Would a PS Vita HD refresh work?
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Still fine with two devices - it's like having a backup device, and a double battery pack all in one. 
I'm just hoping that enough gamers and developers are smart enough to realise its greatness. The sounds coming from gaming podcasts at least seem positive. I really have a feeling that the PS4 may provide a good boost for it. It will have cheaper games that target both PS3 and Vita on the one side, and benefit from Wii U like integration with PS4 on the other.
I'm just hoping that enough gamers and developers are smart enough to realise its greatness. The sounds coming from gaming podcasts at least seem positive. I really have a feeling that the PS4 may provide a good boost for it. It will have cheaper games that target both PS3 and Vita on the one side, and benefit from Wii U like integration with PS4 on the other.I do agree that a PSV HD would be a bad idea, the PSV is already too fancy and overspecced with the matching impact on price.
It also have the issue that it is not kids proof (or for not that careful users), Nintendo design which protects the screen and lot of the controls is a lot more sturdy (/superior).
I still don't get why Sony did not copied that, even Nvidia got that right with the shield (though they ended up with that pretty dreadful form factor with "the shield".
Anyway the PSV is a bad product too imho, I tried it it oozes with quality that is not the issue, the issue are the one I mentioned above + the fact that imo it shipped at the wrong time (should have waited for 28nm), form factor and sturdiness is inferior to what Nintendo does (I mean I would never buy a psv vs a 3ds for a +5years old even if the price are the same), it is to expensive.
Overall it makes me sad (as I think handled comes handy and I see no compelling product on the market), I wish Sony would have given Nintendo a run for its money by providing a properly design system launched 150$ that offers way better perfs than Nintendo offering, Sony can do that.
It also have the issue that it is not kids proof (or for not that careful users), Nintendo design which protects the screen and lot of the controls is a lot more sturdy (/superior).
I still don't get why Sony did not copied that, even Nvidia got that right with the shield (though they ended up with that pretty dreadful form factor with "the shield".
Anyway the PSV is a bad product too imho, I tried it it oozes with quality that is not the issue, the issue are the one I mentioned above + the fact that imo it shipped at the wrong time (should have waited for 28nm), form factor and sturdiness is inferior to what Nintendo does (I mean I would never buy a psv vs a 3ds for a +5years old even if the price are the same), it is to expensive.
Overall it makes me sad (as I think handled comes handy and I see no compelling product on the market), I wish Sony would have given Nintendo a run for its money by providing a properly design system launched 150$ that offers way better perfs than Nintendo offering, Sony can do that.
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I disagree about the sturdyness. The analog sticks are a great buffer, and the screen is flexible. There are no weak components it seems (the 3DS does have parts that are weak, buttons that damage the screen when closed, etc.). The screen is flexible and is hard to break. I don't even have a screen protector and I have a five yo kid, but I trust it with him no problem. In that respect the PSP is pretty sturdy too - I still have both of them, one of them survived falling into water while playing, and my son still occasionally uses them for watching a movie. And the PSV seems much better built than the PSP (which would eject some stuff when falling sometimes, like the battery or the memory card, and the PSV would never fall flat on its screen).
That is possible, but the PSV at least doesn;t look that sturdy with the matching impact on potential buyers. I've never owned a PSP, but the friends that had it all had it in a casing protective thing, I would not feel confident to put it into a jeans pocket.
I believe that Nintendo design is superior, I also believe that Sony would have make that design even superior (using overall higher quality component vs Nintendo money pinching).
Another thing I don't get is timeline, they were not in an emergency to launch, why launch just ahead of 28nm for example.
If I look for example at those chip Allwinner SoC, that use by the way 40nm lithography, there is not disputing it that the PSV hardware is superior but was that worse the effort Sony put into tweaking it seems A9 cores and the GPU? I don't think so.
But with 28nm around the corner as well as A7 cores and superior GPU IP, I think Sony would have been better of waiting a bit more and should have relied on pretty off the shelves building blocks.
A7 perfs per cycle are not that far from A9, they are more power efficient, cheaper to produce, scale up to 8 cores.
In the same vein I wonder if extra ram may have served the system better than extra processing power in the long run. I would have traded some processing power for extended battery life (I wonder if they could have gone the same way as Nvidia in this regard as there is more to the shield form factor than the type of batteries they are using, I think they wanted it to feel like a proper controller + it needs active cooling, etc.)
Anyway I don't really like it, the controls are too tiny for me, I think the back touch screen is close to useless (~). Though I would have bought a fold-able design that sells in the 150$ and that built quality and overall perfs meets higher standard than those set by the 3DS.
The fold-able design would have allowed for bigger control, they got the touchscreen rigth but I think that a stylus would have come handy (copying Nintendo again but I mean there is no point on passing on something because the competition got that right).
I am afraid you cannot be more wrong.
The PSP is probably one of the toughest (unruggedized) gadgets you have seen. ^_^
It was used as a military training gadget at some point. The Sony sales guy flung the PSP at a wall to demonstrate its toughness. It held up and continued to work.
The Vita and DS are more fragile. I have/had them.
Same point, without digging for extra information, it doesn't look like it to you average costumer (/me in specie).
Anyway there are other advantages to Nintendo design and if as I stated Sony could have made it better all the best
The point is that the PSV doesn't sell well, the 3ds is disputable with a lot of the sales being done in Japan. At the same time, I'm not sure the the handled market is shrinking that fast, for your average core gamer like me ( could be described as occasional core gamers, we are a lot
), I would think that the lack of compliant devices is not completely irrelevant to the fate of handled.The 3ds lacks a second analog stick (/ugly add-on...) and even for me is not good enough, the PSV is too good on some aspects not good enough on some others.
I believe that the hardware on sale is quiet relevant to the dynamic of the handled sectors, I no longer think that it can conveniently put on the raise of phones and tablets, though handled have a set of requirements to meet on the raise, 150$ seems the max price one can ask, now people are use to pretty big screens, they are use to extended battery life, (I put aside the look sturdy), the control have to be damned good (imo 3ds is not ok for modern games without a second analog stick, and the layout of the psv makes it that the controller are quiet constrained).
The market is not adressed properly, on the other hand I think that Nvidia may do even worse though their business model at this point is unknown.
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Nintendo simply refresh the DS line with 3DS and be done with it. ^_^
Their unique titles are the selling point. Not the hardware.
3DS fell flat until they drop the price, and the hit games arrive promptly.
IMHO, Vita suffers from an unclear vision. System-wise, it is actually very high in satisfaction (except for the clumsy and expensive mem cards). Software wise, it has enough but is being weighted down by bad marketing. It is difficult for a non-Vita gamer to understand or appreciate its value. That is the first and foremost question they should address, more so than pricing.
Their unique titles are the selling point. Not the hardware.
3DS fell flat until they drop the price, and the hit games arrive promptly.
IMHO, Vita suffers from an unclear vision. System-wise, it is actually very high in satisfaction (except for the clumsy and expensive mem cards). Software wise, it has enough but is being weighted down by bad marketing. It is difficult for a non-Vita gamer to understand or appreciate its value. That is the first and foremost question they should address, more so than pricing.
Looking at sales in the West the 3fs is far from doing great, Nintendo no longer makes money on the hardware or in not significant quantity. It is another case where I tryly believe that a more proper design would have got them more costumers.
Well I don't agree, you have kindle,Nexus and quiet some other compliant devices selling for the same price or less, handled are toys they have to be priced as such, I think Sony overshot it by 100$ bucks.
Do you mean a Nintendo Android Tablet ? (or a Sony Android gaming Tablet for that matter)
Usually when you talk about price, you need to specify the target audience and the value proposition at the same time. As long as Vita is targeting core gamers, it is unclear if dropping price alone will help. A lower price will have implication in Sony's profit & loss. The Japanese price drop had a boost, and it's on its way down again (perhaps to a slightly higher sales average, not gangbusting).
They should look at the picture holistically from content creation to end user benefits. PS4 RemotePlay may help, but probably insufficient in the long run. I don't think they need to tie Vita to PS4 solely. It should be useful in its own right (e.g., Working with PC, Android and iOS; new gaming concepts, exclusive content and deals, ...).
That said, Sony should be able to find other avenues to reuse/extend the Vita base design. Vita as it is right now can only be appreciated/understood after you own one. That's a hard sell.
The price drop was tied with the release of Phantasy Star Online 2. I've seen people try to make this argument before: a price drop without any promise of major new games makes no sense. I think far more people are offended of Sony trying to charge $100 for what must be a $25-30 worth of storage (if that). When you see a 64GB microSD card sell for $50, it's hard not to just go
I have roughly 0% interest in the 3DS because of the completely shit hardware in it. If Nintendo had put some at least semi-decent powervr graphics in there, I would have at least considered it. But not with that bad joke they're using now.
The price drop was tied with the release of Phantasy Star Online 2. I've seen people try to make this argument before: a price drop without any promise of major new games makes no sense. I think far more people are offended of Sony trying to charge $100 for what must be a $25-30 worth of storage (if that). When you see a 64GB microSD card sell for $50, it's hard not to just go
The memcard, and the PSN account switching hassle are indeed a drag. They should have bundled a card in every unit sold. And allow users to switch card without the initial confusion/limitations. But the damage has already been done. I heard they fix the account switching in 2.1x but I haven't verified it myself.
PSO2 sold very well with the price drop. But one title is usually not enough. It will appeal to some gamers, not all. Even for PS3, it took a series of great titles and creative indie ones to establish a following.
That and the 3DS is a bulky, top heavy brick. I bought one, stupidly bought a bunch of digital games (tied to the hardware, ugh), and returned it when I realized it's not what I wanted. It's sad that my Vita gets no love from developers because I absolutely love the hardware design.
Eh ? Only one feature needed ? ^_^
I guess SMS or WhatsApp would be nice.
Sony will stack more and more games on it. I hope they craft a unique identity for the device. I like it more than the PS3 at this point. Hope they make a Dark/Demos's Souls game for it.
Is Soul Sacrifice out in US ?
I guess SMS or WhatsApp would be nice.
Sony will stack more and more games on it. I hope they craft a unique identity for the device. I like it more than the PS3 at this point. Hope they make a Dark/Demos's Souls game for it.
Is Soul Sacrifice out in US ?
No I mean a more serious GPU and CPU and second analog stick, something a "core" gamers would more seriously consider for Christmas @150$. But Nintendo is Nintendo anyway I gave up having expectations for them, though Sony is different.
Are core gamers (or occasional core for a lack of better word) buying at this price, no. The target audience is obviously people that play games, they obviously doesn't want to pay that price (same for the games).
Low volume has an obvious impact on available games (/Sony has to help in some way).
I think that core gamers means pretty much nothing (/ it is a moving target depending on who you speak with, we need proper wording on the matter, I'm not sure how marketing people classify "us") most of the people that I know and that are playing video games (more than often PC, but a few had a ps360) play core games in a pretty occasional fashion, definitely not the type that play tenth of hours a WE, still they more often than not they enjoy the same games as core and hardcore people, casual is not a correct way to describe them as casuals more than often means people that play social, party games, etc.
Back to the point, occasional gamers and casuals depending on the word you use, are the bulk of the gaming crown, they do not spend that much still thanks to their fair numbers they are significant to the industry. The handled market mostly no longer reaches them, whereas phones and tablets paly a part into that matter of fact, I think that it is a bit of a one side view of the equation and that somehow absolve the console manufacturers and editors alike of their responsibility on that matter.
I think that handled market shrink that fast is because first the 3ds is not that much of a compliant device from a hardware pov and from a software POV, to some extend I find stupid that some editors invest (loose money) on games played for free on FB or some phones (may be that approach is worth a try though I fail to see how you can really sustain that, it is a stupid race to the bottom, anyway...)but did not considered significantly lowering the prices of the games on devices on which people used to spend money to play games.
If means lowering the content quality so be it => you have no choice anyway but to adapt to the market are aiming at.
Now the editors reaction could be to some extend be sum up as such, OK I can't scale back the cost of my game so they sell significantly cheaper (say just above the price of a BRD) so their answer is we give away the game for free or move to a completely unprove market and business practices... Weird to me.
For me it somehow implies that too potent hardware is not a match for that market (where on should have tried to drive price down), but there is a middle ground, I don't think that Nintendo is there, Sony is past that point imo (/overspecced). Not too mention that Sony wrt parts is a costumer for Sony which does nothing for the price of the device (still it is much better than what Nintendo does).
Overall it is a pretty sad matter of fact, I changed my view from quiet some months ago (I just go a decent smart phone and was over optimistic about the whole gaming potential of those devices), they definitively bite into the handled market, but I see no proper reaction from Sony which positioned the PSV not for the core gamers but hardcore gamers and with a beefy budgets for gadget (+the games).
Nintendo does its stuffs let say.
Sorry it is indeed a hard sell, I don't think that it will make Sony any money. I see no reason to buy one at this price, Sony would have to lose quiet some money to sell it @150$ When the PSV will reach that price its power will be a fraction of what tablets provides, it is not good.
The market analysis they made before considering the product, its BOM and market positioning was failed. That is pretty indisputable, now my take on the issue could also have gone wrong too, still I think that once it will all be said and done it will be tough to argue that in front of the market disruption and threat the mobile devices presented, handled manufacturers even tried to adapt to those new conditions.
I suspect Sony will keep Vita focused on the core gamers for a long time. These people may pay slightly more $$$ and more consistently for a focused gaming experience. If they want to target other users with Vita, it may be easier to reuse Vita guts in a mainstream form factor (like a tablet).
It looks like Sony will have to build Vita's value over time; like how they built up PS3's library painstakingly for the past few years. PS+ helps to increase Vita's value and utility but it won't differentiate Vita. Besides the exclusive Vita games, they will need to find an identity for Vita. e.g., If it's supposed to be the best Gaikai client, then they may want to run Gaikai server on Macs and PCs as well (so Vita can be used "everywhere", even beyond pure gaming). If they want Vita to be cutting edge, then it better work with Occulus Rift and other VR headsets. If Vita want to be the king of mobile gaming devices, then it should work with iOS and Android games as well (perhaps as their local server even). So on and so forth.
At that point, hopefully they have lowered the BOM cost enough to go for a sustainable and substantial (enough) price drop.
It looks like Sony will have to build Vita's value over time; like how they built up PS3's library painstakingly for the past few years. PS+ helps to increase Vita's value and utility but it won't differentiate Vita. Besides the exclusive Vita games, they will need to find an identity for Vita. e.g., If it's supposed to be the best Gaikai client, then they may want to run Gaikai server on Macs and PCs as well (so Vita can be used "everywhere", even beyond pure gaming). If they want Vita to be cutting edge, then it better work with Occulus Rift and other VR headsets. If Vita want to be the king of mobile gaming devices, then it should work with iOS and Android games as well (perhaps as their local server even). So on and so forth.
At that point, hopefully they have lowered the BOM cost enough to go for a sustainable and substantial (enough) price drop.
Technically, the 3G version has a phone number and can receive SMS (arrives in operator messages) and there are websites with which you can send them.
But yeah, they could definitely consider getting a whatsapp like client on there. Right now, it does have skype, but not the chat features, so there seem to be some business/technical considerations going on on that end.
I've used Skype a few times on my 3G as an emergency phone, and that worked quite well (also together with my iPad as a video baby-sit device once or twice, so I could make sure my son wasn't drowning in the bathtub and could talk to him while upstairs
).You sound like such a responsible parent!(also together with my iPad as a video baby-sit device once or twice, so I could make sure my son wasn't drowning in the bathtub and could talk to him while upstairs
(Sorry, didn't mean to derail the discussion. Nor to insult Arwin's parenting skills.
)