It funny when people talk about these things in system wars but when you see it up close and personal it really hits home. :( The article below.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2417003,00.asp
I like the Sony PlayStation Vita$249.99 at Kmart. It's a powerful handheld with a beautiful screen and a great feel. It can offer a gaming experience that exceeds the PlayStation 2 and rivals the PlayStation 3. While its library of games isn't particularly impressive, there are enough PlayStation Portable and PSOne Classics available on the PS Store to keep you in classic PlayStation-era gaming heaven for years.
Man, Nintendo completely ate its lunch.
PAX East is a big video game convention that gets tens of thousands of gamers from all over the East Coast. Most of these gamers have some form of handheld game system. Many of them have Vitas, but I didn't see a single one at the show. Meanwhile, I saw hundreds and hundreds of Nintendo 3DS$199.97 at P.C. Richard & Son systems.
Standing in long lines, people were playing with their 3DSes. Waiting in hotel lobbies, people were playing with their 3DSes. Sitting in the sea of beanbag chairs in the handheld gaming area, people were playing with their 3DSes. Nintendo ruled the kingdom of "I have a few minutes to kill." There were some people playing on their iPhones or Android smartphones, but I didn't see a single Vita.
It wasn't for lack of trying. Repeatedly, I asked people happily gaming on their 3DSes if they had a Vita or if they saw anyone playing a Vita. I mean, anywhere at the show. At all. The answer to the second question was always no, and the answer to the first question was only occasionally yes, but those Vitas were nowhere to be seen.
It's really not a good sign for the handheld Sony has been trying to promote for the last year that the biggest video game convention on the East Coast didn't have a Vita anywhere in sight. Sony didn't even try to show it off; its booth (the first Sony booth at PAX East) was focused on The Last of Us and didn't bother promoting the Vita or any of the upcoming games; among which there are few of note.
PAX East 2013 in Pictures
VIEW ALL PHOTOS IN GALLERYThe problem is a lack of any "anchor" games that draw everyone to it. Nintendo is great at making first-party tentposts around which game systems survive. Its first-party games are legendary. Mario Kart, Pokemon, and Super Mario Bros. have become staples of every Nintendo system that's been out for more than a year. More importantly, Mario Kart and Pokemon have built massive fanbases around local multiplayer, with racing and trading dominating how gamers interact with each other. While Nintendo continues to fail at providing a comprehensive online experience with matchmaking and communication, its local multiplayer has been big ever since the first Pokemon was traded over a Game Boy link cable. Most of the gamers I saw were playing Mario Kart or Pokemon, or checking the content they got through Streetpass, the local tag-like system where players share teams and items with each other without directly interacting.
The Vita has... not so much. There's PlayStation All-Stars and a smattering of other games, but none have captured the attention of gamers and gotten them to communicate with each other like Mario Kart and Pokemon. Compared to Nintendo's games, there is no compelling reason for two Vita users to sit next to each other and play games. There might be plenty of online options for certain titles, but no eye-catchers that have people constantly coming back.
It doesn't look good on the single-player front, either. While both the 3DS and Vita can tap their previous generation's library for dozens of compelling games and both offer, in the Virtual Console for the 3DS and PSOne Classics for the Vita, tons of retro games to enjoy, the 3DS still towers over the Vita in terms of single-player games, too. It's true that the Vita is nearly a year younger than the 3DS, but even the last year's releases have been generous to the 3DS and anemic for the Vita. I saw proof of it in the line around Nintendo's booth, where the company was selling Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon a day early. If that's not enough, the recent releases of Fire Emblem and Etrian Odyssey 4 have satisfied hardcore RPG and strategy enthusiasts, and the upcoming releases of Shin Megami Tensei: Soul Hackers and Pokemon X/Y have gamers very excited. Even Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, a series that started on the PlayStation 2 and had a game on the PlayStation Portable, is getting a simultaneous 3DS and Wii U release while there is no word at all on a Vita game. Hardcore gamers have plenty to look forward to on the less technically hardcore system.
I want to be optimistic for the Vita. I have one and I like it (more than a little because I'm a sucker for Japanese RPGs and between Persona 4: Golden and the classic Final Fantasy games, the Vita has well satisfied me), but as I look at the upcoming release list I'm just not seeing much hope for it. Any notable games are ports or remakes, and there just isn't any compelling new games on the way. Unless Sony has some surprise announcements at E3, I fear the Vita doesn't have much of a future.
If it makes Sony feel any better, Nintendo is shaping up to be in the same boat in the home console market, with the Wii U not standing out beyond the current generation of game systems and in danger of being eclipsed by the upcoming PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's next console. However, no one's going to be dragging their PS4 with them to game conventions, and the 3DS will continue to warm gamers' pockets for some time. Few game companies can claim supremacy over any technical field for decades, but Nintendo is in its third decade of ruling the handheld gaming world. The house that Game Boy built is still strong, and the PlayStation Vita isn't even scratching the paint.
Of course, mobile gaming could potentially change that and finally unseat Nintendo, but that's an argument for another time. Among dedicated handheld gaming hardware, the 3DS stands as the current king.
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