Sony's NeoGeo Pocket's (PSP2/Vita) business/non technical ramifications talk

So does it really have only 256 MB of RAM?

Nobody knows. It is a rumor that is still floating around there and is fuelled by Sony's determination to stay at $249 entry price, but I think we won't know for sure before TGS.
 
Did they say anything about LTE support rather than 3G?

Seems like 3G latency wouldn't work for say racing online in a Vita version of GT or the multiplayer on Uncharted. If you're relegated to playing on Wifi, then what is the mobile radio for?

LTE will consume too much power. Same reason Apple doesn't have it in their devices I guess.

3G will be great for web surfing, Qriocity, and other slow games. If I get a Vita, I will most definitely get the 3G version since my iPad doesn't have one.

If they want to experiment further, I remember Microsoft talked about asynchronous gaming where some players are on slow devices/network while the others are on the fast ones. So may be sync'ed intermittently but update the local states quickly ?
 
I know I'm enjoying playing 'Diplomacy' on my Android phone a lot.. and that game has 24 hour latency for moves. ;-)
 
Yeah... Shuhei mentioned that they are looking into these secondary apps.

For Sony, their high level intention is clearer but the execution is less clear. For people who only want "good enough" games, attract them via Playstation Suite. For core gamers, use dedicated Playstation devices. It seems that Kaz Hirai and Howard Stringer don't really care if their customer interface is a GoogleTV, Android tablet/phones, PS3, Vaio, Vita or something else. They want to serve all of them via PSN.

I suspect this is why Sony keep focusing PS3 on core gamers. They use other avenues to attract casual gamers.

At one point, Kaz Hirai's organization tried to sell eBooks on iOS too, but Apple shutdown that path. Not sure what they are up to next.

Confirmed by Kaz:
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/3514...pletely_Different_Market_Than_Smartphones.php

Sony Corp.'s deputy president and SCE Group CEO Kaz Hirai believes PS Vita isn't in direct competition with devices like Apple's iPhone and iPad, and recently shared the company's strategy in tackling the growing mobile market with PS Suite.

Though the past couple of years has seen the rapid rise of gaming on smartphones and tablets -- resulting in many consumers abandoning dedicated handhelds for mobile gaming -- the executive argued that PS Vita won't be threatened by that trend.

"We're catering to a completely different market," said Hirai in an interview with The Guardian. "I don't see the PS Vita being in direct competition with smartphones and tablets."

He added, "However, I do recognize that that's a growing market as well, and that's why we announced the [PlayStation Suite] initiative where we are bringing the PlayStation experience to Android-powered smartphones and tablets."

The PS Suite program, introduced by the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play last month, is a framework allowing certified Android-powered devices to download and run PlayStation content released by Sony.

Execution becomes slightly clearer since Apple loosened their policy today. But still a big headache because (I reckon) the Playstation Suite approach will take up more resources than they expect. Also looks like PS3 and Vita will continue to focus on hardcore gamers for some more time.

Original Guardian link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/08/e3-2011-sony-psn
 
I would have guessed that by a guy standing over their shoulder filming them play it. 'Probably' region-free is probably good news, though.
 
Well I can state for certainty that they've lost some potential customers as a result, who'll turn to tablets for their portable media and occasional entertainment. This is a daft backtrack on the path forged by PSP, IMO.

I'd bet (probably no more than a nickel) that a subsequent revision will have video-out. Maybe when their 'buy this game twice' strategy fails, or maybe when the next PS is announced. At that point the concern of cheaper Vita games stealing customers from the PS3 version will probably be buried (if it is even a real concern).
 
Well I can state for certainty that they've lost some potential customers as a result, who'll turn to tablets for their portable media and occasional entertainment. This is a daft backtrack on the path forged by PSP, IMO.

I am disappointed too, I will still be reserving one for launch however. FWIW there seems to be a lot of talk on message boards/forums about VITA, people seem to be excited about the hardware and the price. I'm curious what the final memory footprint will be, if they manage to ship it with more memory than PS3 I will be happy. I'd also like to know what the internal storage spec is, the PSP Go had 16 gigs but Sony hasn't said anything about VITA's memory footprint - anything less than 8gigs is a disappointment. Any thoughts on what we might see WRT to memory (both system and storage)?
 
Well I can state for certainty that they've lost some potential customers as a result, who'll turn to tablets for their portable media and occasional entertainment. This is a daft backtrack on the path forged by PSP, IMO.

I agree ! The FAQ says "No Video out" but it doesn't say will not ever output to TV screen (wirelessly) though. :devilish:
 
I am disappointed too, I will still be reserving one for launch however. FWIW there seems to be a lot of talk on message boards/forums about VITA, people seem to be excited about the hardware and the price. I'm curious what the final memory footprint will be, if they manage to ship it with more memory than PS3 I will be happy. I'd also like to know what the internal storage spec is, the PSP Go had 16 gigs but Sony hasn't said anything about VITA's memory footprint - anything less than 8gigs is a disappointment. Any thoughts on what we might see WRT to memory (both system and storage)?


Q: Does PS Vita have internal memory?
A: PS Vita is equipped with the storage media slot so that users can choose what memory capacity they want to utilize depending on their use.
 
I agree ! The FAQ says "No Video out" but it doesn't say will not ever output to TV screen (wirelessly) though. :devilish:
Hmmm, it's still unclear.
FAQ said:
Q: Do you have any plans to introduce a video output cable? Will PS Vita have HDMI output?
A: No, PS Vita does not have a video output feature.
Does not have 'video output feature', not 'video output port.' The fact they aren't even suggesting the introduction of this feature to me means Sony are not going that route. Even if they add it later via a peripheral, the harm has been done already. People who could have been interested now aren't. For want of a nail, the kingdom was lost... :p
 
Does not have 'video output feature', not 'video output port.' The fact they aren't even suggesting the introduction of this feature to me means Sony are not going that route. Even if they add it later via a peripheral, the harm has been done already. People who could have been interested now aren't. For want of a nail, the kingdom was lost... :p

If they don't output via HDMI they're not going to do it over wireless. They don't want to blur the lines between their handheld and their console experiences.
 
Hmmm, it's still unclear.
Does not have 'video output feature', not 'video output port.' The fact they aren't even suggesting the introduction of this feature to me means Sony are not going that route. Even if they add it later via a peripheral, the harm has been done already. People who could have been interested now aren't. For want of a nail, the kingdom was lost... :p

Yeah, I am sure video out is far more important than a $249/€249 price point. ;)

Even outside of that context, I think video out for a portable device is a highly overrated feature. I was at my parents place in Spain, and even there now I could hook up my OLD psp to their €300 TV using USB and then play all media on it using the TVs own media capabilities. All other screens that I can think of that don't have such media capabilities have at least 1 device hooked up to them that is far more capable of playing back media on that screen either directly or indirectly (USB) than any portable device I know of.

There has been a brief period where there was use for it and I would occasionally hook up my camera to a TV using old-school video-in. But those days are long past.
 
Good point. The newer TVs and players are awesome that way. I guess if they go that route, they can also use the UltraViolet DRM to authorize playback on different devices (More upsell opportunities for them).

If they want to use Vita as a live camera for PS3 (like in their patent), then they would need a stand anyway.

That means I'll use iOS devices for digital movie playback in my household ! :devilish:
 
Yeah, I am sure video out is far more important than a $249/€249 price point. ;)
Doesn't matter how cheap something is if it doesn't do what you want. $249 spent on a PSV is $249 you have less to spend on a tablet that'll take your movies with you and let you play them on all osrts of displays, if that's what one's after.

Even outside of that context, I think video out for a portable device is a highly overrated feature. I was at my parents place in Spain, and even there now I could hook up my OLD psp to their €300 TV using USB and then play all media on it using the TVs own media capabilities...
That's fair reasoning, but I think we're well away from that point. I don't have a media enabled TV, no-one I know has, and there wasn't one when I last went on holiday. You also don't know what formats the TV will support or what the qulaity will be like, whereas we know PSV could be an awesome little player. If Sony are thinking it's a redundant feature, then I'm thinking they're mistaken. :p
 
I won't consider buying one until it has a TV out for media playback and possibility to game on a bigger screen. I've had enough of companies spending resources on "intelligent gimping" of their own products, instead of actually making them better. This thing would be too good with a proper TV-out and Sony thinks it would lead too much in to non revenue generating user behaviour.

They think they have the leverage to gimp it, I hope that's not the case. I quess they'll make a new model with TV-out once they make profit on hardware alone, we'll see how well it stacks against the competition at that point.
 
I'm ready to dismiss any and all arguments that are not cost related. Debug units already have video out I think. If Sony can afford to do it, they will, and who knows they will decide to put it in at the last minute. Much better than having to remove it at the last minute, I reckon.
 
Well they have convinced me that it's not going to be included anytime soon. Great if they do include it, but it's my opinion and I'm pretty sure of it, that leaving the TV-out out from the machine is a cold and calculated business decision and not because the TV-out itself costs any meaningful amount to include. They don't want you to buy a cheap and powerful portable media player from them, rather they'll sell one of those tablets they are coming up for that purpose.

While I understand that decision, leaving out what I personally see as a must have item in this sort of product is a let down of epic proportions. It's artificial gimping for better product placement for them, while pissing in the face of the customer. I'd rather have them cut anything else. I don't even care if it only has 256MB of RAM if it had TV-out. I'd rather see and pay 399$ for a TV-out version than 249$ for one without.
 
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