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.
I'm not getting this for 2 reasons:
1. Why introduce something new a week before Christmas when it's not even going to be available for months? If you were doing the announcement solely as a 'spoiler', it should have been announced a month ago.
2. At $299 for the 3G version, that's more than an iPod Touch which does many other things. Heck, for $100 more, you can get a refurbished iPad. I realize that it's not the same thing, but for many people, the question is "would I give up a fraction of the game playing performance to get so many other features". Other than a tiny number of truly rabid gamers, the answer is likely to be 'yes' - especially when the cost of games is included.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zozman
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 love the way people think that whatever they prefer is the One True Way (TM). Since you think that a hard-core gaming device is the way to go, anyone who doesn't see things your way is a poser.
I really wish that people would learn - there are billions of people on this planet. They are all different in some way and don't have to like exactly the same things that you like. So stop with the "if someone doesn't like the same things that I do, they're inferior" crap.
Will some people prefer this device? Sure. Maybe lots. But that doesn't mean that people who choose something different are wrong.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stniuk
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.
Yep. One site says that retail versions will cost around $40 while downloaded electronic versions will cost around $23. At the least, that will limit the number of games most people buy. Instead of 100 games like many people have on their iPods or iPads, most people will have a handful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClemyNX
Patents don't make good games. Good games make good games. Hardware mainly created for games is best for games.
Says who? Who made you the arbiter?
For me, hardware that does lots of different things is best.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sippincider
Already have too many devices to carry around & keep charged. Sorry Sony, I don't need another.
Exactly.
Old way:
Carry digital game device, cell phone, laptop for email and music player. Plus chargers for each one. And a case for each one.
New way:
Carry iPhone which does all of the above.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sippincider
Sony might be lucky enough to find a market for this. But it'll be niche at best.
I think there's a market - and Sony might even be able to do well. But it's limited. First, the number and influence of hard core gamers whose entire lives revolve around a couple more FPS and fragging a few more bad guys seems to be fading. And then, this device appeals to only a subset of that market - the ones who are going to play their hard core games with a handheld and the commensurate reduction in performance. Many will choose to carry a laptop instead.
Still, I suspect that it will sell well enough to be a player.
I just can't get over Sony's timing. Bring out a new gaming device right AFTER Christmas? What is their thinking behind that?
you're right. it's a good thing Apple has never announced / introduced new hardware right after Christmas...
i hope this thing does well. i agree with all of the other posts here. my iPhone is good for 5 minute game bites, not for longer periods, unless i'm playing a re-hashed 20 year old version of Final Fantasy.
I just can't get over Sony's timing. Bring out a new gaming device right AFTER Christmas? What is their thinking behind that?
Since you've been using Apple products for over thirty years, you should know that for the longest time, Apple would ALWAYS introduce new products at Macworld, which is traditionally held in January. What could possibly be their thinking behind that?
I just can't get over Sony's timing. Bring out a new gaming device right AFTER Christmas? What is their thinking behind that?
Your worldview is embarrassingly America-centric. You should get out and travel the world more often. You'll look less like a boorish Yank.
Sony is headquartered in Japan. They often roll out new products in their home country first. Sony is thinking like Japanese.
They don't celebrate Christmas there; the official state religion is Shinto. The 25th day of December is a regular day (except for this year, since it falls on a Sunday which is in fact normal day off for most Japanese workers).
Yeah, yeah, some of the younger Japanese couples trade extravagent presents as Western consumer practices extend their cultural hegemony over the world, but it's really no long-standing tradition of celebrating Christmas in Japan.
And guess what? They don't celebrate Thanksgiving either!
Note that many U.S. gaming product launches have occurred at large trade shows like CES (January) or E3 (spring). Since the industry historically did not ship product the same day they announce, they would pre-announce to generate hype over the upcoming months.
Sony didn't create this to counter Apple iOS - okay, maybe the lame Howard Stringer said it is but it's just a portable gaming system unlike the iOS devices which is much more suited for doing 90% of other things.
It's only for hardcore gamers like myself.
C'mon, dudes, cut us (the gamers) some slack here - I like to do work and most of the other things on my Apple devices but let me game on other systems. Please.
Unless Apple released their own game console (officially), I'll game on other dedicated gaming systems.
Whenever I read about so-called hardcore gamers for a portable device I can't help but read it as hardcore lamers. It's like calling yourself a hardcore drinker because you can chug a Michelob Ultra.
But seriously, we can all see that having a crap load of physical buttons, just in case a game needs them, without having to cover the display gives you a lot more options in game play design. But why does something so obvious need so much defense?
Remember, the best camera is the one you have on you and we all know that the best smartphone camera pales in comparison to the best DSLR. Bottom line is I'm not going to consider this device because I don't want another device to carry.
Whenever I read about so-called hardcore gamers I can't help but read it as hardcore lamers.
...
PS: It seems funny when you consider that we're talking about a handheld device in reference to "hardcore gaming". It's like calling yourself a hardcore drinker because you can chug Michelob Ultra.
Dude, all due to respect, there's also passionate people who are gamers out there. We respect you, we're Mac and iOS users too so why the discrimination?
PS Vita won't be taking away Apple's dominance in mobile OSes, don't worry about that. We're just happy that it finally got the second analog stick. My goodness, gamers were literally demanding Sony to add in that stick ever since PSP 1 (the 1000 model).
Hey, better late than never.
Still, I'm skeptical about the battery life - Sony never posted how it performs and I hate Sony design taste and OS choice. Android? Sony used to have it's own OS - the XMB.
Personally I think the idea of the 'hardcore gamers' is overstated at best. I know a few hardcore gamers but they are very much in the minority and they ditched consoles years ago and use the PC exclusively. Even used to be one myself, but never really bothered with consoles - purely PC.
The problem is there are just not enough 'hardcore' gamers to make these things viable any more.
And please stop kidding yourselves that 'hardcore gamers' are some sort of market elite which are a huge market. Sony and Nintendo want to sell millions of units to anyone who will buy it, not just some exclusive group that measures maybe 2-3m at most.
Then there is the issue of convergence, which is well underway. Mobile phones are becoming better cameras every day, and they've long since become adequate gaming platforms.
This is a device that will be consigned to a foot note of technology history.
And finally, we have the price of games - did we really used to spend $/£40 on a game? The game (so to speak) has moved on.
Dude, all due to respect, there's also passionate people who are gamers out there. We respect you, we're Mac and iOS users too so why the discrimination?
Of course there are, but there are strategy games like chess that don't require any computing device and there intense first-person shooter games for consoles that I'd consider "hardcore". I'm not seeing how anyone can call themselves a "hardcore" gamer using a handheld device. If you want to call consoles monster trucks and the iPhone a Prius then a handheld console would be this…
Prius Monster Truck. Hardcore?
I'm sure there is a use and it can be a lot of fun the way novelties and go cart racing can be fun, but defining it as hardcore seems unfitting.
"An iPod, a Phone and an internet communications device"... oh, one more thing, and a game player. (... and a game changer).
Spot on.
As an aside, isn't it amazing how we take-for-granted our ability to get on the internet today using a phone, when, if we pause to think, it was a pretty revolutionary idea back in 2007! All the gazillions spent in the telecom industry had produced nothing close to it (except for the stupid websites with the 'M' suffix) until Apple came by gave them all the heave-ho. Imitators, by the dozen, soon followed....
Here we are, often getting into arguments over patents for touch etc., when the really revolutionary thing was perhaps something as simple as being able to get on the internet in a natural way using a mobile device.
Patents don't make good games. Good games make good games. Hardware mainly created for games is best for games.
These are just nonsense statements.
"Games make good games" WTF???
The only one that's actually a real sentence (Hardware mainly created for games is best for games), is easily disprovable by looking at one of the biggest names in the gaming field, Nintendo. They consistently beat out Sony at mobile gaming and their hardware is famously some of the worst there is.
Their entire platform is nosediving into the sea as fast as it can, but their games, (which are still popular), will be running on iOS soon and no one will miss the funky DS hardware at all. I would expect Sony to have a similar fate in the end.
Whenever I read about so-called hardcore gamers for a portable device I can't help but read it as hardcore lamers. It's like calling yourself a hardcore drinker because you can chug a Michelob Ultra....
Personally, I find the whole concept of "hard core" gamers offensive. I would agree that the "hard core gamer" as currently defined would be that tiny group of folks that like to sit at a console and play the war games, (and not mobile), but why is this and only this considered to be "hard core gaming"?
The very idea that the only "real" games, or the only games that matter are 3D war simulations with guns and ammo etc. is highly offensive. Gaming has been around since the dawn of civilisation and rarely if ever has it involved military simulations exclusively.
Are those of us that play puzzle games and board games (which require both more skill and more intelligence than running around shooting virtual enemies with our made up space rifles), to believe that we are dilettantes? Not "real" gamers? Why? Because we are smarter and less easily amused than the average "hard core" gamer?
I'm going to introduce a radical thought here, which is that there are no "hard core gamers," there are just people who like to play games. The activity your little sister is doing when she is playing some My Little Pony game on the iPad is exactly the same as the activity you engage in when you play a console game.
Different people like different games is all.
I will personally never enjoy war games, that doesn't make me any less of a gamer than someone who does, especially if as a consumer I spend just as much money on my games as the "hard core" gamers shooting virtual enemies in the next room.
Lets face it, the real reason people think the war/console games are more "hard core" is that they are more manly. Why not just say what we really mean and say "manly men gamers" instead of "hard core gamers?"
I hope to never, ever, ever be a "manly men gamer."
I'm fine with those who want to be, but not when they insult my gaming experiences through inference.
Personally I think the idea of the 'hardcore gamers' is overstated at best. I know a few hardcore gamers but they are very much in the minority and they ditched consoles years ago and use the PC exclusively. Even used to be one myself, but never really bothered with consoles - purely PC.
The problem is there are just not enough 'hardcore' gamers to make these things viable any more.
And please stop kidding yourselves that 'hardcore gamers' are some sort of market elite which are a huge market. Sony and Nintendo want to sell millions of units to anyone who will buy it, not just some exclusive group that measures maybe 2-3m at most.
Then there is the issue of convergence, which is well underway. Mobile phones are becoming better cameras every day, and they've long since become adequate gaming platforms.
This is a device that will be consigned to a foot note of technology history.
And finally, we have the price of games - did we really used to spend $/£40 on a game? The game (so to speak) has moved on.
This is brilliant. I just posted something very similar and then saw that you said essentially the same thing first. Kudos.
These companies just don't get it. How is this any different than the Nintendo DSI or XL or 3DS, or Sony PSP or PSPgo for that matter? The addition of 3G is not the answer.
What makes the iPhone, iPod and iPad the 700lb gorilla in the room is not only the fluid and extremely portable design, but the infrastructure. Mobile gaming is where the big money is. Sure, I like to sit down to an in-depth PS3 game every now and then, but with my busy lifestyle, all I really want is a brief distraction from time to time. That's what makes the Apple system great, is that it has millions of distracting titles to play, and it does a host of other things as well, with Siri being at the top of the potential list. This of course does not include the holistic approach that Apple is shooting for with flawless integration of devices, both mobile and home, as well as tying it all together with iCloud.
Again, Sony just doesn't get this, but really should learn from the tablet failures, as all I heard were about how heavy the specs were on some of the emerging devices over the Apple iPad, but at the end of the day, they never made it out of the gate, as Apple has planned this for years.
Portable gaming has taken on a new form, and offerings from Nintendo and Sony are missing the mark by a large margin.
you're right. it's a good thing Apple has never announced / introduced new hardware right after Christmas... .
The difference is that Apple announces new things AFTER Christmas. Sony just announced something new a week before Christmas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cvaldes1831
Your worldview is embarrassingly America-centric. You should get out and travel the world more often. You'll look less like a boorish Yank.
Sony is headquartered in Japan. They often roll out new products in their home country first. Sony is thinking like Japanese. .
So? An enormous part of the market is in countries where Christmas is celebrated (including Japan as you pointed out):
Quote:
Originally Posted by cvaldes1831
Yeah, yeah, some of the younger Japanese couples trade extravagent presents as Western consumer practices extend their cultural hegemony over the world, but it's really no long-standing tradition of celebrating Christmas in Japan.
A very large portion of the world celebrates Christmas - and an even larger portion of the countries which are major consumers.
As I said, it is conceivable that there are good reasons to pre-announce this product that won't be available for a couple of months. It doesn't, however, make sense to wait until a week before Christmas. If they had announced it last month, it might have reduced demand for competitors' products as some people would choose to wait.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Whenever I read about so-called hardcore gamers for a portable device I can't help but read it as hardcore lamers. It's like calling yourself a hardcore drinker because you can chug a Michelob Ultra.
Well said.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
But seriously, we can all see that having a crap load of physical buttons, just in case a game needs them, without having to cover the display gives you a lot more options in game play design. But why does something so obvious need so much defense?
Remember, the best camera is the one you have on you and we all know that the best smartphone camera pales in comparison to the best DSLR. Bottom line is I'm not going to consider this device because I don't want another device to carry.
And that's the big issue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tinman0
Personally I think the idea of the 'hardcore gamers' is overstated at best. I know a few hardcore gamers but they are very much in the minority and they ditched consoles years ago and use the PC exclusively. Even used to be one myself, but never really bothered with consoles - purely PC.
The problem is there are just not enough 'hardcore' gamers to make these things viable any more.
And please stop kidding yourselves that 'hardcore gamers' are some sort of market elite which are a huge market. Sony and Nintendo want to sell millions of units to anyone who will buy it, not just some exclusive group that measures maybe 2-3m at most.
Then there is the issue of convergence, which is well underway. Mobile phones are becoming better cameras every day, and they've long since become adequate gaming platforms.
This is a device that will be consigned to a foot note of technology history.
And finally, we have the price of games - did we really used to spend $/£40 on a game? The game (so to speak) has moved on.
That's my concern. The 'hardcore gaming' market is getting more fragmented. A small percentage of PC owners are hard-core gamers. Of those, only a fraction will choose to play mobile games. Of that percentage, only some portion will choose the Vita. It's not going to be overwhelming.
Comments
Sony might be lucky enough to find a market for this. But it'll be niche at best.
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.
I'm not getting this for 2 reasons:
1. Why introduce something new a week before Christmas when it's not even going to be available for months? If you were doing the announcement solely as a 'spoiler', it should have been announced a month ago.
2. At $299 for the 3G version, that's more than an iPod Touch which does many other things. Heck, for $100 more, you can get a refurbished iPad. I realize that it's not the same thing, but for many people, the question is "would I give up a fraction of the game playing performance to get so many other features". Other than a tiny number of truly rabid gamers, the answer is likely to be 'yes' - especially when the cost of games is included.
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 love the way people think that whatever they prefer is the One True Way (TM). Since you think that a hard-core gaming device is the way to go, anyone who doesn't see things your way is a poser.
I really wish that people would learn - there are billions of people on this planet. They are all different in some way and don't have to like exactly the same things that you like. So stop with the "if someone doesn't like the same things that I do, they're inferior" crap.
Will some people prefer this device? Sure. Maybe lots. But that doesn't mean that people who choose something different are wrong.
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.
Yep. One site says that retail versions will cost around $40 while downloaded electronic versions will cost around $23. At the least, that will limit the number of games most people buy. Instead of 100 games like many people have on their iPods or iPads, most people will have a handful.
Patents don't make good games. Good games make good games. Hardware mainly created for games is best for games.
Says who? Who made you the arbiter?
For me, hardware that does lots of different things is best.
Already have too many devices to carry around & keep charged. Sorry Sony, I don't need another.
Exactly.
Old way:
Carry digital game device, cell phone, laptop for email and music player. Plus chargers for each one. And a case for each one.
New way:
Carry iPhone which does all of the above.
Sony might be lucky enough to find a market for this. But it'll be niche at best.
I think there's a market - and Sony might even be able to do well. But it's limited. First, the number and influence of hard core gamers whose entire lives revolve around a couple more FPS and fragging a few more bad guys seems to be fading. And then, this device appeals to only a subset of that market - the ones who are going to play their hard core games with a handheld and the commensurate reduction in performance. Many will choose to carry a laptop instead.
Still, I suspect that it will sell well enough to be a player.
I just can't get over Sony's timing. Bring out a new gaming device right AFTER Christmas? What is their thinking behind that?
you're right. it's a good thing Apple has never announced / introduced new hardware right after Christmas...
i hope this thing does well. i agree with all of the other posts here. my iPhone is good for 5 minute game bites, not for longer periods, unless i'm playing a re-hashed 20 year old version of Final Fantasy.
I just can't get over Sony's timing. Bring out a new gaming device right AFTER Christmas? What is their thinking behind that?
Since you've been using Apple products for over thirty years, you should know that for the longest time, Apple would ALWAYS introduce new products at Macworld, which is traditionally held in January. What could possibly be their thinking behind that?
I just can't get over Sony's timing. Bring out a new gaming device right AFTER Christmas? What is their thinking behind that?
Your worldview is embarrassingly America-centric. You should get out and travel the world more often. You'll look less like a boorish Yank.
Sony is headquartered in Japan. They often roll out new products in their home country first. Sony is thinking like Japanese.
They don't celebrate Christmas there; the official state religion is Shinto. The 25th day of December is a regular day (except for this year, since it falls on a Sunday which is in fact normal day off for most Japanese workers).
Yeah, yeah, some of the younger Japanese couples trade extravagent presents as Western consumer practices extend their cultural hegemony over the world, but it's really no long-standing tradition of celebrating Christmas in Japan.
And guess what? They don't celebrate Thanksgiving either!
Note that many U.S. gaming product launches have occurred at large trade shows like CES (January) or E3 (spring). Since the industry historically did not ship product the same day they announce, they would pre-announce to generate hype over the upcoming months.
Apple has changed the game.
It's only for hardcore gamers like myself.
C'mon, dudes, cut us (the gamers) some slack here - I like to do work and most of the other things on my Apple devices but let me game on other systems. Please.
Unless Apple released their own game console (officially), I'll game on other dedicated gaming systems.
But seriously, we can all see that having a crap load of physical buttons, just in case a game needs them, without having to cover the display gives you a lot more options in game play design. But why does something so obvious need so much defense?
Remember, the best camera is the one you have on you and we all know that the best smartphone camera pales in comparison to the best DSLR. Bottom line is I'm not going to consider this device because I don't want another device to carry.
Whenever I read about so-called hardcore gamers I can't help but read it as hardcore lamers.
...
PS: It seems funny when you consider that we're talking about a handheld device in reference to "hardcore gaming". It's like calling yourself a hardcore drinker because you can chug Michelob Ultra.
Dude, all due to respect, there's also passionate people who are gamers out there. We respect you, we're Mac and iOS users too so why the discrimination?
PS Vita won't be taking away Apple's dominance in mobile OSes, don't worry about that. We're just happy that it finally got the second analog stick. My goodness, gamers were literally demanding Sony to add in that stick ever since PSP 1 (the 1000 model).
Hey, better late than never.
Still, I'm skeptical about the battery life - Sony never posted how it performs and I hate Sony design taste and OS choice. Android? Sony used to have it's own OS - the XMB.
Well? that's got fail written all over it!
Why take two bottles into the shower when you can take one?!
Conditioner and shampoo
Well, I was going to agree with the original post...but then I substituted "women" for "bottle"...
(minor apology for the sexism)
Interesting. When is the phone version coming out?
"An iPod, a Phone and an internet communications device"... oh, one more thing, and a game player. (... and a game changer).
[Steve got it.]
The problem is there are just not enough 'hardcore' gamers to make these things viable any more.
And please stop kidding yourselves that 'hardcore gamers' are some sort of market elite which are a huge market. Sony and Nintendo want to sell millions of units to anyone who will buy it, not just some exclusive group that measures maybe 2-3m at most.
Then there is the issue of convergence, which is well underway. Mobile phones are becoming better cameras every day, and they've long since become adequate gaming platforms.
This is a device that will be consigned to a foot note of technology history.
And finally, we have the price of games - did we really used to spend $/£40 on a game? The game (so to speak) has moved on.
Dude, all due to respect, there's also passionate people who are gamers out there. We respect you, we're Mac and iOS users too so why the discrimination?
Of course there are, but there are strategy games like chess that don't require any computing device and there intense first-person shooter games for consoles that I'd consider "hardcore". I'm not seeing how anyone can call themselves a "hardcore" gamer using a handheld device. If you want to call consoles monster trucks and the iPhone a Prius then a handheld console would be this…I'm sure there is a use and it can be a lot of fun the way novelties and go cart racing can be fun, but defining it as hardcore seems unfitting.
"An iPod, a Phone and an internet communications device"... oh, one more thing, and a game player. (... and a game changer).
Spot on.
As an aside, isn't it amazing how we take-for-granted our ability to get on the internet today using a phone, when, if we pause to think, it was a pretty revolutionary idea back in 2007! All the gazillions spent in the telecom industry had produced nothing close to it (except for the stupid websites with the 'M' suffix) until Apple came by gave them all the heave-ho. Imitators, by the dozen, soon followed....
Here we are, often getting into arguments over patents for touch etc., when the really revolutionary thing was perhaps something as simple as being able to get on the internet in a natural way using a mobile device.
Just magical.
Patents don't make good games. Good games make good games. Hardware mainly created for games is best for games.
These are just nonsense statements.
"Games make good games" WTF???
The only one that's actually a real sentence (Hardware mainly created for games is best for games), is easily disprovable by looking at one of the biggest names in the gaming field, Nintendo. They consistently beat out Sony at mobile gaming and their hardware is famously some of the worst there is.
Their entire platform is nosediving into the sea as fast as it can, but their games, (which are still popular), will be running on iOS soon and no one will miss the funky DS hardware at all. I would expect Sony to have a similar fate in the end.
Unless Apple released their own game console (officially), I'll game on other dedicated gaming systems.
Traitor.
Whenever I read about so-called hardcore gamers for a portable device I can't help but read it as hardcore lamers. It's like calling yourself a hardcore drinker because you can chug a Michelob Ultra....
Personally, I find the whole concept of "hard core" gamers offensive. I would agree that the "hard core gamer" as currently defined would be that tiny group of folks that like to sit at a console and play the war games, (and not mobile), but why is this and only this considered to be "hard core gaming"?
The very idea that the only "real" games, or the only games that matter are 3D war simulations with guns and ammo etc. is highly offensive. Gaming has been around since the dawn of civilisation and rarely if ever has it involved military simulations exclusively.
Are those of us that play puzzle games and board games (which require both more skill and more intelligence than running around shooting virtual enemies with our made up space rifles), to believe that we are dilettantes? Not "real" gamers? Why? Because we are smarter and less easily amused than the average "hard core" gamer?
I'm going to introduce a radical thought here, which is that there are no "hard core gamers," there are just people who like to play games. The activity your little sister is doing when she is playing some My Little Pony game on the iPad is exactly the same as the activity you engage in when you play a console game.
Different people like different games is all.
I will personally never enjoy war games, that doesn't make me any less of a gamer than someone who does, especially if as a consumer I spend just as much money on my games as the "hard core" gamers shooting virtual enemies in the next room.
Lets face it, the real reason people think the war/console games are more "hard core" is that they are more manly. Why not just say what we really mean and say "manly men gamers" instead of "hard core gamers?"
I hope to never, ever, ever be a "manly men gamer."
I'm fine with those who want to be, but not when they insult my gaming experiences through inference.
Personally I think the idea of the 'hardcore gamers' is overstated at best. I know a few hardcore gamers but they are very much in the minority and they ditched consoles years ago and use the PC exclusively. Even used to be one myself, but never really bothered with consoles - purely PC.
The problem is there are just not enough 'hardcore' gamers to make these things viable any more.
And please stop kidding yourselves that 'hardcore gamers' are some sort of market elite which are a huge market. Sony and Nintendo want to sell millions of units to anyone who will buy it, not just some exclusive group that measures maybe 2-3m at most.
Then there is the issue of convergence, which is well underway. Mobile phones are becoming better cameras every day, and they've long since become adequate gaming platforms.
This is a device that will be consigned to a foot note of technology history.
And finally, we have the price of games - did we really used to spend $/£40 on a game? The game (so to speak) has moved on.
This is brilliant. I just posted something very similar and then saw that you said essentially the same thing first. Kudos.
What makes the iPhone, iPod and iPad the 700lb gorilla in the room is not only the fluid and extremely portable design, but the infrastructure. Mobile gaming is where the big money is. Sure, I like to sit down to an in-depth PS3 game every now and then, but with my busy lifestyle, all I really want is a brief distraction from time to time. That's what makes the Apple system great, is that it has millions of distracting titles to play, and it does a host of other things as well, with Siri being at the top of the potential list. This of course does not include the holistic approach that Apple is shooting for with flawless integration of devices, both mobile and home, as well as tying it all together with iCloud.
Again, Sony just doesn't get this, but really should learn from the tablet failures, as all I heard were about how heavy the specs were on some of the emerging devices over the Apple iPad, but at the end of the day, they never made it out of the gate, as Apple has planned this for years.
Portable gaming has taken on a new form, and offerings from Nintendo and Sony are missing the mark by a large margin.
you're right. it's a good thing Apple has never announced / introduced new hardware right after Christmas...
The difference is that Apple announces new things AFTER Christmas. Sony just announced something new a week before Christmas.
Your worldview is embarrassingly America-centric. You should get out and travel the world more often. You'll look less like a boorish Yank.
Sony is headquartered in Japan. They often roll out new products in their home country first. Sony is thinking like Japanese. .
So? An enormous part of the market is in countries where Christmas is celebrated (including Japan as you pointed out):
Yeah, yeah, some of the younger Japanese couples trade extravagent presents as Western consumer practices extend their cultural hegemony over the world, but it's really no long-standing tradition of celebrating Christmas in Japan.
A very large portion of the world celebrates Christmas - and an even larger portion of the countries which are major consumers.
As I said, it is conceivable that there are good reasons to pre-announce this product that won't be available for a couple of months. It doesn't, however, make sense to wait until a week before Christmas. If they had announced it last month, it might have reduced demand for competitors' products as some people would choose to wait.
Whenever I read about so-called hardcore gamers for a portable device I can't help but read it as hardcore lamers. It's like calling yourself a hardcore drinker because you can chug a Michelob Ultra.
Well said.
But seriously, we can all see that having a crap load of physical buttons, just in case a game needs them, without having to cover the display gives you a lot more options in game play design. But why does something so obvious need so much defense?
Remember, the best camera is the one you have on you and we all know that the best smartphone camera pales in comparison to the best DSLR. Bottom line is I'm not going to consider this device because I don't want another device to carry.
And that's the big issue.
Personally I think the idea of the 'hardcore gamers' is overstated at best. I know a few hardcore gamers but they are very much in the minority and they ditched consoles years ago and use the PC exclusively. Even used to be one myself, but never really bothered with consoles - purely PC.
The problem is there are just not enough 'hardcore' gamers to make these things viable any more.
And please stop kidding yourselves that 'hardcore gamers' are some sort of market elite which are a huge market. Sony and Nintendo want to sell millions of units to anyone who will buy it, not just some exclusive group that measures maybe 2-3m at most.
Then there is the issue of convergence, which is well underway. Mobile phones are becoming better cameras every day, and they've long since become adequate gaming platforms.
This is a device that will be consigned to a foot note of technology history.
And finally, we have the price of games - did we really used to spend $/£40 on a game? The game (so to speak) has moved on.
That's my concern. The 'hardcore gaming' market is getting more fragmented. A small percentage of PC owners are hard-core gamers. Of those, only a fraction will choose to play mobile games. Of that percentage, only some portion will choose the Vita. It's not going to be overwhelming.