First of all, I own a Vita and I see immense potential in it but currently the Vita has been a disaster - let's just get that out in the open now.
A disaster refers to the ongoing support shown to Vita and a significant amount of poor foresight in how the Vita should operate.
I am NOT a Vita hater. Again, I own one and it COULD be a big fixture in gaming and I really want to see that potential realized.
Unfortunately the major problem is that Sony is a hardware company who are always slow at dealing with non-hardware issues.
Firstly, Sony have consistently been slow at rewarding brand loyalty. The major example is compatibility with old game libraries namely PSone, Minis etc.
I am well aware that the major decision for buying new hardware is not to play old software but it is more about brand loyalty rewards than playing old games. If you have spent significant time and money on a games library being able to enjoy them on new hardware really makes a compelling reason to stay with a brand. However if you sever that tie, your reasons to stay loyal are weakened. After all it is basically a case of Quid Pro Quo.
This may seem more of a PS3 argument but after Sony finally figured out how to bring their PSone library to PS3 and PSP users it shows such unbelievably poor foresight to not have this feature available on the Vita at launch. Then there was the problem with playing anything purchased through PS+.
There are also way too many weeks where the PS Store updates have literally NOTHING for Vita. No games, no demos, no wallpapers, no themes - NOTHING.
Sony's E3 press conference was very uninspiring for Vita also. It was a chance to build excitement but it was a big let down.
Remember that this platform is currently starving for system selling games, the abysmal post-launch hardware sales reflect this. The only way to change this is through new games and building awareness.
This isn't even the biggest issues haunting the Vita currently. I won't mention remote place of the lack thereof (despite it being demoed at the Vita announcement event) simply because this is a feature that is likely not used by everyone.
There is a lack of games available. If Vita is to achieve significant hardware sales it must be backed by a large library of games. The problem currently is that the upcoming release schedule is so sparse it does not promote confidence. How else can you build a library of games to choose from if you can't get them out in the open?
There are, admittedly, some big releases coming up later in 2012 with LBP and Assassin's Creed but is that enough to drive some large sales volume? I honestly don't know.
Other problems include giving PS3 one version of a game like LEGO Batman and the Vita a watered down version. It is a trend Sony need to stop before it starts.
Sony have tried to get the PSmove going but it is still floating around in gimmickville and the Vita should not be relegated to receiving Wii ports.
But I think the biggest problem is something that Sony have overlooked completely and until it is fixed will hampered the Vita's potential as a portable device.
I started playing PS3 when I live in the EU and began collecting my trophies on an EU account. Later on I had to move to Asia for business and am travelling often.
The Vita is a perfect travel companion - or rather it should be. The major problem that Sony needs to fix has a few solutions.
When Resistance for Vita came out, I couldn't buy my local copy because it has an online pass that is region locked to Asia. I can not redeem this code on the EU PSN either. So essentially my portable device is not capable of playing games local to me that require code redemption.
More than that, if someone goes on holiday and sees a new game they want that has an online pass, they likely won't be able to buy it.
I am aware that the PSN store is another option but region to region buying locally is much cheaper.
The simple solution to this problem, is to make online passes for Vita region free. After spending so much time building a gaming history for myself on an EU account it makes no sense to start again. If I had to cut all ties with my gaming history, I might as well start afresh on a new platform like Steam or Xbox.
Again, I want to conclude this by reinforcing that the Vita has immense potential. The hardware is slick and well designed but there are many software related issues to resolve. This is, admittedly, typical of Sony to release great hardware with poorly thought out execution. Thankfully Sony usually get things right but sadly they always have to do it the hard way. I sincerely hope that they get things right sooner rather than later.
Sons of Valhalla is an exceptional 2D side-scroller action game that challenges players' strategic approach and skills management.
The armadillo returns.
I personally do remember Infogrames in the years prior to merger. They really did have a portfolio that stuck out and I enjoyed. I wonder what value they see in reviving it now though?
Sony is apparently experimenting with an AI tool that will play the game for you when you are grinding away. A PlayStation patent for “auto-play” mode would simulate your gameplay style in certain environments and apply them to skip that section completely. This technology would likely be built directly into the cloud-based PlayStation Network and be a new feature that subscribers would have access to.
Hah! Either will never happen or publishers will charge you to use this AI. This concept would only exacerbate the problem we already have with GaaS.
doesnt that concept already exist tho?
buy dlc to get a ahead in games? money, weapon and exp dlc come to mind but yeh. one more thing for them.to potentially charge for.
Usually, for GaaS/Seasonal games, you'll have to perform actions to earn specific in-game currency to buy things for events. Then they sell the currency with real cash or a third-currency to then buy the in-game currency items (it's honestly truly bloated to hide that they're cheating you out of money). With this, they'll just give you items if you do something 50 times or the like and then charge you to have the game play it for you. It's better, right? No currency shenanigans, just play the game and we reward you! But, the truth is they'll inflate the amount of times you have to play through content just to get the same thing.
Why?
Why not just remove the Grindy part?
I hope it's not an excuse to make them worse, but optional if you pay
This IGN blogger mode will allow 'reviewers' to play games like rest of us.
I will never forget watching GamingBolts spoiler video for Horizon FW and realizing they never played it. Made me wonder if they play games at all.
Reminds me of those 24 hours races in gran Turismo 4 having your PlayStation play for you.
But realistically if you have to use any of these for Grundy games there's a bigger underlying problem of the game not respecting your time in the first place.
Grind for game length is a real problem in my view
So true, I mean I love it and the games that are out but there are software issues and they will take a year or 2 before sony fix them and hopefully the device will take off as the ps3 has now done; but ps1 and psp games should have been playable day one at least in EU and USA and it should be ps2 games support we are waiting to have added :/my vita trophies should show up on ps3. The games themselves are great though and I look forwad to the likes of AC3:L Sony need to enusre more people know about it; the adverts have improved over here in the EU tbf. And here in the UK apps like Iplayer are needed really.... on the OLED screen that would be great; took them less time than I expected to roll out skype and youtube though and the ps mobile looks interesting :)
I agree with you. The Vita had a pretty good assortment of launch titles, but each following month was bad, really bad. And now we're entering the holiday season and there still isn't that one game that makes people want to get up and buy the Vita.
During the Vita's E3 unveiling there were all these promises of what the handheld could do, and what would be there, and very few of them have been met.
Where are the games? (Bioshock, Killzone, etc...) If you want the Vita to pick up in sales then you need to produce great versions of your top selling franchises as well as get versions of top selling 3rd party franchises on to the handheld that can compete with their console versions, and at the same time make new IP's for the handheld.
Where is remote Play? (hackers have it, but Sony has yet to do anything about it)
Where is PSMobile? The Vita is capable of so much more than gaming, and needs to be re-marketed as a tablet like device, but for dedicated gamers. PSMobile needs to bring much needed apps, other services unique to the Vita, and casual / cheaper games.
Why is it so Expensive? For the core the Vita's price is fine, but for the casual not so much. Why buy a Vita when you can buy a tablet for $199, or an iPad2 for $399 (that's the mentality of the average consumer and it's true). The Vita needs a price drop down to $199 ASAP. It also needs a price drop on it's memory. You can't use your Vita without a memory card, and they cost TOO MUCH. $100 for 32GB Memory Card is outrageous, and you need a large card if you want people to adopt digital download only. Finally games have pricing all over the place, and no one wants to buy a handheld game for $50 even if it's Uncharted (I did, but not again). Adopt this pricing structure as soon as possible.
8GB = $20
16GB = $30
32GB = $50
64GB = $80
$40 = Big franchises (Uncharted, God of War, Gran Turismo, COD, Assassin's Creed, etc..)
$20 = Niche games (Loco Roco, Patapon, etc...)
This is much better than most of the opinion pieces that get posted here from other websites on a daily bases. Hopefully a relevant person at Sony reads this and tries to get these issues resolved at little expense to the consumer.
No offense but you are just a person posting on site. No matter what you think you could have done better you really don't know any better unless you have actually learned about a business or own a business. It is never as simple as you think and a company is a very complex thing. If was as simple to work out as people here on N4G think it is no business would ever go bankrupt and nothing would ever fail. It is easy to say just sell it for this price and just make it like this or just do it like this but executing is never as simple as you think. Look at Microsoft. People keep saying Microsoft does it right by advertising and thinking ahead and this and that. And yet their products are always overshadowed by something else and they are never ahead of anyone. Why is that if they are so great at business as everyone says? Why don't they just pull ahead of Apple, Google, Nintendo and everyone else?
You have no idea the complexities that could have occurred trying to get PS1 games on the VITA for instance but like most people on the Sony side you want everything to happen now without a single thought about how it happens. Like the people who keep saying to lower the price. If you were actually a CEO in a company you would realize the complexity of doing that. You have to look at your long and short term goals, if it is viable, if it is cost effective. So in short saying that they should have done this or that is pointless because your ideas could have had worse consequences that what is happening now. It's easy to critize and claim you would have done this better or like this but if you actually took the reigns you might find out how hard it really is.Not saying they probably didn't make any mistakes like others have done but your ideas may not be as viable or as clever as you think. Think about what you are saying. Is it foolish not to do the things they did or harder to do then you believe it was?
I like my Vita, but I tend to agree with pretty much everything you wrote.
Good Read.