Sony launches PlayStation Vita handheld to reclaim mobile gaming

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Sony released its PlayStation Vita handheld gaming console in Japan on Saturday in a bid to recapture share in the mobile gaming market from Apple's iOS.



The Japanese consumer electronics maker released its next-generation portable seven years after the arrival of the PlayStation Portable. The device is set to roll out in other parts of Asia by the end of the year before launching in North America and Europe next February.



Thousands of early adopters lined up for the launch, according to the Associated Press. Bloomberg noted that a store in Tokyo drew in 100 fans before 7 a.m. on Saturday.



Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House said pre-orders of the device in Japan had sold out as customers lined up at retailers to make reservations.



Sony unveiled the Vita, then codenamed the NGP, in January, promising release by the end of the year. The device sports a 5-inch OLED touchscreen with a resolution of 960x544, dual analog sticks, front and rear touchpads, with support for Wi-Fi, BlueTooth, GPS and optional 3G. The Vita also features a quad-core version of the same SGX543 graphics processor found in Apple's A5 chip.







The Wi-Fi version of the Vita sells for 24,900 yen ($320), while 3G functionality will add an extra 5,080 ($65) yen to the price.The device will sell for $249.99 for the Wi-Fi only model and $299.99 for the 3G version when it arrives in the U.S.



The device's launch comes as Sony is fighting for dominance of the portable gaming market. After years of facing off against Nintendo as its chief competitor, Sony has found its once formidable market share eroded by the recent rise of smartphones and tablets, led by Apple and Google.



In just a few years, iOS and Android have taken over the majority of portable gaming profits in the U.S. from the incumbents. Mobile analytics firm Flurry revealed last month that the two platforms accounted for 58 percent of revenue in 2011.



"We see, for the first time, that smartphone revenue in the U.S. has leap-frogged portable game revenue," said Peter Farago, vice president of marketing with Flurry. "The disruption has been downright brutal."



Given that the PlayStation Vita did not make the U.S. market in time for the coveted holiday shopping season, Apple will likely continue to gain share this winter. Nielsen dubbed the season an "iHoliday" last month after a survey of kids and teens revealed that Apple's iPad, iPod touch and iPhone ranked at the top of their wish lists.



Smartphone uptake has had a material impact on Nintendo's profits. The company warned in October that weaker than expected sales of its handheld devices would result in losses for the 2012 fiscal year.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 223
    Well? that's got fail written all over it!



    Why take two bottles into the shower when you can take one?!
  • Reply 2 of 223
    Interesting. When is the phone version coming out?
  • Reply 3 of 223
    zozmanzozman Posts: 393member
    The vita will separate the gamers from the posers.



    I love the iOS devices but as far as gaming goes, they don't come close to a dedicated gaming console, don't fool yourselves people.



    My iPhone 4s & iPad 2 are for other things & very very part time for games when i have a few minutes to kill, id play PC or console games when real gaming needs to be done



    i'll order the vita pretty soon, Uncharted look very rad indeed.
  • Reply 4 of 223
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zozman View Post


    The vita will separate the gamers from the posers.



    I love the iOS devices but as far as gaming goes, they don't come close to a dedicated gaming console, don't fool yourselves people.



    My iPhone 4s & iPad 2 are for other things & very very part time for games when i have a few minutes to kill, id play PC or console games when real gaming needs to be done



    i'll order the vita pretty soon, Uncharted look very rad indeed.



    I'm in agreement with you on this one. I love my iPhone but this a game changer in terms of handhelds. I can't wait to get mine.
  • Reply 5 of 223
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by monstrosity View Post


    Well? that's got fail written all over it!



    Why take two bottles into the shower when you can take one?!



    Conditioner and shampoo I agree though, just do not need another device to carry around. I consider myself a hardcore gamer but not hardcore portable. $.99 apps do the trick while I travel.
  • Reply 6 of 223
    blursdblursd Posts: 123member
    Hey Sony! Just an FYI ... it's 2011, not 2007. You're about four years late to the party ...
  • Reply 7 of 223
    When did Sony ever have any sort of dominance in mobile gaming? Nintendo trounced them at very turn. Even in the console market they only led for 2 generations, ps1 and ps2.



    Now in console there is no winner and mobile gaming is shattered.



    It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
  • Reply 8 of 223
    The problem is the price of the games. If they come in at $4.99 it has a chance at $40 it's going to struggle.
  • Reply 9 of 223
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stniuk View Post


    The problem is the price of the games. If they come in at $4.99 it has a chance at $40 it's going to struggle.



    I think you've hit the nail right on the head. The way Sony's console business is set up, they have to charge big money for the apps, whereas Apple has a much bigger ecosystem and can afford to charge small change due to the massive volume they have built up.
  • Reply 10 of 223
    I bought a PSP and it wasn't good, I bought a DS and it was uncomfortable to hold. My iPhone suits me - the better games are the ones that are designed from the ground up for the platform - not the games that have that unusable virtual joypad. The games are inexpensive and mostly entertaining - even if they're weak, you don't mind as you've paid practically nothing for them.



    I think this'll probably bomb like everything else Sony has done in the past 5 years.
  • Reply 11 of 223
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zozman View Post


    The vita will separate the gamers from the posers.



    I love the iOS devices but as far as gaming goes, they don't come close to a dedicated gaming console, don't fool yourselves people.



    My iPhone 4s & iPad 2 are for other things & very very part time for games when i have a few minutes to kill, id play PC or console games when real gaming needs to be done



    i'll order the vita pretty soon, Uncharted look very rad indeed.



    Enjoy it. One day you can sell it at auction.



    The Patents received by Apple in the past 12 months and counting will reveal your claim about ``don't fool yourselves people,'' as truly naive.



    SONY should have released this in 2007.
  • Reply 12 of 223
    You know like when you found out they were really brine shrimp.



    Can you say "rebranded PSP"?
  • Reply 13 of 223
    clemynxclemynx Posts: 1,552member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    Enjoy it. One day you can sell it at auction.



    The Patents received by Apple in the past 12 months and counting will reveal your claim about ``don't fool yourselves people,'' as truly naive.



    SONY should have released this in 2007.



    Patents don't make good games. Good games make good games. Hardware mainly created for games is best for games.
  • Reply 14 of 223
    galleygalley Posts: 971member
    It looks like an amazing device. I hope it does well. Nintendo makes such awful gaming equipment.
  • Reply 15 of 223
    shaun, ukshaun, uk Posts: 1,050member
    It's going to be a dull Christmas this year. Usually I get the latest iPod but they haven't changed this year so there's no point. The Vita launches in Feb here so I can't get that. There doesn't even appear to be much in the way of new iPod speakers. Looks like Santa is going to be bringing me a lot of iTunes gift cards instead this year lol.
  • Reply 16 of 223
    I think the iPad 3 will share a similar CPU/GPU



    4 core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore

    4 core SGX543MP4+



    Though, I'd wish the iPad 3 would instead have a dual-core Cortex-A15, plus a PowerVR SGX600 (Rogue) series which are reported to be faster and use less power.



    http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/20/a...2012-quad-cor/

    http://www.electronista.com/articles...gx600.details/



    I imagine that will come in late 2012 - early 2013.
  • Reply 17 of 223
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by monstrosity View Post


    Well… that's got fail written all over it!



    Why take two bottles into the shower when you can take one?!



    When one bottle of shampoo does dandruff and the other is standard shampoo.



    Sorry guy, but the games that are on the DS, PSP, DS 3D, and Vita are of (generally) higher quality than the dreck (generally) found on smartphones. If I want to PLAY a game, I will use a console or handheld. If I want a quick time waster, I will use my phone.



    Both shampoos have their uses and supporters, but to say that a specialized shampoo will fail just because you don't have dandruff is is silly and uniformed.



    I'm already waiting for my preorder to arrive (wifi version as I don't know want compatibility issues with AT&T's 3G). For those who say this is a rebadged PSP are clueless. That is like saying the current iPhone is the same as the original model. They look similar, but the newer model can do SO much more.
  • Reply 18 of 223
    Could a moderator please delete the cap spam posts and block the user. The last thing we need is advertisement spam here on AI. Thanks.
  • Reply 19 of 223
    zozmanzozman Posts: 393member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    Enjoy it. One day you can sell it at auction.



    The Patents received by Apple in the past 12 months and counting will reveal your claim about ``don't fool yourselves people,'' as truly naive.



    SONY should have released this in 2007.



    Naive is the best way to put your understanding of the subject matter.

    Not at any point did i say it would be very successful, i just said that the vita will be better for gaming, only on an apple based forum would i have to defend that fact :P & i love the iOS devices.

    people have to try being a little subjective & look at things in perspective.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ClemyNX View Post


    Patents don't make good games. Good games make good games. Hardware mainly created for games is best for games.



    I totally agree with you.

    I didn't expect to read about patents I gotta say its a strange perspective to think that patents has anything to do with game makers making good games :S i guess with new gyros & such it gives them more options for how you interact with the game, none the less a jack of all trades is pretty good at everything, a dedicated piece of hardware is better, simple.

    My DSLR (Canon 7D) is far better at taking photos then my 4s, not shock there but that doesn't make my phone less amazing, i carry my iPhone with me everywhere.
  • Reply 20 of 223
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lamewing View Post


    Could a moderator please delete the cap spam posts and block the user. The last thing we need is advertisement spam here on AI. Thanks.



    Just a reminder: Report spam posts the same way you report any other posts here. It's much faster and we're guaranteed to see it. No need to make bad posts about bad posts.



    That should be all of it for now. My stars, there was a lot this morning, and I'm not even talking about the stuff that got through!
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