vita2sd has saved the Vita. Modded it can play Vita, psp, ps1, gba, snes, genesis and more. There's also work being done to play flash games on it and some android gta ports are being ported with GTA 3 already done. Vita means life.
 

TLZ

Banned
It's an excellent device, but Sony dropped support quick. Nothing can be done about that.
 

tylrdiablos

Member
About a month ago or so I ordered a Vita (slim aqua blue) and a 2DS XL from Japan on Ebay. The 2DS arrived first and I spent about a week playing Chrono Trigger, which is now one of my favorite games of all time. While I was deciding what to play next (basically toggling between Dragon Quest VIII and Radiant Historia), the Vita arrived and I've barely been able to pick up the 2DS since.

The Vita is hands down the best designed portable device I've ever used, and that's including smartphones. Everything about it is perfect, from the size to the build quality and materials to the battery life. The 2DS XL is a total piece of junk next to it, with its 95 ppi (!!!) screen, slippery analog pad, ineffectual Thinkpad camera control nipple, janky resistive touchscreen, and borked ergonomics. Then there's the fact that all the games look like shit - I know the 3DS is supposed to be more powerful than the Wii, so why is it that direct ports of sixth generation and Wii games like Xenoblade Chronicles and Dragon Quest VIII look so goddamn awful? The 3DS is so compromised and poorly designed that it's almost shocking these two devices were released at around the same time.

The problem, of course, is that the only good Vita games appear to be a handful of PS2 ports (Persona 4, FFX, MGS2+3) and I guess some indies. I've been using it for PS1 and PSP JRPGs mostly and it feels like it's going totally to waste. A real shame that a handful of idiotic decisions from Sony (proprietary memory, adding to the cost with superfluous cameras and that back touchscreen, no plan for PS2 hardware emulation, no first-party games with appeal to the Japanese market) killed the best-designed handheld system of all time and allowed its thoroughly unworthy rival to run away with all the profits.
Please play A Link Between Worlds. You're missing out by not playing it in 3D (yes, seriously) but it's still well worth your time.
(Plug in some earphones as well if possible. Some of the OST are still stuck in my head to this day.)
 
S

SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
3ds is overated. ds is even worse and has aged like ham in the sun. And its not the graphics, its the library. Half of the liberary is proto smartphone shovelware.

psp is much better than 3ds and ds.

gamboy(c)>>switch>psp/gba>>>>3ds/ds
original.gif
 

Perrott

Gold Member
bruh Sony fucking abandoned it.
Did they? During it's first three years on the market Sony published the following titles, most of them during the Year 1 of the Vita:
  • Escape Plan
  • Freedom Wars
  • Gravity Rush
  • Helldivers
  • Killzone: Mercenary
  • LittleBigPlanet Vita
  • MLB The Show
  • Modnation Racers: Road Trip
  • Motorstorm RC
  • PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
  • Resistance: Burning Skies
  • Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
  • Soul Sacrifice
  • Tearaway
  • Uncharted: Golden Abyss
  • Unit 13
  • Wipeout 2049
And this is without including PS2 titles such as the God of War HD Collection, the Jak and Daxter HD Collection and ICO HD, as well as notable third-party releases like Persona 4: Golden or the non-exclusive but also great Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.

Truth is that the first batch of first-party Vita games was there. It always has been.
iRtrBOrh.jpg
 
It's Sony stupidity that killed it - they failed to secure Monster Hunter in Japan and barely made a push in the west.

Not having Gran Turismo game for it was huge failure for European market. And they failed to even promote what they had. They had huge opportunity with Vita when Minecraft released but didn't even make a bundle.
 
S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
Did they? During it's first three years on the market Sony published the following titles, most of them during the Year 1 of the Vita:
  • Escape Plan
  • Freedom Wars
  • Gravity Rush
  • Helldivers
  • Killzone: Mercenary
  • LittleBigPlanet Vita
  • MLB The Show
  • Modnation Racers: Road Trip
  • Motorstorm RC
  • PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
  • Resistance: Burning Skies
  • Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
  • Soul Sacrifice
  • Tearaway
  • Uncharted: Golden Abyss
  • Unit 13
  • Wipeout 2049
And this is without including PS2 titles such as the God of War HD Collection, the Jak and Daxter HD Collection and ICO HD, as well as notable third-party releases like Persona 4: Golden or the non-exclusive but also great Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.

Truth is that the first batch of first-party Vita games was there. It always has been.
iRtrBOrh.jpg
It had no advertisement, a over priced proprietary memory card and it didn't have a proper mainstream library. I love my Vita but that is because I like JRPGs and VNs.
 

Ezquimacore

Banned
Did they? During it's first three years on the market Sony published the following titles, most of them during the Year 1 of the Vita:
  • Escape Plan
  • Freedom Wars
  • Gravity Rush
  • Helldivers
  • Killzone: Mercenary
  • LittleBigPlanet Vita
  • MLB The Show
  • Modnation Racers: Road Trip
  • Motorstorm RC
  • PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
  • Resistance: Burning Skies
  • Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
  • Soul Sacrifice
  • Tearaway
  • Uncharted: Golden Abyss
  • Unit 13
  • Wipeout 2049
And this is without including PS2 titles such as the God of War HD Collection, the Jak and Daxter HD Collection and ICO HD, as well as notable third-party releases like Persona 4: Golden or the non-exclusive but also great Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.

Truth is that the first batch of first-party Vita games was there. It always has been.
iRtrBOrh.jpg
I don't see one system seller on that list, that's the problem.
 

Perrott

Gold Member
It's Sony stupidity that killed it - they failed to secure Monster Hunter in Japan and barely made a push in the west.

Not having Gran Turismo game for it was huge failure for European market. And they failed to even promote what they had. They had huge opportunity with Vita when Minecraft released but didn't even make a bundle.
They also failed at getting another portable GTA game out of Rockstar; having Ken Levine actually develop the fucking BioShock game they announed at E3 2011 ffs; securing that port of Metal Gear Solid V that Kojima hinted at in 2011 when he unveiled his "Transfarring" technology; and making the infamous Resident Evil PSP game a PS Vita exclusive now.
 

Enzo88

Member
As a proud owner of both, yes, Vita is better designed but you know, games, that slightly important thing you use those console for, was not even in the same league.

Also the idea of "unjust" is extremely subjective, but the market clearly spoke against your sentiment.
 
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