PlayStation Vita: Two Years Later

Colin Moriarty - On its second birthday, the struggle continues.

I’ve been to lots of E3s, but E3 2011 might be my most memorable for one reason: PlayStation Vita. It wasn’t the hardware or the games that blew me away – although both compelled me – but the reaction from gamers and the press alike. Folks well outside of the PlayStation ecosystem seemed staggered by Vita’s power and potential, and the price of PS Vita came in well below many industry experts’ predictions. There was palpable excitement about the device, not just from the hardcore PlayStation community, but from just about everyone else in the industry as well.

[KingDadXVI]

I could not agree more. The problem is that the mobile market moved in and basically stole their thunder. Portable tech these days has to do pretty much everything under the sun for people to buy it now.

Nintendo seems to be the only ones able to make a go of this market anymore and I suspect that is only because they have a pretty diehard fan base. I suspect that this market is going to disappear at least in its current form.

[dedicatedtogamers]

I don't think it is Nintendo's fanbase that is making it a success. The fanbase bought it at the beginning but it was the 'mainstream' audience that bought the DS who didn't jump in and buy it, too. The 3DS is still performing slower than the DS by a wide margin.

I think the Vita will end up being exactly like the PSP: a niche, high-powered handheld that appeals to a niche base. I'll be sad if it's Sony's last foray into the dedicated handheld market but as a Vita owner, I'm very happy with my purchase.

[guitarded77]

Brand recognition and price have a lot to do with it. People having kids grew up with Nintendo, so they know the name... they know the characters. That has a huge impact when buying for kids.

Also, the price point. When 3DS released, it was too high with limited games. Once they dropped the price and got a few recognizable franchises, it took off.

Plus you have the core, buying it got the JRPG's, Pokemon, etc. Nintendo appeals to a broader mass audience than Sony. It's just the way it is... they've been in the game longer, and they had the NES generation almost all to themselves to build crazy attach rates. The mid 80's - mid 90's were the building ground for Nintendo.

I love my Vita, and hope that it really takes off in the long term, but I don't know exactly what it will take for them to get 3DS numbers. It would have to be a multitude of things.

[Theyellowflash30]

The PSP was not niche, it sold 80 million plus units.

There are three big problems with the Vita

1. Games
2. Lack of Backwards compatibility
3. Memory prices

If Sony would have made the Vita reverse compatible and use SD memory I feel more people would by it.

[abzdine]

only retards will say Vita is a bad console with no games.
you are a gamer you like real games you go buy a powerful console with amazing library.

[mcstorm]

@abzdine it depends on what games you like to say it has no games or not. I went out and got a PSV on day one but sold it a few months back as for me it did not have any games that got me excited like the 3DS had.

It has games but a lot of them are console ports which is not what I want. Resistance was a good handheld FPS game but ive lost my love for FPS games as last gen there were too many and I need a rest from them to get excited about them again.

I felt LBP was too short had some nice touches but did not feel it was anything new on what was done with 2.

MNR was a big let down for me as this could of really been a great game on the PSV but taking the online mp out made its life short.

PSASBR was a fun game but because of the low sales numbers I struggled to find matches online and I felt the SP was lacking game modes.

UCGA felt to me like it held your hand too much and was not a challenge like the PS3 versions.

It has got some good games for it but the biggest issue with the PSV is its lack of variety. Nintendo has the right mix of games on the DS for core and none core and this is what Sony need to try and do.

The hardware is amazing on the PSV but for me at the moment its not got the games to match it.

[JohnnyTower]

The quality of a Nintendo game compared to the shovelware created for cell phones is incomparable. Nintendo makes great games. Cell phone games are dime a dozen and the f2p model isn't for me. I don't mind paying $40 for a game that's worth it rather than nickel and dime you to death like cell games.

[clouds5]

That's why I play nintendo games on my mobile phone with a real controller ;) SNES/Genesis emulator and a MOGA Pro controller is basically all I need for my mobile gaming. I don't want a full blown story driven 100h RPG on my phone. I want quicke arcade style fun. And the 8bit/16bit era was best in that regard. Of course that is just my opinion.

And I know it's a legal grey area. But I have bought donkey kong country for the original SNES and for the Wii. So having paid twice for that game I feel entitled to use it on my phone :P

On the other hand the mobile gaming market is slowly starting to pick up. Try "Sine Mora" it's one of the best shmups I played in a long time.

[Aceman18]

i love my Vita i have plenty of great games to play on it, and its designed perfectly for me.

i guess the reason why the media and the moaners complain so much about the system is probably because majority of Sony big studios don't actually work on the system save Media Molecule. if Sony could get more of its studios to alternate projects between PS4 and Vita i feel people would stop b***hing.

[Rustynail]

Mobiles haven't stolen it's share, mobile games are just pisspoor games and touchscreen is crap. There is no third party support for PSV and people just don't like the idea of playing games that are already available on PS3.

[Omar91]

I agree 100%. Although I love my vita, I still don't really use it besides playing resogun. I need that AAA title that will make me play for hours on end (like Persona Golden did.)

[bothebo]

Tearaway is a phenomenal game but if you like JRPGs then you have FFX HD remake coming your way in March and Toukiden on February 11th. Also, have you tried Soul Sacrifice? It's a very good JRPG that is similar to Monster Hunter but instead you special powers with elemental attributes.

[Concertoine]

i wouldnt say so, in the case of tearaway at least. love the game to pieces but its far from a long game like he wanted.
http://www.howlongtobeat.co...
soul sacrifice is awesome though.

[Ult iMate]

Also Ys.

[thereapersson]

@ Concertoine

The longest playtime polled was logged at 15 hours, which is impressive length to be had from a mobile title. Even having 6 hours of gameplay for 20 bucks is a good use of your funds. You pay over 10 dollars for just over 2 hours of movie footage these days in the theaters, and Tearaway is likely more compelling than anything on the big screen. I am surprised more people haven't purchased the title yet.

[Concertoine]

@thereapersson
Dude, the average is about 7 hours. That's the consensus from reviews too. you dont judge a game's length by the ONE time that is 3 times longer than everyone else's. That's silly.
And for 20 bucks its a steal, but i bought that game at launch for 40.

[Irishguy95]

I agree, there aren't enough 'great games' on it. YS is just out so we'll have to give that a go. I'm playing FF tactics on it right now. I'm not one for buying a system simply to play old games though, I could play tactics on anything else. I want the Vita to have it's own set of games. I recently finally finished gravity rush anyway, more of that type of stuff. There's also way more games in Jp than over here. Sony could simply port some over and i'd be happy.

Soul sacrifice is great as well and it's coming free on Ps+ in a few days. However @ Above, it's acutally nothing like Monster hunter. You just do battles. It's a straight up action RPG. Monster hunter is quite different than that. The whole 'hunt' part.

Also if you're gonna get FFX HD, get it on Ps3. No reason at all to get it on Vita? It's a worse experience -> Smaller screen with a worse controller. Don't know why anyone would pick playing on a Vita than a Ps3, specially for a game of FFX's caliber.

[Ult iMate]

>>Don't know why anyone would pick playing on a Vita than a Ps3
Dude, most of JRPGs have moved to handhelds. Just look how many of them are on DS or PSP especially in comparison with PS3 or X360. So there are plenty of people that like to play JRPGs on handhelds.
Persona 4 sold more on Vita than on PS2.

[kayoss]

Sony PS VITA needs a killer JRPG game. Japanese people love their JRPG game and they are willing to buy a brand new handheld if there was a must have JRPG game on the PS VITA.
The only other game that i think will sell PS VITA is Monster Hunter series.

Other than that I feel that the PS Vita have different genre of games that appeals to different gamers.

[bothebo]

Could not agree more with this article. One big game will change it all for the Vita: just one. Even if Sony were to pay a 3rd party $20 million dollars to create a great game for the Vita they would certainly get their money back. It's a shame they haven't done it yet but hopefully E3 will have the title Vita: Episode 4 A New Hope. God I hope rumors of an inFamous and exclusive AC come true, we need it so badly.

[Alex_Boro]

inFamous Vita with the old protagonist (Cole) would be awesome. Not sure where they would expand on story with that though.

[iamnsuperman]

I think Sony needs to change tax with the Vita. They have been doing this with indies but they need to get small in house teams pumping out games. Exactly what they did with Tearaway. Sure it didnt sell well but having less employees means much lower budgets

Also what Sony needs to do is to find a way to video capture their device then send a ton out to youtubers (I know there is a content ID issues at the moment but bear with me) to advertise their games for free (in reviews)

[_QQ_]

http://www.ign.com/articles... by the same guy, if i'm not mistaken he also used to bring up poor 3ds sales as a reason.

[edwineverready]

I did not use my vita that much, but now that i can play my ps4 games threw remote play at my job. I use it everyday. I think sales will become better now It is a perfect match for the ps4.

[JBSleek]

If Sony is betting on Vita being a $200 accessory for the PS4 it isn't the way to go.

[Mrgolden79]

Where do you work that you can play your vita everyday?? I want that job!

[edwineverready]

I work Night-shifts in a small 5 star hotel. They have great free wifi :)

[bobsmith]

gran turismo vita and ill buy 1

[Agent_hitman]

Vita Is having a hard time entering the hearts and interest of mobile gamera due to ios and Android popularity.. Just a suggestion, why don't they ask Madfinger games to port shadowgun and dead trigger to vita?.

[gigoran]

Struggle? It's now more than ever that the device is finally getting the usage it was promised to give. It sucks how when one person, for example Ashcraft, says "vita sucks. nobody buys it. don't buy it", then everyone jumps on the bandwagon. It has uses. It has good games. It has a fanbase. And now it finally has the companion it deserved to have. Now, it is victorious. So how about instead of continuing to bash it like everyone else show it the love it truly deserves now.

[TheLastVoiceOFsanity]

vita's problem is that sony won't support the micro sd/ sd/ sdhc/ or sdxd card formats because they don't own them. what they need to do is make a ps vits 3000 model that supports sdhc card & sdxc cards.

THESE CARDS CAN HOLD BETWEEN 32GB-128GB, AND THEY COST A LOT LESS THAN SONY'S PROPRIETARY CARDS.

[guitarded77]

I agree this is a problem, but Sony went with proprietary cards for security reasons (hacking and whatnot). It's a giant pain in the wallet, I know. Wish they could come to some solution. I have 2 32gb cards full, and more data every month. It's my main gripe about the Vita.

I've seen some say "just transfer data between the PC/PS3/Vita for storage", but the process is slow. Like any rational person, I'd like to NOT have to jump through hoops.

[TheLastVoiceOFsanity]

i never completely bought the security explanation, because the 3ds supports these cards. i don't know how much the vita cost sony to develop, but i think there probably selling it at a loss, and they expected to use the sales of the memory cards to help the ps vita turn a profit.

[Ult iMate]

@TheLastVoiceOFsanity
>>because the 3ds supports these cards
And 3DS is hacked as far as I heard.

[tachy0n]

TBH i havent used my PSVita cause my USB cable broke and i cant charge it, FFS Sony why are the Proprietary USB cables so damn expensive? ($15) i was basically forced to buy a chinese ripoff for 3 bucks...

imma keep my Vita until Gravity Rush 2 comes out, it will be insta-buy and i will even preorder it, anybody care to give me some info regarding gravity rush 2? i havent been on the site for so long :( thanks!

[Inception]

Right now, i'm playing YS Celceta on nightmare diff. After Celceta, i'm gonna get Tearaway & Muramasa Rebirth.

And i don't care what other people said about Vita especially the haters, but i'm satisfied and loving it. The same feeling i had when i purchased 3DS last year.

[MajorGecko]

I wish i enjoyed turnbased games but i am more then happy with soul sacrifice tearaway killzone mercenarys and dragon ball z thats coming out soon!!! people who complain about vita usually dont have one or else they would have traded it in if they disliked it enough to internet hate on it

[Ult iMate]

Finishing Batman Blackgate and after that I have Tearaway, Killzone, Ys and Dragon's Crown cartriges ready to play. I really don't know what to start first. Probably Tearaway.

[Inception]

@MajorGecko

Agreed with you too. I don't know why this people hates vita. The hardware is a vast improvement over PSP. And the good games are coming every month.

Btw, YS Celceta is an action RPG mate. Check this gameplay video:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

I'm sure you will like it if you prefer real time action RPG compare to turnbased ^^

@Ult iMate

I'll suggest Tearaway than Killzone. Both games have short single player (maybe 6-7 hours). After that play YS Celceta and Dragon's Crown. The last game have the highest of replay value. Some of my friend even spent 80 to 100 hours to platinum Dragon's Crown.

[tigertron]

The Vita was a great purchase and thanks to remote play I can get even more out of it. My only issue with the Vita are the expensive memory cards.

[Protagonist]

How many games do you have on your PS Vita?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

[dcj0524]

37

[Protagonist]

See that is my point ;))

[Inception]

Wow, that's a lot mate!

I only have 5 and a couple of free PS mobile games. Gonna make it 15 when i buy Tearaway, Muramasa Rebirth, DanganRonpa, SS Delta, Toukiden, Batman Blackgate, Wolf Among Us, Gravity Rush 2, Freedom Wars, and Disgaea 3 ^^

This is really a great time for Vita users ^^

[_FantasmA_]

PSP was a success. I know way more people with PSPs than Nintendo handhelds. I love my Vita, but I hardly use it. The only real must buy game is Killzone Mercenary. Other than that, there really isn't many high end games for it. Where is Rockstar, Konami, Square, etc?

There hasn't been a good racing game other than Most Wanted, only one good shooter, no GTA, no God of War, etc. It's not even getting support from Sony other than Borderlands 2, but we don't know how much of that game will be removed to fit on the game card.

We should have already had or heard of an upcoming Silent Hill, GTA, Metal Gear, Tomb Raider, Siphon Filter, etc. It has the indie games down, but most of them are also available on PS3/PS4. It needs its own games. Its about to be at 7 million units sold. It should be getting some love and its not.

[dcj0524]

Ys,TearAway,GOD EATER 2, and Soul Sacrifice are high end too.

[_FantasmA_]

I don't like RPGs. Inception I'm talking about a good Silent Hill game. I have MGS collection but those are ports. MGS had exclusives on PSP. Lots of franchises had PSP exclusive games. You guys are getting butthurt because I'm talking about the Vita. Didn't you read where I said I love mine? I just don't really ever play it.

[Inception]

@_FantasmA_

There's Silent Hill for Vita. It called Book of Memories and i tried the demo from PSN. It's good if you love dungeon crawler such as Diablo.

There's also MGS Collection for Vita. But i doubt Kojima will make another MGS for handheld. He already put his focus on next gen console and PC.

For other titles such GTA and Siphon Filter, let's wait what R* and Sony Bend gonna do. Especially R* who already finished GTA V and they're only giving an update right now. So if they want to make GTA for Vita, than this is the right time.

For Tomb Raider, Eidos never make exsclusive Tomb Raider for handheld.

"It has the indie games down, but most of them are also available on PS3/PS4. It needs its own games"

Do you talk about exclusive indie games for Vita? Than you must be miss Murasaki Baby announcement.

[InTheLab]

The thing is a major flop and a failed handheld but....

God I love it. Games have not been an issue in at least a year. The games are there so I don't understand why people who don't own one say there's no games.

The real problem is the straight up greedy bulls*** with the memory cards. Instead of using Sony's old bulls*** duo pros from the PSP, sony cameras, etc, they create an entirely new memory card that costs 5 times as much as standard memory.

I'd own a ton more games from the PSn store if it were not for the fact that I'm stretched to thin with my 8gig memory card and I refuse to spend another dime on it.

[Nail13]

"Soul Sacrifice Delta" is all I care about and want. Yes, I have a vita and other games, but meh. Finished "Soul Sacrifice" I play online with a group of friends. Am hoping I can get a Vita TV or Vita light for guest and a few copies of Soul Sacrifice Delta one day..

Seeing the team combo attacks in Soul Sacrifice Delta I am happy that they are making teams matter more. "Freedom Wars" looks promising, and where the hell is North Americas "God Eater 2"!!!!??

Vita is the number one system in my house... until Darksouls 2