One Month With the PlayStation Vita: What Went Wrong?

[Valwin]

Mark's been spending some quality time with the PlayStation Vita, only to find himself bashing his head against a brick wall in despair.

It is a relic; a product of a bygone era of handheld gaming that has learned little from the mistakes of its predecessors and the direction of the industry as a whole.

For any product to really succeed in today's market--whether it is a phone, tablet, or handheld console--it has to be easy to use, have a UI that doesn't make you want to smack your head against a brick wall, and have an ecosystem full of content that's reasonably priced.

And that's the Vita's biggest problem. It's not competing with just specialized gaming devices like the 3DS; it's competing with every single Android, iOS, or Windows Phone device on the market.

doesn't have a library of Apps to expand its functionality; and--most importantly of all--the games are far too expensive]

"It's like someone handed over the UI design to a 5-year-old child with a fetish for smarties"

Then there's multitasking, or lack thereof. Here's an example. You're playing a game and you get stuck. "I know! I'll use the Vita's built in Web browser to look up a guide! Hooray for technology!" Except, you can't do that. If you try to boot up the browser, you have to close any game you have open. "But, hey, I can just boot it up again. Where's the problem?" Sure, you can do that, if you don't mind horrendous loading times.

How about charging the Vita over a USB? That's something everything does nowadays, so it should just work right? Wrong. You have to go into settings and enable USB charging. Why? When would I not want my Vita to charge over a USB? Will the power demands be so great that my laptop will spontaneously combust?

Unlike my phone, I don't need to carry a Vita around with me. And, given my experience, I don't want to either.

i dont think the vita needs to compete with smart phones cuz is not one

Source

 

[xist]

Newsflash - The Vita isn't a phone.

Also

And that's the Vita's biggest problem. It's not competing with just specialized gaming devices like the 3DS; it's competing with every single Android, iOS, or Windows Phone device on the market.

Applies just as much to the PSP, DS, 3DS and any other gaming device.

But that guy loves Angry Birds so he must be right.

Mobiles have changed how we consume portable games and how much we think we should be paying for them. The new standard is 69p ($0.99), with £4.99 seemingly expensive. And while it would be remiss of me to compare the likes of Angry Birds to something like Uncharted: Golden Abyss (£40), Angry Birds is a great game.

Yep he really did (this point applies to any other gaming console too)

The article is awful, the guy's an idiot who doesn't understand handheld gaming.....

 

[FireGrey]

They should of made it run an Android and Vita OS Hybrid.
That way they could of achieved what they wanted to do.
A game device that does everything else.

 

[xist]

Oh and also we must all be idiots for using Knives and Forks rather than Sporks.

 

[Foxi4]

So, Vita's nothing like an iPhone, and isn't filled with 40.000.000.000 idiotic apps that do nothing? That's... actually a good thing.

Also, Vita competing with Windows Phone, iOS and Android?

Excuse me... uhm... "Mark"... Get yourself a retractable baton and [/censored. Alot of censored].

Sorry, what I wanted to say is "perhaps a board game would be better for you?". Typical Valwinated thread.

Oh and also we must all be idiots for using Knives and Forks rather than Sporks.

I would've wanted some sort of a proper OS on my console, but for all the different reasons. AKA, why build a multimedia infrastructure from the ground up if we can use OtherOS? But... as we remember, THAT idea failed.

 

[prowler]

Gamespot doing an IGN and Gawker, it wants dem page views.

---

 

[Foxi4]

Typical Valwinated thread.

Valwin is only posting the 'articles'. Bashing him for doing that is pretty low.

I'm bashing him for poor choice of articles.

He is well-known for posting opinionated crap written in some dark cellar by an editor who knows f*ck all what he's talking about that have no merit at all, don't inform anyone of anything new and are simply put a f*cking waste of server space. I don't want to know what Mark has to say about the Vita - I don't even care who the f*uck Mark is. Mark should've put that kind of shit on his Blog because that's the level of journalism shown, and if Valwin liked it then he should've liked it on Facebook.

This is not the first instance of a worthless news thread by him - it's notorious and annoying. Hence Valwinated.

 

[prowler]

LMAO Foxi4 is mad.

These cause for discussions on the article, be it hate or agreeance. Would you of known of this if it wasn't posted? I wouldn't, I got a good laugh out of it too. Getting upset over it is lol too

 

[xist]

Brb...just going to throw out my 3DS and PSP because the games are expensive and i can't make calls.

 

[Foxi4]

LMAO Foxi4 is mad.

These cause for discussions on the article, be it hate or agreeance. Would you of known of this if it wasn't posted? I wouldn't, I got a good laugh out of it too. Getting upset over it is lol too

I'm really not upset about the article, I'm actually a bit disappointed in humanity in general and I sincerely hope that it will be ignored by the big players. What does annoy me though is that this is just one out of a series of "I Hate dem Vita's" articles posted by Valwin that really have no redeeming qualities to them and only serve the purpose of showing off his lack of support, but just so that his bias isn't "obvious enough" he always puts this one crudely-written sentence stating that he disagrees with the article. Bizzare, seeing that these are the only articles he ever posts.

USN is not his personal space for self-glorification and marveling at Sony Vita's slow start. It's a place for sharing actually useful news. What's so news-worthy of Mark's opinion?

As I said on numerous other threads, Valwin's tired threads should just be merged into one big compilation titled "I have the Vita" and he should only be allowed to post in it - that solves alot of problems.

 

[Gundam Eclipse]

Its like Valwin's posts trigger some kind of disturbance in the minds of individuals.

Well, not like I care, gives me a excuse to eat some popcorn and enjoy the show :V

 

[Forstride]

Foxi4, stop getting your pubes in a twist every time Valwin posts a Sony-related article. All he did was quote the source, and you act like he's out to get you or something.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

OKAY ENOUGH WITH THE VALWIN PEOPLE MOVE ALONG NOTHING TO SEE HERE.

EDIT: And normally I don't defend Valwin but...

i dont think the vita needs to compete with smart phones cuz is not one

He did defend the Vita.

Well, except the thread. Pretty much just a restatement of every dumb editorial about the Vita. "OH IT CAN'T COMPETE WITH APPS" and the same blah blah crap. People said basically the same thing when the 3DS came out, that it can't compete with smartphones and iDevices because of the amount of content and functionality of smart devices against a 3DS with "expensive games" and "not as many features". Only real difference is that since the Vita has 3G now, people totally consider it a "smart device"... When it's basically in the same exact realm as the 3DS in terms of types of games and even some features without it.

 

[FireGrey]

It's pretty much impossible to have a game that's $5 on the Vita or the 3DS without it being made in like 1 month.
It's pretty much choosing over quality and price.
I go for quality, even though I usually go for the cheap stuff, but that's only if they're decent.
Oh and STOP TALKING ABOUT VALWIN!!!

 

[Foxi4]

OKAY ENOUGH WITH THE VALWIN PEOPLE MOVE ALONG NOTHING TO SEE HERE.

i dont think the vita needs to compete with smart phones cuz is not one

He did defend the Vita.

Just so that his bias isn't "obvious enough" he always puts this one crudely-written sentence stating that he disagrees with the article. Bizzare, seeing that these are the only articles he ever posts.

*yawn* You're just being an enabler, if you can's see what he's doing then you need some glasses, mate.

 

[T-hug]

The article is a joke and the reviewer just sounds biased.
I'll be picking up my Vita in 2 weeks time and I can't wait! I have an Android smartphone (Galaxy S) and although it has some good games and apps, I just don't like touch screen controls, they are limited and in many cases actually hinder the gameplay experience (blocking the screen when using them comes to mind).

Why reviewers continue to compare Vita to phones is beyond me, one is a phone device which supports simple gaming, and the other is a dedicated gaming handheld which can possibly use Skype. That is the only comparison I see and does not need to be mentioned in reviews at all.

If Valwin is so anti Vita/Sony whatever, then he is going to have a hard time when it launches worldwide in 2 weeks and the user base is upped significantly.

 

[emigre]

Wasn't Gamespot discredited after the Skyward Sword fiasco?

 

[Coto]

Typical Valwinated thread.

You're wrong. Valwin this time wasn't bashing or trolling, instead you're now.

edit:wait wait, *reads the topic's title*... topic title should be changed to avoid flame wars

-
The guy's based on both a laptop & a phone. If I want to go and play videogames, i'll go and play XBOX,PC, PS or Nintendo games, not IDevices or smarthpones, Anyway, I haven't seen a phone moving that much amount of polygons and 3G allowing you to play full online games AND having the 3rd party support from well known companies which have done wonders on absolutely low end hardware (ie: SNES, GBA, PS1)

 

[Hop2089]

Mark's been spending some quality time with the PlayStation Vita, only to find himself bashing his head against a brick wall in despair.

Oh dear this review is going to reek of absolute fail.

It is a relic; a product of a bygone era of handheld gaming that has learned little from the mistakes of its predecessors and the direction of the industry as a whole.

It's worse than I thought.

For any product to really succeed in today's market--whether it is a phone, tablet, or handheld console--it has to be easy to use, have a UI that doesn't make you want to smack your head against a brick wall, and have an ecosystem full of content that's reasonably priced.

Make a JP account and you can get discounts on games, IGN even did this, and besides you are importing and importing is expensive especially now with the strong yen. Mark, you need to watch CNBC or got to the NYSE website. I know it had a terrible start but there are better games for it, I just got Ragnarok Odyssey in the mail yesterday and I will have a killer time once I get mine in 6-7 days depending if my GS will be hosting a Midnight launch or not.

And that's the Vita's biggest problem. It's not competing with just specialized gaming devices like the 3DS; it's competing with every single Android, iOS, or Windows Phone device on the market.

It's not and never should, it isn't a phone. Stop spewing unfounded bullshit like that.

doesn't have a library of Apps to expand its functionality; and--most importantly of all--the games are far too expensive]

This again, it doesn't need smartphone apps, it's not a phone and games will be ok in price at least for the States.

"It's like someone handed over the UI design to a 5-year-old child with a fetish for smarties"

I've tried out a Vita for myself and I like the UI, it's very easy to use, kinda cool, a hybrid of cool and childish but has enough adult feel to not turn me away.

Then there's multitasking, or lack thereof. Here's an example. You're playing a game and you get stuck. "I know! I'll use the Vita's built in Web browser to look up a guide! Hooray for technology!" Except, you can't do that. If you try to boot up the browser, you have to close any game you have open. "But, hey, I can just boot it up again. Where's the problem?" Sure, you can do that, if you don't mind horrendous loading times.

Not all games have bad loading times and even then most of it is allievated by getting the retail versions, for example Tales of Innocence R and Ragnarok Odyssey have pretty fast loading times on retail carts and as for looking up a guide, Who the hell reads the manuals?

How about charging the Vita over a USB? That's something everything does nowadays, so it should just work right? Wrong. You have to go into settings and enable USB charging. Why? When would I not want my Vita to charge over a USB? Will the power demands be so great that my laptop will spontaneously combust?

Back in the day, we had to plug huge AC adapters into a power outlet or surge protector, lazy ass, get off your rump and plug the damn adaptor into the socket, you'll lose a few pounds and help your heart

Unlike my phone, I don't need to carry a Vita around with me. And, given my experience, I don't want to either.

Unfounded butthurt, all of it. FYI, mobile games mostly suck ass.

I got to try out a friends' Vita 2 days ago and I enjoyed it and seen nothing to be butthurt about sure it doesn't have UMD passport but I'm going to use my JP account on mine anyway so it solves the issue.

 

[Midna]

From reading people's comments on page 2, I had been expecting to find an article fairly criticizing the Vita, and Sony fans wouldn't have it.
Nope, it looks like it was written by a Valwin with proper grammar and spelling.