Editorial: 3DS vs. PS Vita - Will History Repeat Itself?

[Mr Khan]

M.U.G.E.N said:

Mr Khan said:

Conservative does not have to mean non-aggressive, just that they're selling consoles the same way they've always sold consoles, which, i noted, is not a bad strategy, there's just nothing particularly new at play here

Nintendo's failures are unique because they are always self-imposed. Make GameCube games, get GameCube sales. Make NES/DS/Wii games, get NES/DS/Wii sales. I'm not of the extreme opinion of some hereabouts that these expanded market games are the only games Nintendo should make, and that there is a value in trying to reach the core gamer, but ultimately if Nintendo wants to win, they alone have the tools to do it, and these core gamer strategies should be supplementary to their primary efforts (which is why i'm more optimistic about Wii U than the Malstromites, as it shows an expanded market mindset just as much as it does a core one, and is not letting their desire to cater to the industry undermine it too much)

Which is not to discount Sony's efforts either. Even if Nintendo's head had been in the game for the GameCube generation, they still would have lost to the PS2 because it was perfectly positioned to own the market, but in Vita's case we've seen the limitations of the PSP strategy, and Nintendo knows what they must do to surpass the bar that Sony has set for themselves

you can't be aggressive with your hw, sw and pricing and be 'conservative'. that just makes no sense.

so far sony have done better than ninty in all areas.

hw: much better value for the price, very aggressive pricing here

region lock vs non region lock

better AR

NEW gameplay mechanics something the ds thrived on. something the psp lacked.

not sure what you mean by we are seeing the limitations of the psp strategy with vita, would love to hear you expand on that. Sony have done much much better than the psp. Very dev friendly, easy connectivity between home console, much better online, new gameplay possibilities not available elsewhere, much better use of game format, lots of NEW IP's, almost no ports (can think of sf vs tekken, not much else), dual analogs which will help a lot in FPS?tps (something that crippled the psp games in those genre), complimenting and combining with other mobile platforms through PS Suit etc.

I think many of you are downplaying what sony have done here and trying to cover up how bad ninty has done with but wait the giant is sleeping I promise scenario. admit it, ninty messed up. sony have done well so far. I fully expect the 3ds to outsell the psv but if you or ninty think it's gonna be the same as last gen you are in for a rude awakening. it's not the same strategy as the psp, it's very different and so far it has been down right perfect!

time will tell in which way sony will manage to ef up, but so far they have outperformed ninty in every way. it really is simple as that. and don't discount sony, though I don't think they won't win and all, they have not shown all their cards yet. Coming year or two will be very interesting in the handheld market

Conservative can have many different meanings. In this case Sony's playing by the book that they wrote, and aggressive pricing is merely part of that book (remember that the PS3 was "aggressively priced" in that they weren't charging you the $800 it cost to make one right out of the gate)

Most of the points you mentioned are either negated by the 3DS or irrelevant to making a top-selling handheld. Sony has shown some innovative uses for the multitouch technology (that demo of Mod Nation Racers was rather impressive), and they could pursue better ends with games like that, Little Big Planet, and Little Deviants. Most of the gameplay elements Vita can produce can also be produced on 3DS, sans the multi-touch, and what you end up with again is something that's better than the 3DS on paper, but that's more or less what the PSP had going for it too. Games that can more closely emulate the console experience, objectively better online, but did any of these features make a difference in the past? Sony could very well have a lead on something if they broaden their thinking on utilizing the device's multitouch capabilities, but otherwise they're going to be in the PSP pipeline

And the whole sleeping giant thing isn't quite the proper analogy. Nintendo has gotten distracted by the lure of GameCube-type game development, something that their developers love a lot but consumers not so much, and it's more a matter of if they get back to basics again, things will change for the better, but them snapping out of their distraction could take some time. Last time they wandered down that path it took them about 12 years to get off it...