In 2014, is the PS Vita nothing more than a PS4’s second screen?
The Playstation Vita was released in Japan in 2011, almost 3 years ago. In the course of 3 years, although we’ve seen a few nice games, the device has failed to gather a large audience. The market of mobile gaming surely has evolved since Sony’s previous portable console, the PSP, was created, but there are other reasons that are slowly killing the “psp 2”. In 2014, is it still worth owning a Vita?
Sony announced the “Playstation TV” at E3, which is the western name of the Vita TV. Besides the announce itself, what shocked me is the re-branding strategy that Sony is driving, a clear signal that they have less interest in the Vita than ever.
The lack of strong titles announcements at E3 for the Vita also contributed to the feeling of unease everyone has when we talk about the Vita. Yes, several nice Indie titles were announced, and yes, I loved Hotline Miami, but strong first party support and AAA titles are expected for a console to be successful.
Clearly at this point the Vita differentiating “features” such as the rear touchpad or the rear camera are just gimmicks, poorly utilized (if at all) in most games, with a few exceptions such as Media Molecule’s Tearaway.
In a sense, the Playstation TV release, and I’ve mentioned that before, will drive developers away from “Vita specific” games: if the Playstation TV is successful, developers will want to be on it, ditching the requirements for anything that cannot be played on a regular DS4.
On that subject, as contradictory as it sounds, I believe the “cross buy” functionality between PS3/PS4/Vita is hurting the Vita. Don’t get me wrong, I love that I can get the same game on the go. But it also makes it difficult as a gamer to understand the point of even getting a Vita, if it’s going to just be the “sub par experience when I’m not in my living room”.
I an attempt to save the device (?) Sony introduced the remote play for the PS4 on the Vita, and it’s a cool feature, but it seems to be the main selling point of the device today, to a point that the “PS4/PS Vita” leaked bundle recently sounds like a lame attempt at selling a few Vitas to not get in the red at the end of the fiscal year.
It almost feels that every attempt from Sony at keeping the Vita alive is killing it a bit more each single time: Playstation TV removes the incentive for devs to use the Vita’s feature that are not shared with the Playstation TV. Cross buy blurs the usefulness of the Vita as its own device. Remote Play with the PS4 makes it look like the Vita is only really useful as a second screen or a glorified controller.
I am not pretending to provide any solution here. I think Nintendo have found the right pricing and first party support approach for the 3DS, and Sony made the bet of a “weird controls” device, I don’t think they can easily go back from that. Ironically, it sounds roughly like the same mistake Nintendo did with the Wii U.
Do you think owning a Vita makes sense in 2014, for people who don’t own a PS4?
I’m using it as a wireless game pad to play GameCube and PS2 games on my PC, thanks to the wifi controller homebrew. The most I’ve ever used it, no kidding XD.
Your dead
Rasenshuriken for Madara XD
Ill destroy all of u
F*cking right – why btw
Coz i want to have what belongs to me! All chakra!
i think it just depends on how the gamer wants to play..
for me i just love to play on portable devices and not on the big screen plus less electricity consumption..
but it would be nice if sony, just like on killzone, port some ps3 games on the vita..
if that happens, now thats a different story for the vita on 2014, i guess
You realise that Killzone on Vita wasn’t a port, right?
i bought mine less than a month ago, and apart from being a great device, with incredibles controls and great potential, my plans right now are to play the few games that i want, sell it and get a 3ds. Vita has great potential, but it is all that it have. Maybe if i wasn’t stuck at 3.15 and had a few homebrews or culd play my old psp games in it without spending a small fortune, that would make me keep it and try to hang on a little more. But right now, i made a bet that e3 would bring something good for the console, andi lost it.
I bought the Psvita on Day 1 and the true i never thought Sony would do this to Us ( Psvita Owners)
right now i use my Psvita only to watch Netflix and view Movies and hear Mp3’s, the only game i have
play is Street Fighter Alpha , some of the Psvita games are great, but i’m trully tired of hearing the word
Indie when it comes to Psvita, i was expecting more and i really fill dissapointed,i really hope the Psvita gets
fully hack, not to play ISOS, to play Emulators. i pay $262 and lately i been thinking what if i would have save
this money with a little bit more i would have bought me a new laptop but NO i trusted Sony and this is what i
get i promise this is the last portable from Sony that i buy they can come up with another portable saying that
GOD itself will make AAA games for it and i would say go to heck SONY!.
I also purchased the Vita day one, but I bought it day one for the purpose of having a Version 1000 device for the day it finally gets hacked. Sure I had high hopes for the Vita to be better then the psp, after all sony had a pretty reliable track record on that device, it had some AMAZING exclusives for the system and back when the only competition to it was the then nitche DS. That said, it seems like the original reason I purchased it is stronger then ever, the system seems like a worthless flop for the cash i paid for it and now Im back to waiting for some miracle hack to break open the day one versions so that my Vita can be what it was meant to be, a super powered console class handheld with hopefully just about every emulator up to current gen.
Feel the same paid 350.00 day one and now there just give up on it. Makes me wonder about the company. Will most likely now buy a Xbox One instead of PS4.
The PSP’s success is based on an open gaming platform that makes everyone wants to buy it and it boost its sale.Now on the Vita though it got more potential compared to PSP it seems that it is very much restricted and controlled by Sony to just give them profit and less fun for the gamer.If this device becomes obsolete earlier than it should its because of its barred potential.Just imagine a powerful hero convicted with Billions of Security Locks.He is useless then than an ordinary man.
I’m giving up, I think I’ll trade mine for a 3ds.
Not to sound cynical about the article, but this scene knew about the Vita TV thing months in advance, and even had people work on the scene with it, since the Japanese release, and now cause of the reveal for the western market for it, suddenly now it feels “useless”?
Well if it stayed vita tv that would be one thing, BUT they are changing the name to ps tv… Now that might not seem like a big deal, but it does kind of show that sony is trying to ditch the vita name…. which is sad seeing that the ps vita is an amazing device. Honestly what killed the Vita if you ask me is the obvious hardly any AAA games… Then it would be the over priced piece of junk memory cards (seriously who want to buy a mobile gaming device and not be able to load content onto it???!!) I want to be able to store gigs of music, have a few movies, and have a bunch of games on my memory card! That would make it truly portable, but there is no way i’m going to fork out money for a vita memory card! I will not support that kind of slow *** cards for that ridiculous price! Lastly the psp was hacked from the beginning, so everyone who enjoyed the scene got one! Granted almost everyone has a smartphone now so the need for a portable gaming device has fallen off a cliff. I’m not saying that smartphone games are better, but it sure cut into the casual gamer market for portable devices.. but hey at the same time 3ds seems to be selling fine so i may be wrong about that.
Garretcorn – You’ve hit the nail on the head. Sony does seem to be distancing themselves from the Vita name. Yes it is an amazing device but the high cost of proprietory memory and lack of any AAA titles has definitely hurt its chances. While the smartphone market has expanded that’s not really an excuse and the 3DS drives this point home. It’s purely Nintendo taking steps to ensure the handheld’s relevance. Nintendo at this E3 really made sure they let every one know the WiiU is here to stay. That’s the kind of support the Vita needs from Sony. Now a lot of people say AAA didn’t make a difference in the past citing examples like Killzone, Uncharted, COD, Resistance, Gravity Rush etc but what most seem to ignore that some were pretty badly implemented on the Vita (Looking at you COD and Resistance). What Vita needs is some only on Vita AAA IP’s that are not crippled home console experiences. On a regular basis. The problem with this is the production cost vs the relatively small base. Eventually the Vita needs to be marketed as a handheld in its own right and not a companion device. The Vita has been out for a long time where I live but I’ve yet to see any commercial or any type of marketing. The PS4 on the other hand is well known and mostly sold out as is the case with the PS3.
The way I see it, is that Sony thinks of the Vita as a PS4-companion *mostly*, and the only thing they advertise is just that. Personally, the Vita is a beautiful handheld, but the extreme lack of games make me not to buy it. Sure, there’s Uncharted, Killzone and a couple of others, but what if I’m not interested into those? Not many choices. Personally, at this point atleast, the only game I want to get a Vita for is God Eater 2 (but I don’t see that game getting localized). Well, I’m going to stay with my PSP unless there’s a significant reason for me to buy a PS Vita or a PS TV.
I actually like the cross-buy feature. The only game i use it for is Sly Cooper: TIT, but i like that i can play a game on my ps3 and continue on my vita. I would like the vita to have its own exclusive content, but cross-buy/play will do for now. I just hope they add more AAA titles.
what i think is that the marketing name was just plain wrong.. “ps vita” ..
and btw i bought it on day 1..
but after it’s 1 year release majority of the people take for example in my country.. they didn’t know it even existed!! 😛
but it may be that it is being used as a companion for the ps4.. with the release of the ps4 it was expected that they would not talk much about the vita and concentrate more on the ps4.. what i guess is that.. the next e3 will be more balanced..
right now they are trying to increase the sales of the vita in any way they can! :3
I will wait for tokyo game show
(Yeaaaaah still nothing about west games)
Since PSVita remote play was released, It was clear it’d be its main feature in the market.
I’ve no PS4/PS3 and yes: my Vita has not sense at all in my hand.
I was expecting a great portable console, when I read about the NPG for the first time 🙁
Vita is means less for western audience, but screw that, i can read Japanese and i love vita. There’s no shortage of games in JP store.
and c’mon, 3DS games too mostly comes from east. Not different, just vita games got less chance of localization (not i care anyway)
Wow, I seem like a small minority here. I’ve actually never been bored with my Vita. I got the original Miku VIta imported and haven’t put the device down since. Especially lately, I’ve been having a hard time keeping up with all the games I want for it… It seems like I’m only half done a game when a new one I want is released on the PSN.
I believe I’m the exact target market for this device though. I rarely like AAA titles. I find most to be bland boring hacks. The few I’m into lately are (or will be soon) for the PS4. I get all the indie titles I like (Shinobido 2, Gravity Rush, Ragnarok, Olli Olli, etc), I get the Japanese games being brought to the West (Miku, Neptunia, Monpiece, MindZero, etc), I get all the Japanese imports I like (Last I checked 3ds was region locked), and in the rare case I want to play some AAA titles, I can use my PS4 or remote play from my vita on wifi.
I really don’t get all the hate for this device…
You took the words out of my mouth and said exactly what i was going to. I’m never short on games, and since i love JRPGs, i have way more games than i have time for, and even have a few prordered that i’m waiting for. I gonestly feel baffled when i hear someone say there are no games for it, and i’m still in the middle of Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God, and have barely started Demon Gaze and Mind Zero, Actually i’m not even that far into Persona 4 Golden. I also haven’t even started The Walking Dead that came with my Vita. And that’s not to name all the indies and rereleases (Like God of War collection.) So many games. I don’t understand what anyone is talking about when they act like the PS4 is barren. I just wonder what games people are expecting.
“weird controls"
I don’t know what you mean, the vita has the best controls I’ve ever touched in a long time. The 3DS controls pales in comparison with the Vita’s controls.
I meant the back touchpad, etc… trying to be innovative in that space has proven to not be the best choice. I did not mean the physical controls, which, I agree with you, are very good.
TBH, I think the rear touchpad is just highly misunderstood, both by consumers and developers. Games should not shoehorn in rear touchpad use if it doesn’t add to the gameplay. The most important use of the rear touchpad has been as a replacement for LR2/LR3 buttons. I definitely would have preferred Sony to have built actual LR2/LR3 buttons instead of a rear touchpad, though.
The motion sensing is another example of a feature that can be used both incredibly well or incredibly terribly. The motion-assist aiming in Uncharted is smooth and intuitive and makes me wish that was available on the PS3 titles. And surely Loco Roco with motion sensing could have been something awesome.
The vita has pretty amazing handheld specs and potential. I love the console. Next week I will be buying NFS Most Wanted and I am waiting for Sword art online Hollow Fragment Europe release. The vita actualy has very big collection of nice games but unfortunetely on the japaniese psn store. If Sony localizes God Eater 2, Freedom Wars, J – Stars Victory VS and other – the vita won’t die. If Sony makes Watchdogs port for the vita, or a new Assassins creed the vita will profit. Or if Sony makes Naruto games for the vita ,like the psp it will help the system rise again. One of the major reasons that made me buy the vita was J-Stars Victory VS, the other 2 were God Eater 2 and Freedom Wars. And I bought the vita as a hendheld, not a second screen for Ps3 or Ps4, because I don’t have one. Sony has to do the same “magic” they did for the psp but with console quality, as the promised and the vita is saved.
Ps: I don’t have a psp either, but I bought the vita without having anithing from Sony
hmmmmm
What kills it IMO is a lack of a good PS1/PSP library and high prices. Many of the indie games are just modern takes on old games, and being able to play originals on the go is a great feature. Recently I was surprised how fresh and playable Castlevania SOTN is to this day. But in the age of free to play mobile gaming, and ridiculous Steam sales paying 7 GBP for an old PS1 game is way too much.
Also, why on heck is the PS1/PSP catalogue lacking? Where’s my Colin McRae Rally? Where’s Rollcage? *** Sony get your *** together. Also, why region restrictions?
With subpar catalogue of AAA games, one would think they would push their old gems even more. But no.
dear wololo,
XBOX HOMEBREW
OPENREMOTEPLAYSERVER4XBOXhomebrew2PSP
kinda like remotejoy for psp and pc
i need this
cheers
greets ivo
ps why my messages dont display ?
http://psvitalink.be
I bought my Vita 15 months ago. I loved the Metal Gear Solid Collection and was even thinking of getting more titles from the Playstation Store as I hate to switch discs every now and then. But then.. the prices! Even year old games still get sold for 30 euros. New games are sold for 60 euros. ***?
And still I’m missing real handheld titles. Games that are easily playable on the go. Games like Sonic or Trine or (more Indie) Dust, an Elysian Tale. I don’t wanna play first person shooters on a mobile device. For such games I own a PC. The remember playing the first weeks on the PSP Ultimate Ghouls’n Ghosts (an awesome game!). But today, you only get games that consume much more time and attention, that are mostly made for the big screen.
At the time of the PSP it was pretty uncommon to have such a large and beautiful display. It was not only a mobile console, but also an awesome media player. I had a car mount for it to play my mp3 collection since my car didn’t support mp3 and all my players were *really* slow. The PSP was even a cool movie player, so I could take some movies into vacation.
Then came the big steps in Custom Firmware and I found another reason to use my PSP: Downloading some games I found interesting, but I would have never bought. And all the classic emulators – Mario und Sonic !! In fact the PSP is my favourite Emulation platform still today. The only not-so-great thing is the screen, cause all classic consoles are 4:3 ratio.
All in all the Vita never lived up to its predecessor. Nicer graphics yes, but no great content yet.
Do you not understand,gamescom has always been vitas event,last gamescom we got borderlands tearaway killzone etc
Lets just hope for a good gamescom.
IMO, if they get Monster Hunter and Gran Turismo for Vita, BOOM!!
Yeah I think Capcom wants to test how many loyal fans are willing to wait with the MH G port.
I bought my vita about three months after launch. I bought super collapse and monster hunter to play homebrew and it was fun. I did realize that that is crazy though, I spent over three hundred dollars to do the same on what I already could do on my four psps. Three are 1000 and one is the 2000 slim and all were hacked. After hacking I still bought games for them like final fantasy, which all were sub par for the franchise. The only reason I mention this is the only time I play my vita is for final fantasy ten, which is a GREAT remaster and game. It looks absolutely amazing and again I ask myself is this worth the vita cost with memory stick and game for something I played on pstwo and can play on my ps3? Anyone else feel this way?
I reckon with handheld gaming one of the largest audiences is kids, teens and girls. The current library of ps vita games are mainly aimed at guys and a 18+ audience – the type who like premium feel of gadgets. Of however, the ps vita could launch 3 major games like pokemon clone (unlimitedless hours and collecting and cute for kids and girls), a sims type clone (so creative ppl and females can get hooked and again unlimitless hours) and fire emblem/ff tactics/advance war clone (again huge storylines, hundreds of repayable maps and challenges) this would drive kids over to ps vita. So in short story, longevity of months-years, ability to compete with friends or show of to and cute graphics. That’s why I buy ninty handheld games anyway.
kids games never sold that well in Sony console,their console was always for 18+ audience
People bough a PSP because they was able to play the most succesfull Playstation2 games on a handheld that why best selling games are spinoff of most popular series on Playstation 2,Unlike Nintendo kids don’t want to play on Sony handheld that’s why games like Loco Roco didn’t sold a lot.
People who want indie are happy with the console,people who want japanese game are happy since there’s a lot of indie games and Japanese games but the main audience of Sony handhled didn’t get what they want there’s just a few of late port AAA games that nearly everybody played it already .
Hm. I purchased the PSVita from my roommate when I realized he wasn’t playing it at all and he had a 3DS. I asked myself, “Why would he let a device with such power go to waste?”. As soon as I got it, I bought Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, which was an okay title. I honestly wanted the device for hacking purposes. If one could access the full power of the Vita, we could get N64 running at full speed, but with the firmware updates and Sony upping their security, we can’t at this point. The first hack I got was the Legend of Robot7 VHBL. It was fun, but it wasn’t CFW like on my PSP. Then TN-V7 came out. Changed everything. I have TN-V8, and I love it. Playing Resistance and Dissidia 012 with two analog Sticks is great. Now that The next TN is coming out, there’s something to be excited about with the PSVita. However, I do agree, it needs more big name titles. I’m only waiting for Gods Eater 2 in the US.
with the way Sony handles Vita now, I bet we’ll see GE 2 =/
Ever since I bought a ps4 and bf4 I barely touch my vita it’s just been on the dock charging for so long. I only have 3 games on it which is cod, gravity rush, dynasty warriors,
i have been optimist ever, and i think that everything you list here is good for the vita:
1) vita tv: it will help to sell the psv system, but in another outfit, if sony introduce it as a new console, the people (much like my country, that doesnt have enough money to buy a 800$ ps4 with no games (el salvador retailer price)) if the pstv is well sold, the programmers would get interested on make new games for the psv (but in other subject, the backtouchscreen usage i so frickin useless dude i hate ALL (even tearaway) that use thath function (yup sony it was a stupid idea to give THAT-because i dont know how to call that thing- to our vita systems))
2) crossbuy, is not bad at all it wont stop programmers or people to make (or buy) games, the vita system is capable of good graphics, so if that people can make ps3 games on the vita, it will help to sell, the thing here is that for some reason the vita is not going anywhere on sales, IDK why people prefer the headache machine with two screen and expensive 35h0p games
3) the remote play, well that is so bad, SO BAD, (you said it bro)
si quieres revivir a la psvita deben sacar un GTA exclusivo para ella..
After finishing Guacamelee! (buy this game!) and Killzone (meh) I’ve just been using it as a portable PSX which would be fine if I had never owned a PSP (or two). Waste of money…
Why did they not port over the PS2 library to the psvita? I would have been well worth owning a psvita if it was used as a portable playstation 2! This is just so lame. A system is worthless without game support. Psp plays ps1, why not vita play ps2? What gives? Some licensing mumbo jumbo? So lame. Big shiny black brick. $200?
They need to bring more final fantasy titles to the vita. And Make it exclusive.
And maybe bring back some older titles like crash bandicoot, spyro, tekken, etc. And Make it exclusive.
I owe a Vita only… Before it i owed a x360, but it broke. And i feel good having just a portable console, as i practically don’t play native vita games, but i enjoy playing old psx titles and some indie (ported) game instead, into that lovely screen of vita, it’s a amazing device to me. Unfortunately they’re killing it, that’s true It’s ugly to say but… i think only piracy could make the sales run
I bought my vita a year ago and i don’t regret it at all.
There are a lot of great rpgs coming out on it and even more niche games such as hyper dimension neptunia, Project Diva or danganranpa.
The Vita is in my opinion made for the japanese market, with a lot of great niche games and I enjoy it, even without AAA titles.
I bought my Vita day one, and I have since purchased another for my Japanese PSN account. I even imported a Vita TV, though that was primarily for remote play since my wife regularly watches the tv. I just wish it was easier to get money on my Japanese account for the good games.
The truth is, the Vita, was dead from the get go. It was truly DOA. It’s the biggest failure and the portable half of PlayStation is now dead. You can safely release the hack now Wololo.
Sadly, the only attention Sony ever gives the Vita is whenever there’s a new exploit out, and even then they only pay attention long enough to pull the game from the store until at least the next useless firmware update blocks the exploit.
I really want to be able to use the TN HEN, but unfortunately, the last game I had with an exploit was Super Collapse! 3, and I just don’t have the funds to constantly keep up with the exploited games, even if said games cost a few dollars only.
Judging by pre-orders i think vita tv might actually work, increases the market for the games.
As for me, the two things that’d make vita instant buy are simple – full ps2 emulation and complete hack and cfw that’d allow me to play undubs etc.
Then again i guess i might as well get myself a shield and stream ps2 emulators from pc.
As for incentive for devs to not use a touch aspects – well sorry but there’s no games that’d make me buy a console due to the touch features, sure some were cool etc but it’s more of a gimmick for me, i’d rather have a nice game library that doesn’t use all features rather than a a dead console with few games that use all the features.
Still for now the only way i see ps vita is a device for streaming, and it’s not even ps4 games but ps3 games (dunno how well it works since i don’t have vita) since ps4 doesn’t exactly have awesome exclusive library yet.
Unfortunately, most of the PS3 library is incapable of remote play with the Vita, and Sony’s intending most, if not all, PS4 games to be capable of remote play. Shame really, being able to play Sonic Unleashed on my Vita through remote play would be more than worth the stress of owning what is gradually becoming a glorified PS4 accessory while having no intentions of buying a PS4 anytime soon.
Ouch, seriously, sony has some awesome libraries for ps2 and ps3 and it seems to completely ignore them ;/ I did some streaming for my psp but many games i wanted to stream didn’t work. I hoped situation would be better with ps vita but i guess it’s not so 🙁
I own a PS Vita and I’m very happy with it. I’m a portable gamer and always will be. It’s truly the best hand-held I’ve ever played with. Sure, there are games I’d really like to play on the Vita and of which I’m sure I never will, BUT ………. there are also plenty of really good games on the Vita to justify buying a Vita. Just look at Killzone Mercenary. It’s incredible. KZM alone would justify buying a Vita, because it’s so damn good. I don’t really mind about the controls you’ve mentioned and wouldn’t mind if future games would abandon the back touch pad or the cams. I’ve never needed those in the past for a good gaming experience, so I’ll probably won’t need them in the future either.
It is not, like some say, that Sony sees Vita only as a remote play device for PS4. Remote play is just a gimmick that is being hyped to avoid any additional costs to turn around VITA’s marketing fiasco. Sony has shown that it believes VITA to be a doomed device (hence changing the name of VITA TV to avoid bad connotations) and that it is unwilling to inest into making it a desired device for developers/programmers. E3 was a great proof of that.
Just think how well would the device sell if they have managed to grab a 6 months exclusive of FF Type 0 for VITA. But they weren’t interested in that. So it is going to be released only for PS4 and VITA will drift into obscurity.
Good news! ign.com/articles/2014/06/18/sony-fewer-first-party-games-coming-for-ps-vita
Sony: Fewer First-Party Games Coming for PS Vita, “Sony is planning on indie and third-party games — as well as Remote Play — to support the PlayStation Vita, with less of a focus on first-party games, according to Shuhei Yoshida.”
Bye Vita, Bye Sony.