Playstation Vita western launch thread | It only does everything, everywhere.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Take Uncharted, which despite all the love and hype hasn't sold nearly as well as one might think for such a high profile title.. to only have a 78 Meta has to be a giant disappoint for Sony.

Do you base this on the japanese sales? I'd be interested in knowing how you know it hasn't sold very well when the system hasn't even launched in other territories.
 
Since when has 7 not been a good score?

By definition on a 10 point scale it is two points better than average and 3 points less than perfect.

To suggest 7 isn't a good score is utterly stupid, objectively speaking.

It's not a mathematics thing. Sure, if we were talking pure numbers, 7 out of 10 is good. The problem is that game reviews don't work on the same basis. Generally, if a game doesn't get 9 out of 10, or at least 8 out of 10, the perception of the general public is that the game isn't very good, or at least isn't worth the time and money, and that leads to poor sales.

You see this happen often when publishers and devs are vocally upset when a 7 out of 10 review is lower than their expectations. It's not that the game is necessarily bad, it just isn't going to sell as well as a highly rated game.

But I'm not sure that these early Vita game reviews mean much other than the simple fact that there doesn't seem to be a "killer app" among the group. The people that were going to buy a Vita are still going to buy a Vita, but the lack of a "killer app" means that the system won't catch on with the masses yet.
 
Do you base this on the japanese sales? I'd be interested in knowing how you know it hasn't sold very well when the system hasn't even launched in other territories.
Sales aside there is no way Sony could be happy with a Metacritic score of anything less than 80 for Golden Abyss.

TangoAlphaLima said:
But I'm not sure that these early Vita game reviews mean much other than the simple fact that there doesn't seem to be a "killer app" among the group. The people that were going to buy a Vita are still going to buy a Vita, but the lack of a "killer app" means that the system won't catch on with the masses yet.
I don't think the system would have a "killer app" even if a few of these games were scoring in the 90-95 range, to be honest.
 
Normally I don't get too worked up over reviews, but the reviews for the Vita games aren't well conceived reviews.

First we have nearly every reviewer comparing the Vita version of the games to the console counterpart and if it fails to match the console even in the graphics department it is docked a grade.

Then we have the docking of points for touch controls, which if mandatory and tedious is warranted, but docking points for optional touch controls is ridiculous. I have read some reviews where in the summary optional touch controls are listed as a negative compared to the console version....then don't use them.

Why aren't these games being judged on their own merit or to other handheld games? How does Uncharted GA look compared to Resident Evil Revelations or to any handheld game for that matter? I just don't get the comparison to home console games. If it is a shared IP some comparison to how the game is played or the story is told is warranted but to compare graphics and sound is ludicrous. There is no way a Vita game or 3DS game will ever out perform a console in those departments. Are we constantly going to go through this with every shared IP? If so get used to 8's and lots of them.

It's going to happen a lot. And you're going to find a ton of unjustified bias against certain games as well, mainly console-esque titles like Golden Abyss, just because its on a handheld. I've seen plenty of reviewers flip-flop between their own opinions as well. Before GA came out, they were claiming they didn't want to see big action cutscenes like the ones in UC2 on a small screen. Now they're complaining that there aren't any. It's ridiculous.
 
I think Uncharted's Metacritic is ok, given that it's a launch title. It's going to sell well if the hardware sells well. The attach rate will be high, at least compared to Japan.
 
Booo I'll have my vita from amazon.ca in about an hour and ebgames won't budge on selling the memory cards until Wednesday. Not even gonna open it I guess
 
Do you base this on the japanese sales? I'd be interested in knowing how you know it hasn't sold very well when the system hasn't even launched in other territories.

I'm talking the series as a whole. It's sold well, don't get me wrong, but for how high profile of a game is it, you'd think it'd sell better than the less than 4 million UC2 did. It's one of the huge PS3 exclusives and for a quality game it's sad that it has what 13mil between all 3 releases? COD:MW3 did that in about a week.
 
Booo I'll have my vita from amazon.ca in about an hour and ebgames won't budge on selling the memory cards until Wednesday. Not even gonna open it I guess

Weird. Check another store. The one at Yonge and Eglinton here in Toronto was selling them. Same goes for the Futureshop at Yonge and Dundas. Not sure where you are.
 
I don't think the system would have a "killer app" even if a few of these games were scoring in the 90-95 range, to be honest.

Yeah, you might be right. Certainly if the games scoring in the 90-95 range weren't brand names, those wouldn't be "killer apps." Uncharted could have been, though, at least to some extent.
 
Says who? Ign stress tested it running a game (can't remember which) with wifi on sound maxed and brightness maxed and I believe it crapped out just under 5 hours. That's excellent battery life in my book.

IGN is lying if they claim that for PS Vita games. Engadget did battery tests for all kinds of scenarios. The default brightness with wifi on playing Vita games = 3 hours maximum. Brightness all the way down nets you an hour more. Brightness all the way down, wifi off, audio off, gets you 4 and a half hours. PSP games on low settings nets you 5 hours. Videos upwards of 5-6 hours. Music 9 hours.
 
Where are you getting that from? It's been repeatedly stated to have around 4hr30mins of battery life and 7 hours of video.

Yeah, seems to me that battery life is quite good for what we are getting, all thanks to the OLED, that 3D LCD is killing the 3DS battery life.

How easy are batteries to replace on the Vita?
 
Okay, obviously I'm not being very clear. Having 3G turned on eats the battery faster, that has been stated in several reviews. Yes, I know it can be turned off, thus extending the charge. What I guess I didn't impart very well is that due to the hit on the battery life for using 3G AND the fact that it costs $50 more AND the fact that I already have a 4G WiFi hotspot, FOR ME PERSONALLY, my money is better spent on a WiFi model and a larger memory card. Thus when I'm using it on the go, I can connect to the WiFi hotspot and still get decent battery life, faster connection speeds, and full access to all Vita online activity.

There are 2 parts to 3G:

(1) Mobile Network Connectivity
Turning off the "Mobile Network" setting will only switch off the data plan usage. Yes, when turned on, it will consume Vita's battery. The alternative is to have no connection at all, buy a battery pack, or tethered to a cellphone/MiFi device.

(2) Location Data
There is separate software setting for GPS locationing. It will also consume more battery if used repeatedly. On top of the Location Data system setting, the apps will also ask for your permission to use it (per session). They typically poll sparingly to avoid sucking too much battery. You may not be able to get accurate positioning in a Vita location-based apps/games without the built-in GPS hardware. Even if you tethered to something else, I believe the WiFi location-based data will be based on the IP access point of the tethered device rather than its GPS hardware.

You're absolutely correct to point out that it's up to individuals to see what work best for them.
 
From Engadget on battery:

We already know better than to expect the Vita to pack enough juice to get us through an international (or even domestic) flight, but we couldn't resist running it through a handful of battery tests anyway. Our first few power drains matched our review of the Japanese unit almost exactly -- three hours of dedicated gaming on the console's default settings left our handheld dead. Dragging the Vita's brightness slider down to its dimmest setting scored us another hour of playtime, and kicking the console into flight mode seemed to buy it another twenty minutes. We were able to game for a little longer in PSP mode, stretching the battery to nearly six hours of gameplay on the minimum brightness level with WiFi and audio disabled. We were hoping to drag the handheld's longevity out a bit further than this, but were unable to get the Vita off of the company line -- our game-heavy battery tests match the Vita's official battery life estimates almost blow-for-blow. Three to five hours of gameplay -- it's what Sony promised, and it's what we got.

Sony seems to have made looser estimates for media playback, however. Although audio playback fell just a few minutes shy of the rated nine hours, our video test eclipsed the expected five-hour runtime by a full hour. Although the Vita's six hours of video playback isn't enough to make up for its other electrical shortcomings, we have to respect a device that can handle Gone with the Wind, complete with overture and intermissions, and still have enough juice left over for some light gaming. That's an inflight experience we could get behind. Despite our love of Rhett Butler, though, we still feel a bit let down by the Vita's longevity.
 
3 hours is on the low end. Maybe you'd get that with full brightness, full volume and network usage. Reasonable usage, I don't think, would get that low.
 
From Engadget on battery:

We already know better than to expect the Vita to pack enough juice to get us through an international (or even domestic) flight, but we couldn't resist running it through a handful of battery tests anyway. Our first few power drains matched our review of the Japanese unit almost exactly -- three hours of dedicated gaming on the console's default settings left our handheld dead. Dragging the Vita's brightness slider down to its dimmest setting scored us another hour of playtime, and kicking the console into flight mode seemed to buy it another twenty minutes. We were able to game for a little longer in PSP mode, stretching the battery to nearly six hours of gameplay on the minimum brightness level with WiFi and audio disabled. We were hoping to drag the handheld's longevity out a bit further than this, but were unable to get the Vita off of the company line -- our game-heavy battery tests match the Vita's official battery life estimates almost blow-for-blow. Three to five hours of gameplay -- it's what Sony promised, and it's what we got.

Sony seems to have made looser estimates for media playback, however. Although audio playback fell just a few minutes shy of the rated nine hours, our video test eclipsed the expected five-hour runtime by a full hour. Although the Vita's six hours of video playback isn't enough to make up for its other electrical shortcomings, we have to respect a device that can handle Gone with the Wind, complete with overture and intermissions, and still have enough juice left over for some light gaming. That's an inflight experience we could get behind. Despite our love of Rhett Butler, though, we still feel a bit let down by the Vita's longevity.

Yet we've had gaffers in this thread say it lasts longer. Not sure what's going on. I guess I'll have to come up with my own results.
 
It's not a mathematics thing. Sure, if we were talking pure numbers, 7 out of 10 is good. The problem is that game reviews don't work on the same basis. Generally, if a game doesn't get 9 out of 10, or at least 8 out of 10, the perception of the general public is that the game isn't very good, or at least isn't worth the time and money, and that leads to poor sales.

You see this happen often when publishers and devs are vocally upset when a 7 out of 10 review is lower than their expectations. It's not that the game is necessarily bad, it just isn't going to sell as well as a highly rated game.

But I'm not sure that these early Vita game reviews mean much other than the simple fact that there doesn't seem to be a "killer app" among the group. The people that were going to buy a Vita are still going to buy a Vita, but the lack of a "killer app" means that the system won't catch on with the masses yet.

So the question is: when will it have that killer app? Sony pushed really hard to have this mega launch line-up, but if that doesn't pan out, what do they have planned in the future?

With the 3DS, the launch lineup was 'meh' at best, but at least people KNEW there'd be plenty of great stuff coming. Do Vita owners have that same confidence?
 
I think my brain would melt if I tried to play anything longer than 3 hours. Most of the time I play one hour at a time MAX.

I wish Vita had a "333 mhz" mode for people like me.
 
How long have you run your system for?

I had it on basically all weekend. Going from full charge to near empty multiple times. I didn't actually time it, but it was definitely more than 3 hours. I played HSG through like the entire Habs vs Leafs game and some of the pre-game stuff and it was still going.

EDIT: I just realized I used a hockey game as my unit of time. I guess I can finally say I've become a Canadian. Heh.
 
IGN is lying if they claim that for PS Vita games. Engadget did battery tests for all kinds of scenarios. The default brightness with wifi on playing Vita games = 3 hours maximum. Brightness all the way down nets you an hour more. Brightness all the way down, wifi off, audio off, gets you 4 and a half hours. PSP games on low settings nets you 5 hours. Videos upwards of 5-6 hours. Music 9 hours.

Not able to find my original source (though its possible I'm misremembering) but I did read on andriasanq.com they got 3 hours 47 minutes with Max brightness and sound on uncharted.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom