100°

The Best Hardware of 2012 Was The PS Vita - Pity About The Ecosystem

forbes.com: The mobile ecosystem is awash with applications and games. Wherever you turn there are high quality applications available, many either free or at the 79p mark. Turn to the launch titles of the PS Vita, and you find titles like Uncharted Golden Abyss going for £45, Wipeout 2048 and Lumines at £35, and the ‘feeling like a tech demo’ Little Deviants for £18.
One game for the PS Vita, or over 55 games for your iPhone. That’s not a tough call to make.

KangarooSam4134d ago

Nearly leapt off my couch in excitement at the sight of a positive Vita article. Then I read "The problem with Sony’s next generation portable gaming console was not the hardware, it was everything else."

Everything else? Really?
Screw you Forbes.

Zodiac4134d ago

I was also shocked at the title, but i must agree with the everything else part.

Lets look at the everything else.

1. 3DS
2.Economy
3. Marketing
4.Tablets/Smart phone(also damaged the 3ds sales)
5. Consumer mentality undergoing a huge paradigm shift.
6. Price of the Vita

Name one of these six factors that was taking sides with the Vita.

It really was everything else. The Vita somehow became the enemy of the entire electronic entertainment industry.

LOGICWINS4134d ago (Edited 4134d ago )

You speak the truth. If we're solely talking about other hardware and games, the Vita succeeds. But because we live in the real world beyond N4G, there are MANY other factors (as you mentioned) that affect the success of a product such as:

Competition, economic downturn, the ever changing tastes of consumers, advertising, word of mouth, initial price point etc.

The robots on N4G can beat their chest like King Kong and scream as loud as Mel Gibson in Braveheart about how great the Vita is, but that doesn't change the fact that its currently struggling due to these other factors.

If you want more support for Vita, then you MUST care about sales. Period. The bigger Vita's install base, the more willing devs will be to support it.

nukeitall4133d ago

To the vast majority, the smart phone and the 3DS poses a better value than the PS Vita.

People confuse value with just the price, but it is actually multiple factors (such as usefulness, features, perceived sexyness and so on) combined with the price.

Sorry PS Vita, drop the price *NOW* and get some more quality games out as soon as possible. Right now, it is cementing it's reputation as the PSP did as a dead end platform, but this time just worse. After all, it is the second time!

GreenRanger4134d ago (Edited 4134d ago )

"One game for your PS Vita, or 55 games for your iphone"
Most handheld games are 1000 times better than anything on iOS.
Too bad casuals and non-gamers don't see it that way.

MasterCornholio4134d ago

True its like some people prefer Quantity over quality which is absurd. And your disagrees prove that there are people who prefer games like angry birds over games like Uncharted Golden Abyss and Resident Evil Revelations.

Bladesfist4134d ago

That's because games like angry birds are designed for very short period of times, making it attractive to people on the go.

MizTv4134d ago

Very happy with my vita
Live my iPhone but the games suck compared to my vita

SAE4134d ago

i would give you an agree but 14/feb is the day we start a revolution in my country , so it's a lucky number ^^

i know someone will change it just to make fun of me lol

SAE4132d ago

Bahrain ^^

Even though it's an island , all the country's are against it because of interests , that's why it's different , it's the most peaceful one in middle east , it have best protests , it have good reasons for every act they do , so if it win the rights to it's land it will spread to saudia / qatar / imarat ..etc , it's the reason that saudia have protests now so imagine if we put down the dictator , it will be huge ^^ , saudia brought their army to stop it and gave the dictator money to buy more weapons , that's how we know it's dangerous for them ..

This revolution showed the real faces of the governments and people who care about their wallets more then people , This is one of the huge protests last year :
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Killzoner994134d ago

I knew it was the best. "Sony got the hardware spot-on and the PS Vita was perfect."
This is Forbes , a highly respectable magazine. They know their sh*t when it comes to video games and technology. Suck it Ninty fanboys , Vita wins 2012 and will win 2013. All the haters can GTFO.

Long Live Play

Bladesfist4134d ago

That's just sad. How did you get so attached to a company, did Sony raise you? I own a Vita but I don't want every other console to fail because of it.

G-cis4133d ago

forbes isnt the holy bible right?

izumo_lee4134d ago

Not knocking the 3DS but why wasn't the title "The best hardware was the 3DS, Pity about the ecosystem". Or "One game for your 3DS, or 55 games for your iphone".

If these media journalist take off their fanboy glasses than they will realize that despite not having a system seller which the Vita currently does not have, the system has a lot of very high quality games.

I do not care how much an iphone game costs. Persona 4 Golden, Gravity Rush, LBP Vita are worth their price point. Heck i would pay $60 or more for Persona 4 alone. I would rather have 100+ hours of entertainment than 5 mins of an iphone game.

It's like having sex....would you rather enjoy yourself for hours or have a quicky that is a waste of time?

Killzoner994134d ago

Why would they even talk about the piece of sh*t 3DS? They are not even on the same level. Thats like comparing a Corvette to a turd ROFL . Notice how the Wii U is not mentioned either? Playing the Vita is just like sex too.

izumo_lee4134d ago

I was just making a point that how the gaming media targets the Vita despite the very high quality software it does have & will have. To them it is all about sales & to me that is the 'easy' way out for reporting about the system.

As for Forbes comparing the Vita to the iphone is a joke & just proves the lazy ass gaming journalism that we currently have. A gamer like me can care less what is on the iphone cause i do not care about gaming on it.

LOGICWINS4134d ago

"As for Forbes comparing the Vita to the iphone is a joke & just proves the lazy ass gaming journalism that we currently have. A gamer like me can care less what is on the iphone cause i do not care about gaming on it."

Thats the problem right there. The way you and I think is different from the way the majority of casuals think. To them, every portable gaming console is the same. I had a PSP for two years and my parents never stopped calling it a Gameboy.

The sad reality is that mobile games on smartphones DO take revenue away from products such as the 3DS/Vita. Most would rather pay $1 or $0 for a fun, yet shallow mobile game than $40 on a deep, rewarding, and immersive experience. If smartphone gaming didn't exist, you could bet ur ass the Vita would be doing better right now.

As a gamer, u SHOULD be caring. Companies shape they're future endeavors on current trends. If the mobile gaming craze continues, say bye to hardcore handheld consoles in the future due to a lack of a market for them.

Killzoner994134d ago

Don't listen to the gaming media. It's all doom and gloom. Everyone wants to see Sony fail because they make the best stuff. Anyone who has a Vita already knows this.

ronin4life4134d ago (Edited 4134d ago )

Why?
Because the 3ds has done well this year. The vita has not. And the story seems to be about the vitas current market struggle.(I would actually read it, but... I've seen dozens of these stories and discussions already. @_@

izumo_lee4134d ago

I did read the story. My point is if the article is about the Vita's market struggle why the heck mention the price of games for the system compared to the iphones?

That quote of "One game for your Vita, or 55 games for your iphone", what is the point of then? It is the price of the system not the price of the games that for the most part is holding the Vita back from public acceptance.

Even Nintendo misjudged the public when they first priced the 3DS. Credit to them for cutting the price of the 3DS cause they can afford to cause the 3DS we all know does not have the specs & hardware as the Vita.

So yeah the Vita is struggling for market acceptance. However we do not know what will occur if/when the price cut happens. If it still continues to struggle after such price cut than yes the Vita is a failure. But by any chance it sells as well as the 3DS after its price cut are we still gonna see these articles?

Just cause the Vita is struggling it makes it an easy target for these negative articles. It was the same for the PS3, the same with the Wii U & do you know what it is getting to be like a broken record & pretty much a copout for these journalist.

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140°

Sony Patents To Prevent You From In-Game Harassment By Reading Your Emotions

A new patent recently published by Sony wants to gather biometric data of gamers to track whether one is being harassed using AI tools.

Profchaos19h ago(Edited 19h ago)

I hope this is one of those patents that never comes to fruition.

I already dislike the fact you can pay a significant amount for a online service buy associated games and content on said service and get banned from that service over potentially a misunderstanding the bans are already handed out for flimsy reasons

I'd rather see money invested in a ban that simply removes the offensive players ability to communicate with unknown players allow them to continue party chats with friends but not with Joe blow on cod.

exputers16h ago

Agreed. Blizzard recently banned a college Overwatch 2 player who's dependent for saying "shit." Pretty harsh.

Profchaos54m ago(Edited 53m ago)

How rediculas really. You can't say a word that's allowed in most PG films and prime time TV but the game is based around killing the enemy team using guns, explosives etc.

It's just backwards.

just_looken2h ago

What your talking about is called block list

In 2006 a spaceship dropped of the playstation 3/xbox 360 i say that that generation was the last great gen with game functions/tech that has yet to comeback

Anyhow the playstation 3 if you block listed a id they could not talk to you in chatroom with either text or voice. But that was pre mind fucked 2018 when people were more human than sheep.

But hey gta 6 is coming out billion dollar budget without a single player custom character creator and without singeplayer coop off/online something saints row 1-3 had on the xbox 360.

z2g12h ago

Take my social security and bank account numbers too! Here’s a picture of my wife and our address.

phoenixwing11h ago

Cmon where's the pictures of your children. Don't hold out on them.

H912h ago

At this rate I feel Sony will eventually sell a room to play games in it where they can monitor your every breath

jambola8h ago

I genuinely get a bit worried sometimes when a friend says something that could be offensive In a party
Because I have no trouble believing some bans would happen when in a private party for saying something wrong

SegaSaturn66910h ago

I want them to censor erotic content by measuring my groin temperature so i dont get too distracted while playing black ops 2.

Popsicle10h ago

Terrible idea. Not only do I not consent to providing my biometric data, the potential for mishandling biometric data is almost a certainty. Positive stress and negative stress can produce similar changes in biometrics. Interpreting the precise emotion a person is feeling is not only invasive but could be easily misconstrued. I hope this never comes to fruition.

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130°

Sony Could Increase Your Game's Difficulty If It Sees You Complain About It

Sony has recently published a new patent that wants to dynamically handle the games' difficulty and gameplay based on the player's emotions.

jznrpg1d 4h ago

This is something I might use. Sometimes I play some good games but they don’t have difficulty option and are a little too easy.

Profchaos1d 3h ago

Souls games will be like that players struggling make it harder

PassNextquestion1d 2h ago (Edited 1d 2h ago )

I think if used correctly it could work well

jambola22h ago

cool idea
cool idea for horror games especially
the way it's explained here sounds like it could never be forced hopefully, so that's ok with me

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280°

Sony Taps Bungie's Head of Revenue to Lead Live-Service Games

Sony has recruited Bungie's head of revenue Jaremy Rich to head up its live-service gaming division, Rich has announced on social media.

Read Full Story >>
techraptor.net
ChasterMies21d ago

Please do not put Destiny’s monetization into Sony’s first party games. The monetization is what’s driving players away from Destiny.

just_looken21d ago

The new temp boss is the sony cfo bean counter so i can see this being a thing get every penny.

Cacabunga21d ago

PlayStation officially losing it.. fans will never support gaas games

just_looken21d ago

@car

The new boss did a interview in japan he wants to tap into the mobile market like nintendio so he give 0 fucks about gamers/fans

https://www.pushsquare.com/...

Redemption-6421d ago

@Cacabunga
You only speak for you and those who think like you, but most fans will support what they want. Playstation and PC fans are literally supporting Helldivers 2 and that is a gaas. Maybe you wouldn't, but many more would if they like it.

Huey_My_D_Long21d ago

@Redemption-64
Look, Im not making any judgement calls about this guy, but I will say that Helldivers 2 GaaS model is unique to Helldivers, and legit the only other game I can think of thats similiar was the Avengers game except HD2 pass is still better.
The fact that you can earn in game currency in a way that doesnt make you feel like you have to grind forever, as well you being able work on that pass that you bought...on your own time without a time limit...that right there is fucking huge to me, and I can't name any game other than avengers that avoided trapping players with FOMO logic...I think GaaS on HD2 shouldn't be compared to the rest of the industry...it should be copied.

Einhander197221d ago

Cacabunga

Helldivers 2...

Redemption-64

In Europe it's a 60 40 split favoring PC.
In the US its a 60 40 split favoring PS5.

So PlayStation owners supported the game just fine, it's not getting carried by PC or anything like that.

FinalFantasyFanatic20d ago

@just_looken,
I'm perfectly fine with the way Nintendo entered the mobile market, I never touched their mobile games, meanwhile, the console/handheld stayed the way it is. As for being a bean counter, he's probably going to reel in these massive budgets that Sony's studios have had lately, I haven't played Spiderman 2, but I cannot see how they almost tripled the budget for that game.

@Redemption-64,
That's an exception to the rule, I'm expecting a lot of these GAAS games from Sony to fail, to be fair, they only need a few to succeed, but I would have preferred that they put more of their resources into other types of games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 20d ago
DivineHand12521d ago

True their monetization is driving players away and at the same time, their decision to chop out content and convoluted systems is keeping new players away from the game.

Joe91321d ago

I don't think that will happen based on how things worked out at Naughty Dog now that we know what we do, seems they had the option to fully commit to live service games or stay making single player experences so they gave up on their live service game. We are not sure how things came about with Bend making a live service game but I hope that was not a forced situation. Sony doesnt seem like they are forcing studios to switch up but we will see, Sony's bread and butter is single player games it is how they dominated the console market.

Obscure_Observer21d ago

Yeah, I though Sony learned something from all their failures in the LS segment under Bungie´s disastrous leadership and supervision which led to games been cancelled, studios closed and all the people laid off.

Looks like Bungie still plays a major role in Sony´s LS initiative and Sony is not backtracking on their GaaS plans.

S2Killinit21d ago (Edited 21d ago )

Are we forgetting that Destiny is also a highly successful franchise? I feel like that definitely deserves mention here.

Besides, there is no reason why a person cant learn from past experiences.

Joe91320d ago

I agree, people act as if Destiny flopped when it came out lol it took 9 to 10 years for the numbers to fall yet people are still playing it add the success of Helldivers 2 no wonder Sony is going forward down this path.

S2Killinit20d ago

Personally, I see no problem with Sony also having service games as long as they make good ones, and more importantly they deliver the AAA story driven games that they are known for. So yeah, I agree 100% with you.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 20d ago
Christopher21d ago

I mean, this person made some pretty bad decisions at Bungie. I hope they've learned from them because I definitely don't see those type of ideas as good for PlaySation in general.

CrimsonWing6920d ago (Edited 20d ago )

Honestly, what’s to learn from? How to make people happily continuously dump money into a single game over its life-time? Buy season passes continuously for several years with a smile on our faces?

GaaS is a design decision that is everything wrong with this industry. The fact that Helldivers 2 did so well and people defend the monetization because it was $40 and is a fun game, scares the sh*t out of me to see that the door is open and all shift will probably be to replicate that in future games. We already know the ROI for traditional game dev cost isn’t doing it for them.

I thought with Jimbo leaving we’d see a change for the better… I’m not so sure now.

S2Killinit20d ago

Service games are being offered by everyone. Sony cannot afford to only create single player AAA games. No one can. They already said they will be doing both.

Abnor_Mal21d ago (Edited 21d ago )

Ps5 gamers in 2023 seemed to play more live service types of games, so regardless to how people feel about them, numbers don’t lie and Sony is going where the money is. I mean look at the excitement around Helldivers2, people are showing that they want live service games.

Christopher21d ago

They play long-time existing live service games like CoD, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and the like. Mass majority of new live service games are considered failures and aren't moving gamers away from older games.

just_looken21d ago

Yep the huge issue with live service is they need paid players along with a reason to play them.

You forgot mobile market that also taps into that player base as well as the eve online style games there is only a certain amount of krakens/whales blind supporters compared to the amount of live service games we have its not sustainable math wise.

700 restaurants making food for every seat for 1000-3000 eaters just does not work out

Einhander197221d ago (Edited 21d ago )

Christopher

I am not a big live service fan and literally own zero of the games you listed, but that is not true, unless you call games that aren't the top games to be failures.

There are tons of live service games that are profitable.

Games don't have to be the biggest game ever they just need to make more than they cost.

I challenge you to show professionally prepared data that shows that more live service games fail than make enough to keep going.

Because all the data that I have seen shows that live service is less of a gamble than making a big AAA budget game which needs to survive off retail sales.

FinalFantasyFanatic20d ago

I sometimes wonder if we're at saturation point, where it's hard for a new game to join those ranks unless it's particularly exceptional, people only have so much time and money to devote to these types of games.

romulus2321d ago

Correction, they have no issue playing good live service games

shinoff218321d ago

Lol it's not even a quarter of the ps5s sold. Helldivers may have been a hit but let's not say most are enjoying it because truth is most(the real most ) don't care about it.

S2Killinit20d ago (Edited 20d ago )

I play what is fun. If a live service game is good I’ll play it as long as its not a money scheme which Helldivers is not.

And Im a single player gamer.

mastershredder21d ago

How do you kill a franchise that already been killed?
Destiny’s grind, cash-in-on-playbass-cha-Ching, and pop-culture-insertion mainstream-me-too bs totally killed any rep Bungie had. Sony/Bungie, if you are doing this to ward-off players, it’s already working.

crazyCoconuts21d ago

Headline truncated:
"... off a cliff"

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