I sat playing Uncharted on the vita last night, and I thought why did this thing never catch on?

I came up with 2 reasons; Battery life, and size.

I think these were the biggest reasons for its failure. By having a horrible battery life, and a very long size, it completely defeated the purpose of a portable.

The 3ds original not XL, had horrible battery life also, but by turning off the 3d it gave you enough juice for a whole day.

I think the most important test for any portable is the pocket test (can it fit in a pocket unobtrusively), and frequency of charge.

I also think people would have been happy if both these devices decided to used micro usb to charge and transfer data instead of some proprietary plug, thus reducing carrying clutter.

 I won’t even bother bringing up Sony and their proprietary memory cards. Even the PSP Go has a different memory card, from the PSP.

 What say you fellow members, what do you think?

No, it was marketing. The battery life and size are fine for the most part.

Lol no. What you say didn't matter at all.


Check the list of 2013 first party exclusives on Vita and PS3 - there is your answer.

Price (Hidden Costs as well), Competition (Mobile and 3DS) and Game Library (People will argue this, but the selection is limited to a more niche audience) more so I would say.

Size never stopped the PSP.
Battery Life doesn't really stop most mobile devices these day.

I think it failed mainly for marketing reasons and lack of killer games after one year on the market. Personally I never found it appealing because I found that the buttons were extremly small while using it at a gaming store. My hands while not small are not large either and I find the psp extremly comfortable.

A number of things.

Memory Cards: The Vita is pretty costly and getting the memory cards hikes up the price a LOT. It is one of the most common complaints of Vita owners even.

Games: There's a lot of indie games and ports and Japanese RPG's. Not what people expected from what was originally a "home console on the go." Why dont people buy Wii U games? Less good than other versions. Same for Vita. The amount of japan games vs western games can be seen in Japan sales vs western sales

Sony: They've abandoned it.

I think it was more the library and the marketing more than anything else.

"Battery life, and size"

Really? Like, out of all the possible issues, those are the only onces that come to mind? Really?

The main two reasons are cause a) Most of the games on its library are ports b) The memory cards are way to expensive

Okay i just measured my Vita compared to my 3ds.
the Vita is 2 inches longer, and is half a inch taller. bulk is the same.
I also measured the DS lite and PSP go they are the same size as the 3ds, but the PSP go has the advantage due to its rounded corners , giving it a much smaller size.

When I talk about portability, I am talking about putting it in your pocket, and it not being unobtrusive. The vita is completely obtrusive, that it pulls my shorts down on that side. If you toss it in a bag of course this does not matter, but I think this is why casual gamers, and most of society have moved on to cell phones, you can kill time, with games, and web browsing, while keeping in contact with people via text, or calling/video chat on 1 device.
The vita was a beast of a portable but it is a hog on power. I think Sony only validated this by turning the vita into the Playstation TV, keeping it stationary, and connected to an AC outlet.

I also remembered that the Vita, and PSP both were a pain due to it's analog sticks. the PSP go had the slide out design, and the DS's have a clamshell design making it easier to take it out of your pocket, as well as put it in without fear of damaging the analogs.

100x this.