Official Playstation Vita Thread - Page 22

Here's the breakdown in material costs:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...vita-worth-230

According to this estimate, that's roughly $160 in materials. But once you factor in large scale production, those costs actually decrease (and continue to decrease over time). You can also figure a bit more per device when you factor in things like actual production, overhead, marketing, distribution, etc. Tough to estimate at that point, but we can safely assume that Sony is making a profit on every device. That's also why they're not too worried about selling a ****-ton right off the bat. And they're watching Nintendo take a major hit to revenue because they're now selling the 3DS below cost.

Makes me think Sony won't bother with a price drop. More likely to see a game + memory pack in with an improved feature set. But if sales outside of Japan are also starting to fall, then Sony will have no choice but to do a price drop. March figures weren't great, but they weren't horrible either.

Sony spent years saying that they chose higher revenue over a larger market share on the PS3.

The more I think about it the more I think a Vita price drop is not in the cards. People are expecting it because the 3DS dropped but it's not the same situation.

if vita sales don't pick up by holiday season, i see sony abandoning the system. Its bleeding money for them and they're already deep in the red.

Wouldn't make sense to have a price drop in the first place. IMO I don't think a price drop would do much for it. I think the main issue is the same that was said before it launched. Where does it fit for me in comparison to a tablet or/and a smartphone I already own that provides me with games and more. It is the issue of being a third wheel.

I'm the odd one out... i have no need or want for a ipad. When I'm at home I use my laptop, no need for a crippled pc. Do love my Vita.

A price drop will allow Sony to kind of "re-launch" the Vita, so to speak. Assuming they also introduce a new marketing campaign and some huge game announcements.

I don't understand why people compare the Vita to tablets and such, yet the 3DS never is compared to those things. People talk about the smartphones killing the Vita, but it's not killing the 3DS. The Vita is an OUTSTANDING piece of hardware, and it also has a very nice lineup of games. The only thing holding it back is price and marketing. Sony needs a $199.99 Vita that includes a 4 gig memory card and a voucher for a free PSN game (Stardust or Mutant Blobs). I will be shocked if we don't see an announcement along those lines at e3.

I believe they're selling Vita at profit, not loss. Adding a memory card and PSN voucher while keeping the current price-points is more likely than a pricecut, but I seriously doubt they're going to abandon the system until they've at least gotten some more games ( Resistance, Silent Hill, Gravity Rush), and fleshed out the features( PSone/ PSP support,Remote play).

How do you do a "re-launch" on a just launched system that is less than 6 months old? E3 is coming up as far as game announcements go and as far as advertising goes they can't afford a huge campaign. They might as well take a price drop vs putting the investment on a new campaign on a just released system that was advertised for the Core audience.

Over 20 years of Gameboys and DS vs 7 years of PSP. Nintendo garnered towards the whole family. PSP to the "hardcore". Sony's initial campaign made it clear who the Vita is for which was to a small demographic. Maybe the advertisement should have made the device more diverse than what they made it out to be along with a diverse amount of games.

It isn't even just just the comparison to tablets and smartphones but Sony's issues are with their own products. You have a starting price of $250 for the handheld before the memory card option compared to a $250 PS3 and a still selling PSP. What advertisement are they going to do that is going to show the consumers outside that core audience why to buy a Vita? How do they fix that in Japan? Too many options on the market.

Exactly. Even if 200k in March sales isn't exactly great, it's enough to make it worthwhile. It's being sold at a profit, and Sony clearly isn't spending much to market the thing. As long as those numbers stay consistent, there's no reason to abandon it.

The bigger issue is how to convince publishers to bother with the platform. While the device itself might be profitable for Sony, it's not selling well enough for publishers to put in much effort. We've seen nothing more than a few vague hints of big games coming to the platform, but nothing solid yet. In the short term, that's not a big problem, but in the long term, that could be a recipe for failure.

They need to show people that the Vita is damn near having a portable PS3. Never before in history have we seen a portable game system that could have games look so close to their console brethren. Fifa Soccer is so close to the PS3 version (Fifa 11). MLB Baseball is so close. Wipeout looks like a PS3 game. Hot Shots is perfect. They need television and print ads that show this off.

Certainly, those are the older games, but they need to hit with plenty of TV ads for Resistance, Gravity Rush and Little Big Planet.

Sony should advertise games like Rayman Origins on Vita. They need ads that target different demographics. They need an ad for kids that shows off ModNation Racers, Rayman Origins and Little Big Planet.

100% agree. The Vita is bucking the trend of past PS consoles( consoles in general not named Nintendo) by being profitable from the get-go, and that's dandy for them, but 3rd party publishers want to see a healthy installed base before devoting the resources to Vita game development. Especially with the cost of producing games nowadays.

I think this time of year is generally lean for console sales anyway ( post Christmas/spring/summer). We'll have a much better idea of where the console stands heading into the holiday season when the things I mentioned earlier are in place ( more games, features, yadda yadda).....in the meantime Sony is probably content to pick up as many sales as they can at its current price-point. But as you say, that's a pretty fine line as developers are certainly paying attention to those monthly sales figures.



This is a fair point. Just about every console both home and portable, including the Vita's predecessor, came with storage space. Pretty dimwitted having Vita buck that trend, particularly given the card pricing.

Your asking them to do what they already advertised it to be to the core and now your saying they need to basically spend more money to advertise the same message, but to a broader audience?

What more can they do with ads that they are already doing that you think will make a difference? Resistance and LBP are not COD/Halo advertisement material. All they can do is the norm ads. Are you thinking they promote it with Legos for LBP and Energy drinks for Resistance is going to make a difference in sales? Even then your expecting a parent to spend $250 plus on an already expensive device that they expect their 8-12 year old to take care of? All this after advertising already this device isn't for them to begin with. Your asking Sony to send mix messages thru advertisement which creates an identity crises which takes itself out of the competition of other products it is already competing with directly or indirectly. All within a year.

They stay the course because they already put themselves out with who this device is for which is one of their biggest mistakes advertising it the way they have already.

you guys forget, maybe they might make a profit... but if they sell like few thousand a month it doesn't make sense to spend money to make games for. Making a high production original games are expensive... if they don't sell enough studios lose money.

Sony was smart not to include any built in memory. If the Vita had included 4gig of built in memory no one would need to buy a memory card for the entire year of 2012. I foolishly bought a 32 Gig card and have filled it with almost 3 Gig of downloadable games. At the rate Sony is putting out games for the vita it will be 10 years before I need to buy a new card.
I'm not sure I wan't to keep the system anymore. It's been fun an all but I saw that Lego Harry Potter is comming out for the IOS for 5 bucks. E3 Vita better show working complete games comming out soon or I'm trading in the Vita at Game Stop for an Itunes card.

No. That strategy didn't work for the PSP and won't work now.

In fact I don't even know why Sony even breached the topic. I see absolutely no indications that people want a portable PS3. It's been said a million times. If people want to play PS3 games they play a PS3. Most people just drive to work and back. They're not playing a Vita behind the wheel. And if they are, I hope they get arrested.

The only people that care about a portable PS3 already know the Vita exists. Probably most of them already bought one.

Sony needs to come up with compelling reasons to buy the system on its own. Not that you can spend hundreds of dollars to get a decent replication of a system you already own in a form factor that doesn't integrate into your life.

It's too bad they launched with that junky NetFront browser and lack of services. I think their best shot is to market it as a kind of cheap tablet-ish device with amazing games. But the poor browser and general lack of features/apps hurts it.

Oh and: the PS3 is just a slab. If my favorite game is Killzone, I'm not gonna buy a Vita just because it's like a portable PS3. It needs a Killzone game.

The difference is that the Vita is capable of continuing existing PS3 games using the same save, streaming content from the PS3, and playing across the two devices. Unfortunately, Sony is slow to roll out those features, and they've made cross-platform saves/play cost prohibitive for most people. Worse, publishers seem unwilling to play along with Sony's great idea.

Meanwhile, Nintendo (with the upcoming Wii U) is inching closer and closer to pulling off what Sony's been unwilling or unable to do.

1. Enjoy your Harry Potter with a "virtual" thumbstick and buttons.

2. As for trading in your Vita for an iTunes card, please for the sake of all unborn babies, don't do this. At least if your going to get rid of your Vita, sell the thing to another gamer. Don't get raped by GameStop.


My son has a 4th gen Ipod Touch, and he has all the latest games on there, but none of that stuff interests me. My son thinks I'm crazy, but I always tell him that if there isn't real buttons, I'm just not interested.



Well, to me, the PSP is closer to an original Playstation in terms of power. I don't really think a PSP compares to the PS2. With the Vita, it seems VERY close to a PS3. At least to me it does.




Who in their right mind wouldn't want a portable PS3? Look, I've never really been into portables before, but with the Vita, I'm totally addicted to it. Also, I don't commute, so I'm not playing it on a train, or bus or anything like that. I'm playing it in the comfort of my own home. Why don't I just play my PS3, if I'm in my own home? Well, that's a good question, but it's kinda a complicated answer. As I'm getting older, and with two kids and a wife, it's hard for me to find the time to plop myself down on the sofa and get into a long, drawn out, console game. The only time I can do this, is if the wife and kids are gone, or if they are all asleep and I'm using headphones. However, with a Vita, I can bounce from room to room, making sure my kids are doing their homework, brushing their teeth, etc, etc. Portable gaming has become a God send, just within the walls of my own house. I'm able to get short bursts of gaming in, here and there. A few Wipeout races, 9 holes of Hot Shots, a few innings of an MLB game. One level of Uncharted. It's just much more convenient for me to fire up the Vita, and play something real quick, instead of going thru the whole process of turning on the TV, and stereo, and changing the inputs, and waiting for the machine to boot up, etc, etc. Then, somebody else needs the TV for something.

That's why I normally don't even try to play console games until everybody is asleep, or if they are away from the house for whatever reason. With the Vita, I don't have to think like that. I can game anytime, anywhere. (within reason)

I'm sure there are other people in the exact situation.



You'd be surprised how many people are walking around that have NO idea the Vita exists. I'm talking about gamers too. Ok, maybe not the type of gamers that are constantly checking Kotaku and neo-gaf, and listening to gaming podcasts and whatnot. I know gamers that are seriously into gaming, but they don't necessarily check out gaming websites, or keep up with the latest gaming news. Some of these guys have no clue about the Vita.

http://www.digitalspy.ca/gaming/news...tion-vita.html

Two more Japanese games are being localized for NA. Ragnarok Odyssey and Orgarhythm don't have a release date, but are definitely making their way here.

This describes my situation exactly and why, for the first time, I actually give a damn about portable gaming. I've got the Ipad2, 3ds, and now Vita for short-burst gaming. The days of all-night gaming sessions just aren't possible anymore, as many of my closest friends are in the same boat as me( and I prefer playing with friends than playing strangers online).

Whenever I can get a long session in, it's on the rare occasion when the house is empty. Its also for this reason that my gaming purchases have slowed. I have a big backlog, and I just don't see the point of buying more and more games that will be much cheaper by the time I get around to them. It takes me forever to finish a decent length single-player experience now. Heck, I'm just getting around to Gears 3 and Batman Arkham City, both of which I got around Black friday 2011. I did finish Uncharted 3 since both my wife and son LOVE watching and playing with me. Red Dead Redemption GOTY sits there in its wrapping and......you get the idea. The list is a mile long.

It's just not a situation where I can disconnect myself from my household, my family, and immerse into a game before I have to get up to do something, the wife or son is calling me for whatever, etc etc. Like you said, I can carry around my Vita( or 3ds/Ipad) and get a quick level in without totally disconnecting myself from my family.

So Sony, ahem, about that Ps3 remote play........?

Well said. Short bust gaming is the new hotness, lol.

Hell, I love playing a deep, involved game like Fallout 3 or Mass Effect, but man, hours to dedicate time to that are getting much more scarce it seems. I have to be honest and admit that spending time bumping around the web, or watching shows like Game of Thrones and renting old movies on Blu Ray (Robocop & Universal Soldier), takes a bunch of time up as well...

Only so many hours to go around...

So it seams like Amazon is offering Mortal Kombat and a 4 gig memory card for free if you purchase the WiFi unit.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/dis...reative=390957

OK, I just saw that Best Buy has their own deal going on. Buy any version and get either Uncharted, Unit 13, Mod Nation Racers or MLB plus a 3 month PlayStation Plus subscription.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....at271900050032

At E3, Sony should announce a bundle to include a 4 gig card and Little Big Planet for the WiFi model and the 3G one would be almost the same except for the packed in 8 GB card. At first I was thinking theirs a good chance Sony would do something like that over a price drop but thinking about it further, a $50 price drop wouldn't surprise me but I'll still say packing things with the Vita will be more likely but who knows what Sony would do. With all that said, adding most of what a lot of people are asking for would help a lot such as full remote play for PS3 games, capability with far more PSP and mini games as well as to lower a lot of those ridiculous prices for those games, add full HTML5 support or at the very least a YouTube app and last but not least, increase the bit rate of video recording capabilities. Things such as the GH2 and the iPhone has been hacked to have better video quality and it wouldn't surprise me at all if the same can be done to the PS Vita. I'll stop before I really get carried away.

That's the other side of the coin. Not 'all' of my spare time( as in, time where I could get in a decent gaming session) do I actually want to game. I do have other interests aside from gaming lol......

White is coming to Japan. Hopefully, like the PSP (and unlike the PS3), we'll get some new colors too.

Looks like we will be getting a Demon's Soul type of game for the Vita Yeeeaaahhhhh

DS is my Favorite game this Gen (imported the Korean version months before it was released in NA & paid $70 on E-Bay) and a new IP (Soul Sacrifice) for the Vita in the DS Mode will be Incredible.

http://vita.ign.com/articles/122/1224501p1.html

http://lbpvitabeta.us.playstation.com

Hey guys, LBP Beta is coming soon... apply now if you want in.

Here are some screenshots of Soul Sacrifice:

http://www.vg247.com/2012/05/09/quic...ther-horrific/

I don't get why sony didn't release the vita as a phone. Micro tablet phones are all the rage right now, Vita OS is faster and more reliable than both Android and iOS. Subsidize it as a phone and sell it for 99bux with 2 year contract and sell millions.

Maybe Sony could still come out with a Sony branded phone, that's fully vita compatible. It would be a really HUGE phone tho...

Maybe you should talk to someone at Sony via 3G Skype w/ your vita about it ?

lol.