"Console type" in terms of scope is fine. So long as it's an original, new effort. "Console type" handheld version of a game that already exists on consoles is a no deal for me.
Good thing you aren't forced to buy them. But there is a significant portion of us that enjoy those games. God of War: Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta were no less God of War games than their console counterparts, and they were PSP games. Nothing felt gimped or reduced (Chains of Olympus was kind of short, but Ghost of Sparta was lengthy, and overall, the better game; it was also their second go at a portable God of War). I would frigging
love for there to be another God of War, specifically tailored for the Vita. That would be a "must buy" for me.
I think LBP, Uncharted, and AC3: Lib are excellent additions to their respective franchises. I don't know if it's this kind of dissonance because, for generations, handheld games simply couldn't come remotely close to what a console could do, but now we have Uncharted and Assassin's Creed on a handheld device, and it looks and
feels like Uncharted and Assassin's Creed. It doesn't feel like a stripped down, gimped version of the series, and a lot of that is attributed to the second analog stick. As hardcore gamers, we are accustomed to playing games with a second analog stick. One of my biggest gripes with the original PSP is that, while I enjoyed the games, they weren't that fun to play, because I was often battling with a camera more than I was playing the game.
A good example of what the Vita has done for me is playing Monster Hunter Freedom Unite on the Vita. Being able to control the camera with the second analog stick is a fricking godsend. It's like playing a totally different game.
Playing Uncharted and AC3, and being able to aim and shoot, or rotate the camera like you do in a console game makes playing games on the Vita feel significantly different than playing on any other portable device that doesn't have a second analog stick. It feels natural and at home. Most of the time, I forget that I'm playing a portable game at all, but that can be said for any portable gaming experience that sucks you in.
I've had to rearrange my thinking about what constitutes a "true" portable game, and a "true" console game, since I've got the Vita. I keep my expectations in check, of course (the Vita is
not a PS3, nor as powerful as one), but I don't go into a game on the Vita thinking that it will have the same shortcomings as the PSP version.
The AC: Lib thread was full of people that were convinced the game would be as poor as Bloodlines, when the biggest problem of Bloodlines was the limited hardware of the PSP (horsepower, analog sticks, other input methods). I don't look at the Vita the same way I looked at the PSP. I don't expect "console port" to have the same results on a Vita as it did on the PSP. Games like Uncharted and LBP, and AC: Lib are great year one titles, because they feel like they are the developer's attempts to show that the Vita just isn't a PSP redux. You can expect an impressive level of quality and functionality, thanks to the sticks, the touchscreen, the back touchscreen, and the horsepower.
I loved the PSP, but it was a horrendously flawed console when it came to hardware design. The Vita rectified those flaws. It is not a perfect handheld, but the potential for excellent games has already been showcased in year one (LBP Vita is probably my favorite Vita game of this year, and I feel it's the best representation of what this machine can do).
It's up to Sony to market the thing, but the device itself is sound. I don't know what Sony plans to do, but looking at the history of their previous consoles, it seems like they're using the same strategy. Bundles this year, price cut next year, more software next year. Every single PlayStation console/handheld has done this. What makes any of you think that the Vita strategy will be any different? You can literally look at the marketing and price cut strategies of 4 other PlayStation products, and it's the exact same thing with each and every one of them.
If the Vita is an enthusiast gamer's device, and enthusiast gamers look to be the same now as they were when I was a boy growing up on NES in the 80's, what would it matter if the mobile phone market has entered the fray? Enthusiast gamers will eventually pick up a Vita, like they may pick up a 3DS. They may have chosen one over the other first, but I imagine that they'll snag the other one when it seems like time to do so.
Not even 12 months old, yet, and people are ready to call in the undertaker on the Vita. I just don't get that kind of thinking, honestly, especially when the first year of a console's life can be the hardest. It'll be interesting to see where the Vita stands this time next year, in my opinion.
