I remember saying that the 3DS struggling at $250 was not a particularly good sign for the PS-Vita and many people "defended" the PS-Vita talking about how great of a value it was ...
I think the lesson of the DS and 3DS is that individuals value a portable gaming system at somewhere between $150 and $200 regardless of the features and components of the system; after all, the initial price of the 3DS could (partially) be justified based on what people were willing to spend on a DS-Lite when the 3DS launched and yet people were unwilling to pay that much for it.
On top of this, I have noticed that the market for electronic gadgets has become a lot more competitive at the $200 to $300 range since the 3DS launched. Fancy ebook-readers/7-inch tablets are starting at the $200 range and there are (often) 10 inch tablets that are now $300, and there is a greater number of smart-phones that are showing up in this low price range with/without a contract. While I think that tablets are in their infancy, and have a long way to go before they're practical, I think a lot of parents may be more willing to spend $200 on a Kindle than $250 on a PS-Vita if they're given a choice.
With that said, I wouldn't be surprised if the PS-Vita does better at $250 than the 3DS did; but I think that price-point has been demonstrated to be not particularly good for a portable system and the market has shifted to make it much less attractive in the past few months.
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