Shocking twist! Vita sells 1.2 million in first weekend

[Lastcallhall]

You do know technological prowess doesn't equate to good software, just look at this generation of video games.

In this case it doesn't matter - the end result is how many systems were sold, and how Nintendo fared as a company against their competitors. Looking at it from a business standpoint, the Gameboy line was unstoppable. Unfortunately, this was also the reason that there was very little innovation in the portable arena for the same time frame. It wasn't until 1999 that the Wonderswan was introduced, and the Neo Geo pocket only a year earlier. Even then, I'd hardly call those systems revolutionary for their time.

[kokujin]

In this case it doesn't matter - the end result is how many systems were sold, and how Nintendo fared as a company against their competitors. Looking at it from a business standpoint, the Gameboy line was unstoppable. Unfortunately, this was also the reason that there was very little innovation in the portable arena for the same time frame. It wasn't until 1999 that the Wonderswan was introduced, and the Neo Geo pocket only a year earlier. Even then, I'd hardly call those systems revolutionary for their time.

The biggest innovation to hit the portable market was the DS, before this everyone was just trying to bring to emulate the experience of home consoles.The PSVita is far from innovative, not to say it won't have great software, but it offers nothing new.

[Pulstar]

The DS was my first and last foray into handhelds. It's not worth it anymore.

[Da_Shocker]

While I find it curious that some of you guys have mentioned the 3DS's sales let's take into account of Nintendo's massive price drop within a few months. Nobody drops the price that fast and by that much unless something is going on.

[kokujin]

While I find it curious that some of you guys have mentioned the 3DS's sales let's take into account of Nintendo's massive price drop within a few months. Nobody drops the price that fast and by that much unless something is going on.

Nintendo knew they couldn't sell it at that price with the Vita coming out, or maybe to increase sales.

[TrekkiesUnite118]

While I find it curious that some of you guys have mentioned the 3DS's sales let's take into account of Nintendo's massive price drop within a few months. Nobody drops the price that fast and by that much unless something is going on.

It was because they didn't reach their expected goal at the time. Their goal was 4 Million, they were at around 3.6 Million. Which still isn't bad. The 3DS may not be selling to what Nintendo wanted it to, but it's still selling well and much better than the doomsday people try to claim.

[JCU]

Fucking. Delicious. LMAO @ the egg on everyones face who expected it to bomb massively. Winds up being a massive hit... I love it!

There is absolutely nothing to laugh at........yet.

Any assessment of the Vita as a success or failure is premature since it has only been on the market in Japan for two months and a mere two weeks in the States. With the reported lineup of games (Killzone, Resistance, Bioshock, etc..,) it should do. Should do well.

Anyone have theories as to why it did so well ?

The most obvious is that it is a new system. Hype and interest normally surrounds something newly released. The Vita is a nice system with a promising library. I don't subscribe to the interpretation of the Vita having a better launch library then the 3DS. Personally, both were/are lackluster. Obviously this system is a powerhouse with a great deal of potential but I like how it takes gaming and interaction to a level above Nintendo. You can easily communicate with people as well as play with people. Sony isn't trying to be a babysitter. Nintendo will be tough to beat with its first party titles and Sony has an uphill battle for sure. The one thing for me that clearly separates both systems is the level of comfort when playing on the Vita. The 3DS is a great handheld but five minutes of playing usually requires a Tylenol break because your hands cramp. Everything being close together coupled with the circle pad does not provide the most comfortable playing experience.

[xelement5x]

And they say we're still in a recession! Even if it was only 600k units in the US at a minimum of $250 a unit that's a nice chunk of change in disposable income that went out.

However, I have already seen people selling units on CL in my area for around $150. They're probably stolen though.

[Da_Shocker]

And they say we're still in a recession! Even if it was only 600k units in the US at a minimum of $250 a unit that's a nice chunk of change in disposable income that went out.

However, I have already seen people selling units on CL in my area for around $150. They're probably stolen though.

Buy me one lol they aren't anywhere near that price on Cl in my area.

[Knuckle Duster]

I have no bias for either Nintendo or Sony. I think they're both pretty fucking stupid with what they're trying to sell or what they offer.

Sony's PSP Go was a fucking disaster. If I had to guess, they want to muscle their way into some obscure niche in the gaming market with the Playstation brand. Like Apple is to PC's. They want to be seen as a higher quality, premium platform. It's just not going to happen.

Nintendo's stale and retarded approach to hardware is biting them in the ass this time. I could live with the 3DS 3D bullshit gimmick as an upgrade or innovation worthy of their tradition, but not when compounded with a shitty UI, laggy touch-screen technology straight out of 2004, piss poor battery life, joystick add-ons, software droughts they're known for, remakes & ports. Vita looks to be the best choice long-term, has interesting features like the touchpad, touch screen, dual sticks, and has a backlog of kickass PSN games to play already. Sony just shit on customers by having the launch price high and not using a standard memory card, old habits die hard. At the end of the day, the product is better suited to be what I want.


Vita failing in Japan has less to do with the system's faults or software, than it does Japan's zeitgeist toward gaming in general. I couldn't care any less if Japan didn't adopt the Vita. I love my Xbox 360, mostly for the Japanese software on it. The majority of those saying Vita would fail probably still consider game companies as playground politics, and fail to understand business or economics.

[Benjamin]

Sony's PSP Go was a fucking disaster.

How so? It's just a different version of the PSP, somewhat akin the Sega CDX. The PSP Go is a great unit as was the CDX, but neither were intended to replace the standard models.

[Knuckle Duster]

How so? It's just a different version of the PSP, somewhat akin the Sega CDX. The PSP Go is a great unit as was the CDX, but neither were intended to replace the standard models.

At what point is being different anything less than a disaster? It didn't have access to most of the platform's games, the reliance on the PSN at the time meant a lot of tedious setup, it had a different peripheral standard with the memory cards, the battery wasn't removable or replaceable, it used an ancient 802.11b chipset in light of being heavily oriented toward digital data transfers for content, it cost $249 and was a 5 year old handheld platform.

Disaster for consumers, delusional for Sony, nothing at all to attract developers.

[Benjamin]

At what point is being different anything less than a disaster?

Niche products are not designed to take over the world. Maybe "disaster" has different implications in Canada?

It didn't have access to most of the platform's games, the reliance on the PSN at the time meant a lot of tedious setup, it had a different peripheral standard with the memory cards, the battery wasn't removable or replaceable, it used an ancient 802.11b chipset in light of being heavily oriented toward digital data transfers for content, it cost $249 and was a 5 year old handheld platform.

Your first point is incorrect. Yes, many titles are left in the cold due to the lack of UMD support -- including Sega Rally and Virtua Tennis :/ -- but most of the library is on PSN. If you bought a PSP Go, then you would have known this going in. Complaining about it would then be shortsighted on the consumer's part.

"The reliance on the PSN at the time meant a lot of tedious setup" tells me you have no idea what the PSP Go is. "Tedious setup?" Really? Sounds like you're just looking for reasons to hate. The PSP Go runs on the same XMB that the standard PSP and PS3 uses. PSN registration is no different than on other Sony hardware. I'd love to see you clarify this.

The battery can be replaced, though it's not designed to be easily exchanged as with the original PSP models. The slow WiFi speed is a problem. This is why Media Go is recommended, particularly since Sony's lousy on-line service seizes your machine for any kind of download -- on any PSP, preventing it from being used. This only impacts downloading of games/movies, and I suspect Sony went cheap since the manufacture costs were so high and given the situations when it would be used. Internet browsing is fine at that speed, though the browser isn't the best.

People conveniently forget that the PSP Go came with 16 GB internal memory which, given the high price of Duo cards, can account for about $100 of the $250 launch price right there. You then get a slicker package, brighter and better screen (albeit somewhat smaller), all the latest XMB bells and whistles, and a unit that is truly portable. It's fine to acknowledge the real flaws of a device, but you have to consider its benefits as well. Fine if you don't like the PSP Go, but "disaster" is just being silly.

[Knuckle Duster]

Niche products are not designed to take over the world. Maybe "disaster" has different implications in Canada?



Your first point is incorrect. Yes, many titles are left in the cold due to the lack of UMD support -- including Sega Rally and Virtua Tennis :/ -- but most of the library is on PSN. If you bought a PSP Go, then you would have known this going in. Complaining about it would then be shortsighted on the consumer's part.

"The reliance on the PSN at the time meant a lot of tedious setup" tells me you have no idea what the PSP Go is. "Tedious setup?" Really? Sounds like you're just looking for reasons to hate. The PSP Go runs on the same XMB that the standard PSP and PS3 uses. PSN registration is no different than on other Sony hardware. I'd love to see you clarify this.

The battery can be replaced, though it's not designed to be easily exchanged as with the original PSP models. The slow WiFi speed is a problem. This is why Media Go is recommended, particularly since Sony's lousy on-line service seizes your machine for any kind of download -- on any PSP, preventing it from being used. This only impacts downloading of games/movies, and I suspect Sony went cheap since the manufacture costs were so high and given the situations when it would be used. Internet browsing is fine at that speed, though the browser isn't the best.

People conveniently forget that the PSP Go came with 16 GB internal memory which, given the high price of Duo cards, can account for about $100 of the $250 launch price right there. You then get a slicker package, brighter and better screen (albeit somewhat smaller), all the latest XMB bells and whistles, and a unit that is truly portable. It's fine to acknowledge the real flaws of a device, but you have to consider its benefits as well. Fine if you don't like the PSP Go, but "disaster" is just being silly.

I don't need an excuse to hate it. I just lack a reason to support it's existence other than being smaller for a niche market of people who piss money away for less functionality. Where was the benefit of PSP Go? It could pass off as a new looking gadget smartphone, so it's worth paying ridiculous markup for it?

Your points on content are insinuating that the PSP Go had more merit as it went into it's life cycle later on. At the launch, none of the best PSP games were available on the PSN. To open the console up out of the box, you needed to register your PSN account and purchase software. At that time they had a tedious registration system on all platforms, and even fraud locked customers out of using their own credit card info due to a shitty draconian back-end verification system. Sony PSN setup was shit across all it's platforms. PSP Go was the first piece of hardware forcing you to deal with it to play anything. That's pretty detrimental. At least with the PSP, PS3, you can buy a game, turn it on, and not need the internet.

Media Go instead of Wifi B? Sony's Bloated Windows media center? Another 'needless' product that they threw out there, and artificially boosted demand for. Probably filled with malware, spyware, and memory leaks. Why?

Sony's PSP Go price was absurd, the memory cards were switched to a different standard and the 16gb internal storage was practically needless given how accessible larger capacity memory cards were. It was 5 years old. People wanted the Vita. Sony gave birth to an overpriced piece of shit that does less, costs more, and did nothing to reassure developers that their pirated games would sell well enough to make games for it.


It was and still is, a fucking joke.

[Zoltor]

Come on people, besides the fact 1.2m is nothing these days, 90% of the people probally baught it just to resell, afterall It's a POS overhyped Sony system. No matter how crappy their systems are(points at the PS3), it will sell to the new school graphic whore scum, whom don't care about quality games or a system that can last(Note: still thay have yet put a cover to protect their screen for their handheld, you would think, out of everything they steal from Nintendo, they would've atleast stole that by now).

If at any time there is a slight shortage, if not more(no doubt purposely done by Sony, to build more hype), some brain dead rich guy will be spending a fortune for one on ebay, instead of just waiting(for some dumb reason people think owning a Sony system when it first comes out, is a status symbol. People, real status symbol worthy items, don't go down in value at lightning fast speed, nevermind low enough to be very affordable, so I suggest you spend your boatloads of money on something else) a few months for the dought to end.