Kotaku on why the Vita is struggling: it's all Sony

[mmntech]

Kotaku posted an interesting article on why the Vita is doing so poorly. It's nothing that hasn't been said before but they do talk about how bad the situation is. Worth a quick read.

Have you checked out that Vita game? You know—the one that's a shoddy spinoff of a big-name series?

Perhaps Call of Duty: Declassified, which currently has a whopping 32% on Metacritic? Or Uncharted: Golden Abyss, a game that our Kirk Hamilton called "a cut-rate version of the Uncharted games that most people have already played"? How about Resistance: Burning Skies, which Kotaku boss Stephen Totilo called "a mediocre new first-person shooter that has no excuses for underachieving"?

If you've seen a commercial for the Vita, you've probably heard Sony's big tagline. "Get console-quality gaming with the PlayStation Vita." Not a bad selling point, and maybe the Vita does offer console-quality gaming. But it sure as hell doesn't offer console-quality games.

http://kotaku.com/5963568/the-vita-is-a-great-systemtoo-bad-sony-screwed-it-up

Cliffs
-Games for the Vita mostly shoddy, half arsed spinoffs of existing franchises
-Good games for the Vita are too derivative of older console games. No unique games like the PSP had, no killer apps
-Vita being treated by Sony like a glorified PS1, PSP, and PS2 emulator
-Memory cards too expensive, add significant hidden costs, and are scaring away potential customers
-Tepid reception from gamers due to these factors is scaring devs away
-Sony is sabotaging their own system

I've heard someone mention the iPad when talking about expensive memory. Which is true and something I've hated about it for awhile. Though I suspect most people are buying the 16gb model and not paying the $100-$200 premium for added space. Vita games are also a lot bigger than the 50 or so megabytes it takes to install Angry Birds.

 

[gorcorps]

Nothing new

Typical Sony releases something with promise to try and make a quick buck on early adopters, then they don't support it properly. Everything good about the Vita comes from sources that aren't Sony which means it's not being advertised very well (if at all). My favorite games have been cheaper PSN store games like Mutant Blobs Attack and Zen Pinball 2. The best thing about ZP2 is you get access to the game and tables you buy on the PS3 as well as Vita, and if you already bought some on the PS3 you can download them to your Vita. What of Sony's big name games offers stuff like this? Best they had was that baseball game that let you share the same save data, but IIRC you needed a separate copy for the Vita and PS3. I'm not sure there was an option for a "shared" version.

Instead of trying to pass off these $50 console ripoffs, they need to start pushing the PSN games under $15. It has a lot of potential that's being wasted on trying to match the power of a console it physically can't match.

 

[Todd33]

Well you can always find negative in stuff, that is what gets hits on the Internet.

1. There are good original games; Mutant Blobs, Escape Plan, Gravity Rush, etc.
2. Lots of the franchise games are not shoddy spin-offs, some are great. I just finished Uncharted GA and thought is was as good as the PS3 counter parts. Probably my GOTY of 2012. LBP, Liberations, SSDD, Hot Shots Golf, and Wipeout are also great additions to the franchises.
3. Many great handheld counterparts to PS3 games - this is a Vita selling point, get the console games on the go. Rayman, NFS:MW, Metal Gear Solid HD, Mortal Kombat, MvC, PASBR, FIFA, The Show 2012, Madden, etc.

The memory card prices are a fair complaint. You can argue the console itself is too much (though people were anticipating $349 before the E3 announcement). But the games are not a valid complaint IMO. Picking out a few turds does not represent the console anymore than it would be for any console.

It is simply a case of Monday morning quarterbacking; people see the low sales and ex post facto point fingers. If the sales were strong they would be singing about the good games and the winning strategy.

 

[dpodblood]

Well you can always find negative in stuff, that is what gets hits on the Internet.

1. There are good original games; Mutant Blobs, Escape Plan, Gravity Rush, etc.
2. Lots of the franchise games are not shoddy spin-offs, some are great. I just finished Uncharted GA and thought is was as good as the PS3 counter parts. Probably my GOTY of 2012. LBP, Liberations, SSDD, Hot Shots Golf, and Wipeout are also great additions to the franchises.
3. Many great handheld counterparts to PS3 games - this is a Vita selling point, get the console games on the go. Rayman, NFS:MW, Metal Gear Solid HD, Mortal Kombat, MvC, PASBR, FIFA, The Show 2012, Madden, etc.

The memory card prices are a fair complaint. You can argue the console itself is too much (though people were anticipating $349 before the E3 announcement). But the games are not a valid complaint IMO. Picking out a few turds does not represent the console anymore than it would be for any console.

It is simply a case of Monday morning quarterbacking; people see the low sales and ex post facto point fingers. If the sales were strong they would be singing about the good games and the winning strategy.

You've pretty much said everything I was thinking.

 

[Aikouka]

I don't mind rehashes on the console as long as they're fun. The second most played game on my PSP was "Mega Man: Powered Up!", and it's just Mega Man 1 in 3D. Actually, I think it's third behind Lumines and Lumines 2.

What of Sony's big name games offers stuff like this? Best they had was that baseball game that let you share the same save data, but IIRC you needed a separate copy for the Vita and PS3. I'm not sure there was an option for a "shared" version.

That Playstation All-Stars battle game is a shared game.

 

[Todd33]

Cross Buy is a new program that was not around during The Show, back then they gave a $20 discount if you bought both. I suspect they will have Cross Buy for 2013.

 

[blurredvision]

You've pretty much said everything I was thinking.

Same here.

 

[exdeath]

Sony hasn't learned its lesson about proprietary overpriced money grabbing media formats?

That and how many ports of the same dozen games do we need on how many consoles? An occasional Angry Birds or Punch the Monkey quality exclusive here and there doesn't make up for it.

 

[Todd33]

Sony hasn't learned its lesson about proprietary overpriced money grabbing media formats?

That and how many ports of the same dozen games do we need on how many consoles? An occasional Angry Birds or Punch the Monkey quality exclusive here and there doesn't make up for it.

People didn't have an issue with MS and their proprietary memory and HDs for the 360. I think the proprietary memory thing is only an issue for two reasons:

1. They needed 4GB built in, just bare-bones saves and patches.
2. The price of the cards is probably 2x what people find "fair".

They can fix #2 easy with price drops and fix #1 in future versions.

 

[Aikouka]

One of my largest gripes is how clunky the operating system on it feels. I leave a cartridge in my Vita at all times, and I find it annoying that it has to "examine" the cartridge every time in starts up for a few seconds. I flip the little screen down, and I expect to be able to use my Vita, but I can't until it's done. It's small and fairly inconsequential, but still rather annoying. Then there's the whole tap an icon and then tap the pop-up page to actually open it. It seems excessive for things like Settings.

 

[zerocool84]

Well you can always find negative in stuff, that is what gets hits on the Internet.

1. There are good original games; Mutant Blobs, Escape Plan, Gravity Rush, etc.
2. Lots of the franchise games are not shoddy spin-offs, some are great. I just finished Uncharted GA and thought is was as good as the PS3 counter parts. Probably my GOTY of 2012. LBP, Liberations, SSDD, Hot Shots Golf, and Wipeout are also great additions to the franchises.
3. Many great handheld counterparts to PS3 games - this is a Vita selling point, get the console games on the go. Rayman, NFS:MW, Metal Gear Solid HD, Mortal Kombat, MvC, PASBR, FIFA, The Show 2012, Madden, etc.

The memory card prices are a fair complaint. You can argue the console itself is too much (though people were anticipating $349 before the E3 announcement). But the games are not a valid complaint IMO. Picking out a few turds does not represent the console anymore than it would be for any console.

It is simply a case of Monday morning quarterbacking; people see the low sales and ex post facto point fingers. If the sales were strong they would be singing about the good games and the winning strategy.

Those good original games you talk about are already on other consoles. Realistically the only game I really want to play on it is Uncharted but nothing else really makes me want to buy the system. I'd rather buy a 3DS because it has tons of games for all kinds of people. I guess if you really want to play inferior games of the ones you already on the PS3 then more power to you.

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

It read exactly like an article about the PSP. If not for the name changes & modernization update, it could be mistaken for a copy-paste.

 

[DaveSimmons]

> -Vita being treated by Sony like a glorified PS1, PSP, and PS2 emulator

Which would be fine if there were more good PS2 ports.

Persona 4 is a better version than the PS2 one, but Sony should also have gotten the rights / developers to port other JRPGs (Xenosaga, Tales, Atelier, etc.) and platformers, adventures, etc. (Ratchet & Clank PS2 games, Ico, etc.)


> -Memory cards too expensive, add significant hidden costs, and are scaring away potential customers

Yep, a 32 GB SD card is $22 yet Sony wants $87 for theirs, and you need it.


I almost got the $180 AC3 bundle on Black Friday, but Persona 4 was the only game I'd have played on it. I'm waiting for the Vita to get more games.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Well you can always find negative in stuff, that is what gets hits on the Internet.

1. There are good original games; Mutant Blobs, Escape Plan, Gravity Rush, etc.
2. Lots of the franchise games are not shoddy spin-offs, some are great. I just finished Uncharted GA and thought is was as good as the PS3 counter parts. Probably my GOTY of 2012. LBP, Liberations, SSDD, Hot Shots Golf, and Wipeout are also great additions to the franchises.
3. Many great handheld counterparts to PS3 games - this is a Vita selling point, get the console games on the go. Rayman, NFS:MW, Metal Gear Solid HD, Mortal Kombat, MvC, PASBR, FIFA, The Show 2012, Madden, etc.

The memory card prices are a fair complaint. You can argue the console itself is too much (though people were anticipating $349 before the E3 announcement). But the games are not a valid complaint IMO. Picking out a few turds does not represent the console anymore than it would be for any console.

It is simply a case of Monday morning quarterbacking; people see the low sales and ex post facto point fingers. If the sales were strong they would be singing about the good games and the winning strategy.

I would tend to disagree since games are what sell systems..and there just aren't enough quality games to justify buying it in this over jammed market of portable gaming. Shorter/Trimmed down console games for portable shouldn't be selling for $50. There's no compelling reason to buy this over anything else.

I had this same opinion of the PSP -- the ONLY reason it did as well as it did was because of the hacked firmware letting you do other things. Most the people I knew with them never played actual PSP games on them.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Those good original games you talk about are already on other consoles. Realistically the only game I really want to play on it is Uncharted but nothing else really makes me want to buy the system. I'd rather buy a 3DS because it has tons of games for all kinds of people. I guess if you really want to play inferior games of the ones you already on the PS3 then more power to you.

Gravity Rush and Escape Plan are not.

PS All Stars is a 1:1 copy of the PS3 game except the graphics, same for MLB. Wipeout is also very much a high quality games.

Saying there are no quality games is ridiculous. Rayman also pops to mind.

BTW: No vita game is selling for $50 as they are $40

Now it's even better with a growing library of PS1 games you can download.

 

[waggy]

I purchased a PSP when it was first released. i was disgusted with how little there was to buy that was worth it. most of the games i have i got on sale and my son plays. even then not enough to justify it.

the Vita has amazing hardware. But as i said in the thread before it was released there was no way i was going to buy it knowing that Sony would fuck it up.

looks like iwas right. The Vita hardware is great. i was really really hopeing that it would end up to be better then the DS series.

 

[exdeath]

Funny I'm picking up a PSP-3000 for $99 while I can still get one new in box.

Plenty of exclusive jRPGs and such make it worth while and I don't have one in my collection yet. Might as well get one and not have to blow $1000 for a boxed one on eBay a year from now.

 

[Todd33]

I'd rather buy a 3DS because it has tons of games for all kinds of people. I guess if you really want to play inferior games of the ones you already on the PS3 then more power to you.

There is zero I'd play on a 3DS, such an awful kiddie system. I don't play an inferior games I own a PS3. LBP Vita was the best LBP to date, Wipeout is a different campaign with free DLC for the HD and Fury PS3 campaigns. Mortal Kombat is the most content full version on any system. I can't think of one game I have that is somehow inferior. You want inferior, go play a 3DS with one analog or a iPad with no buttons.

Sure the Vita cannot match all the graphics of a 100W console (often comes damn clode), that is the price you pay for getting a five hour portable, it has to sip power using smart phone parts. What hand held is better?

 

[exdeath]

I don't play an inferior games I own a PS3.

Does not compute.

So anything that isn't an online vs shooter is a kiddie game...

 

[Aikouka]

I had this same opinion of the PSP -- the ONLY reason it did as well as it did was because of the hacked firmware letting you do other things. Most the people I knew with them never played actual PSP games on them.

My PSP is definitely hacked, but I don't think that's terribly useful anymore with everyone having smartphones. I used my PSP to play videos way back in '08, but now a modest amount of people have a powerful smartphone (I was on a Windows Mobile device back then).

 

[gorcorps]

Gravity Rush and Escape Plan are not.

PS All Stars is a 1:1 copy of the PS3 game except the graphics, same for MLB. Wipeout is also very much a high quality games.

Saying there are no quality games is ridiculous. Rayman also pops to mind.

BTW: No vita game is selling for $50 as they are $40

Now it's even better with a growing library of PS1 games you can download.

It's definitely getting better, and despite what others said IMO the Vita release is much better than the PSP one for me. The Vita is far from dead but they certainly can do better with it. At this time with the PSP I didn't use it for hardly anything, despite hacking it to run emulators and such. Now I don't have to hack it at all and I'm still having fun. I use it nearly every day even though it's in short bursts.

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

PSP no doubt had more than enough great games to stay busy with, by the time its' end came.
Vita will probably follow same trend.

 

[Zodiark1593]

I don't mind rehashes on the console as long as they're fun. The second most played game on my PSP was "Mega Man: Powered Up!", and it's just Mega Man 1 in 3D. Actually, I think it's third behind Lumines and Lumines 2.



That Playstation All-Stars battle game is a shared game.

I second that to a point, Zelda: OOT was quite a fun game for the 3DS and overall, was a fantastic port in that both the visuals were improved, and the usability (Water Temple) was greatly improved. Then you have rough ports (MGS 3, Tales of The Abyss) that should really come down in price, though, they're still pretty fun.

Back to the Playstations: As of now, I'd rather keep to my PSP-1000 rather than move to a PS Vita, if simply for the ability to mod the thing to play my considerably large library of PS1 games. I have quite a few games that simply can't be found on PSN. Even if they all are on PSN, buying all my games again at $5 per would cost me quite a bit, roughly $200, so no go since I have them already.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

It's probably been mentioned but Vita is also at a price point where you can get some kick ass tablets. The problem is that the tech is outpacing the businesses at this point. Think about it, would you rather have a $199 3DS/Vita, or a shiny new Nexus 7/Nook/Kindle Fire HD?

 

[lamedude]

With things not looking good for Sony ATM I wouldn't be rushing out to buy their digital goods.