3DS vs Vita: A Year Passed With A Floundering Vita

"With the Vita now over a year old Sony along with third parties have now had enough time to put out their fair share of games on the system. Now it's about time we write up a comparison of the two and decide whose shooting up to the stars and whose drowning in the water for the rest of this year. " - FirstDropShow.com

[PSNintyGamer]

Such a Shame

[NewMonday]

3DS and the PSV are both great

3DS is ahead now,but the power of the Vita can make it get a good market share in the long run. Soul Sacrifice is turning into the system seller Sony hoped it will be, that should spur them to make more 1st party games for the Japanese market.

[Theyellowflash30]

Soul Sacrifice barely made a dent in the 3DS armor. The week SS and PSO came out, the Vita only outsold the 3DS by 2000K.

Tomodachi came out last week and the 3DS sales surged, outselling the PS Vita nearly 7:1

I hate to say it's over for the Vita, but it's over. Nintendo still has Shin Megami Tensei IV, Monster Hunter 4 and Pokemon X & Y, Link to the Past 2, Mario Golf and Party, all coming out this year.

There is no way Vita can overcome those games.

[morganfell]

But the Vita has the PS4, a system co-developed with the Vita. E3 might surprise you when you see the functionality.

[SilentNegotiator]

They both have leaned way too hard on ports so far. I want to see some more original adventure titles, especially out of the Vita, with its power and the beautiful UE demo.

But hey, just one person's opinion. I WANT to want a Vita or 3DS, but every time I see look at their lineups, I just don't feel it.

[NewMonday]

@Theyellowflash30
"Soul Sacrifice barely made a dent in the 3DS armor"

it doesn't need to that, the task was to be a must have exclusive game for the Vita, and ever since the release it is constantly in the top 20, every 2 Vitas hase 1 SS game sold that means its a good attraction.

the PSV is only 1.5m units in Japan compared to the 3DS 10m, bit it has a an incredibly high attache rate with many games hitting the top10/top20 at release.

the 3DS doesn't have much power so owners will get tired of it in a year or 2(in the west are already falling), by then the Vita will still be good and also have PS4 connectivity.

[stragomccloud]

I have no doubt that the Vita will really start picking up this year. There are a lot of good things on the horizon.

@theyellowflash
Sony doesn't need to dominate Nintendo to be successful. Just because it doesn't sell as many units, doesn't mean that it is a failure. Vita is going to stick around for a while. Just like the PSP.

[BullyMangler]

relax relax dude, sony will be fiine due to awesome exclusives, the problem is the Vitas maL placed joysticks. Nintendo's next handheld's sure gonna be a beaut eh

[joeorc]

"hate to say it's over for the Vita, but it's over. Nintendo still has Shin Megami Tensei IV, Monster Hunter 4 and Pokemon X & Y, Link to the Past 2, Mario Golf and Party, all coming out this year. "

There is no way Vita can overcome those games.

It does not have too!

That's where many of you are making the same Mistake, Sony's PSVita is not the sole HandHeld platform that Sony only has to rely on! The PSVita is set for support cycle like the PS3 is Long term! you have to look at the larger Mobile market to see this, the 3DS and the PSVita are not in a vacuum they are no longer the main Handheld for game's; smartphone's are and now have the lion's share not just in profit but software sales and support also!

When the Iphone and Android have many more hardware sales and software sales a sale's Quarter. does that Mean the 3DS and the PSVita are not viable for a Market? No it just means the Market share is further Narrowed. between the Sony and Nintendo name another dedicated Game's mobile handheld made by another company that has the number's even Sony get's?

there is none!

that's the point Nintendo may have the largest Dedicated Game handheld market share , but they are not the largest Game Handheld market share in the entire industry. Sony is not also but by sheer number of Handhelds with Game centric as a focus. Sony is more sales per quarter of handheld's than even Nintendo. Sony is selling 10+ million xperia handset's every three month's. and those very same handsets run the Playstation Mobile software platform. the PSVita does also. soon enough playstation Mobile will have trophy support, along with more game's getting cross play.

its no longer just about dedicated game handhelds anymore. Sony knows this and the simple fact is the PSVita is going to keep getting support due to the fact it's already generating a profit for Sony.

[izumo_lee]

There is no denying that the 3DS is a great handheld strengthen by the juggernaut Nintendo 1st party games. Nintendo knows the handheld market very well so it is no surprise the 3DS is doing so well.

However don't count out the Vita. There is so much potential with the system that like the PS3 a slow start should be nothing to worry about. The PSP did over 70+ million against a company like Nintendo which is the best a competitor has ever done against. If the Vita can equal those numbers i think Sony would be satisfied.

Like the PS4 the Vita is a handheld for the hardcore gamer. Those who own one know exactly what they got & what the system is capable of. It will get games & it will do well. Will it overtake Nintendo...probably not but you know what i think that is ok.

[Theyellowflash30]

The PSP did so well because it was easily hackable, cheaper, and had a reasonable storage solution. The Vita is none of these.

The PSP also had Monster Hunter on it, which the Vita will not have. That's a huge blow to the Vita.

Will it do ok in the future? Maybe, but Sony needs to start supporting it with first party titles. Its been over a year now and their isn't much from Sony on there.

[izumo_lee]

They already have supported the system with 1st party games. Unfortunately they released them all at the same time at the launch.

Uncharted, Wipeout, Gravity Rush, Unit 13, Super Stardust, Escape Plan, Modnation, Little Big Planet, Little Deviants, all released within the first 6 months.

The next wave will have Soul Sacrifice, Killzone, & Tearaway. Who knows what else is coming cause Sony barely does those Nintendo Directs. In the past Sony is notorious for leaks so they may be keeping things more tight-lipped...who knows.

Cause of the Vita's console like nature games take longer to be made. Games on the Vita are close to AAA console games which means higher budgets & longer dev times. To counter balance that the Indie crowd is taking a liking to the system which is why so many Indie games have been released & announced.

Again like i said the Vita will probably never reach the 3DS in terms of sales but that doesn't mean the system is going to fail.

We aren't talking about the Sega Gamegear, or Nokia Ngage, or Atari Lynx or the many other handhelds that are actual failures. Sony is the first to have a handheld that has done relatively well against one from Nintendo. They proved that with the PSP (no matter what the reason) & they will do the same with the Vita.

[TongkatAli]

Just because it isn't going to beat the 3DS in sales doesn't mean it's "over". Fing hate Nintendo fanboys, they make everything in gaming about Nintendo. I can't go to a YouTube video to look at a game I want without them fing hating.

"Persona 4, pttf SMTIV is better "

"Dragons Crown, pttf Muramasa is better"

"Gravity Rush, pttf WTF is this, lol.

There is always a excuse for everything on the Vita being subpar compared to
the 3DS. Psp got hated on like crazy and now it's the Vita's turn. I can't believe
you said it's "over", lol, you know what is over ? Wii support and that is Nintendo most succesful console.

When the Vita is not coming out with future games then you can say "its over". I like that it's a niche device, now a days anything really popular is garbage anyway. I meant some really popular shit is garbage.

[SoundGamer]

"The PSP did so well because it was easily hackable, cheaper, and had a reasonable storage solution. The Vita is none of these. "

Oh, how we forget.

The PSP launched at the same price of $249 USD. The Vita basic is $249 and most bundles come at that price.

Games launched at the same price too averaging $39.99 for a regular retail game.

"A reasonable storage solution"? You forget that the PSP started out by requiring a proprietary memory card. Sony later made a deal with SanDisk allowing them to make a cheaper alternative of the Pro Duo Memory stick. Who's to say they wont do the same with the Vita?

Easily hackable? I highly doubt that's what drove the sales to 70 million+.

The Vita will pick up in the future.

[stragomccloud]

Heck, even if they sell half of what the PSP sold it'd be a success.

That said I don't like when people say Nintendo products are not what "hardcore" gamers play. Last time I checked, "hardcore" gamers play games and don't really care what kind. Besides, what not hardcore about: Street Fighter IV, Dead or Alive, Fire Emblem, Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, Castlevania, Zelda, and the countless other titles that are considered gamer titles. I have a Vita and a 3DS, and they are both really cool. Just different. The street pass features on the 3DS though makes the 3DS get out of the house more often though.

[sherimae2413]

oh izumo-sensei, youre one of the few people here who speaks with sense and logical way ^_^
and never i have seen you commented with fanboyism and you explain your comments with sense and truth... ^_^

[joeorc]

agreed, you do not have to slam another product to see the value and viability in the Product. I own many Nintendo product's and just as i am typing this i own a laptop with windows and linux both on the system. both are viable for my need's. Just because you do not look at the market as black n white as other people and do not outright call the product a failure does not mean you are a fanboy of said product or company, it just means that maybe you see the value in said product and support for such product is being seen where other's may call it dead.

Like the WiiU, people calling it dead this early really have not seen how this market really can change and is quite the flexible in this corner of the worlds market product's that are sold to consumer's world wide.

The fact these systems are less static and thus can gain functionality over the long haul mean's multi-purpose and multi-use. Game's just being one of them. The WiiU will be far from dead in a few year's in my opinion unless Nintendo stops support for such a platform, which can happen but to say this early about said product with no real time on the market is too early of a prediction in my opinion.

[Nicolee]

I just bought 3DS to play the fire emblem and wow its an amazing game

[Killzoner99]

Who cares dude? Such a lame and stale franchise. Any game on the Vita blows Fire Emblem away.

[Brucis]

>Who cares dude?
It was mentioned in the article.

>such a lame
Opinion.

>and stale franchise
>implying Fire Emblem is an overused franchise or that it doesn't mix things up

>Any game on the Vita blows Fire Emblem away.
lol really? ANY game BLOWS Fire Emblem away? You really wanna do this? I'm fairly sure I can find a Vita game with lower scores than the newest Fire Emblem

[Satirical]

Other than maybe persona 4 golden, I highly doubt that.

[Nicolee]

i own vita too mate. i just say that fire emblem is an amazing game. don't be such a childish fanboy. i love gaming and thats all

[Theyellowflash30]

LOL coming from a guy named Killzoner? Talk about lame franchises.

[Good_Guy_Jamal]

Let me have a look

[drsnoopyseussdog]

Off Topic: Does anyone recommend getting luigis mansion dark moon cuz im thinking about getting it but im not sure:/

[HexxedAvenger]

It's a fun game! Haven't played it since I have monster hunter. Game is like crack lol

[Nicolee]

go for it, one of the best game on 3ds

[InsaneChronos]

And the Vita is still there. So I guess the 3DS is not a problem to the PSVita.

[Apollosupreme]

It's amazing how these articles doesn't blow the dust off my 3DS or make me want to lay down the Vita.

[Xer0_SiN]

im glad the 3ds is selling well. its really the only thing keeping nintendo afloat.

[BigStef71]

Mark my words PS Vita will have its revenge. Its too great a piece of kit to fail and Sony will never let it happen. People said the ps3 was doomed and it ended up being pretty successful. Everything will change after this E3

By the way 3ds has had a ton of new games that came out that I really need to get. I only have ocarina of time and 3d land which are very fun games. I want to get luigis mansion dark moon, fire emblem ,paper mario , donkey kong country returns 3d, monster hunter ultimate, animal crossing and kid icarus.I might get drop dream distance but that might get ported to consoles. Any other suggestions?
I hope RARE makes a banjo kazooie game for 3ds or just any game for 3ds. Microsoft let them do it for advance and ds so maybe we can get some games on 3ds. I heard viva pinata was pretty fun on ds.

[Williamson]

After a year or so the vita already has many great console quality titles, but obviously it needs more. I can see a mass effect, bioshock, infamous, mgs,open world arkham game, tomb raider, heavenly sword, and plenty more on the vita. The potential is there but sony needs to make it happen...the vita deserves to show off its true potential!

[Nicolee]

yah they need more game like Gravity Rush or anygame that unique to vita so vita can stand on itown right

[BeZdaBest]

its not doing so good now but i swear i remember sony saying that the vita will have a long lifespan comparable with last gen... if an when the ps4 comes out the vita will be close to 2years + lets say another 7 years coupled with the ps4.. its got room to grow..maybe the vita will use the ps4 as a crutch but if its got another 5-7 years ahead of it there could be some fantastic games ahead not saying it doesnt..

[YoloSwag]

Few people will buy a Vita to play with the PS4, js.

[BeZdaBest]

i know i didnt... but to the people that haven't and are still on the fence this May be a reason
but i agree with what you said most people wont care for that if the games arent there..

[Trenta27]

I hope my Vita gets some use in these next few months. I haven't touched it since I finished Persona 4 and that was awhile ago. There just isn't any reason to own one right now with the exception of a few games.

[kayoss]

You just contradicted your statement, " There just isn't any reason to own one right now with the exception of a few games." Wouldn't those few exceptions be enough reasons to own a vita?

[Satirical]

Vita definitely has a lot of potential. If we're talking about tech specs and hardware quality, then vita is probably the best portable system we've seen thus far.

But the 3DS has really picked up some tremendous momentum. The sheer amount of quality games coming out on the 3DS in this year alone is absolutely incredible. Nintendo really knows what they're doing when it comes to the portable gaming market.

I don't even have a 3DS yet and if were to get one, I don't think I'd be able to afford all of the incredible games already in it's library.

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

Vita is fine its gonna be an uphill battle for sure it will pick up steam and More quality games will come. Its always gonna be second place but, sony isnt gonna suddenly ditch it.

[CLOUD1983]

Vita is an amazing piece of hardware & if we compare it with 3DS Vita have at least 3 times more power, quality-wise is by far the best of the 2 but still there is some issues from the 1st day it launch until even now, & those r not enough quality exclusives to justify a purchase, very expensive memory cards & it still is very expensive for a handheld u can buy a PS3 with the same money u need for a Vita.

[DivineAssault]

Sony is prolly focusing on PS4 right now but theres still vita games like Killzone, FFXHD, Dragons Crown, Soul Sacrifice, muramasa, etc.. The price drop isnt world wide yet & when PS4 comes, itl make vita look much more attractive to customers.. People dont want to play ports ALL the time so vita needs original titles to help it sell

[bigcupofSTFU]

i understand that games are important, but the vita is such a great multi media machine,i dont understand how it can collect dust, hell now i can watch anime online. my laptop is collecting dust :3

[Kingthrash360]

3ds is out selling everything....but thats it.... the vita is far more entertaining for the more mature audience.

seems the only time people want to compare the vita and the 3ds is when hardware sales are the topic.

[Kratoscar2008]

Dont agree that the Vita will die but it sure is in intensive care right now.

So far SMT 4 and DS:Soul Hackers are reason enough to ditch the Vita (I have own a PS1&PS2&PSP) as it seems that the 3DS will be the home of JRPGs.

[Natso]

That's such an ignorant comment.

Just because one handheld is getting something desirable, you're going to disregard another handheld completely? What kind of thought process is that? Are you incapable of enjoying something from multiple sources?

This attitude is a complete skidmark on gaming...

[Kingthrash360]

fully agreed.

[Kratoscar2008]

LOL what i get a system based on games it offers and the Vita is hardly owrth getting.

That and i can only afford one console.

[Xer0_SiN]

and another thing. it might not be doing good now BECAUSE this is a system that is supposed to work in conjunction with ps4. i have a very strong feeling that the vitas forecast is gonna turn around real quick once the ps4 comes out. i mean just look at it now, all these games starting to come out for the vita, the imminent price drop in japan leading to good sales, only gets better once its stateside. things only looks good for the vita.

[MasterCornholio]

For me its the opposite.

I own a Vita because it has the library of games that im most interested in and i used to want a 3DS for Revelations until they ported it over to the PS3 and the 360.

Both are great handhelds but i prefer the Vitas overall design a lot more. I love the beautiful 5 inch OLED display which puts the 3DSs low resolution LCD to shame and im a huge fan of capacitative touchscreens which is something that the 3DS lacks with its resistive bottom screen. This is just my preference so just take that in mind.

What impresses me the most about Sony handhelds is that they managed to survive Nintendos monopoly in the handheld market.

[jek7]

in terms of hardware vita
in terms of sales 3ds

[portal_2]

To me it feels like Sony are sailing the Vita with only one engine lit. Time to light the other 3 Sony.

[KentBlake]

I own both systems. The 3DS has more games right now, but I end up playing the Vita a lot more. I guess it's down to preference, I'm just not much of a Nintendo guy (I know people don't like when we say this, but I think Nintendo recycles a lot of 30 year old ideas and franchises over and over).

And the Vita has a lot of great games too (Uncharted, Gravity Rush, Persona, Wipeout, Lumines, Guacamelee!, LBP, Rayman, Sine Mora, Mutant Blobs, Retro City Rampage,the silliness of Frobisher Says, Sly, etc.). But it still needs a bump in quantity of games. Soul Sacrifice, Killzone and Tearaway will help this.

I think if the Vita gets a price drop and a few AAA games, plus the truckload of indie games that are already announced for it, it will compete with (dare I say beat?) the 3DS.

[Protagonist]

Besides Shin Megami Tensei 3DS: Devil Survivor Overclocked and Shin Megami Tensei IV, I can honestly say there is no other games for the 3DS, that are desirable for me.

[gigoran]

You know this is like comparing the ps1 to an Atari 2600 right? Oh, it's just an excuse to bash the vita? K. Nothing new here.

[o-Sunny-o]

People say power isn't everything? What are they suppose to do keep it looking like PSP for another 10 years? 3DS is "cheap" and affordable but its quality is just bad to me. I hate the sound on it and its design is bad for headphones(XL 3DS). My hands start to get tired of holding that thing. I like the games on 3DS but not the quality of the system.

[arbitor365]

last year the vita took home over a dozen handheld GOTY awards (and even 2 flatout GOTY awards) between uncharted, gravity rush, persona 4 golden, LBP, and sound shapes.

so, last year the vita undoubtedly won in terms of games. and I think it will be the same this year.

but, of course, the 3DS sells more because its audience is primarily children and casuals. this isnt me trolling. this is factual

https://www.npd.com/lps/pdf...

http://gotgame.com/2013/03/...

[BeZdaBest]

so going by what i read there...

.anybody that plays on a nintendo console & handheld console (including) vita are not hardcore..

.14% of ps3/xbox36o gamers are hardcore.

.only hardcore gamers play call of duty and madden

.most people that own nintendo are kids..(rly)

.A core gamer is :"Consumers engaged in core gaming are committed gamers
and often choose video games as their first form of entertainment"

idk what to say but cod and madden are the hardestcore games .. then me with my 110+ ps3 games ( no cod or madden) must be one of most casual of them all because i also game on the vita 3ds wiiu (non-core consoles)

this is ridiculous... really i rather read a nother doom prophecy on the wiiu/vita instead of this non sense...

[imXify]

Selling the Vita would be freaking easy. You just need to check the previous console software sales and replicate the same scenario.

I want to see some of this Sony.

http://prntscr.com/12650e