The Vita is in big trouble, but it can be saved

Price drop or GTFO. ...I'll also settle for a digital port of Birth By Sleep.

I own all of the current-gen consoles, a gaming capable PC and a 3DS. I have a decent disposable income and am dept- and commitement free. Male gamer, age 18-36. I am the target demographic for this handheld. There is not an ounce of interest or a single purchase-justifying reason for me to buy a Vita.

3DS has Pokemon. Enough said.

well... actualy it hasn't really had a pokemon game yet unless you count the 3d pokedex or the regular DS games

S'wot I thought?

Yeah - people just end up equating Nintendo handhelds with Pokemon. This is great for sales, but bad for players who have finished high school.

It's a shame because I would love to buy a vita, i've got the cash ready to splash.. but it's just not worth it. a) The price of memory is a piss-take and i'm not going to support that kind of behaviour, and b) there's bugger all to play on it. Aside from Gravity Rush (which looks awesome) and metal gear HD collection (which i'd love to play on a handheld) there's nothing else much I can see (please inform me if i'm missing something). I have no interest in scaled down versions of the big console blockbusters, uncharted is fine on the PS3 but I don't want to play it on the go. If they can get more interesting looking games like that Gravity Rush and sort their prices out I'd consider it.

"metal gear HD collection (which i'd love to play on a handheld)" "I have no interest in scaled down versions of the big console blockbusters" HAHAHAHA Haha Ha... Comedian. There's Rayman Origins, which is great, and is actually bearable to watch while you play, unlike the 3DS version. Also, I quite enjoyed LittleBigPlanet PS Vita, though I guess that is one of those "scaled-down versions of the big console blockbusters". And that's...that's pretty much it. The rest are mostly shit. I was interested in AC III: Liberation, but I got it, and it's...well, very mediocre. Gravity Rush is fucking fantastic, though. Not quite 300 dollars fantastic, but it is by far my favourite Vita game, and if the Vita gets a few new releases to cover up some of the dollars there you'd have to throw out for the Vita, then Gravity Rush is definitely something you shouldn't miss. Disclaimer: You may not enjoy it as much as me, as reviews might indicate (mostly some of the "professional" ones) but I think it's absolutely wonderful.

Now that the 3DS XL dropped to $179.99 and the 3DS dropped yet again to $129.99 I really don't see the Vita doing much of anything until they drop the price...

I bought a 3DS earlier this year, and I haven't regretted it once. And I know quite a few other people who have bought, or will, in the near future, buy a 3DS. So far, I've met one person who's actually bought a Vita, and that's only because he got loads of money from his student grant; for everyone else that wants one, it remains a pleasant but unlikely dream. At first, I honestly didn't believe that the price of the system on it's own didn't encompass at least a memory stick, but I was even more shocked when I found out how much the memory cards actually ARE. It's a gigantic ripoff. Totally off topic, but I've only just noticed how all consoles are either from the far west- America- or the far east- Japan. Europe and everything else 'in the middle' have nothing. Such a pity.

more people are playing games on smartphones than they are playing games on dedicated handheld devices in the US. FACT! (ESA, 2012) smartphones (including android-based and iOS devices) have a combined install-base of 500m+. The Nintendo DS only managed 150m since 2003 (that's all of the models from the original to the DSiXL) The Nintendo 3DS has markedly shite sales compared to the DS. Shouldn't this be making the news? I keep seeing gaming journalism hinting at the impact from mobile games but nobody seems to be man enough to face the problem head-on!

Only a lot of people playing games on smartphones wouldn't if it was for the fact it's a phone, as in, a lot of these people wouldn't buy dedicated gaming handhelds anyways. There hasn't really been a handheld like the Wii for example, which everyone and their dog has. So yeah, it's pretty obvious more phones will sell compared to handhelds... this has been news since... when? The 3DS's sales for how long it has been released are actually not that far behind where the DS was during this same amount of time after its release. 3DS is currently at a total of 22.19 million, while the DS around the same time after its launch was at 26.82 million. Are the sales as good? No, but definitely not shit.

Look at the state of mobile phones back when the DS launched. I don't even think anybody had tablets back then (or if they did they certainly weren't playing games on them). You're right, people buying more phones than handhelds is not necessarily news but it's the quality of the experience available and the ease at which games can be downloaded and played that should be making the news. Look at what the DS had in terms of competition from mobile phones and tablets when it launched. The N-Gage launched a year before it and neither the games nor the technology were there and sales of just 3 million show how badly it performed. Fast forward to now and we have a huge company like Apple that can easily afford the annual release of new phones because the demand is there both from the high-income demographic able to buy the phone outright at around £400+, and then also your average joe who signs up for 24 month contract and pays the same amount (or more) to get an iPhone. Phones are becoming all-in-one devices! http://www.mintel.com/press-centre/press-releases/890/sales-of-digital-cameras-decline-as-consumers-snap-up-smartphones You can see here that digital camera sales are declining rapidly due to the technological improvements that come with the advent of smartphones. The reason the DS sold so well is because it sold well to mainstreamers. We, the hardcore gamers, are being marginalised as the mainstream market continues to grow so.. you need to think not about yourself but about them. Are they really going to want to buy a dedicated handheld gaming console when they can get a comparable (albeit not as good) experience on their phone? The data suggests that its happening with digital cameras so it would be stupid to say that the gaming industry is invincible. "Only a lot of people playing games on smartphones wouldn't if it was for the fact it's a phone, as in, a lot of these people wouldn't buy dedicated gaming handhelds anyways." I think we're talking about different demographics here. You're talking about people who were never going to buy a handheld. I'm talking about people who might buy a handheld if there is no cheaper way to get a quick fix for games. That was the case in the last generation where the DS was easy and accessible (not to mention quite cheap) to many people and the PSP was seen more as a mature or hardcore device and possibly why the sales were never quite as impressive. To put it simply, people didn't have a lot of options at the time but now they do. I know some people on this site are very defensive when it comes to mobile games and they like to dismiss mobile games as "shallow, disposable, forgettable games". The fact is: the quality of the experience possible on iOS and Android devices (as well as Windows phones if they get it right) is only going to improve and quickly. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the quality on smartphones to surpass that which is available on dedicated handhelds in the next year or so. Maybe you don't agree so I'd like to hear what you think about it ;)

There's a couple things. I never compared DS gaming to mobile gaming at the time. But to take that into account, and then look at mobile gaming today and then look at 3DS sales you would then have to say the 3DS is doing extremely well in that case. I mean if the 3DS can only be 4million units behind the DS, when the DS came out at a time when phone games weren't even a thought by most people and the 3DS is coming out at a time when practically anyone with a smartphone has a game on it that is pretty damn good. I don't recall anyone looking at the PSP as the "mature" system honestly. The thing I always heard when it came to the PSP, and quite similarly now the Vita, is that either a) No must have games on it to make the system worth buying. or b) The good games that do come out for it get crap all for marketing. Also, I'm not even saying the gaming industry is invincible, it's more like at its current state current smartphones can't compete with the gaming experience most people who buy dedicated handhelds want. And honestly, until I see the "Nintenphone", the "PSPhone", or any dedicated gaming phone. And honestly I can't see that happening in the next year, I'd actually be more wiling to bet that's the next handheld gaming generation, phone's with dedicated digital gaming stores by actual gaming companies with full priced games. It's not like we completely disagree on this subject, I just think it's going to happen a little differently, and a little further down the line.

Figured Id add on to my earlier comment in a "better late than never" kind of sense since there were a few things that escaped my mind when I typed that. This is mostly in terms of the camera vs handheld comparison. For example, if you're using a camera it doesn't tend to be for huge periods of time, most gaming sessions are at least an hour long. This presents a big problem in a couple different ways. For one, it's one thing to be playing the average casual phone game today and to be interrupted in the middle of gameplay by a call/text, however when I'm playing a game like Kingdom Hearts I'd much rather be able to have my text conversation outside of the platform I'm trying to game on, that would just get extremely irritating after a while. The next point would be battery life, gaming machines tend to take up a lot of power just by themselves so combine that with the power consumption of a phone(Phones use up enough power just by watching videos and surfing the web) and you're not looking toward a nice mix. So I really should retract my statement a bit, I still think it's certainly possible for phones to also be huge gaming platforms for big titles, but honestly I don't see it working out that well until battery power gains some absurd advancement and the whole getting called/text while gaming thing is addressed.

I'm sorry but after buying a launch PSP, having that break a couple of months later and then buying a PSP Go later on (two years later as a matter of fact)... and then having THAT break pretty quickly, I don't plan to buy another Sony handheld. The fact that there is nothing that interests me about the Vita that the 3DS does better or more unique and that leaves me with indifference towards it.

>Bought a launch PSP >Broke it How the fuck.... the 1001 series are tanks! I can see breaking a go, but a 1001?! They weight a ton and can take a hit! You literally have to sit on the screen to kill it (sadly had it happen, but I was dropped on mine)

Yea, the 1000 series can last. Proof in point I still use my 1000, bought it at launch and have been using it ever since, not a scratch on it, just need a new battery but since i'm getting a Vita a battery isn't as important now.

I want to buy one, but there isn't enough strong and compelling games to warrant a purchase even though its a powerful device. Vita needs some GREAT games to save it. Whatever happen to NA release of Type-0? A new Patapon? Monster Hunter Vita? A new RPG IP? Hell, ,maybe even Legend of Dragoon 2? C'mon Sony !