Khuutra said:
Dodece said:
Khuutra said:
Sounds like a good strategy for a console game killer app.
Sounds like a terrible strategy for a portable game killer app.
The Vita needs portable-specific games that appeal to huge segments of the market, not experiences which are demonstrably better in every way that counts on consoles. Positioning the Vita as a console stand-in will only lead to ruin.
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The problem is that everyone does exactly what you suggest. You have Nintendo, Laptops, Smart Phones, and Tablets all offering the same experience. What we have now is a glutted market that also happens to be a buyers market. Since everyone is giving about the same experience the one with the better priceing, or the one that serves as multiple devices will have the decided advantage. Unless the Vita can distinguish itself by pushing some envelope the others are not able to do, or cannot do effectively.
The way I see things is Sony can have a particular game, but the competition can sometimes have three or four answers to that game. What Sony needs are games the competition cannot answer, and have a long enough play life to offset the costs. What Sony needs is games that equal out to three or four games on any of the other platforms. I am not saying they dump the candy, but they need to offer up more of a main course.
For the price Sony is charging the Vita does need to be more like a console then your typical portable. If someone on the go is going to fork out that kind of hard cash. They are going to expect a premiere experience to be available. One typical game is not going to offset the price differential. Unless that game is so huge in its approach that it can offer up a solid hundred hours. Hell Sony needs games that big to offset the library size differential.
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This is a sound idea except that portable games must be portable. The most successful portable games are always games where significant progress can be made in the space of minutes, even if they're many, many hours long (Pokemon being the best example of this). The only portable phenomenon I can think of off-hand that didn't meet this criteria was Monster Hunter, and it benefited from ad hoc local multiplayer functionality, which is still an intrinsically portable feature in this day and age.
The PSP was positioned as a console replacement at the start of its life in the West. It didn't help then, and I have trouble believing it will help now.
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Everyone tends to support this arguemnt but I actuall question it. Look at the best selling games across the 3DS/DS, the most important factor is not how "portable" they are but how much casual appeal they have and the only games selling big numbers on the 3DS are selling the same amount on the wii (mario kart, zelda, mario 64). The psp was a big success and has sold more copies then both X360 and ps3, its couldn't match rhe DS's sleas becaus it appealed to a smaller demographics. The DS outold it not because its games were more "portable" but because its key games reached out to broader dempgraphics with incredible marketing campaigns; Nintendogs, Brain training, Animal Crossing and Professior Layton.
Also most games can be enjoyed in short spurts (RPG's tend to be the exception), but I think success is more a case of attractive marketing and appealing to the mases. I actually doubt that majority of portable gaming in the west is done on public commute as opposed to in the living room, in the garden and in ones bed or car. This is just based off my own experience, Even at the hight of its success, i rarely saw anyone in public with a DS. And I know that when I bought one, the big selling point was actually being able to play games confortably anywhere and not having to segregate myself in my room in front of my TV. I've rarely ever played any of my handheld systems on public transport ( I find it uncomfortable and would rather just listen to music) but I have on long car and coach jouneys.
Anyway its 2012 and i think its pointless trying to focus on a audience who only want a 5min distraction on their way to work, Smartphones now dominate that market and there is no way to compete with them.
Bringing a strong selection of big titles is what Sony needs to focus on. It will secure them 40-50m unit sales of the PSVita in the next 5 years.
