Before I start, I want to say that for the thread title I toyed between "A success" and "More successful". I love the Vita, I really do, but after thinking on it I just couldn't declare the Vita a "Success" in any real meaningful sense of the word. I mean when I walk into a high street games store the Vita seems lucky to get a single shelf (If indeed it gets any shelf space at all), in exceptional circumstances it might have two, but in my experience most of the games on display are second hand that someone has traded in.
I love that the Vita is still going in what could be arguably described as a niche market in the west, it still gets plenty of games coming out, but they just don't make waves with the mainstream.
But back on track, just why wasn't the Vita a success? It's a powerhouse for a handheld, it can produce some incredible graphics, it has a wide variety of games and, provided you bought the good Vita and not the second revision, you got DAT SCREEN, that beautiful OLED screen that really brings those games to life.
There are a few things I can perhaps think of that would contribute, but they just don't seem like enough to have virtually killed mainstream interest in a handheld from the same company as arguably the most successful console of this gen.
The rear touch pad, this was a terrible decision and the only game that seems to have made even remotely decent use of it is Tearaway. Fortunately though most games seem to just ignore it these days.
Early games (Uncharted I'm looking at you) had some awful touch screen gimmicks, but again game makers seem to either downplay the touch screen, ignore it, or implement it in a way that is actually useful.
The biggest thing though, that I can think of at least, is the proprietary and overpriced memory cards. Were these really enough to kill the console before it ever got started? If the Vita had just used Micro-SD, or even at least come with a small amount of built-in storage, could it perhaps have been much more successful? Could such a simple thing have saved the Vita?
I love that the Vita is still going in what could be arguably described as a niche market in the west, it still gets plenty of games coming out, but they just don't make waves with the mainstream.
But back on track, just why wasn't the Vita a success? It's a powerhouse for a handheld, it can produce some incredible graphics, it has a wide variety of games and, provided you bought the good Vita and not the second revision, you got DAT SCREEN, that beautiful OLED screen that really brings those games to life.
There are a few things I can perhaps think of that would contribute, but they just don't seem like enough to have virtually killed mainstream interest in a handheld from the same company as arguably the most successful console of this gen.
The rear touch pad, this was a terrible decision and the only game that seems to have made even remotely decent use of it is Tearaway. Fortunately though most games seem to just ignore it these days.
Early games (Uncharted I'm looking at you) had some awful touch screen gimmicks, but again game makers seem to either downplay the touch screen, ignore it, or implement it in a way that is actually useful.
The biggest thing though, that I can think of at least, is the proprietary and overpriced memory cards. Were these really enough to kill the console before it ever got started? If the Vita had just used Micro-SD, or even at least come with a small amount of built-in storage, could it perhaps have been much more successful? Could such a simple thing have saved the Vita?
