To think, it's failure could have been pre-empted if they'd learned from Nintendo and dropped the price.That's all it would have taken. But no, they wanted to keep this "High end tech deserves a high end price" attitude.

The week before last in Japan, the Vita pushed all of 13 thousand units (The week before that, 15 thousand).

Where as in that same week, the 3ds pushed over 60 thousand and outsold every single console by more than 50%.

I've got a DS and a PSP. It's rare that either get pulled out anymore, even when I travel. It's not that there aren't enough games out there, there are actually way too many games out there. Unfortunately, most of it is just landfill fodder. I'll stick with games on the smart phone and skip the 3DS/Vita era.

Codenamechaz: To think, it's failure could have been pre-empted if they'd learned from Nintendo and dropped the price.That's all it would have taken. But no, they wanted to keep this "High end tech deserves a high end price" attitude.

The week before last in Japan, the Vita pushed all of 13 thousand units (The week before that, 15 thousand).

Where as in that same week, the 3ds pushed over 60 thousand and outsold every single console by more than 50%.

If they simply dropped the price of the memory card, they'd be better off. the system is worth 250, and that's where the 3DS started, but the memory issue for a system that will be primarily download? Awful move.

adamgreeney: Codenamechaz: To think, it's failure could have been pre-empted if they'd learned from Nintendo and dropped the price.That's all it would have taken. But no, they wanted to keep this "High end tech deserves a high end price" attitude.

The week before last in Japan, the Vita pushed all of 13 thousand units (The week before that, 15 thousand).

Where as in that same week, the 3ds pushed over 60 thousand and outsold every single console by more than 50%.

If they simply dropped the price of the memory card, they'd be better off. the system is worth 250, and that's where the 3DS started, but the memory issue for a system that will be primarily download? Awful move.

True. It's probably difficult to say the problems can be pinpointed to one particular factor.

Price of entry is too high for most consumers (Which is what caused the 3ds to lag when it launched), but when you bring in the addition of expensive memory cards (which are necessary not only for a number of games, but also for multimedia functionality as well) the cost of the games (A lot of which are $10 to $20 higher than 3ds games both at retail and downloadable from PSN), the cost of the 3g service (if you got that version, which is $50 more than the base price) then it becomes a non-starter.

And that's not even getting into the problems with the Vita's software. Like how whenever you load in a game, it creates icons on the home screen which, if you delete any of them, it also deletes any content for that game on the system/memory card. And while if you pop a game in, it's icon will bounce and animate, but if you leave it in a while and come back to the system, you'd have no idea what game is loaded in without taking the cart out or trying each game icon.

Or the fact that you can't use the web browser while a game is running. Even the 3ds can do that, which is kinda sad.

In all, the Vita just seems like a system where they threw a bunch of ideas at a wall and used every single one of them without figuring out how to make them work for the consumer.

kingoomieiii: Codenamechaz: whenever you load in a game, it creates icons on the home screen which, if you delete any of them, it also deletes any content for that game on the system/memory card. And while if you pop a game in, it's icon will bounce and animate, but if you leave it in a while and come back to the system, you'd have no idea what game is loaded in without taking the cart out or trying each game icon.

That is the dumbest of all possible ways to implement a system like that.

I mean, really, try to make it dumber. You can't.

It makes my head hurt so badly while thinking about it that I couldn't even type straight when typing that out, I say as my excuse as I look over the numerous grammatical errors I made.

m3000: FTA:
You can't put files on the memory card, because there aren't any card readers for it. Instead, you have to load the Sony Content Manager Assistant on your computer, set folders in the program, then connect using the Vita's Content Manager software and download the files using the Vita itself.
The battery life is short and you can't replace it.
You probably already know about the proprietary USB cable and memory card.

This sounds just like an iPod or iPhone, and those things sell like hotcakes!

/never understood why people use one of those when there are far better non-proprietary alternatives.

Technically you can actually move files to and from an iPod and iPhone through USB without using iTunes. I had one of the old brick ipods with the actual HDD built into it during college and I used it as my flash drive so I could go print out my work. The touches and iPhones work about the same way. They just don't tell you that you can use them like this.

Ugh, I'm waiting for the day that someone comes out with a console that will support 64 player multiplayer or more online for BF3

Error establishing a database connection

I'm supposed to take serious a website that returns this?

181 clicks and the link is farked?

OgreMagi: Error establishing a database connection

I'm supposed to take serious a website that returns this?

Organic Chemistry: 181 clicks and the link is farked?

Link works for me.

keiverarrow: This isn't the first time Sony's corporate culture has doomed what could have been an amazing product, and I'm certain it won't be the last

It's happening to their software too.

Twisted Metal launched last week, and since it's a 1st party IP, the servers are Sony. (Sony SD). They've been absolute crap, with matchmaking errors 9/10 and dropped games. It's cost the game anywhere between 1-3pts in reviews, and will effect sales.

Maybe I'm missing something, but everything that the author of TFA is biatching about is all stuff that Sony lifted directly from the Apple playbook.

i'm taking the plunge and picking one up anyways, figure it'll be a nice addition to my 3DS and iphone gaming time

that said, sony needs to drop the prices on those memory cards, they're attempting to go back to PS2-levels of memory gouging by emulating what Microsoft did with the 360 launch with way overpriced memory - but thing is in both those cases the ps2 and 360 were out ahead of competition and because of the optional memory made them cheaper to buy up front, the Vita is coming out later and is priced higher than even a 32gb iphone or ipod touch if you want full memory

it makes no damn sense, neither does requiring memory but not including something with the system - even the launch 360 with no HDD had a memory card

what sony SHOULD do is make the $250 with 4gb card included, then drop the price of the 32gb to $50, 16gb for $30, 8gb for $20, maybe drop the price of the entry level to $199 while you're at it

It doesn't play PS3 quality games. The games are between the PS2 and PS3.

It's also hideously overpriced with proprietary memory cards and Sony is shafting you out of PSP compatibility so you have to buy your games again on PSN. It's also not compatible with all PSP games.

Sony doesn't get it.

Mainstream Gamers don't want to play living room type games on a tiny screen with bad controls.

I've been gaming for 25 years and I don't want anything to do with the vita.

fark has killed their server

IrateShadow: Maybe I'm missing something, but everything that the author of TFA is biatching about is all stuff that Sony lifted directly from the Apple playbook.

Except Sony has done it in the most backasswards way possible.

Codenamechaz: The touches and iPhones work about the same way.

I don't think iPhones work that way. I have a Nano and an iPhone but only the Nano has an option in iTunes to enable "Mass Storage Device" or whatever it is called. That has never been an option on any of the iPhones I've had, all the way back to the first one.

IrateShadow: Maybe I'm missing something, but everything that the author of TFA is biatching about is all stuff that Sony lifted directly from the Apple playbook.

It's not enough for Sony to borrow tactics that other companies used to great success. They also need to understand WHY strategies like Apple's and Nintendo's were so successful for those companies, and it doesn't look to me like Sony does.

I had an original preordered PSP. I loved it and kept it up until December of last year when I traded it toward the Zelda 3DS. I like my 3DS so far. I've played some fun games on it and my wife loves Nintendogs. I don't see a need for the Vita.That being said the only reason I'd consider buying one is the ability to keep my sports games going while in a waiting room or on travel, but to do that you'd have to buy the PS3 disc at $63 after tax and the Vita card or download for $42. If they ran a bundle for $80 then it would be a better deal.

When they inevitably drop the price of the Vita, I'll consider it. I'd like to play MLB: The Show on the train to work or waiting in the doctor's office.

IrateShadow: Maybe I'm missing something, but everything that the author of TFA is biatching about is all stuff that Sony lifted directly from the Apple playbook.

You are missing something. Particularly, you're missing a fundamental understanding of Apple's business model.

Sony sells technology, Apple doesn't. Apple sells an image. Apple's goal is to make people "feel good" about what they're buying, even if what people are buying is mediocre and stale crap. Apple is very good at that, so Apple gets a pass from its customers on selling artificially gimped and old tech.

Sony, on the other hand, is all about the technology, and that's an objective thing. You can objectively see the clock speeds, memory size, etc. in the things Sony sells. So, at the end of the day, buying Sony or not buying Sony is a simple value calculation.

Nobody buys Sony to be a part of something, so when Sony releases half-assed, artificially crippled crap at a high price point, they get skewered. When Apple does it, people come out of the woodwork to make excuses because they still feel like the image applies. Sony forced people into their mold and Apple molds itself around people.

It's kind of like a cult versus a slave ship. People fall in line in a cult because they want to feel like they're part of the group. That's Apple. People fall in line on a slave ship because if they don't they get beat. That's Sony.

Problem for Sony is, there are lots of dumb people around to be duped into joining cults, but almost nobody is dumb enough to get on a slave ship on purpose.

Mike_LowELL: The market is no longer big enough for two dedicated portable gaming devices and it's still up in the air whether it can support one the way it did five-to-ten years ago. I haven't had a chance to play around with the Vita, but the issue has always been creating a device with input comparable to what you can get on a computer or console, complex input being the value and driving force for good games on those devices. Of course, Sony had to go and screw it up by pushing their proprietary bullcrap into the device and pricing it out of anyone's sensibilities. Oh wells.

I would disagree. The market clearly isn't really there for the venue Sony is trying to crack with the vita. The cutting edge mobile market. Probably aimed at graphics fetishists and people who have to the newest new. But the price point, for the gimmicky features list, low battery life, and long load times, probably means a no.

People also likely judge this system against the 3ds and realize it will price drop when it flops.

What the market does seem to love is kids portable games. Every kid I see traveling or in public has a DS of some stripe. Disposable handhelds almost.

I very much like the vita. That said price is a barrier for me picking it up. Sony will gouge early adopters and in a year I hope to jump in with the first major price drop.

The Vita is a nice step forward in handheld gaming, the 3DS could have been called the DS 1.1. While I'm sure the 3DS will continue to dominate the market, I think the Vita will stick around and do a bit better than the PSP did, only because the 3DS already seemed like old news when it launched.

enforcerpsu: Sony doesn't get it.

Mainstream Gamers don't want to play living room type games on a tiny screen with bad controls.

I've been gaming for 25 years and I don't want anything to do with the vita.

i think people just don't like carrying around more than one device or buying a mobile device just to play games with

the exception is always nintendo, who has a console-gaming-on-the-go device right now in the 3DS

scottydoesntknow: moothemagiccow: I really want the PS Vita to succeed. That way stupid hold-forward for six straight hours/cutscene-heavy/story-poor games like Resident Evil, Devil May Cry and Metal Gear won't dominate the 3DS market. I really want the 3rd person "action" game to die.

You can't read Web pages while a game is paused in the background

Seems like kind of a weird thing to put on the main list of gripes.

Multitasking? That's not a weird thing to gripe about, it's pretty standard among most new devices, and seen as a downside for any new devices.

Personally the fact that I couldn't pause a game to look something up online (like a walkthrough if I'm stuck) to be pretty absurd.

And it's especially poor form when it's something your competition was able to do right out of the box.

PS3-quality games? Meh. When it starts playing (or, more to the point, when devs start making) SNES-quality games, then I'll be impressed.

enforcerpsu: Sony doesn't get it.

Mainstream Gamers don't want to play living room type games on a tiny screen with bad controls.

I've been gaming for 25 years and I don't want anything to do with the vita.

Eh. I'm not sure if I'm a mainstream gamer or not, but I don't mind carrying around my DS or PSP now and am pretty excited about the Vita. Gaming on a smartphone sucks. Touch controls are awful for platformers or anything else that requires you are constantly touching the screen. Fingers tend to not be transparent.

Also, being a second device that you lug around hasn't stopped the 3DS from selling well.

Perhaps I'm the new niche, but I commute on the bus/subway and the Vita seems like a perfect distraction for the 1/2 hour ride each day.

I like my PSP, I just don't use it much at all. Not for lack of games, i just don't carry it around. A shame, really.

The Vita looks nice, but the memory card price is ridiculous and I don't see me using it much. :(

scottydoesntknow: Multitasking? That's not a weird thing to gripe about, it's pretty standard among most new devices, and seen as a downside for any new devices.

...despite the fact that these devices all but universally lack interfaces that allow the user to multitask at all.

Personally the fact that I couldn't pause a game to look something up online (like a walkthrough if I'm stuck) to be pretty absurd.

A feat like that could be accomplished using suspend/save states, and the only difference you'd notice is that when you come back to the game it's in exactly the same state as when you left it. That would be a problem... why, exactly?

Its a shame, I was looking forward to the Vita.

/Who am I kidding. My iPhones been my "portable gaming device" the last few years.
/What it lacks in horsepower and buttons, it makes up for in porn storage.

enforcerpsu: Sony doesn't get it.

Mainstream Gamers don't want to play living room type games on a tiny screen with bad controls.

What Sony really doesn't get is that portable gaming is fundamentally different from console gaming, but that despite this fact it is not inferior to console gaming. There is no "portable gaming ghetto," to use one of Sony's old marketing terms.

This, ultimately, is why Sony fails with its portable systems. It tries to make small consoles, but portable gamers don't want small consoles, nor do they particularly want to play console games on the go. They want to play portable games, and that demands not only a different feature set but a different design philosophy from the Tim Taylor School of Hardware Design.

Nintendo has, sadly, forgotten much with the 3DS: a portable system upgrade that is frankly all about pretty pictures and small-console gaming, not about the portable gaming that drove its predecessors to success. But given Sony's colossal failure to learn from its own mistakes, Nintendo may well win this generation anyway, in spite of itself. This worries me, given the swift kick in the butt that Nintendo has clearly begun to need: if they win, they won't get it.

Mike_LowELL: The market is no longer big enough for two dedicated portable gaming devices and it's still up in the air whether it can support one the way it did five-to-ten years ago.

I'm told mobile gaming is quite popular these days.

Whether people have the appetite to fork over $250 for a handheld console after buying a smartphone and a tablet, I think, is another matter.