Sat, May 12, 2012 | 14:16 BST
Only Sony can save Vita – but it’s not that hard
Ouch. Vita has sold 1.8 million units since last December. The console is the greatest handheld gaming experience yet created, but Sony’s on the verge of throwing away an incredible opportunity, says blog ninja Henry McNulty.
Dear Sony. You have in your hands the first legitimately worthwhile portable gaming experience. And you are completely and utterly blowing it.
When I opened my PlayStation Vita two months after launch, I was taken aback. It was ergonomic. It looked great. The graphics were console-level. And it actually, for the first bloody time in portable console history, felt like I had full control over what was going on.
Note, I’m the opposite of a fanboy – I hate things with such vigour, such anger, such spite that if I had disliked it I would have thrown it out the window. I spent a month with my 3DS before buyer’s remorse sent it unto the eBay chasm, for example.
So, its sales are down, and there are all of 15 games actually available. So, they’re releasing a white version instead of giving people a new reason to actually buy the thing.
But put Vita in your hands and tell me it is not the first real portable console system. The first that doesn’t feel like we’re sacrificing something to play a game as you would in front of a television.
In the storied history of the portable console we’ve had millions of tons of wasted plastic put into the pot of trying to recreate the console experience on the move. iPhone has superseded most as the gaming console of choice not because it’s the right medium, but because it’s the only one – apart from the Vita – that’s fairly priced. If you’re paying $35 for a game, you should want (in fact, you should demand) something comparable to the price of a $35 console game.
Vita is the first and only console to accurately do that. FIFA feels like FIFA on a console. Katamari, while the same old thing, plays identically to the console. Uncharted, in all of its jagged, aliased glory, may not be the most gorgeous thing, but it feels the same as its counterpart.
3DS, by comparison, makes you sacrifice just as much money for what amounts to, in most cases, a half-arsed repeat of something else. Apart from the fantastic Mario, Resident Evil and Kid Icarus, the rest of its offering is cold, bitter shells of other games. Snake Eater feels horrible, looks horrible and makes you wish you had a PS2. Pro Evolution is a bloody mess. Tekken 3D is just not fun to play with.
And so on and so forth. To shorten that rant, PS Vita is the first portable console that exists that doesn’t make you wish you were playing the console version.
Open letter
Before iPhone, most portable titles felt like cold shadows of the console you left at home. Apple bridged that gap by bringing the price down, streamlining iteration and distribution, and applying semi-rigid quality control (at least at the beginning). With Vita we have the very first opportunity to get that in-home, I’m-on-an-actual-console-here experience. We don’t have to wait for the PSP version of whatever it is we’re playing, knowing that it’ll probably be a wanky, stripped-down, hard-to-control waste. We know that – for now – we have a console that will actually support a gamer’s game. A game that is as deep, as intricate and as worth-developing-for as a sit-down title.
Sadly, it doesn’t feel as if developers are taking it seriously. Even ones that would be perfect for it. This isn’t the first time it’s happened either – and it’s partly on consumers who are expecting too much from a launch, but doubly on Sony for not stepping up to the challenge.
So let me finish this piece with an open letter.
Dear Sony,
You’ve been quite happy to bitch about people pirating games on PSP, and have been even happier to pull games people have legitimately bought to stop piracy. You have in your hands the first legitimately worthwhile portable gaming experience. And you are completely and utterly blowing it.
The recent travails of your gaming divisions have punched you in the face so many times that you look like some sort of freakish, multi-eyed panda. How about you shove some of the hundreds of thousands of dollars you put into suing teenagers into getting great developers to make great games? How about you give up trying to fight those who work around your DRM?
How about you look up and see that you are currently the potential ruler of the premium portable market?
Phone gaming has overtaken you and Nintendo. That’s fine. Let them have their 99 cent games, let them be 5-minute experiences, let them enjoy it. That’s great. They’ll own these devices whether Vita exists or not. It’s a different market. Let them have it.
Make your platform the one that people use to develop interesting, deep portable experiences that suck people in and don’t let them go. You have the processing and graphical power to do something different, with absolutely nobody in the market who can compete.
Use the ferocious profit of your life insurance division to create the Blu-ray of portable gaming. Apple has the low-end. You don’t want it. You have a history of creating luxury brands like Sony Cierge and Vaio. Make Vita the next. When gamers want to take their PS3 with them, give them Vita.
Make a loss on bringing the heaviest hitters to the platform – get EA making Madden games every year, get a Call of Duty game, get another God Of War, give Tim Schaefer a few million dollars, Square-Enix, give Notch his own office right next to Kaz Hirai. Tell homebrew people to tear the bloody thing apart – you cannot and will not stop piracy.
You will own the market, just like you did with the first PlayStation. It’s in your hands to take this opportunity to knock Nintendo out. You have created the most endearing piece of portable gaming hardware ever, and you are wasting your time and money on stupid things. You have the chance to make a stunningly successful, separate brand.
If you don’t take it, you deserve to lose.
Sincerely yours,
Henry McNulty
73 
Posted in: Opinion, Sony, Vita
Tags: priorities
73 comments
Older Comments
#51
OlderGamer
11/05/12, 2:25 pm
Edit
#52
Christopher Jack
11/05/12, 2:34 pm
@50, I don’t hate it, I’m just pointing out that its cost is not justified by technical prowess but rather the games available to it. Sony’s problem is the complete opposite, the hardware is worth its price but it doesn’t have much to run.
#53
daytripper
11/05/12, 2:44 pm
@52 the memory cards are not worth the price, the system should of had flash memory built in
#54
Christopher Jack
11/05/12, 2:51 pm
@53, Yeah, that pisses me off most about the Vita, even the Go had built in memory… 16GB would have been enough, I wouldn’t be bothered at all if it weren’t for the unjustified price of the proprietary cards which just infuriates me.
#55
manamana
11/05/12, 2:58 pm
^ that and tell me what I should do with my huge PSP game library. Buy them *again*?
#56
stealth
11/05/12, 3:02 pm
@jack
oh than i agree with you.
#57
silkvg247
11/05/12, 6:45 pm
@44 That is nothing like the deal that I suggested.
#58
HighWindXIX
11/05/12, 7:30 pm
All Sony needs to do is enable the Remote Play feature and I will buy a Vita immediately! I want to be able to play a game on my PS3 and then be able to continue it on my Vita. Without having to pay full price for two versions of the game. (At least discount it!) I don’t want Vita exclusives. I want to take my PS3 on the go.
#59
Lounds
11/05/12, 7:41 pm
Good article and good points from most people.
I want one.
My mate could of got me one from Heathrow but couldn’t get hold of me.
£170 for PSV with 2 games.
Bastard.
#60
polygem
11/05/12, 8:54 pm
i got one. i like it. i plan to keep it. upgraded to 32 gb. needs more games, sure. i am optimistic e3 will reveal lots of good stuff. pricedrop wont hurt, for system itself AND the overpriced memory cards.
i totally agree with #58 about remote play. i would even buy more stuff/ software if remote play would work. example: i just bought Sly cooper 3 (HD remake) from the psn store. it´s nice to have that on the ps3 but i would love to play these kind of games on the vita. if i would be able to do that, i swear i would buy the full sly, jak & daxter and upcoming ratchet and clank hd remakes in no time. remote play is the thing they need to push, especially with wiiu´s launch in mind. i think they are holding back strategically…they want to counter the wiiu by presenting their own wiiu like tablet controller….the psv.
#61
Kabby
11/05/12, 9:05 pm
No games. Remote play doesn’t work. Web browser is beyond awful. Multi-tasking is bad. Not backwards compatible with PSP games.
Waste of time until these things are rectified.
#62
Moonwalker1982
11/05/12, 9:14 pm
I bought one on release, because i was able to get it for half the normal price. (wifi version) but i must be honest, i barely use it. Even though i don’t have Uncharted yet. I just don’t seem to take the time to really sit down for it, and i find myself going for the 360 again.
#63
Mike
11/05/12, 9:27 pm
Can’t say I’m surprised it has stagnated. Saw it coming before it was released, actually. All the talking up it got just makes its fall even greater. And funny, of course.
#64
shogoz
11/05/12, 9:34 pm
who cares
#65
Moonwalker1982
11/05/12, 9:54 pm
But really, is it fair to already start complaining? How long did it took the 3DS to really start off? Vita really didn’t have a bad launch with Uncharted and Wipeout and some really cool PSN games. And next month Gravity Rush, Ragnarok Oddysey, a new JRPG is coming to the US and Europe. And if Sony doesn’t announce some great stuff at E3….then i will eat my Vita. Let’s give it time.
#66
ultramega
11/05/12, 10:24 pm
@65
Agreed.
#67
Dragon246
12/05/12, 4:41 am
E3 will definitely give vita the much needed boost.
#68
tatsujin
12/05/12, 5:27 am
I like this post.
#69
steriotyp
12/05/12, 9:03 am
Motion carried!
With the exception of the ridiculous price of memory cards (with no built in flash), the Vita is a handheld that can not only carry us into the next generation, but do it with dignity and style.
I for one am a Series 1 adopter, getting the kit with Little Deviants and case and so on. I’m also one who understands that launches can be painfully slow. 360 for instance had under 20 games for over a year, most of which were sports. I can wait for my Killzone and Resistance a bit longer cuz i know they are coming.
Sony, don’t blow this. I made a big investment with you once again knowing you will pull through. Don’t let me down.
#70
steriotyp
12/05/12, 9:09 am
@Kabby
There is damn near full bw compatibility with PSP games if you bought them digitally. I’ve personally tested around 125 of them so know what you say before you say it my friend.
#71
sg1974
12/05/12, 9:10 am
Sorry Sony. Got badly burnt with the PSP. I’m not going to risk another 200 squids on this. Maybe we’ll talk next year.
#72
OrbitMonkey
12/05/12, 10:23 am
^ Badly burnt? Battery overheat?
#73
shogoz
12/05/12, 3:58 pm
If it’s not that hard why don’t you produce a console Henry? It could be a hit! *snickers*
Older Comments