The Shrine

Is this a sign that the market is more into tablets/phones that can do multiple things as opposed to handheld gaming devices? The Vita is supposed to have a wide variety of functions as well, but people will always see a gaming device first.

http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in ... 37927.html

Price point is an issue. The fact that the old PSP is still moving units is the biggest sign. Vita is backwards compatible and everything heh.

Flip wrote:Is this a sign that the market is more into tablets/phones that can do multiple things as opposed to handheld gaming devices?

Probably not considering the 3DS is shattering records. In under 10 months the 3DS sold an equal amount of hardware to what the Wii sold in a year and what the PS2 sold in 13 months. Sony just really messed up with overpowered hardware driving up the minimum price, an assy decision to use proprietary memory cards (you can have one memory card for the system to store games on, and the 32 GB costs $100), and losing Monster Hunter to 3DS.

If Capcom taking the PSP's top franchise from Vita and putting it on 3DS wasn't a slap in the face enough; Capcom returned with the back of the hand when it released Monster Hunter 3G on 3DS just days before the Vita launch.

Yeah, I have to say that it has more to do with the price and the lack of big titles.The 3DS is selling very well at its new price and the PSP is also still selling well. I think there has been some impact from smartphones but not enough to cause these numbers.

Games for smartphones more expand the handheld market than further divide up the pie. Still nothing on smartphones that can hold a candle to NSMB or Persona or Castlevania

Well the problem with Smart phones is the contol, or lack there of heh.

Nothing really beats 2 analog sticks, buttons, d-pad.

Eric wrote:Well the problem with Smart phones is the contol, or lack there of heh.

Nothing really beats 2 analog sticks, buttons, d-pad.

Exactly. Ain't nothin wrong with the smartphone games, they just don't replace the handhelds as they currently stand. They generally either provide additional gaming for regular gamers or alternative, less-intensive gaming for non-gamers. They more co-exist than compete.

All this talk of smartphones replacing handhelds is just silly until smartphones make some significant changes for gaming purposes. I don't see that happening any time soon

There is also the factor that mobile phones evolve to better fit the mobile market, whereas handheld videogame systems evolve to better fit the gaming market. It has been attempted to fit both into one by Sony Ericsson, Nokia, and Sharp; but I think 'failure' would be an understatement to describe result of those devices.

It's essentially the exact same kind of argument that has been used in home gaming consoles vs PC for nearly two decades now, and I think it still holds true for mobile devices vs handhelds.

The last thing I need is something that is basically necessary for me to carry around 24/7 being an extremely capable gaming device.

Another figure I'll bring up is that last generation the GBA sold 81.50 million units, but the DS and PSP sold a combined 225K - that's over 278% generation over generation so far.

There are also 5 videogame systems that sold over 60 million this generation vs only 2 last generation. We're talking roughly 268 million users after 12 years and 4 months for the last generation, and 450 million for this generation after just over 7 years. The market is still growing very quickly when viewed generation over generation - the reason it appears to be slowing down at this point is largely for the same reason it declined in the last 2 years of every generation - saturation.

Shrinweck wrote:The last thing I need is something that is basically necessary for me to carry around 24/7 being an extremely capable gaming device.

Really? What if they found a way to make the interface such that it doesn't affect the functionality of your smartphone as is essentially the same size and weight? Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?

Heck, what if you were able to have a small, docking station like item which connected to your smartphone to add a D-Pad and buttons and turn it into a fully-functioning game device. Wouldn't that rule?

Not saying it's possible, I don't think it really is due to the minimum interface required for "real gaming". And I'm not sure if anyone would want to carry around a docking station like that. But I'm just saying, if some genius engineer figured it out, wouldn't you be happy?

I'm saying I don't want to carry around something that I would be constantly playing with in my free time out in public. Enough people bury their heads in their phones constantly as it is. Phones as an actual gaming platform would probably be the impetus for me to finally join them.

Shrinweck wrote:I'm saying I don't want to carry around something that I would be constantly playing with in my free time out in public. Enough people bury their heads in their phones constantly as it is. Phones as an actual gaming platform would probably be the impetus for me to finally join them.

Give in to the dark side of the force.

So who's getting one?

I am not ashamed to admit that I am in on day one.

I've got the First Edition Bundle pre-ordered from Amazon, because it ships a week early and I am "the guy who has to have everything before everyone else".

Not gonna day 1 buy the Vita, I'm only interested in Uncharted, and like the 3DS's terrible line-up of only Super Mario Land 3D, I can't justify the purchase for 1 game.

Definitely not a poor list of launch games for the Vita. Not a launch purchase for me, but as it is videogame hardware.... I will own it eventually.

Unless the game is called pokemon, I have a really hard time playing anything on a portable system. I much prefer the engrossing experience on a console.

I would buy the system for Gravity Rush alone, I think.

Luckily, there are like 3 other games I want. And I can get them all straight off the PSN. :-D

Simply as a downloadable retro gaming machine, the Vita might be worth it. PSN has so many good PS1/PS2 games fro download, I found that was 90% of my PSP playing, too. I might pick one up, the other entertainment options are also enticing as I'm starting to travel more for work.