Vita Loses Near. Good Riddance

Sony removes support for a few applications on Vita. And it's honestly about time too.

[Romudeth]

I agree with this. What a completely wasted app. It had potential which was squandered.

[Venomousfatman]

Its the definite truth. There could have been a real contender against Nintendo's StreetPass on 3DS. NEAR had all the makings to be so, they just never followed up or took it even further to where it needed to be.

[3-4-5]

Vita Games are it's problem.

* It has JRPG's, but the KIND it has, basically all they are is a bunch of 14 year old girls in hardly any clothing with huge animated boobs.

NOT many people want to play that. Sure like 5-10% of gamers do, but then you get 5-10% of sales......just like the vita is getting.

* There aren't that many GOOD JRPG's.

* There aren't that many GOOD sports games.

* There isn't a Wide Variety of gaming genres adn sub-genres.

* If you don't like animated youth boobs, Cooking, or visual novels about spirits, that elliminates about 50% of the Vita's gaming catalog.

^ THAT is the problem.

The other problem is the defensive Vita gamers who get their feelings hurt everytime one of us brings this FACT up.

If there were 100 Gamers, then Vita is being catered to 5 of them.

That is WHY the sales are down.

They were wrong about how many "hardcore" gamers there were, or even WHAT they were.

* I love my Vita, but every time a game is announced there is a 90% chance it won't be a game that appeals to me nor probably about 70% of Vita owners.

The game choices are weak....like really weak, and when you actually are honest with yourself you may find the same conclusion.

[beakeroo1]

Persona 4G
Tales Of Hearts R
Disgaea 3
Disgaea 4
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X2
Ys Memories Of Celceta
One Piece Red World Unlimited

There you go, of the top of my head 8 very good RPG games that are not about 14yo girls.

You're just a stereo typical CoD boy who wanted FPS and to trash talk games genres you agent interested in.
I'm not really into RPGs, I'm more into hunter genre which I guess you aren't either so do yourself a favor and instead of trashing it, just sell the damn thing and quit bitching about it. Buy a 3DS (the new ones great BTW) and play Mario (or MH4U which is great BTW)

[Death]

@beak,

Wouldn't it make more sense for Sony to release games that the stereotypical CoD fanboys would like? Call it a crazy idea, but catering to the larger audience as well as niche gamers sounds like it's a crazy enough plan that it might just work.

From the look of your list, are any of the games you listed not ports available on the PS2/PS3 anyway? I would think games made specifically for the Vita would be a welcome addition to the game library.

[beakeroo1]

I actually agree death, there hasn't been enough western support I'm just pointing out that 345 is bashing perfectly good games for no reason other than they aren't his thing.

[Sketchy_Galore]

"Vita Games are it's problem.

* It has JRPG's, but the KIND it has, basically all they are is a bunch of 14 year old girls in hardly any clothing with huge animated boobs. "

...So...... what's the problem? ....oh, I get it, 'animated'. Yeah that's annoying but they tried Full Motion Videogames back in the days of the Sega CD, they just don't work well.

[reallyNow]

the vita needs gran turismo, it needs a call of duty that isnt that piece of trash that got released. it needs more PS2 remasters. it needs everquest.

[Cam977]

@beak
The psp was my favourite system for a while because of it's games and portability, I played it more than my ps3, PC and woo at times. I sold my vita within a year because the games available are somewhat bleak and there aren't enough releases to warrant buying the system, it's only going to worsen too,

[rainslacker]

I think Vita overall is an excellent JRPG or japanese games in general machine, and someone who's into those games can't imagine that they could ignore the system. In this way, it's much like the PSP.

Where it isn't like the PSP though is that they don't have a steady supply of games with more variety. They have every genre covered of course, but the games themselves aren't the kind that generally appeal to the broader more mainstream western audience.

On the PSP they had a couple MGS games, Gran Turismo and lots of other racers, a steady supply of spin offs of popular FPS's, tons of puzzle games, and plenty of niche games which could appeal to a wider audience.

The Vita is a great machine, and I can't argue against Sony's lack of variety on the system, even from their first party selections. They certainly have a good selection of games on the system, but I can understand why people could overlook it because it just lacks those must have titles.

Ironically enough, it's first year or so, when people were saying it had no games, is when they had the most games that would have appealed more to a western audience.

[3-4-5]

I have Disgaea 4 and it's awesome. One of the few games I have for Vita that is really good.

* Ys is maybe the only somewhat normalish RPG and even that is a some what hack n slash-ish Action RPG.

* FFX-2 is a remake from 2001....so yea

* Tales of Hearts helps...but also a remake.

* Persona 4.....remake

* One Piece at least feels different enough to be worth purchasing but still a bit niche. solid effort though.

* Still not enough..

* Remake,Remake,Remake,game about spirits,Grindy SRPG that is fun,decent Action RPG, niche weird anime game that is decent,

I wouldn't BRAG about that....

[HisRoyalFlyness]

Sony should pull the plug on the Vita already, it's been on life support for almost 2 years now

[Venomousfatman]

Sony has done stuff with the Vita, but it hasnt been with the Triple A games or full push that everyone has been wanting for a while. There are a ton of great games on Vita that everyone should play, just no big AAA games of late.

[PoSTedUP]

there are AAA games as of late, just not big named ones. atelier ayesha plus, tales of heartsR, hyperdemention rebirth2, mxgp motocross, motoGP14, Resogun (smaller, but amazing fun), freedomwars, projectdivaF2nd, plus a lot of indies ranging from medium to smaller sized games. the only one i prob wont buy would be project diva cuz its not my thing. maybe ill try Persona4 dance when it releases, maybe.

[beakeroo1]

I'm not generally interested in rhythm games but I'll give Persona a try as I loved P4G so much, it actually was my entrance into JRPG.

[nidhogg]

That won't happen.

[rbailey]

Sony has done an absolutely horrible job supporting this device with quality games as a whole for quite awhile now. Many will argue that the JRPGs are great, but these games definitely aren't for everyone. They still have time to make the device more valuable of course, but for now there is absolutely no denying that the Nintendo 3DS is only real handheld that making waves now.

[mcstorm]

The problem is Nintendo have the right ip's for a handheld console Sony don't. The psv in terms of hardware is amazing but for me you can't sell a handheld like a home console which they tried to do with the PSV.
It will be interesting to see if they support the psv for much longer and a' so if we see another handheld from them again.

[souldestroyer14]

The tech is great the library sucks

[MoreGravyPleez]

Near had a lot of potential but as with the Vita as a whole, Sony has not supported it in the least. I wouldn't agree with the "Good Riddance!" title, because I think the loss of it is still a loss, it isn't like the Vita is gaining anything from it's removal.

Sony should have used feedback and developed Near into a micro social media experience for PSN / Vita owners. Guess it is too late now ...

[JoeReno]

I remember when the Vita first came out Near was pretty cool leaving in game gifts for people to find. that was awesome, but then updates happened and it lost all the coolness. It's ok if it goes away because it lost its point in my opinion.

Unit 13 was a perfect example how it was used cool you could leave High Value Target gifts for people that hadn't finished every mission.

[reallyNow]

i still think unit 13 is the best vita game.

[GokuSolosAll]

Near may not be missed but YouTube is necessary. I don't want to juggle devices so don't even say it.

[SamPao]

You can still use the browser.

[BlindMango]

Vita isn't losing Near - it's dropping map support on Near, which from what I gather is the main thing it's used for (I'm unsure as I still don't know entirely how it works). YouTube and Maps are going away though.

Hopefully they know that and say it in the article but their website isn't loading right now

[Death]

Maps are needed for NEAR to work. No maps equals no NEAR. Anyone know why apps and features are being pulled anyway? I get not making apps, but why remove them?

[rainslacker]

Seems the only things getting removed involve Google support in some way. Maps is google, Near uses Maps, and Youtube is google. Something more is happening here that no one knows about. People are blaming Sony, but with these things, it may not be their fault at all. I'd suggest some journalist maybe contacting Google to get some clarification, because ultimately, they are the ones which allow the use of those applications on the Vita. If they don't allow them on the device, then there isn't much Sony can do. The question then is, why isn't it allowing it, and depending on the answer, the blame can be placed appropriately.

[prodg52]

Google is moving away from flash and other API support. If you use Chrome and have the latest update you'll see that it no longer automatically allow flash videos like it used to. The current YouTube app on Vita is old and doesn't have the newer code (support for HTML5). Same with the old maps. It's either Sony or Google who hasn't taken the time to fix the app compatibility. I'm thinking its a little of both.

[Venomousfatman]

They are removing near this March with the update. Its already been said from Sony themselves and a ton of other stories. Plus without maps, Near wont work at all.

[TheGamingArt]

My only concern is they're certain games you can't platinum without using the Near feature (Uncharted Golden Abyss). It was a horrid feature and a horrible requirement to plat a game.... but what happens now?

[Venomousfatman]

They will definitely need to patch it. Or maybe give everyone that trophy as a freebie. I'd def take a free trophy.

[rainslacker]

When has any company ever updated their trophy requirements for platinum when certain trophies become unavailable?

I'd say if you want the plat, get those trophies soon.

[ziggurcat]

near was kind of a useless thing, and I never really got why it was even there.

[deadpools_n64]

My vita is purely a Minecraft machine and YouTube box (I would mention borderlands 2 but I was a lil underwhelmed with the game play mechanics and how the controls were well not as crisp. Oh and load times. Grrrr)

[Kal-V3]

I really like Near. The truth is not alot of people knew how to use it and even more people didn't even know what it did or that it was even there. People stopped using it so games coming out didn't support it. I loved getting\receiving offerings in Soul Sacrifice and seeing who was playing what around me. If it was more integrated into the Vita's OS, i think there might have had more lasting power. I'm still sending out those offerings till the bitter end. :P

[Shineon]

Vita cant download crash or soul reaver and nope you cant transfer those titles from ps3 ots been blocked. I really like thw vita but the support is lacking from sony

[DaGodKing]

too me the the problem with the vita is that its mostly a "port-station" most if not 75% of the best games on vita are ports now for me i didnt play about 33 percent of those ports.. but you cant depend on ports to sell a system.. thats why the psp did way better because it had so much more original content then the vita that it blew peoples minds.. i still love the vita even though sony seems to try to sweep under the rug..smh it hurts me to see something with this my potential reduced to a not as good controller to the ps4..

[Killzoner99]

I wouldn't say good riddance but I think Sony found a brilliant way to free up space on memory cards. You can still use YouTube in the browser.

[ninjahunter]

Not a big deal, but it stinks of "The vita is dieing, and we no longer are interested in supporting it".

Of course I could be wrong, maybe its a strategic relocation of resources, it costs money to run servers and update apps, money better spent on things that actually matter.

[pwnsause_returns]

i can understand why they are getting rid of near and google maps. those two apps work hand in hand, and on top of that, they were there to support the 3g Vita, which has discontinued long ago for obvious reasons.

but the youtube app however makes no sense to get rid of. that app should of been updated long ago. i use the youtube app on the vita from time to time. it was completely optimized for the system, it was way better than just going to the browser to get a youtube fix. Sony should really consider talking to Google to keep and update the app.

Hell if that outdated facebook app is still on there, then so should youtube. the PSTV still doesnt have a youtube app BTW.

[Rydro]

Idc about near... BUT WHY YOUTUBE?!