Topic: The Vita Trend

So after the Vita has been out for a while now, I have noticed a trend in the games released for it, as compared to the PSP. Sony continually claims that the Vita is Console Quality on the go (and don't get me wrong, it's a powerful little sucker), and yet all the developers are making "Portable style" games for it. I find this kind of odd because back in the PSP days, developers would do their darnedest to make "Console style" games. Now thats not to say there aren't console quality games, take Uncharted for example, but a majority of the developers are following this trend, and I sincerely hope it stops.

What are your guys' opinions on this topic?

Generally speaking, it takes a while for developers to 'warm up' to consoles and produce content that meets the hardware's limits. Being that it's a new console and the first time many are developing games for it, I'm not at all surprised at the current visuals of many high budget games. Even if Uncharted is a very good looking game; I expect to see better down the line once it becomes more familiar to devs.

Kotaku posted a very interesting article about the Vita, and how Sony screwed it up. Basically, great machine, mishandled.
While I don't agree with their opinions on Uncharted: Golden Abyss. They make some very good points regarding lots of Vita owners opting to play more PSP and PS1 games they missed rather than full Vita titles.
I had a PSP and a PS1 one, so that wasn't really my experience with Vita- I went for many great full Vita games. It's a shame though that the FPS killer app wasn't there at launch (and still isn't). But the Vita has plenty to offer, but in a gaming landscape of mobile gaming and backwards compatibility demands- Vita is struggling to make an impact.
It's a shame, as I don't think there's anyone out there who can really make a case for the hardware being bad in anyway. Even the OS is very good.
Sony should have assigned their best (first party) studios to be working on Vita games well before the system launched and assaulted the market with a dozen top tier in house retail releases at least.
I tend to put in every other post here that I think Killzone Mercenary will be the system's saving grace for the PlayStation faithful, though it could struggle to attract those with no experience of the franchise. That's where CoD was meant to pick up new trade, unfortunately, no amount of well meaning forum chatter can change a Meta score of 32%.
I think (sadly) the Vita will never really meet the 3DS in terms of sales and popularity, probably not even the level of the PSP. It's a great system, but being handled inconsistently.

I still say that the Vita is missing the kids market, and that 80% of hand held gamers are kids.

Its price point (also factoring the cost of a memory card) keep it well out of the realm of something I would buy for my 12 and 9 year old.  The 3DS is much more attractive from a cost standpoint.

i don't even think it's aimed at the kids market, which is a bit of a problem.

All of the advertising is aimed at late teens-adults. Which is fine, but those are folks who probably already have a primary system. So the trick really needs to be convincing them that a portable, high end, high price system is worth it.

While a lot of 3DS advertising is aimed at adults, Ninty is cashing in on the grown up, family with kids market that it pretty much created with the Wii and pushed along with the DS.

Sony has great hardware, no denying that, just a bad marketing team.
It took hacking teams to push the limits of the PSP and when word got out you could emulate ps1 (before it was available by Sony on psn) and gameboy games on it, CFW/modding/hacking fanboys snatched up PSPs left and right.

As far as price, have you felt how cheap the plastic is on a DS. I wouldn't drop more than a $100 on something that feels cheaper than the flip phone I owned a 5yrs ago.
find it on Craigslist for half the price and ill consider just for Pokemon time wasting.

PS vita is a great handheld console.  playing AC Liberation as she's playing AC III on the 360, the difference is barely noticeable.

I agree with a lot of what was said in this article. The price of memory cards in particular a major problem. If you just want to buy the system, download lots of games/ music and films then the cost very quickly becomes prohibitive. I also think the price of downloading games is to high, although Sony are not the only company to make this mistake.

What I disagree with is lay all of the blame at Sony's door. In my experience the best Vita games are the first party games. Wipeout, Uncharted, Gravity Rush, LBP and Playstation All Stars are all quality games and among the best the system has to offer. Apart from Playstation All Stars all are exclusive to the vita. That isn't to say there haven't been disappointments from Sony, most notably Resistance and Modnation. The third party output has been a lot more variable. The good third party games have tended to be ports such as Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom, Rayman Origins or the recent Need for Speed Most Wanted. Third party games built from the ground up for the Vita have often been a disappoinment. I admire Ubisoft's ambition with Assassins Creed but the final product was flawed. Call of Duty and Ridge Racer were the worst kind of quick cash ins. I think third party publishers have to treat the vita with a little more respect.

That being said, its down to Sony to save the Vita. A price drop and a couple of big game announcements can't come soon enough.

My hope is that if/when there is a significant price drop, there are some 3DS-esque freebies for the early adopters ("Ambassadors").  I won't hold my breath though.

My only fear is that other people are afraid and completing a self-fulfilling prophecy. I love my Vita and always pick it up before my 3DS these days. People need to stop being negative and just buy the dang thing for its great current library so that devs commit to working on the future library.

This is pretty much how I feel. People are just looking for reasons to dislike the Vita and it always seems like sales is the only easy target.

I'm not worried about the future of the device because we are still seeing a stream of excellent games even if some of the AAA games aren't all that we expect. It's not uncommon for sales to struggle at first for new devices.

I wanted a Vita at release day but I felt it was a bit unsure. A ended up picking it up in September some time and are having a blast. 3 drawbacks for the system are in my opinion. # Price, needs to get in the same price rage as the 3ds # Memorycars , WTF way to expensive. # Where is the multilayer game everybody needs?

I think the multiplayer in WipEout 2048, CoD:D, Hot Shots Gulf, Need for Speed Most Wated, Ragnarok Odyssey, Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed, PlayStation All Stars Battle Royal, and LittleBigPlanet Vita are all awesome multiplayer games on Vita.. and those are just the few I have sitting next to me at the moment.

What genre do you feel is missing? I'd like to see a racing sim (Gran Turismo Vita!!!!!), a coop FPS, TPS, RTS, MMO (PSO2 soon), and I'm looking forward to Ratchet and Clank Full Frontal on Vita as that multiplayer is a ton of fun.

I personally feel a good horror game is missing, thats why i am playing a psp one at this time. To be honest I have all games I need. But I just want the Vita succeed. It is a great system and needs more recognition.

A trend is we need 32gig memorysticks for cheaper and fast!

Well the problem is whether or not Sony promised console quality, it's still a handheld, not a console

I agree about having a solid horror game. I feel that there hasn't been a good horror game in a very very long time. Silent Hill Book of Secrets is a fairly cool game, but definitely not a horror game. I'd like to see a new Clocktower game or some type of portable Resident Evil that lets you use Vita's interfaces to make a more interactive experience (using camera tracking, 'light sensor', etc).

Completely agree here. We also need larger than 32gb sticks. I'd love to see a 64gb (realistically, priced around $100) or even a 128gb stick.

I'm not sure what file system they decided to use/build with Vita but I am worried the limit might be 32gb.

I'd say that given the nature of updatable firmware that memory card readable capacity shouldn't be an issue, still for Sony, the only issue will be the price.

I don't care what it really costs as long as it is a fair price. As it is now I don't feel like thats the case. 32gig memory stick is really the only option to have whiteout having 3-4 memory cards laying around. 4gig memory stick is a joke. I got a 16gig whit my pspgo. Why couldn't you get at least 8gig built in to the system?

The trend is pretty simple to explain. Publisher's need to put games on two platforms with an install-base of about 70 million each in order to make money. The Vita has around a 3 million install-base, give or take.

Now, if you were a publisher, would it make any sense to put a console-quality game on the Vita?

Frankly, I don't even know if pursuing console games in the palms of one's hands to even be something worth going for at this point. If the sales of the Vita are any indication, it's pretty clear that most people don't care about it. Which I find pretty odd in Japan, because you'd think in a place where a lot of people don't have living accomidations to house an HD TV it would be an inticing prospect. But no, it's doing the worst over there.