It's not a "terrible comparison" because that's exactly what this is. Everyone here keeps passing their 2 bits on how Sony could improve their position- exactly the same way fans of a team argue they can do better than the manager, but what they don't know is what goes on behind the scenes, what's being planned. They just look at the instance and call "end of the world" the same thing happened with the ps3, it happened with the 3DS. Look how those ended up.

Do I think the sales are reasonable? As I've said before and will say again..."I neither know or care." I'm in no position to judge what's best for them, because I don't know the first thing about running a business.

this is my reaction to every "sony is doomed" "playsation is dying" "blah blah blah" threads and articles 

There are many negative outcomes for a console, and not being profitable enough is one of the more mild negative outcomes ... Market failure is almost as bad as it can get, and about the only way it can be worse is if the failure kills the brand associated with it.

Videogame consoles tend to involve substantial up front costs in research and development as well as substantial long term costs associated with marketing the system that are not included in the cost estimates of the system. These costs tend to be amortized over the entire userbase of a system, and are generally recovered from licensing fees. When the userbase is huge these costs don't really matter, after all $4 Billion R&D cost of a 100 Million selling system works out to $40 per system and the $500 Million per year marketing budget is covered if every system translates into 1 game sale in that year; but when sales are low these costs represent substantial losses, after all that same $4 Billion R&D cost works out to $160 per system if you only sell 25 million systems and that $500 Million marketing budget requires 3 or more games per system sold every year.

At the current pace it is impossible for Sony to cover costs on the PS-Vita based on its sales, and the primary way for Sony to increase sales will be to undertake substantial up front losses in the hopes that sales improve.

I am holding off judgement on whether the PS-Vita is heading for market failure until after the Christmas buying season, but if the Vita is below 5 Million units sold worldwide on January 1st it will certainly be in a lot of trouble; and it should be past 8 Million units sold to be in the clear.

I'm not saying Vita is doomed but we don't have to be business men or know what's going on nehind the scenes to know that it is not doing well in regards to software and hardware sales right now. We have tons of handhelds to compare it to.

We don't have to be business men to know what's best for them either. They need software that will move their hardware .

With 3DS we knew the games like Mario Kart, MH and 3D Land  were coming. With PS3, they at least had good 3rd party support thanks to hardware parity with Xbox 360 and the momentum of PS2. Even PSP had Monster Hunter.

The only thing Sony really has  for Vita is an AC and COD and we're not sure if those can do for a handheld what they do for consoles.

I'm not sure why you seem to be in such denial. There is no doubt that Vita is in a bad position at the moment.

Not true. If that were the case, all kittens would be perputually crying

Just commenting to say that I love when people say that console games aren't wanted on handhelds.

Then I think back and remember that if you wanted a good jrpg, reach for the DS.

Sony Problems!

Third Party

Nintendo is killing Sony from knees with taking all that made Sony psp do good in the first place. Monster Hunter was like a stab to one of Sony knees. Plus it seems as things keep on going more developers are having less and less interest on working with the PS VITA. Two factors one it would cost more and isn't as popular. We are starting to see people not developer or make it on the 3ds too. This makes customers say why pay more for a system that has less relevant games and cost more than the 3ds.

Cost
Sony made the same mistake they did last year with thinking bigger means better. Better hardware will equal better sells. The problem is even when the 3ds launch it outsold the vita in it's first few weeks by a good number. I believe the average nintendo3ds game is 30-40 dollars. Your average vita game is 40-50 dollars why would a person want to pay more money on a system when they can have it cheaper. It's called competitive prices. Plus the vita being 250-300 doesn't help. They shot themselves in foot by selling at a lost because now they just have to hope it works.

Bad decisions with First party
Sony has a bad habit of kill the previous generation characters. Only one they haven't was God of War. They killed sly cooper he is back now but how well will he sell when he became an after thought of Sony? Yes, your diehards will buy it but that's not going to get you that 1 million sales. Even Uncharted Sony 3 generation character they love so much couldn't even hit 1 million and it's been out for like a year. Where is sony's Mario selling a million in 2days with Zelda? This is what happens when you make your system around third party and kill off old characters that people love. You have to build your characters up so they have a strong fanbase not make them an afterthought. Imagine if Sly Cooper or Jak and Dexter was still being built up today imagine the following. Where are our psp 1st party creations? This is what happens when you don't build on characters and invest in the future you just get a bunch of random games on a system (Vita). Vita needs to find it's identity because anything else.
Nintendo was smart build there IP aroun there systems. When you think Mario console you think 3d Mario. When you think Handheld mario you think 2d Mario you may not think that means much but it was because of that build you think that. That thought when in a store and you see that mario game you go on I want to get that game on that. You're looking forward to that next game on that console/handheld.
More examples.
Metroid 3ds: Next Super Metroid Wii-U= Metroid Prime
Zelda 3ds"The next Link to Past/Toon Link game[type of game (tog)]. Zelda Wii-U: Ocarina Of Time. [tog]
^ These games are made with the mind of the system and you instantly know when you
play or remember them.

When you think Uncharted do you even have a thought of Vita/PSP?
What about God of War? Not really huh?
What about LBP that looks almost exactly like the ps3 version? Does it kinda just feel like the same just ported over on PSP/Vita which the controls changed and many using some of the feature on it?

This is the biggest problem nobody is looking forward to anything on the vita just hoping for new games. When I got a 3ds I was like "Yea man can't wait to play some Super Metroid and some 2/3d(above head view Zelda." Where you going I can't wait for a Uncharted game that plays the same on my vita?

Gameplay
Give us fun experiences and on the go games we need BOTH! Mario games are your on the go games. Zelda are your train/car ride games. Both are fun and for everyone! We need experiences like that. Please don't give us your leftover ports or games that I can find on my smartphone. Please don't give us games that we usually see on the ps3 give us games that say I'm glad I bought a Vita because I can't play x on the PS3.

If they fail to work on this just let the Vita close and just do the ps3 don't waste people money or time.

I'm not sure what I'm "denying" seeing as I've said I don't know anything. From where I stand, If I had a product and it sold 10k a month, I would be happy, talk less about 40k why? Because I don't know anything about business or what's good/bad.

Although I do know this, the so called experts on here always appear to be shortsighted. They look at the now and think it's the end of the world but never at the long term. 

I remember saying the 3DS was not "doomed" but was willing to admit I knew nothing about business.

So everyone said I knew nothing.

I predict AC and COD and BR will come out and will all go by without much of a kick in Vita's ass, next year will come, more games will come and the stack will begin to build until people finally realise that wait...the Vita actually has a list of good games, maybe after a price cut I'll get one.

I've said it once, I'll say it again "There is no magic bullet", in my opinion, you need several bulletS

I was with you until this.  Sony hang on to plenty of franchises from previous generations:

PS1: Gran Turismo, WipEout, Twisted Metal, Ape Escape, Syphon Filter.

PS2: God of War, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, SOCOM, Killzone.

Now, a few of these franchises don't have a recognisable face at the helm I agree, but that's a different matter altogether.  And sure, Sony do drop some of their franchises here and there, but that doesn't mean they don't hang on to the bigger ones (and even the smaller ones in some cases, which is something I respect about them).

Also, Uncharted: Golden Abyss hasn't been out for 'like a year', it's been out for less than 8 months in Japan and less than 6 in US/EU.  It will hit 1 million over the Christmas period, and that's not counting digital downloads (which could be really high or really low, we have no idea).

You're in denial because you aren't willing to admit Vita isn't selling well. You keep talking about 'not knowing anything about business', when it's a simple matter of looking at the sales of previous handhelds through-out history.  

For Vita to be successful long-term it needs 3rd party support and Sony themselves said recently they are having difficulty getting 3rd party support for it.

I already adressed how Vita is in a different position than how 3DS was a few months after it's launch.

This holiday season will determine Vita's future success, not next year. If it can't start taking off, then how will third parties feel confident in investing in it? By their recent comments Sony seems to be relying on the success of AC and COD to bring in other 3rd parties.

You can stay in denial if you want, but the reality is Vita is selling badly at the moment.