PS Vita: Dead on Arrival

January 18, 2012 Sekani 2 comments

If you’re into gaming at all you’ve probably heard that Sony has a new handheld system coming out, the PS Vita. But that’s probably ALL you know. Seriously, I had to look up the release date just now (February 22nd). No advertising, no promotions, nothing from Sony themselves about this thing has made its way to the masses. And that’s the first reason the Vita is primed for failure in the U.S. market.

Reason number two: the games. You may think Sony has learned their lesson from the PSP by stacking the Vita with a ton of high-quality titles, but nearly every title is something that provides more of a console experience than a portable one. Who’s going to be playing Uncharted Golden Abyss for a ten-minute stint while waiting at a doctor’s office? Are you really going to be taking names in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 during the bus ride to work? Even if you were in a position where you could play one of these titles for a fairly long stretch, like during a road trip or airplane flight, the paltry battery life would thwart you every time. In all seriousness, the only way I’d bother with most of these games would be at home, with the Vita plugged into the wall and taking advantage of my home wi-fi connection. In that situation, why would I choose the Vita over a PS3 anyway?

And the final (and biggest) reason is what I call The Smartphone Effect. We can do everything, including gaming, on our iPhones and Galaxy Nexuses and Droid Bionics and… you get the idea. Is there really enough of a benefit to carrying around an extra pocket-hogging device that’s so limited in function? The only market these days for dedicated portable gaming machines belongs to people who are too young to have their own smartphone. Seriously, take a look around the next time you’re out and about. I’d bet Monopoly money that the vast majority of DSes and 3DSes and PSPs you’ll see are in the hands of children. A quick look at the Vita launch lineup reveals very few titles that would be of interest to younger gamers (Little Deviants, maybe Mod Nation Racers). There is a good reason why most of the games for Nintendo’s recent handhelds are kid-friendly. This is the only audience a dedicated portable has anymore in the U.S, and Sony has chosen NOT to target it.

Take into account the above, add in the mass confusion over things like the memory cards and the 3G plans and people in general just not having a clue how the system works and you have to wonder: does Sony really just want the Vita to fail?

At this rate, I’m pretty sure they’re going to get their wish. (Yes, I just used “they’re” and “their” properly, and in the same sentence even. That’s some pro English skills right there. Just ignore the part where I left a word out of sentence somewhere else.)

What I Sez video games, vita

#1 | Written by Jean about 1 week ago.

I think PSP Vita will survive if Sony makes good exclusives for it. BTW now all games for PSP Vita are garbage.
#2 | Written by Tahldon about 2 days ago.

Heh. I have to agree that Sony has done a pretty poor job of advertising the device. It’s such a good piece of tech and I’m not sure how they are planning on putting it out into the public’s eye. To be honest, I thought that they would go ahead and throw a Super Bowl ad out there to catch enough eyes, but they didn’t of which I think is a missed opportunity considering how much they’re going to spend on advertising (a whopping $50 Million, $7 of that could’ve been to put a Superbowl ad out). But supposedly, hey just brought in some fellow, Guy Longworth, who is supposed to be the new “Ad runner” for their Playstation Vita department. I’ve heard some things the guy has to say and he -might- seem like he knows what he’s doing, but we’ll see. Sony has had this weird history of making utterly stupid ads that confuse people. Hopefully, the guy behind those ads no longer has a job, which would be why they brought this new guy in. But I digress, there were no ads about the system prior to it releasing, so not that many people outside of the gaming community know about it. Which sucks.

Also, about the games, I have to say that I can’t totally agree there. The thing about the Vita is that it’s a “stop and go” system all day long. It doesn’t matter where one is in the game, just hit the “PS” logo on the system and the game stops right where it is and you’re taken back to the Home screen where you can just put the device on sleep mode and keep going. It doesn’t matter what you’re playing, you can stop it and keep moving. So it can be as deep or engaging as the player wants it to be. Don’t want to get nitty gritty with Uncharted, play something simpler like Super Stardust Delta or Lumines. This PSVita launch line-up is pretty strong though. Usually I always have games that I “settle” for, but with this thing I kind of have a backlog from the get-go. Not to include the PSP games that we can play on it. The games really aren’t that bad. It’s a really good launch, though, it woulda been a hell of a lot better with Gravity Rush beside it.

As for some of the games being for kids (ie: Modnation Racers) there are always games like that on every system lol. I don’t expect the Vita to escape silly games like those just like any other console can’t. But I can tell you that I expect far more shovelware 3DS games than I do Vita games, only because the 3DS market is wider and cheaper to develop for (this from my limited point of view). And people have Vitas! There are 47 people in my immediate home-area that have them and 23 in my work area that have one. I get to see them all while playing around in “Near”. There may not be that many, but that’s a lot considering I only go from home to work and back everyday. That’s a lot of Vitas for just being First edition bundles. Now, I know what you’re saying, my small area can’t account for the globe, but we still can’t take from the fact that there are people out here with these things

And I don’t, for a minute, believe that a parent would buy a kid a Vita to carry around. It’s a pretty expensive piece of tech and only enthusiasts or adult gamers are going to indulge and get one. So I have to disagree with your point that only kids would be carrying the thing. People will have Vitas, but I think it’s realistic to not expect 5 million to be sold in the first couple of months, though. Not even the 3DS had that kind of moving power until Mario came out twice for it AND the price dropped.

Also, yes, the memory cards are expensive for the system. I hope that, soon, Sony gets some sense and lowers the prices of these things because it’s pretty harsh on the wallet to pay so much for the system, then a game, then a memory card to go with it. If they were smart, they’d just keep the memory cards bundled in with the device.

Nevertheless, I don’t think the Vita will fail. It’ll take it a while to get its feet off of the ground, but it won’t fail. And in no way, shape, or form are cell phone games comparable to the experiences these handhelds like the 3DS and the Vita can provide. See… with the Vita or 3DS we have the options of playing games with super engaging gameplay or playing something light on the go, but Phones can’t compete with that. You may get an Assassins Creed game or Street Fighter IV on the iPhone, but there’s no way that those touch controls will ever let one play the game with any sort of precision or fluidity. Touch controls only gets a gamer so far. And any other game that’s easy to play with touch on a phone is simply a time waster (ie: Fruit Ninja or Angry Birds).

Still though, how people justify buying iPads at their prices like they do, but turn right around and complain about the price of the Vita. Just plain odd to me.

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PS Vita: Dead on Arrival

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