Support NeoGAF

[Codeblue]

This has turned into the "Create some ridiculous scenario whereby Billychu MUST approach a woman with a gaming device in his hand" thread.

What if you're at a coffee shop and you have your 360 in your hands? Can't put that in your pocket!

I can't decide if this thread is more or less terrible than when it was on topic.

 

[SmokedMeat]

How reliant was the PSP on Monster Hunter in Japan?

I shudder to think of PSP's fate if MH didn't come along.

 

[Takao]

This thread is rotten.

http://i.imgur.com/ynrQ6.jpg[IMG]

Like the Vita.[/QUOTE]

That's not cool man, that's a spoiler for a game 20 people in the western world played. :(

 

[Bukana]

Will buy Vita anyways.

 

[Puppet Shadow]

I don't think it's fair to call it self-conscious, I'd rather say that it's being socially sensitive or something. I'm fine with myself, but I do care about how people perceive me. Either way, I am that way and so are most people- many of them wish they weren't. Also, you're right, it's not something that you can change. I don't know why we're discussing this though, lol.

That's pretty much the definition of self consciousness. Not sure why you think it's really a bad thing though, same category as shyness IMO.

And it does indeed change. As you get older most people simply care less about impressing others, or how they're perceived.

 

[Emitan]

It singlehandedly revived the PSP at a time when it was treading water and accounted for over 20% of all software sold on the system there.

So bad news for Vita? Unless MH4 gets a spinoff, its a 3DS franchise for a while.

 

[areal]

That's not cool man, that's a spoiler for a game 20 people in the western world played.

No problem. Vita won't make it to the West. But, I'll remove it for the sake of the collectors and historians among us.

 

[DCharlie]

I'd lay money this is the exception not the rule.

I'm pretty sure that anyone who'd be even remotely interested in me (quite a small set i'd imagine of about 3 ladies on the planet!) probably doesn't care what my hobby is and if i pulled out a DS, PSP, Vita or (more likely) a bag containing all of them then i really don't think it's going to make much difference

So bad news for Vita? Unless MH4 gets a spinoff, its a 3DS franchise for a while.

we've been over this a few times, but mainly in MH threads.

The big thing that you -could- hold out for is that MH4th is coming , the theory being that Capcom wouldn't wnat to scupper TriG by announcing 4th, then MH4 would be an expansion/different version of 4th (a la 3rd->Tri G (not quite but let's roll with that for purposes of this conversation))

However, at this point it's largely futile to put any stock in "VITA MH!" - it's absolutely NOT the forgone conclusion some would have you believe due to a whole raft of factors.

In truth, it's better to not cling to one franchise to "save the system" - Vita needs MULTIPLE compelling softwares as quickly as it can. They don't have to be MH.

 

[Alex]

I wouldn't take my PSP/3DS out with me, but it's a matter of convenience moreso than any stigma, but I'm married and have never had any really awkward social moments.

Are some of you dudes like hitting on girls in bars while trying to play Loco Roco or something? I doubt anyone really cares as long as you're not one of these people who carts it to weird places like a child or spouts oddball fandom shit when asked about it.

Anyhow, Can't see a time where I'd ever want a dedicated handheld out with me though. Maybe during commutes in another country or if I flew a lot, but it don't make sense for me and even then I'd probably just want a tablet.

If I got twenty minutes to kill during a break or something I'll just play a little bit of 100 Rogues on my iphone or something then turn it off... I love the games on handhelds, it's my kind of stuff but the format on them still is useless to me, personally. I wish I could just play 'em on a console.

How reliant was the PSP on Monster Hunter in Japan?

Monster Hunter, in addition to just being a juggernaut, seemed to spark a revival for it. That's one of my chief concerns as the unending stream of great B-tier stuff we got all seemed to follow in 2G's wake.

I'm a huge nut for that series, but I half-expected this to happen just because Capcom will NEVER update that engine. It'll be 2025 and we'll get Monster Hunter 8G exclusively for Kenmore Microwave displays running on the same god damn PS2 assets.

PRESS POPCORN AND COOK TO THROW A FLASH BOMB AT THE RATHIAN.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

how-why-.... shoot me in the fucking face.... why are they comparing it to the amazon fire??

just throwing it out there....im 25 and have been a gamer for roughly 20 years....is anyone getting tired of this industry and where it is going/ how it is getting there? honestly with the oversaturation of games ( great and shovelware alike), prices, and endless loop of terrible media i'm seriously about to throw in the towel.

does anyone feel the same?

Vita has a whole generation ahead of itself. let the beast breathe! it's like gamers/media attack faster than a housewife on a kardashian divorce.

 

[Buddha Beam]

Wow, what a miserable article. So not only is the Vita doomed (which it isn't), the 3DS might as well just retire too.

I wouldn't worry about these articles at all. iPhone gaming is garbage.

I beg to differ. Baby Monkey Riding On A Pig kicks ass, punk!

 

[Phonomezer]

FOCUS ON THE CONSOLE MARKET AND RECLAIM YOUR CROWN SONY! It's there for the taking. Nintendo has placed it on pedestal for you to grab.

The jRPG market (what I care about) has been garbage since there was no king in the console market.

Wii.

ANd JRPG's have been few but good, if you have the right console...

 

[Emitan]

Bringing my 3DS with me everywhere now because of this thread. Ladies of the world, BEWARE!

 

[Vic]

Sorry to interrupt your argument with constructive discussion, but I thought I'd discuss what I felt Vita's problem areas are.

Most of Vita's problems, in my opinion, are forced errors; that is, errors that exist because of problems which ocurred before the PSVita was created, but continue to cause trouble. Examples:

1) Third party support. Specifically, the PS3/PSP rocked the notion many third parties had, which was that Sony was the obvious automatic winner of a generation. This significantly improved the support they received before those generations even began. Not having this advantage significantly hurts the Vita and it's essentially the first system launching without the "Sony is invincible" aura in place.

2) PSP system specs left little room for growth. That is, improving on the PSP essentially mandated PS3-esque graphics, but this has a huge downside; most companies (particularly Japanese ones, where most handheld support comes from) do not want to invest HD budgets in to handhelds games. This was an extremely difficult problem to avoid. This also mandated fairly high production costs for the system, at least to start with.

3) Sony failed to cultivate any strong, 1st party handheld IPs. This is something they again could have solved with the PSP, but the PS3 proved to be so resource intensive (as a consequence of its bad start) that Sony's own first party support for the system was not especially strong.

Again, most of these are per-existing problems which the Vita itself cannot be blamed for. The design team, I feel, did about as good a job as one can expect to mitigate these problems: they provided a variety of development paths for developers (PS Suite, PSN, actual PSVita 40 dollar games); they made the system apparently much easier to develop for; they used off the shelf parts to improve their cost reduction curve; they have invested more strongly in first party IPs, at least so far.

I probably could nitpick a few errors with the Vita, but for the most part, I feel the Vita's core problems are problems which developed over the 5 years preceding it, not a consequence of the Vita's design and production specifically.

Looking back, a good majority of the proclaimed Vita selling points has mostly been hardware related because the platform excels in this department.

When it comes to software, the horizon just looks grim and it's just now when Vita is in an obvious pinch that the ugly head show itself.

 

[Tabris]

Wii.

ANd JRPG's have been few but good, if you have the right console...

Name anything but Xenoblade that's a straight up jRPG on a console that was actually really good. Something you'll remember the next generation (and want to play). I can name 10-20 from the PS2. 20-30 easily from the PSX and 10-12 from SNES.

 

[DCharlie]

the other thing is that if we DO go down the 99c/cheap! for everything, what happens to the business model? is it sustainable?

Isn't there then -massive- risks if everyone does move to the new pricing scheme? Wouldn't that make teams risk (or certainly big budget) averse?

Whilst i think there's room for price cuts 99c/super cheap seems to be a potential knife at the throat to bigger budget punts. Perhaps this is for the better? But who knows - i'd rather see a modest cut in current game prices to spur on higher sales and keep what we've got. If games were all a stock $29.99 i swear to god i'd be getting games delivered daily from four flat bed trucks (rather than the current two)

 

[Freshmaker]

I'm not sure how you can respond to his argument without any facts to back it up. Agree or not, he gave examples of how these different industries are in direct competition with each other.

Did he? He essentially said Apple's realized the set top box dream that 3DO was aiming for. That doesn't really say much about what people buy to play games on in the larger scheme. Do people buy a 360 specifically for Netflix? No. Are most people buying iPhones specifically to play games on them? No.

Just because the potential user base is large doesn't mean that you have a device that's eating into the exact same market as the others. It's like claiming the Wii was competing with the 360 and PS3 for the same market. The Wii by and large attracted a different core group and its success was largely attributable to them rather than the 30 something male demographic.

The whole argument hinges upon the notion that the hand held market is rapidly shrinking, (because there's a pie chart somewhere that shows that older systems are losing ground which shouldn't be surprising to anyone who's ever witnessed a generational transition before) and the actual evidence doesn't support the claim.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

Name anything but Xenoblade that's a straight up jRPG on a console that was actually good. I can name 10-20 from the PS2. 20-30 easily from the PSX and 10-12 from SNES.

what classifies as "good".

eternal sonata and from what i hear blue dragon were good enough... im sure theres more but i'm not thinking clearly this thursday night

 

[AdventureRacing]

1) Third party support. Specifically, the PS3/PSP rocked the notion many third parties had, which was that Sony was the obvious automatic winner of a generation. This significantly improved the support they received before those generations even began. Not having this advantage significantly hurts the Vita and it's essentially the first system launching without the "Sony is invincible" aura in place.

This is true but sonys decision this gen have just exacerbated the issue. After the PSP i think devs were already nervous about the future of the vita. Then sony come out and announce a top end device that is going to cost $250.

That plus yet again sony was late to the party. They don't seem to understand that giving your competitors a head start will affect how 3rd parties act (maybe the dreamcast and N64 situations have blinded them). The 360 and now the 3DS got massive headstarts with 3rd parties because sony dropped the ball and launched too late.

2) PSP system specs left little room for growth. That is, improving on the PSP essentially mandated PS3-esque graphics, but this has a huge downside; most companies (particularly Japanese ones, where most handheld support comes from) do not want to invest HD budgets in to handhelds games. This was an extremely difficult problem to avoid. This also mandated fairly high production costs for the system, at least to start with.

I disagree with this point. Sony could have went for a much less powerful handheld and still easily outclassed both the PSP and 3DS. That with the OLED they could have made distinguished themselves quite easily from both those devices (that plus all the extra features it has).

I think sony seem to be stuck with the mindset that having the most pwerful console is the best way too move forward (they have now tried this with the PSP, PS3 and vita). They don't seem to be learning from past mistakes.

3) Sony failed to cultivate any strong, 1st party handheld IPs. This is something they again could have solved with the PSP, but the PS3 proved to be so resource intensive (as a consequence of its bad start) that Sony's own first party support for the system was not especially strong.

This i absolutely agree with and i have stated this in other threads (and in this one). The vitas problem is simply a lack of big selling SW. I often see people talk about the strength of sonys first party and i just don't see it. They only really have one big system selling franchise and it isn't very popular on handhelds.

They either need to find their own big selling franchise or they need to accept that they are going to have to court some of the 3rd parties to get the major franchises on their system. MS and even nintendo have shown they're willing to do this (and nintendo already have a great 1st party line-up).

Then agian maybe sonys financial situation isn't exactly helping.

Again, most of these are per-existing problems which the Vita itself cannot be blamed for. The design team, I feel, did about as good a job as one can expect to mitigate these problems: they provided a variety of development paths for developers (PS Suite, PSN, actual PSVita 40 dollar games); they made the system apparently much easier to develop for; they used off the shelf parts to improve their cost reduction curve; they have invested more strongly in first party IPs, at least so far.

I probably could nitpick a few errors with the Vita, but for the most part, I feel the Vita's core problems are problems which developed over the 5 years preceding it, not a consequence of the Vita's design and production specifically.

The problem for the vita to me is simple. It is expensive and it has no must have software. It's supposed to be appealing to people who only want to play games and yet it has no must have SW. How is it supposed to sell big numbers in that situation?

 

[Dalthien]

Sorry to interrupt your argument with constructive discussion, but I thought I'd discuss what I felt Vita's problem areas are.

Most of Vita's problems, in my opinion, are forced errors; that is, errors that exist because of problems which ocurred before the PSVita was created, but continue to cause trouble. Examples:

1) Third party support. Specifically, the PS3/PSP rocked the notion many third parties had, which was that Sony was the obvious automatic winner of a generation. This significantly improved the support they received before those generations even began. Not having this advantage significantly hurts the Vita and it's essentially the first system launching without the "Sony is invincible" aura in place.

2) PSP system specs left little room for growth. That is, improving on the PSP essentially mandated PS3-esque graphics, but this has a huge downside; most companies (particularly Japanese ones, where most handheld support comes from) do not want to invest HD budgets in to handhelds games. This was an extremely difficult problem to avoid. This also mandated fairly high production costs for the system, at least to start with.

3) Sony failed to cultivate any strong, 1st party handheld IPs. This is something they again could have solved with the PSP, but the PS3 proved to be so resource intensive (as a consequence of its bad start) that Sony's own first party support for the system was not especially strong.

Again, most of these are per-existing problems which the Vita itself cannot be blamed for. The design team, I feel, did about as good a job as one can expect to mitigate these problems: they provided a variety of development paths for developers (PS Suite, PSN, actual PSVita 40 dollar games); they made the system apparently much easier to develop for; they used off the shelf parts to improve their cost reduction curve; they have invested more strongly in first party IPs, at least so far.

I probably could nitpick a few errors with the Vita, but for the most part, I feel the Vita's core problems are problems which developed over the 5 years preceding it, not a consequence of the Vita's design and production specifically.

Excellent post, and all very true.

But having said that, it's not as if those 5 preceding years were some sort of mystery or anything. It was very well known that these exact issues would be there for the Vita. Myself and charlequin (and a few others) were discussing these exact same issues right here on these boards a year or a year-and-a-half ago.

It was for these very reasons that I genuinely believed (and still believe) that Sony's best course of action was to simply not release a follow-up to the PSP. Because of these issues that you listed, there was no real definable path to success. I feel that they would have been far better off just riding out the PSP in Japan until its full conclusion. They probably could have got another 2 or 3 solid years out of the PSP in Japan, and they could have put all of their Vita efforts (R&D, development studios, etc.) into prepping for the PS4 in order to truly put all of their might into trying to make the PS4 a smashing success.

But that was obviously never going to happen. So here we are, and now Sony has to deal with trying to find a way around those issues that you highlighted, and hope that all of their focus on the Vita won't detract from their ability to make the PS4 all that it could be.

 

[Tabris]

what classifies as "good".

eternal sonata and from what i hear blue dragon were good enough... im sure theres more but i'm not thinking clearly this thursday night

Those games are garbage. I've played both. Eternal Sonata was campy moe shit with a sprinkle of cool Chopin bits. Blue Dragon was just an average generic RPG.

The only answer is possibly Lost Odyssey if it wasn't for the last half being ruined once the awesome 1000 year old story was discarded. Really, those 1000 year stories were so good but all of it was thrown out near the end.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

I think the reality that Stateofmind and a few others have been trying to get across is that you just about never see adults walking about in public playing DS/PSP in America. But you if you ride a bus/train/subway in New York or Boston (from my own experience traveling through both cities) it's very common to see people doing various activities on their iphones/androids/ipads/blackberries/kindles. Same if you walk into a coffee shop.

I don't know if it's a stigma against handhelds so much as it's just been normalized to see people playing music and games on smart-devices 24/7. DS/PSP have been pushed into a niche that consists of hardcore gamers and children for public consumption. As far as social situations go, no one brings a handheld to a bar, a club, a concert, or a sporting event; if they do, they're all keeping them pocketed. Yet everyone brings a smartphone in these scenarios and is using it constantly. I don't think the PSP/DS can ever duplicate the social utility of portable phones (taking pictures, video, texting, exchanging phone numbers, checking stats, quick google/wiki searches), so I don't think they'll be able to take back whatever marketshare phones have taken.

 

[we.are.the.armada]

So how many millions of people who bought DS/PSPs only owned those handhelds because modern tablets/sphones didn't exist yet?

How many are left that are actually going to buy a dedicated handheld now?

how-why-.... shoot me in the fucking face.... why are they comparing it to the amazon fire??

just throwing it out there....im 25 and have been a gamer for roughly 20 years....is anyone getting tired of this industry and where it is going/ how it is getting there? honestly with the oversaturation of games ( great and shovelware alike), prices, and endless loop of terrible media i'm seriously about to throw in the towel.

does anyone feel the same?

Vita has a whole generation ahead of itself. let the beast breathe! it's like gamers/media attack faster than a housewife on a kardashian divorce.

“Without a measureless and perpetual uncertainty, the drama of human life would be destroyed” - Gryzz

 

[DCharlie]

I'm a huge nut for that series, but I half-expected this to happen just because Capcom will NEVER update that engine. It'll be 2025 and we'll get Monster Hunter 8G exclusively for Kenmore Microwave displays running on the same god damn PS2 assets.

lol - this x infinity.

When i played Dragon Dogma at TGS i honestly had it in my head that Capcom were just doing it to f*ck people off.

"Look at all this stuff we're borrowing from MH!!! What? You want MH with this engine? Looool , piss off peasents!"

In my tsunami level wettest of wet dream where i wake up encased to my bed like some spunky Han Solo post-carbonit'ing, Capcom have announced Vita+PS3+X360+PC Monster Hunter and it looks like DDogma (but with a better frame rate)

 

[AdventureRacing]

the other thing is that if we DO go down the 99c/cheap! for everything, what happens to the business model? is it sustainable?

Isn't there then -massive- risks if everyone does move to the new pricing scheme? Wouldn't that make teams risk (or certainly big budget) averse?

Whilst i think there's room for price cuts 99c/super cheap seems to be a potential knife at the throat to bigger budget punts. Perhaps this is for the better? But who knows - i'd rather see a modest cut in current game prices to spur on higher sales and keep what we've got. If games were all a stock $29.99 i swear to god i'd be getting games delivered daily from four flat bed trucks (rather than the current two)

Going for nothing but 99c games is a terrible way to go and even on the iphone and andriod this isn't the case. I think the top software should be something more like $30 as you say. However an ecosystem where both can co exist would be ideal (if that is possible).

 

[jman2050]

the other thing is that if we DO go down the 99c/cheap! for everything, what happens to the business model? is it sustainable?

Isn't there then -massive- risks if everyone does move to the new pricing scheme? Wouldn't that make teams risk (or certainly big budget) averse?

Whilst i think there's room for price cuts 99c/super cheap seems to be a potential knife at the throat to bigger budget punts. Perhaps this is for the better? But who knows - i'd rather see a modest cut in current game prices to spur on higher sales and keep what we've got. If games were all a stock $29.99 i swear to god i'd be getting games delivered daily from four flat bed trucks (rather than the current two)

Welcome to every iPhone gaming thread of the past 2-3 years, enjoy your stay.

I personally think the $.99 model is setting a very dangerous precedent that's going to start biting people in the ass sooner rather than later.

 

[Phonomezer]

Name anything but Xenoblade that's a straight up jRPG on a console that was actually really good. Something you'll remember the next generation (and want to play). I can name 10-20 from the PS2. 20-30 easily from the PSX and 10-12 from SNES.

Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, The Last Story comes out in 2 months...

 

[Tabris]

Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, The Last Story comes out in 2 months...

Needing to add games you haven't played. So Xenoblade, Lost Odyssey (garbage last half), Blue Dragon (very average), Tales of Vesperia (on the weaker end of the Tales series, especially compared to games like Abyss) and a game you haven't played. In an entire generation.

 

[Vic]

Excellent post, and all very true.

But having said that, it's not as if those 5 preceding years were some sort of mystery or anything. It was very well known that these exact issues would be there for the Vita. Myself and charlequin (and a few others) were discussing these exact same issues right here on these boards a year or a year-and-a-half ago.

It was for these very reasons that I genuinely believed (and still believe) that Sony's best course of action was to simply not release a follow-up to the Vita. Because of these issues that you listed, there was no real definable path to success. I feel that they would have been far better off just riding out the PSP in Japan until its full conclusion. They probably could have got another 2 or 3 solid years out of the PSP in Japan, and they could have put all of their Vita efforts (R&D, development studios, etc.) into prepping for the PS4 in order to truly put all of their might into the making the PS4 a smashing success.

I think they were pressed to work on another handheld after the moderately successful PSP because the Japanese videogame market is mostly now a handheld market. This is bad situation for them since what they've worked so hard to achieve these past years was to build a great portfolio for their home console which is heavily western oriented. And that's all they have.

 

[jman2050]

Excellent post, and all very true.

But having said that, it's not as if those 5 preceding years were some sort of mystery or anything. It was very well known that these exact issues would be there for the Vita. Myself and charlequin (and a few others) were discussing these exact same issues right here on these boards a year or a year-and-a-half ago.

It was for these very reasons that I genuinely believed (and still believe) that Sony's best course of action was to simply not release a follow-up to the PSP. Because of these issues that you listed, there was no real definable path to success. I feel that they would have been far better off just riding out the PSP in Japan until its full conclusion. They probably could have got another 2 or 3 solid years out of the PSP in Japan, and they could have put all of their Vita efforts (R&D, development studios, etc.) into prepping for the PS4 in order to truly put all of their might into trying to make the PS4 a smashing success.

I'm personally glad the Vita exists, for a number of reasons, but from a purely market-based viewpoint, the device never should have been made. They're not Nintendo, trying to dip their hand in the handheld space again was not a risk they needed to take.

 

[Freshmaker]

I'm personally glad the Vita exists, for a number of reasons, but from a purely market-based viewpoint, the device never should have been made. They're not Nintendo, trying to dip their hand in the handheld space again was not a risk they needed to take.

It gets me more portable Namco fighters. No complaints.

 

[jman2050]

I'm getting more portable Disgaea and Persona 4 on the thing, I can't complain either!

 

[Alrus]

I'm personally glad the Vita exists, for a number of reasons, but from a purely market-based viewpoint, the device never should have been made. They're not Nintendo, trying to dip their hand in the handheld space again was not a risk they needed to take.

Not releasing a follow-up to the most successful non Nintendo handheld would have been perceived as a huge missed opportunity and investors would have been pretty angry.

I mean, how would they have justified it?

 

[Scoops]

Sorry to interrupt your argument with constructive discussion, but I thought I'd discuss what I felt Vita's problem areas are.

Most of Vita's problems, in my opinion, are forced errors; that is, errors that exist because of problems which ocurred before the PSVita was created, but continue to cause trouble. Examples:

1) Third party support. Specifically, the PS3/PSP rocked the notion many third parties had, which was that Sony was the obvious automatic winner of a generation. This significantly improved the support they received before those generations even began. Not having this advantage significantly hurts the Vita and it's essentially the first system launching without the "Sony is invincible" aura in place.

2) PSP system specs left little room for growth. That is, improving on the PSP essentially mandated PS3-esque graphics, but this has a huge downside; most companies (particularly Japanese ones, where most handheld support comes from) do not want to invest HD budgets in to handhelds games. This was an extremely difficult problem to avoid. This also mandated fairly high production costs for the system, at least to start with.

3) Sony failed to cultivate any strong, 1st party handheld IPs. This is something they again could have solved with the PSP, but the PS3 proved to be so resource intensive (as a consequence of its bad start) that Sony's own first party support for the system was not especially strong.

Again, most of these are per-existing problems which the Vita itself cannot be blamed for. The design team, I feel, did about as good a job as one can expect to mitigate these problems: they provided a variety of development paths for developers (PS Suite, PSN, actual PSVita 40 dollar games); they made the system apparently much easier to develop for; they used off the shelf parts to improve their cost reduction curve; they have invested more strongly in first party IPs, at least so far.

I probably could nitpick a few errors with the Vita, but for the most part, I feel the Vita's core problems are problems which developed over the 5 years preceding it, not a consequence of the Vita's design and production specifically.

This is the big one.

Vita may very well be profitable for Sony and therefore a success, but if they're trying to grow their brands and compete with Nintendo and Apple, they're unlikely to do it through the Vita. The Vita for the most part looks like an excellent piece of hardware but it's the games that drive sales and Sony just doesn't have the IPs, specifically in the handheld market, to go against Nintendo (Mario, Pokemon) or even IOS/Android (Angry Birds, other tablet functions etc.). People on GAF can say all they want about how the Vita is the best portable gaming hardware on the market, but ultimately it is not GAFfers or people like GAFfers that determine if platforms are successful anymore, especially for handhelds.

 

[Phonomezer]

Needing to add games you haven't played. So Xenoblade, Lost Odyssey (garbage last half), Blue Dragon (very average), Tales of Vesperia (on the weaker end of the Tales series, especially compared to games like Abyss) and a game you haven't played. In an entire generation.

*Shrug*

I like JRPG's but I'm not a huge enthusiast... unless it's Phantasy Star, but I've enjoyed games like Eternal Sonata, Blue Dragon, ToV and LO. I even liked Infinite Undiscovery to a degree (loathed both SO4 and FFXIII).

The Last Story got a pretty good reception in Japan, didn't it? Certainly worth checking out at the very least.

I only developed a taste for WRPG's this gen, so between the two genres I've been very satisfied with the RPG output on current consoles.

Oh and Demon's/Dark Souls of course, both amazing games.

 

[Fafalada]

That pointless Kindle Fire insertion really makes me hope that whenever Samsung releases their EW Tablet/Readers they obliterate the reader market on short notice (and a good part of LCD tablet one as well).

I'd lay money this is the exception not the rule.

I wanted to reply "maybe in socially fucked up societies like the US appears to be from this Forum" but then I remembered most of the world has 95% of phone bearing population have their noses stuck up their mobile device so far that they don't notice where they're walking half of the time.
So I'm not even sure who has the time to notice the shape of device other people are using, let alone judge them on it - surely the font they used for the emoticon in the last text-message has more bearing on their being a viable mate then what they look or behave like.

But I digress, I've dealt with people (of both genders) that would scoff even at the idea of working in game-industry (let alone playing games) as well as those that hero-worshiped it. And in the world that is digitizing at current rate, the latter group is well on its way to become the majority, regardless of the social inceptions most of us grew up with.
DCs example isn't nearly as much an exception as it is not something that is openly admitted to in some societies.

the other thing is that if we DO go down the 99c/cheap! for everything, what happens to the business model? is it sustainable?

It's already proven itself to not be able to sustain what Console/PC-GAF is concerned with (high budget/high profile software). It's also proven that it's not highly sustainable for low-budget stuff either, which is why shift to F2P is happening en-masse (and dominating the revenue charts).

 

[jman2050]

Not releasing a follow-up to the most successful non Nintendo handheld would have been perceived as a huge missed opportunity and investors would have been pretty angry.

I mean, how would they have justified it?

There isn't much Sony could do period to appease investors. They've been losing money for a long time now, and it isn't just the game division's fault.

It's already proven itself to not be able to sustain what Console/PC-GAF is concerned with (high budget/high profile software). It's also proven that it's not highly sustainable for low-budget stuff either, which is why shift to F2P is happening en-masse (and dominating the revenue charts).

F2P is a whole other can of worms to think about, I'll just point out that I think even less of the F2P model than I do of the 99 cent model.

 

[Tabris]

These games were released (just listing a small percent of the stand outs) in the same range as that paltry list you had above:

Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter
Xenosaga Episode III
Suikoden III
Suikoden V
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XII
Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts Convent
Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne
Persona 3
Persona 4
Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2
Tales of Abyss
Dark Cloud 2

I think people forget what they now miss on consoles due to Sony splitting their market focus to handhelds and messing up PS3 launch (due to split market focus and pricing).

 

[ThatStupidLion]

quote didn't work : from JMAN2050 - "There isn't much Sony could do period to appease investors. They've been losing money for a long time now, and it isn't just the game division's fault."

Ninty joins Apple. Sony joins Google. The cheese stands alone.

 

[Fafalada]

F2P is a whole other can of worms to think about, I'll just point out that I think even less of the F2P model than I do of the 99 cent model.

The main difference between the two is that one is here to stay (and of course, has already been around for much longer).

Anyway I don't mind hijacking the thread, it's worthless as it is - what makes you feel even less about it?

 

[Dennis]

I vote this: "most unsurprising news story of 2011"

I have been saying the portable market is in trouble for a long time.

I am personally dismayed about the Vita though. It is certainly a sexy piece.

 

[Hydrargyrus]

I don't know what the fuck is doing Sony lately. With every single good new comes two or more bad news.

Seems like they've forgotten what we like and are only interested in adding stupid functionalities to hos consoles, rising the price of his products

 

[Averon]

Sony not making a successor to a handheld that sold +70 million units WW (the most successful non-Nintendo handheld, ever) would be idiotic.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

These games were released (just listing a small percent of the stand outs) in the same range as that paltry list you had above:

Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter
Xenosaga Episode III
Suikoden III
Suikoden V
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XII
Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts Convent
Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne
Persona 3
Persona 4
Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2
Tales of Abyss
Dark Cloud 2

I think people forget what they now miss on consoles due to Sony splitting their market focus to handhelds and messing up PS3 launch (due to split market focus and pricing).

Japanese gamers demanded handhelds, and most Japanese rpg developers are lousy at HD/PS3 development. The marketplace in the east is a reflection of their preferences, not ours.

 

[Tabris]

The problem with Sony is simple. They got too successful of a division to be ignored by the rest of the divisions like they were back in PS1 days. Now it's part of a global strategy on elements like "How do we compete with Apple?" and "How do we compete with Samsung" and "How do we deliver our media content?", etc

 

[Father_Brain]

Not releasing a follow-up to the most successful non Nintendo handheld would have been perceived as a huge missed opportunity and investors would have been pretty angry.

I mean, how would they have justified it?

"The most successful non-Nintendo handheld?" That's technically true in terms of hardware numbers alone, but it elides over the problematic facts that PSP ended the generation being completely irrelevant in one major territory, only slightly less irrelevant in another, and ultimately succeeded in a third solely on the back of a third-party IP Sony had no role in creating and was unable to secure for Vita. Besides, if Sony's investors are anything like Nintendo's, they'd be downright thrilled to see the company embracing the iOS Uber Alles future.

 

[wazoo]

IOS increases, yes but
_ between 2009 and 2010 DS revenues were constant, % drop because the total market value increased.
_ 2011 : It is more a matter of DS dying than IOS booming

Agreed. Thankfully, consumers are in agreement. Android and iPhone revenues are in a freefall as we speak:

 

[Zabojnik]

To be honest, I was ready to buy a PSVita day 1 when they showed it at E3. Everything about it seemed just like the handheld I've always wanted. Now that I know I won't be able to play certain games unless I buy a (expensive) memory card on day 1 has turned me off. I also want more than just one PSN account - considering that Sony still hasn't figured out how to release content across all western regions at the same time, being able to have multiple PSN accounts was a way Sony made kind of made up for that failure.

Can someone explain this to me, please? I haven't been following the Vita stuff, as I have no interest whatsoever in portable gaming, but I may be buying a Vita as a gift.

 

[BeEatNU]

IOS increases, yest but
_ between 2009 and 2010 DS revenues were constant, % drop because the total market value increased.
_ 2011 : It is more a matter of DS dying than IOS booming

I love how this damn image keeps getting posted in every vita thread.

 

[Takao]

I don't know what the fuck is doing Sony lately. With every single good new comes two or more bad news.

Seems like they've forgotten what we like and are only interested in adding stupid functionalities to hos consoles, rising the price of his products

An opinion piece on the state of the handheld market shouldn't be counted as a set back for Sony. If the Vita had no flaws this article likely still would've existed.

Can someone explain this to me, please? I haven't been following the Vita stuff, as I have no interest whatsoever in portable gaming, but I may be buying a Vita as a gift.

You're going to need a memory card to play some games. Like not just you can't save on some games, more so you can't boot them up. The cheapest memory card is 4GB and will set you back $20.