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[MikeXXIeaf]

I don't really have the time for it, or at least I didn't. It's been this way since the Gameboy days: I find it difficult to allocate enough time to handhelds to justify my owning them. I definitely like the system because I bought a used one to play Persona 4 Golden (got rid of it soon after) and the experience sold me on buying new whenever I felt ready.

 

[entremet]

I've actually been trying to buy one for my girlfriend but everywhere around me is sold out and Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and Amazon have not had stock for some time.


Also, I hate modern Japanese games.

I thought you had a Vita?

 

[SmokyDave]

Was typing a reply but the forum ate it when I pressed tab by accident.
in short, who are these imaginary people to whom it's worth 15 euros
Why didn't they buy the game at launch then? Why didn't they buy it during the sale?
If they already did buy it why do you think it's worth full price to 'double dip' (groan) just for the privilege of playing it again on a closed platform.

Are you somehow trying to twist sales as a bad thing? (contrary to all the data towards the opposite)

All I'm saying is that the games are worth their retail value. Wherever and whenever you buy them. This is assuming you like the game in question, obviously.

I'm not constraining things by adding in qualifiers like what people owned and where they were when sales occurred. I'm just saying that a very good game with a lot of replayability is worth £5 - £10 on any system at any time.

If you do really need a specific example, I'll offer up myself. I own most of these indies on PC or 360 and yet I still double dip because neither of those devices are portable.

ps+ games aren't free, jesus christ you really drink the koolaid
netflix movies aren't free either, you pay the rental fee to play these games till it expires.

What do psn sales have to do with the games launching 6 months to several years late at full price? Are you telling people to wait till they finally go on sale on psn god knows when to still pay more than double? doesn't that go against your whole 'worth' argument?

Netflix and PS+ cost so little and offer so much that I can't be arsed to break it down for a quick forum post. If it helps you see through the Kool Aid, I like the fact I can rent a random indie for 3 pence per year.

The sales have to do with the fact that if the original price does bother you, you can always wait for a sale. They're fairly frequent and generous for the dedicated games machine market.

 

[Slappers Only]

I've bought it twice, and I still can't find a reason to use it. PSOne games from time to time, I guess.

 

[martino]

Because i bougth a psp (my first handled) and discovered that handled is the poorest condition to enjoy a game in my opinion (bad controls / couch and pc , bad immersion because of small screen and most of all bad framerate that kills lot of games)

 

[SneakyStephan]

I don't even think we're disagreeing. Aren't you essentially saying that the proportion of anime titles in the Vita library looks larger because other titles are easy to write off? That's all I'm saying.

I also totally get why Average Joe doesn't want a Vita. It has approximately none of the franchises that Average Joe cares about. Handhelds and western devs are like oil and water

the average handheld fanatic (which couldn't be more different from the average joe) won't want a vita either.
Handheld owners are already a niche in gaming, and sony does little to serve them.
Again, no hotshots tennis, they closed the wipeout studio, no handheld style rpgs (have to get by on ports), some poor 3rd party attempts at monster hunter clones (soul sacrifice the only one that is somewhat worthy).
The vita has to get by on :
-ports : part average joe AAA garbage like cod and AC that doesn't cater to actual handheld gamers,in inferior port form. Part ps2 "hd" ports preying off people's nostalgia and usually suffering from poor controls or input lag )
-indie games
-whatever crumbs japanese 3rd parties throw the vita
which isn't much as again there is no monster hunter, no big high quality rpgs, no hot shots tennis , hell there isn't even a puzzle quest game. What is the patapon studio doing these days? Do they even exist anymore?

The saving graces are a handful of decent (games that wouldn't even have been remembered on a platform like ps2) to good games spread out very thinly over a period of 2.5 years.

Top of post edit: Sneaky, I see where we're talking past each other. You're viewing the library exclusively from the perspective of a prospective purchaser. I'm not.

Well yeah that's what the topic is about
indies are fine but they're not much of a reason to spend 250+ euros on a vita and a memory card.

As I said earlier in the thread, I've owned a vita for well over a year now and I'm only now slowly starting to be able to justify owning one as I'm finally getting enough games I enjoy on it to say it wasn't a waste of money. (disgaea 3 with its 200+ hours of awesome turn based SRPG gameplay being a big system seller for me and a perfect handheld type game. though I refused to buy it when it was 40 euros, handheld games are not worth 40 euros to me)

My advice earlier in the thread was for people to make sure they know what specific games they are going to get their money's worth from before buying one, as just buying it based on hopes or expectations has not turned out well for most vita owners.

And yes a good game is worth 15 euros, but if I can get it elsewhere earlier for 15 euros (or 2 euros by now), why would I bother getting it on the more expensive and delayed platform.
As 'complementary games' for your vita that is fine, but it's no reason at all to buy the system.
I still think vita ports need to be done earlier and pricing needs to match that of other platforms.
I'd probably have bought terraria on vita even though I got sick of it on pc ages ago, but not for 15 euros, and especially not when they had the audacity to launch the game in its old unpatched alpha state with most of the content missing.

But as with everything on vita, it gets halfassed... late ports, higher prices, content missing and in the case of games like terraria or minecraft where there is continued development and features being added it is always questionable how much support the console/handheld version is going to get...

Same with the ps2 ports,most of them were half assed

psx support: half assed

half assed is the word of the day when talking about the vita and the support it gets

 

[Willy Wanka]

For me there are three main reasons I've not bought one

1. The ridiculously overpriced memory cards

2. The lack of retail games (esp. exclusives). I know some people love that it is an indie machine but generally the best of those titles are available at a much cheaper price on PC. There is also no chance I'd invest heavily in digital content on a console/handheld again after being burned with the transition to current gen consoles.

3. This is related to the previous point but Sony's complete lack of confidence in the Vita from both a marketing and development standpoint has been the biggest turn off over the last year or two. They have ignored it at pretty much every big conference they've had.

I do think it's a nice piece of hardware but 3DS and mobile/tablet are more than enough for my current handheld needs and I can't see that changing any time soon.

 

[That1BlackGuy]

Because Sony refuses to put Naughty Dog, Santa Monica, Sucker Punch, etc. on the Vita. All of Nintendo's best teams are on 3DS... EAD Tokyo, Retro, EAD 3, Intelligent Systems, etc.

I kind of got to respectfully disagree with this, a good game is a good game regardless unless you only play games done by specific developers. Bend or RaD aren't considered among Sony's top devs but no one gave them shit for their excellent PSP output.

 

[wazoo]

When the majority of titles being released are ports of old Steam games I think it is a valid criticism.

PC games have no royalties associated to it (Valve 30% margins is no royalties, it is shop margins), so prices should not be compared, they have been, are and will always be more expensive on consoles. That is why comparing prices is not fair.

to counter that, vita has ps+ which means that most of the games I own are coming through this system.

 

[Jarnet87]

No reason to get one with Playstation TV coming out.

 

[Prototype]

I own a Samsung Galaxy S5.

Sure while it may not have all the games in the world, it surfs the interent, reads books, has GPS to get me places, makes calls and texts, has essentially already paid for itself with money saving apps like red laser and others, takes high quality pictures, records video, has access to thousands of apps, plays movies and TV shows anywhere I am, and more.

Also, as I get older I game less and less. Having a single device that does nearly everything and fits in my pocket is great. I'm not going to carry around 2 devices with me everywhere I go, especially not when the second device would really only play games.

 

[MikeXXIeaf]

No reason to get one with Playstation TV coming out.

Portability? It's a big selling point of any handheld system.

 

[elcuervo75]

Maybe 5 games on the whole platform that appeal to me. After being out this long, I am paying less than 0 attention to it now.

Sadly, my portable gaming is on my iPhone 5S exclusively.

 

[family_guy]

Part of the problem with the indie games is that they release on Vita months after launching on PC, and by then have seen substantial discounts.

hotline Miami has been $1.49
Spelunky $3.74
Rogue Legacy $3.74

And those don't include bundles. So almost anyone who is into games and had an interest played those games for less on other platforms.

I'll give you that but you ignore the benefit of being able to take those games anywhere. Sure you can use a laptop or Windows tablet but control wise you're playing it with a keyboard and mouse which many people have no desire to do, or you also have to bring a controller. Vita has all that built in. Also I feel like many indie games just don't look good on a big screen. I think games like Fez and Hotline looks like ass, but I can ignore that on Vita's small screen. Blow that up on my 55" and I might puke.

 

[Krixeus]

Not really into handheld gaming

 

[small44]

I bought a vita day 1 i though it will have as much good library then PSP but i was wrong i would not buy it if i though that Vita future was so dark

 

[Chill Penguin]

Because i bought the 3DS instead. No regrets, the 3DS exclusives are way stronger.

 

[ChrisD]

I just want to ask since I saw lots of people quote the "I only play Nintendo" post: what is a "Nintendo game"? Nintendo isn't a genre. The only game I can think of that basically hasn't been imagined in any form or capacity on other platforms is the Animal Crossing series.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

I just want to ask since I saw lots of people quote the "I only play Nintendo" post: what is a "Nintendo game"? Nintendo isn't a genre. The only game I can think of that basically hasn't been imagined in any form or capacity on other platforms is the Animal Crossing series.

They mostly are talking about the fact that Nintendo releases some of their best games on handhelds and continues to support it.

Some examples like Kid Icarus, Pokemon X/Y, and Fire Emblem are what some mean by "Nintendo games", you know they won't just give you a downgraded console experience.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

dragon's crown and akiba's trip definitely have some gross art

Akiba's Trip is a sort of parody game. It's hardly meant to be actually tittilating. Same for Dragon's Crown which has an absurd aesthetic that is hardly tittilating. You can't seriously call those hentai games.

I'm laughing at Guilty Gear. Like really? Even Senran's only superficially a boobfest. The series is much more than that.

Senran I agree isn't something you can call a "hentai" game. I just don't feel like arguing about it, people just judge by first looks.

 

[Baron Von Beans]

One thing to remember, not everyone games on PC. A lot of people don't. I did for a while, with a pretty monster rig, but when PS3 time around, I lagged behind, and haven't been back since. There are tons of games out there, that have been out there for years, that I was dying to play on PC, but I couldn't, due to lack of equipment. I didn't feel like upgrading/building a new one, so I stuck with console games for a while. I'm not going to attempt to purchase it for my mediocre laptop, so I can mess with the settings, have it not work properly, or poorly, when I know a console version will perform at the best of it's ability.

I love videogames to death. I love handheld gaming to death. But just because I haven't already purchased the game on Steam for a buck does not mean that similar indie games on the Vita are not worth the price. To some, they are worth whatever price is set on them, and more. I've put 100's of hours on Terraria once I got it on my Vita. But I couldn't get in to it on my PS3 for some reason. Now, if a new game is coming out that is multiplat, and Vita is included, I will buy it on the Vita for the sole reason that I will be playing the exact same game evryone is playing, except I can take it anywhere, stop at any time, and resume whenever I want. That's gold to me.

 

[Hugstable]

I just want to ask since I saw lots of people quote the "I only play Nintendo" post: what is a "Nintendo game"? Nintendo isn't a genre. The only game I can think of that basically hasn't been imagined in any form or capacity on other platforms is the Animal Crossing series.

They probably mean Nintendo First Party games?

 

[Ingueferroque]

dragon's crown and akiba's trip definitely have some gross art

Meanwhile your avatar.

So hyped for Don't Starve on Vita.

I used to own one at launch but after several months I saw the writing on the walk and realized there weren't going to be any games that really appealed to me

So I sold it. Fantastic piece of hardware but it's a paperweight without the games I like. It still hasn't convinced me at all to reinvest and I'm too busy with other platforms that have the franchises I want to play to reinvest in one.

It's a shame it hasn't received an Ace Combat entry, for sure. Would have been great with online play.

 

[nordique]

I used to own one at launch but after several months I saw the writing on the wall and realized there weren't going to be any games that really appealed to me

So I sold it. Fantastic piece of hardware but it's a paperweight without the games I like. It still hasn't convinced me at all to reinvest and I'm too busy with other platforms that have the franchises I want to play to reinvest in one.

 

[Blasty]

I sold mine. I may decide to buy a Vita 2000 somewhere down the line. There aren't many games on any platform that I really want to play though.

 

[tronic307]

The proprietary memory cards are too expensive, which is likely what turns most people off when considering a Vita. That Sony has so far done jack to rectify this is, quite frankly, mystifying.

 

[AaronMT86]

I don't do a lot of mobile gaming anymore.

 

[cafemomo]

but i do own a vita

 

[Man God]

looks like a good way to scratch them.

 

[Foxix Von]

I've already done more than my fair share . I had a 1000 that I sold to my best friend after buying an import 2000 and talked my girlfriend into also buying her own.

but i do own a vita

Why am I suddenly so hungry for vita?

 

[Zee-Row]

I bought the Vita at launch because I like the type of games Sony handhelds provide. Even with Nintendo handhelds I don't feel that same Nintendo magic I felt 10 years ago.

 

[davidbloop]

I do own one, and love it. Also bought one for my girlfriend and she loves it.


I'm a huge Nintendo fan, I own a 3ds and a 2ds, with a 3ds xl on the way and most likely will get the new 3ds ll ... but I barely play it compared to my vita strangely enough. I even own more games on my 3ds (physical anyway) but my Vita still gets all the love.

When I first got it, ye it felt a bit underwhelming in the game library department but now I can't keep up with it. I actually enjoyed the Vita so much it got me to go back and buy a PSP which I never played before and now I have an ample PSP collection also.

 

[Vanillalite]

Reading all these responses I just can't help be in disbelief when in this day and age with mobile being all the rage, there are still a lot of people who just won't play a handheld unless there is absolutely no other way to play a game.

I'll play the mobile version just fine, but if games are gonna come a year later that's where the issue comes in. I don't usually rebuy games no matter the systems if it's come out else where much sooner and I've already played.

It just hurts the Vita more because outside of some Japanese 1st party stragglers there isn't a lot on the horizon from Sony itself.

 

[TheYanger]

Reading all these responses I just can't help be in disbelief when in this day and age with mobile being all the rage, there are still a lot of people who just won't play a handheld unless there is absolutely no other way to play a game.

Why? Most people don't play anything on their mobiles except for stuff like Candy Crush or Angry Birds. The EXACT kind of games that are suited to gaming on the go. Why do I want to play an FPS or an RPG on a handheld? 99% or more of the time I want to play a game like that, I have the capacity to do it in the comfort of my home. The portability of the system is largely irrelevent when the games that are best going to make use of portability are games I can play on my freaking phone.

When someone releases a new God of War or GTA or whatever specifically for the Vita, it seems like a huge waste - there is a market for more of those games, but the market in a mobile sector is probably a lot smaller than on an actual console (and indeed we end up seeing those more and more come back TO the consoles we play because they know people want them).

Don't mistake things, I don't really want to play Final Fantasy or Bioshock on my mobile either, but A) there are people who own those and don't own consoles, which is the primary audience for those types of ports. B) if I have to play something mobile that I don't want to, at least I already own the phone so there's no investment there. I agree I'd rather play most of those games on a Vita than my Nexus 5, but I also would rather just not play them unless I have no other means to do so either.

 

[To Far Away Times]

No real can't miss game(s) and abysmal first party and AAA support. And since the Vita is leaning so heavily on indie games now the vast majority of its future library will be or is already available on other platforms.

 

[RM8]

Reading all these responses I just can't help be in disbelief when in this day and age with mobile being all the rage, there are still a lot of people who just won't play a handheld unless there is absolutely no other way to play a game.

No one buys a phone in order to play mobile games, it's the other way around. Now, a dedicated gaming system - yes, people tend to buy those when they have appealing games they can't play otherwise.

 

[SpecX]

Price and the memory cards. I'm really tempted to buy one and get into handheld gaming again since I have to wrestle time to use the tv and surround system from my wife/kids and late night gaming doesn't work for me during the work week.

 

[TheDanger]

I don't play games on the go, I play enough at home and would rather play on the big screen when I'm home. It would be nice for flights or long train rides, but that alone is not enough reason to buy one.

 

[GWX]

Thinking about buying one mainly for Hot Shots Golf (didn't enjoy Mario Golf demo on 3DS, framerate is nauseating and it felt barebones, and I've been craving for handheld golfing for months now) but it's hard to justify it, really. Don't really care for the indie games (I pretty much buy them all on PC/iOS), and the exclusives (apart from HSG) aren't really that interesting.

 

[OuterLimits]

I'm perfectly content with my 3DS and PSP. So far the Vita just doesn't have enough for me to justify a purchase. The PSP has a great library and can play my ps1 games just like the Vita. Perhaps if the majority of my PSP collection was digital instead of UMD I would have upgraded.

 

[UnblessedSoul]

Poor game selection and high priced memory cards

 

[blu]

Waiting for VitaTV.

 

[SpokkX]

Without Nintendo games handheld gaming is pointless for me.

I would have to agree and i even own a Vita!

 

[Maggots]

LOL... WILL THERE EVER BE A REASON TO BUY A VITA?

 

[Atomski]

All the indie games like Spelunky and stuff have made me much more interested in the Vita as a PC gamer who loves those games and wouldnt mind playing them on the go.

However I just cant get over memory prices.. I dont want to buy a handheld and carry around a bunch of carts anymore.

 

[sörine]

The memory cards. If Sony released a Vita 3000 that used microSD cards I'd grab one immediately.

 

[Zerin]

I only own one because I got one that was probably stolen (everything but the screen scratched to hell, conveniently the serial number has the most scratched) exclusively for remote play for $100.

I wouldn't do it again given another opportunity, having gotten my remote play 'fix' for a number of reasons, the biggest being:

- lack of button parity with DS4, even with hardware revisions providing opportunities to do so (lol, backplate triggers)
- memory card prices and format, even after 'significantly' (their word) cutting them are outrageous.
- library doesn't make me want to use it for anything other than remote play for the most part

 

[outunderthestars]

The memory cards. If Sony released a Vita 3000 that used microSD cards I'd grab one immediately.

I don't get this. Buying a memory card is a one time pain and then you are done. Spend $30 on a 16GB card and then use content manager or a PS3 to manage your games. Most of the games are relatively small so you'll still be able to keep a good number of games on there at a time.

I thought you had a Vita?

I do. Trying to get a Vita for my girlfriend as she wants to try the Persona 4 Golden.

(I will try to love her regardless of her poor taste in games)

 

[redcrayon]

Why? Most people don't play anything on their mobiles except for stuff like Candy Crush or Angry Birds. The EXACT kind of games that are suited to gaming on the go. Why do I want to play an FPS or an RPG on a handheld? 99% or more of the time I want to play a game like that, I have the capacity to do it in the comfort of my home. The portability of the system is largely irrelevent when the games that are best going to make use of portability are games I can play on my freaking phone.

It's not so much the relevance of portability alone for me, it's portability combined with instant sleep/resume combined with not wanting to burn my phone's battery on gaming. That all combined means the same to me as someone else preferring to play at home on their comfy couch.

I commute for two hours a day, and 99% of the time I don't have the capacity to play lengthy rpgs, my favourite genre, at home (young family). The sleep mode on a Vita means that, this year alone, I've finished Final Fantasy X, Valkyria Chronicles 2, Ys MoC, Rogue Legacy, Persona 4, Trails in the Sky and half a dozen other rpgs. None of them took less than 20 hours, and they were perfectly playable on a portable with instant resume and sleep mode. Sometimes I even get a cheeky few minutes in on them when It's on my bedside table with an instant resume, that's perfect portable play for me. After 25 years of using portables, none of my favourite portable games are available on a mobile phone yet.

For me it's more of a case of 'why on earth would I want to play an rpg at home when the console takes five minutes to boot up, I have family responsibilities that pop up at a moments notice, I can't easily pause it for a day or two and the games I want to play are more easily enjoyed on a Vita'. Combined with 'why would I want to play an rpg on my phone when it'll waste the battery, I far prefer buttons and older games and I have a dedicated device instead'. It's easy to make decisions over which console is the best experience if you mainly play at home, have a lot of free time and a nice home cinema setup. If I had three hours a night to play games, I'd choose a home console or PC over a portable too. Unfortunately I don't, so my gaming choices are about a decent compromise where just being portable with it's own dedicated battery allotment for games is it's own major factor vs not gaming at all. The choice for me was really only between a gaming tablet, a Shield or a Vita to complement my 3DS.

To each their own. Portables are a lifestyle thing that slots in easily for some people and not at all for others, and just being a portable, dedicated console is such a major plus for me and my gaming time that it easily overrides the combined advantages of PC, mobile and home console gaming in my case. Crazy, I know, which is why these threads are full of people scratching their head, wondering why Vita owners don't just play cheaper indies on PCs. I totally understand that mindset, I really do. But just because some people only ever want 15 minutes of Candy Crush on the go doesn't mean others don't want access to a library of lengthy, epic rpgs, that they can tackle in increments thanks to a decent sleep mode, on the go with a d-pad and buttons.

The other regular Vita gamers I know are like me, gamers in their mid-thirties who grew up with home consoles, but now have a busy home life and a lot of time spent on trains, something that seems to happen more in some countries than others. However, I appreciate that Gaf is an enthusiast global forum, most people seem to drive to work and you can expect them to dedicate a lot of time to getting the best home cinema experience possible at home in line with the western popularity of home consoles and PCs. Plus it's fairly obvious that portables are a niche part of gaming outside of Japan, and on top of that the original promise of western AAA games on Vita failed to have any legs. I'm alright with that, and I'm well aware that I'm in a distinct, shrinking minority.

 

[PhoenixSFT]

I own one and I'm having a hard time justifying the purchase beyond Golden and Tearaway. Once I finish both I'll probably sell it, I've got enough stuff coming out for WiiU and 3DS to keep me busy.