Sony says condemning Vita before its first Christmas is 'preposter

[TripleSMoon]

The problem with both Vita and 3DS isn't their technology, it's their game libraries. If Sony is smart and releases some cool games come the holiday season, Vita sales will rise. The Same goes for 3DS as well. If gamers have learned anything over the years, it's that games sell the console.

Agreed. But I think the kind of technology can affect whether or not good games come to the system, especially for handhelds. Not just if a handheld system is too underpowered, but if it's too overpowered as well.

 

[Clydefrosch]

too bad producers really only want to produce when people have bought the console already... vicious circle

 

[TripleSMoon]

too bad producers really only want to produce when people have bought the console already... vicious circle

That too

 

[duffmmann]

The problem with both Vita and 3DS isn't their technology, it's their game libraries. If Sony is smart and releases some cool games come the holiday season, Vita sales will rise. The Same goes for 3DS as well. If gamers have learned anything over the years, it's that games sell the console.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I had the impression that the 3DS isn't really struggling at all anymore. Sales are way up and more and more people are buying the handheld. Of course I agree it needs more great games, but it seems to have enough great games as it is to warrant the masses to buy one.

 

[10_0ARMY]

The problem with both Vita and 3DS isn't their technology, it's their game libraries. If Sony is smart and releases some cool games come the holiday season, Vita sales will rise. The Same goes for 3DS as well. If gamers have learned anything over the years, it's that games sell the console.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I had the impression that the 3DS isn't really struggling at all anymore. Sales are way up and more and more people are buying the handheld. Of course I agree it needs more great games, but it seems to have enough great games as it is to warrant the masses to buy one.

It could be back on the right track but I haven't personally gotten a new 3DS game in at least 5 months. In fact the last time I got a handheld game was a while ago. I just feel like consoles are getting better content than the handhelds as of late, which stinks cuz I love portable gaming and console game alike :/

 

[narutofan777]

vita needs better games..

 

[Just Another Gamer]

vita needs better games..

Wrong. Vita needs more games.

 

[TripleSMoon]

Wrong. Vita needs more games.

^This. At least from what I've seen, what games the Vita DOES have seem to be decent. It's just that it's lacking in games, period. That said, I don't own a Vita so maybe I shouldn't talk.

 

[SuzieJoeBob]

too bad producers really only want to produce when people have bought the console already... vicious circle

That too

The developers don't want to develop for underselling systems, yet the systems are underselling because the developers aren't producing many games. It is not correct to blame Sony 100%, as the developers are contributing to the problem by not contributing.

 

[Foxi4]

The developers don't want to develop for underselling systems, yet the systems are underselling because the developers aren't producing many games. It is not correct to blame Sony 100%, as the developers are contributing to the problem by not contributing.

That's not entirely true.

The system had a slow start - fair play. So did the 3DS, but the sales picked up eventually, and not because it got games all of a sudden - it's because it was marketed properly, and the price cut it received was also a factor.

The Vita desperately needs an advertising campaign and good bundles, and Christmas is the best season to push them.

 

[TripleSMoon]

That's not entirely true.

The system had a slow start - fair play. So did the 3DS, but the sales picked up eventually, and not because it got games all of a sudden - it's because it was marketed properly, and the price cut it received was also a factor.

The Vita desperately needs an advertising campaign and good bundles, and Christmas is the best season to push them.

Yeah, but you also have to remember that the 3DS had no current-gen handheld competition for the first year of its existence. The Vita does.

 

[Foxi4]

Yeah, but you also have to remember that the 3DS had no current-gen handheld competition for the first year of its existence. The Vita does.

Oh, of course - that's another huge factor. That said, there is very little overlap over the 3DS's customer base and the Vita's customer base - the two devices offer a different experience.

 

[TripleSMoon]

Oh, of course - that's another huge factor. That said, there is very little overlap over the 3DS's fanbase and the Vita's fanbase - the two devices offer a different experience.

True, but I was referring more to dev support than the fanbase.

Also, I'm surprised that I've seen no one mention this at all, in any discussion like this on the Temp, but has anyone considered that backward compatibility might also be a factor? The 3DS is a fully compatible with all your DS and DSi carts, making it more of a true upgrade to the DS series, not just a successor. Meanwhile, you can't play any of your PSP UMDs on the Vita, requiring you to buy them again digitally, unless you already did so.

 

[Foxi4]

*Rarara UMD's!*

Actually, it's been mentioned a hundred times already. UMD's have been deprecated, Sony was planning to move away from them for ages now - since the PSP Go.

The Vita is perfectly backwards compatible, to the point that Japan had a UMD Transfer program. Not sure why they didn't run the program in other regions, but that's irrelevant, it is backwards compatible. Optical drives are bulky and suck the battery dry, there's no need to use them whatsoever in this day and age. Just use the PSN store PSP downloads, it's simple as that.

People buy new consoles to buy new games - backwards compatibility is a nice addition, but an addition none the less. Does the 3DS have a GBA slot? Did the DS have a GBC slot? Did the SNES have a NES slot? Did the N64 have a SNES slot? No on all accounts? So why do we pick on the poor Vita for not having a deprecated storage slot?

We might as well start whining that nothing supports CF cards nowadays.

 

[LightyKD]

Bundle the damn thing with a PS3 and one of those games that can be played on PS3 and Vita remotely and compete with the Wii U, problem solved.

 

[TripleSMoon]

Actually, it's been mentioned a hundred times already. UMD's have been deprecated, Sony was planning to move away from them for ages now - since the PSP Go.

The Vita is perfectly backwards compatible, to the point that Japan had a UMD Transfer program. Not sure why they didn't run the program in other regions, but that's irrelevant, it is backwards compatible. Optical drives are bulky and suck the battery dry, there's no need to use them whatsoever in this day and age. Just use the PSN store PSP downloads, it's simple as that.

People buy new consoles to buy new games - backwards compatibility is a nice addition, but an addition none the less. Does the 3DS have a GBA slot? Did the DS have a GBC slot? Did the SNES have a NES slot? Did the N64 have a SNES slot? No on all accounts? So why do we pick on the poor Vita for not having a deprecated storage slot?

We might as well start whining that nothing supports CF cards nowadays.

Um... I'm not "picking on the Vita" for not having such a slot. I'm just mentioning it as a possible contributing reason the Vita isn't selling well. Having a UMD transfer program would've been fine if it was in every region. Every Nintendo handheld since the GBC was backward compatible at least for one generation (if you can consider the GBC a "generation" ahead of the original GB), and in the case of the DS, both the phat and the lite were backward compatible with GBA before the DSi and DSi XL dropped that.

Anyway, my point is that the 3DS is fully backwards compatible with the previous generation in all regions, no strings attached except for people who are picky over the screen filtering on DS games. The same can't be said for the Vita. I'm not saying that's a terrible thing of the Vita to do, just that it's very likely a contributing factor to its poor sales.

 

[Foxi4]

Anyway, my point is that the 3DS is fully backwards compatible with the previous generation in all regions, no strings attached except for people who are picky over the screen filtering on DS games. The same can't be said for the Vita. I'm not saying that's a terrible thing of the Vita to do, just that it's very likely a contributing factor to its poor sales.

Oh, but it is not fully backwards compatible with the DS. The DSi isn't fully compatible with the DS, that's the whole point.

1. Guitar Hero Adapter
2. Paddles Adapter
3. GBA-to-DS data transfer (Pokemon, Feel the Magic XX XY, Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Bleach DS, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and more)
4. Rumble Adapter
5. Slide Controller
6. DS Camera (Face Training)
7. Motion Pack (Tony Hawk's Motion)

...and likely more compatibility issues despite being able to perfectly emulate the hardware, stemming from the lack of SLOT-2.

 

[xist]

Further to Foxi's observations since the 3DS doesn't support My Weight Loss Coach's pedometer it's Nintendo's way of discouraging fitness and encouraging fatties playing on the 3DS...they also don't like music much either since Easy Piano's piano adapter gets binned as well.

Backwards compatibility tends to almost always be selectively complete, or complete with restrictions.

 

[TripleSMoon]

Oh, but it is not fully backwards compatible with the DS. The DSi isn't fully compatible with the DS, that's the whole point.

1. Guitar Hero Adapter
2. Paddles Adapter
3. GBA-to-DS data transfer (Pokemon, Feel the Magic XX XY, Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Bleach DS, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and more)
4. Rumble Adapter
5. Slide Controller
6. DS Camera (Face Training)
7. Motion Pack (Tony Hawk's Motion)

...and likely more compatibility issues despite being able to perfectly emulate the hardware, stemming from the lack of SLOT-2.

Ok, fine. At least 95% backward compatible.

Further to Foxi's observations since the 3DS doesn't support My Weight Loss Coach's pedometer it's Nintendo's way of discouraging fitness and encouraging fatties playing on the 3DS.

HA XD

 

[Foxi4]

Further to Foxi's observations since the 3DS doesn't support My Weight Loss Coach's pedometer it's Nintendo's way of discouraging fitness and encouraging fatties playing on the 3DS...they also don't like music much either since Easy Piano's piano adapter gets binned as well.

Backwards compatibility tends to almost always be selectively complete, or complete with restrictions.

Fair point - the 3DS doesn't support those.

My point is, the core PSP binary works on the Vita - what isn't supported is the UMD format. If Nintendo can remove Slot-2 which was used for cross-connectivity and accessories and we cut them some slack because it's deprecated anyways, we should cut the Vita some slack for not using an obsolete slot as well. Besides, not all PSP games were even released on UMD - what about all the PSP Minis?

You can transfer all your digital PSP data. Heck, you can transfer some digital PS3 content as well. I don't see a huge reason to complain - it's a hinderence, yes, but not a deal breaker.