No parent will just go to the store and buy COD for their kid unless their kid asked for it.
Parents usually buy Nintendo products for their kids unless they are told otherwise. Parents know Nintendo is family friendly.

ESRB

E - For Everyone. These are the only games that are "safe" for kids and are free of nudity, violence and sexual content. These are for made for kids although anyone can enjoy these games.
T - For Teens. Tend to be violent and have some sexual content.
M - Can be very gory, have lots of blood and violence. Nudity is also becoming really common this gen.

What did Sony do wrong with the Vita?
Its an extremely powerful portable device at an affordable competitive price. It has dozens of games at launch!

What is there to complain about?

NOPE. This is the real deal.
Let the word of mouth and the AAA games release before you create your d0Om threads.

PSP vita has a few issues:

1.  All their AAA games are Console-like port games, it didn't help the psp I don't think it will help the vita.
2.  No monster hunter, huge lost on its only "unique" portable game that the japanese market liked.
3.  Still expensive, after a game and memory card its over 300 bucks.
4.  Substitute products: cellphone/ipad/iphone/android/  of course nintendo.
5.  Losing out on "family/kid" demographic.  (Let's be honest here, parents will buy nintendo if they don't know anything about games when they enter a gamestop.)

You are a hardcore gamer and of course it will appeal to you but with this generation, "casual market" Is also A huge chunk of the market that psvita doesn't appeal to.

This.

A - It isn't affordable obviously.

B - Its main competitor is much cheaper.

C - Monster Hunter 4 is being made for the competitor.

1. It's got a few gems but yeah it needs more new ips or atleast psp sequels, still a better launch then 3DS which is only now getting decent games (10 months later)

2. That's not really an issue it'll get a psv game and really only matter in japan it can explain this weeks numbers though 

3. 3DS wasn't much cheaper when it launched and it is a good deal for what you get

4. 3DS is the only issue here and how is this an issue with the psv? 

5. They never had that demographic and had no way of getting it and frankly the games are better that way. 

I'm talking about the psvita issues, not 3Ds. You are trying to make this into 3ds vs psvita thing.
3.Didn't you just prove my point because the 3ds launch price was high thats why they need to discount it in order to succeed? And "what is a good deal" Is subjective, the price point and sales proved it wasn't working until nintendo drop the price.
4. ?? All these are "portable devices" that can substitute portable gaming devices. 
5.  And thats why its an issue?  It needs the casual market.  I don't see why having a console that craters to everyone is bad market decision, look how well xbox is doing with kinect. 

To be really frank I think it'll be a less of a surprise if MediaCreate missed out adding a "0" to the back of the Vita numbers.

I think the real issue here is between PSP and PSV themselves. PSV clearly had a pretty strong launch lineup, though a little inferior to Nintendo's offerings at this point in time.

But I think the real thing which killed the PSV (other than consumers being afraid of another 3DS situation earlier this year) was its predeccesor, and PSV's rather obvious lack of backward compatibility when physical media is concerned.

The PSP had a bloody impressive range of games for consumers to choose from (which were still largely based on physical media), but for old owners they can't really play these old games on the Vita, so they might have decided to hold on for a while (till the Vita lineup gets impressive) before they jump the wagon.

If they jumped now, to play those old games, they'll have to lug around 2 consoles OR to rebuy them in digital format at discounted prices. Plus not all PSP games can be rebought on the Vita (major publishers didn't join in the Passport program thingum).

Till then, they still have their PSP to tinker with (together with that library of games).

Frankly speaking, the lack of backward compatibility killed the Vita. This'll probably last till Vita's library grows to a decent size. Furthermore, other than the so-called killer app Uncharted 3, nothing really is a must-buy-or-die game. As fanciful as the Vita's other apps and functions are, the main core mechanic which drives a console is its games.

So that being said, Vita's graphics and a few killer apps VS PSP's plethora of games, well that gives little reason for owners to switch to the Vita atm.

Price wasn't really an issue, since the 3DS also launched with the same pricing and sales weren't this screwed up for the first few weeks (Week 2 for 3DS was 200k), unless the phobia (all because of the 3DS) still lingers...

It all boils down to PSP vs Vita, and how Vita can kill off its predecessor who's still stealing its limelight. Not really of a 3DS VS Vita issue here imo.

1. All things are relative

3. Not quite subjective when the thing is selling near or less then cost. Also way too soon to call it.

4. None of them can, phone games are flash games at best. 

5. Nothing caters too everyone, and massive amounts of advertising is the only reason kinect got anywhere.