Why The Handheld Is Here To Stay

MouseEatsCat writes:

"I bought a PSPgo. I know, I know. I bought into the whole digital-only hype. I bought into the delusion that this little handheld console was going to change the way we play games. And it didn’t. It completely flopped if you don’t somehow remember. And the flop brought with it wild speculation that the premium handheld market was dying. It was around this time we saw the emergence of smartphones and with them bite sized games."

[kB0]

OMG...seriously...one right after the other now? These articles are getting very tedious!

We get it, everything has the ability to fail or succeed, we don't need to dissect everything all the time.

Again not aiming at this article particularly, just in general....

A failing console or not is successful in its own way. The Dreamcast is a good example.

I <3 the PSP even though it was a commercial fail. SOOOOOO many memorable JRPGs and Rpgs...yet the console was a fail.

The Vita is doing fine, if they drop the price to 199.99 base model I can see the console picking up...so many ppl deserve to play Gravity Rush, Disgaea 3 on the go and Persona 4!!!

K be happy!

[FlyingFoxy]

The Vita only costs a bit more than the 3DS, i don't see a problem.. it has noticeably better graphics, browser, has youtube and other apps.

They could lower the price a bit but it's well worth the price it costs now in my opinion.

[contradictory]

there's no measuring how good of an handheld or console is just by how much it sells or how popular it is

it's all up to you really
that being said
Vita has Persona 4: Golden
which is remake/port of one of my favorite games ever made and that alone makes the handheld worthy.

no matter what some biased fanboys would say
because regardless both 3DS and Vita are good
handhelds in their own rights
just play the games and have good time

[Hicken]

I wouldn't say 70+ million sold is a commercial failure, though I get what you're trying to say. It's nowhere near the 150 that the DS put up, but the PSP did well, hardware wise, at least.

The Vita is in something of a reversed state: it's not doing very well in sales, but the software support is superb. Like other Sony gaming products, though, the sales will come, so I'm not worried.

I'll continue to enjoy my Vita, despite the BS it's subjected to.

Edit: Does that list include every game released on Vita? I count 40, which is a pretty good amount for a first year, and we both know that isn't EVERY game. A quick look through PSN on my Vita adds roughly 60 more. That's excluding PS1 games, minis, and games from PSMobile.

And what about the upcoming titles? Should we ignore their presence- or soon-to-be presence- when talking about support?

Superb, by the way, is having a very good number of good games. If we use a 7 as a way to determine what a "good" game is, about half that gamespot list counts, which is around 20 or so games.

Now, I imagine that list is comprised only of retail releases, which would explain why it's only 2/5 of the games I found on PSN, but off the top of my head, I notice BlazBlue isn't included, so that would normally prompt me to see what other games are left out. But I won't this time, as that would take too much time.

If we assume that the ~50% average of "good" games- and I don't agree with every score for every game; I'd give PSAS a 7.5, for example- is sustained for the 100 that I found, that means about 50 "good" games have come to the system in its first year. Games of all types, in all genres, for all sorts of gamers.

I call that many games in that many areas superb support. Sony can disagree, and I'm glad they do; that just means I should expect even more good games on the horizon.

Right now, though, I can't even buy ALL the games I want for my Vita. I call that a good problem to have.

[PopRocks359]

Glad you and I are on the same page for once.

[MikeMyers]

"but the software support is superb."

Define superb?

http://www.gamespot.com/rev...

I don't see a hell of a lot of games. Do you have upcoming games with actual release dates?

I want Vita to succeed just as much as the next guy but to say software support is superb is really superficial. In fact Sony themselves have said otherwise:

"PS Vita is the best hardware to bring a very immersive game experience onto portable," but he also talks about the lack of third party developer support for the handheld that's struggling to find a foothold. "One thing that was surprising and disappointing to us was the [lower] number of third parties to come out [in support] after launch," said Yoshida.

http://www.gameinformer.com...

[MikeMyers]

First off you didn't address what Sony said about the lack of support from 3rd party publishers which is a sign to be worried about. Second of all you didn't give a list of upcoming games with actual release dates which doesn't address immediate concerns. One game I am looking forward to is Tearaway but is there even a actual release date for that game? Third and lastly is how are you able to edit your posts at such a later time because I only get a 15 minute window?

[AdvanceWarsSgt]

Not a very in-depth article, but I agree with its overall premise. Smartphones an tablets have definitely eaten away at the consumer base for dedicated handhelds, but in the long run those two devices are targeting the general consumer, whereas the handheld is targeting a specific type of consumer. This means that there can and will be overlap (i.e someone who buys a smartphone will also see the need in purchasing a handheld). The two are compliments, really, rather than competitors, though I do believe the 3DS specifically will be the last clam-shelled handheld of its kind.

[klecser]

I would hope that we can all agree that tablets haven't "killed" the handheld gaming platform market, as out of touch industry "analysts" have said. You can't kill one market with a different market. Speedboats didn't "kill" the fishing boat market because they are at a different price point, aimed at a different demographic, and they do a different task. Good luck getting your 30 foot speed boat in a lake in Iowa. ;)

[Canary]

I don't think it's a matter of tablets and portables fighting each other to the death. I think it's more a matter of the two platforms becoming more and more similar to the point where the differences between the two are all but indiscernable.

Take the PSP, for example. It was like an early proto-tablet. A small screen you could use to play games, yes, but also to watch movies, listen to music and surf the web.

Now we've got the Vita, which is a lot like a specialized gaming iPad. You've got a handheld touchscreen, a versatile OS with lots of aps for all kinds of functions, etc.

I imagine within two or three generations we'll see handhelds that look like, well, the Wii U's bizzare controller. A big screen with buttons on the sides, triggers on the ends, a responsive touch screen and the hardware and input keys necessary to deliver some truly awesome gaming experiences.

[klecser]

So long as there is button functionality, I'd be on board. No one is ever going to convince me that touch only input is as responsive.