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Forums - Gaming - Prediction: Nintendo and Sony are going to switch places this gen handheld wise.

noname2200 said:
Soundwave said:


I'll agree with that, but at least in the short term, Nintendo is still selling a reasonable number of 3DS units in the West and games like Mario Kart 7, Mario 3D Land, and NSMB2 are selling at least OK, compared to Sony which is selling a laughable amount of hardware and has virtually no chart presence in software in America.

The Mario and Pokemon games can likely get away with it, as can some of their other big hitters like Zelda and Animal Crossing. But I disagree with their strategy of pricing most of their games at higher price points than last generation. I'm thinking specifically of their new Crosswords game ($10 more than the DS version), or charging $40 for games like Style Saavy (sic) or the N64 ports. $40 for a handheld game just feels like a lot to me, something which likely goes double for parents in particular.

See that's one of the Vita's strong points; a lot of the games are not $40. The quick and simple things are free to a few bucks while the last gen style games are $30. Only big (and stupid 3rd party) games are $40. LBP Vita for example is better than LBP 2 so getting it for less than $60 is sweet. But some games abuse this system. COD for vita is $50...



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JoeTheBro said:

See that's one of the Vita's strong points; a lot of the games are not $40. The quick and simple things are free to a few bucks while the last gen style games are $30. Only big (and stupid 3rd party) games are $40. LBP Vita for example is better than LBP 2 so getting it for less than $60 is sweet. But some games abuse this system. COD for vita is $50...

I didn't know there was much price differentiation on the Vita. I just assumed the base price started at $40, and went up from there. Good to know. Thanks!



wvelting said:

I do not believe that the Vita will even acheive the current LTD sales of the 3DS during it's entire life span.  The 3DS is already 18.2Mil ahead of the Vita...the Vita isn't ever going to catch up....Anyone who thinks it will is dreaming....


~19+ mil if you look at Nintendo's financials actually.



Soundwave said:

There is no dedicated handheld market in the West.

Go ahead and try to get an average 16 year old to pull out a game handheld and play in the vicinity of other girls, and see how long that lasts, lol.

With Wii U coming and 720/PS4 hype starting up next year, the Vita is going to end up no different than the PSP was without those initial solid years where it was supposed to the "next iPod".

The West is all about cell phones ... if some one wants to play Call of Duty, that's what their PS3/360 with a 50-inch screen is for.

For the 20-30 minutes the average 15-32 year old male has in free time on the road, texting friends, web browsing, email, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, watching TV episodes, Twitter, (ahem porn), and playing affordable $1-$5 games gets the job more than done.

People who don't understand this dynamic are still stuck in 2004. Times have changed.


That's a really bold statement to make considering your logic really doesn't work in the most of the handheld market. 16-year-old males were never the target audience for handhelds, except maybe with the PSP. And it's always been embarrassing for them to play handhelds next to girls; that's really not a new factor.

While it's true that the Vita is going to get destroyed and there's no teenage male market for handhelds, there really never was (except for the PSP). Handhelds have basically always been for kids (5-12) and a-little-past-adults, starting at, like, 25 or 30. Both of these audiences are really just there for the games and the franchises they're used to (Mario, Pokemon and the like) and aren't likely to quit playing handhelds anytime soon.

Also, it's really funny that you mention being stuck in 2004. You realize that it was a little past 2004 that handhelds really hit their stride and started selling more than ever before?



 

“These are my principles; if you don’t like them, I have others.” – Groucho Marx

Nah. Even if the Vita does get a foothold, Nintendo and the 3rd parties won't stand idly by. They'll send more Western appealing games to the 3DS. The 3DS is pretty powerful, too.



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Soundwave said:

There is no dedicated handheld market in the West.

Go ahead and try to get an average 16 year old to pull out a game handheld and play in the vicinity of other girls, and see how long that lasts, lol.

With Wii U coming and 720/PS4 hype starting up next year, the Vita is going to end up no different than the PSP was without those initial solid years where it was supposed to the "next iPod".

The West is all about cell phones ... if some one wants to play Call of Duty, that's what their PS3/360 with a 50-inch screen is for.

For the 20-30 minutes the average 15-32 year old male has in free time on the road, texting friends, web browsing, email, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, watching TV episodes, Twitter, (ahem porn), and playing affordable $1-$5 games gets the job more than done.

People who don't understand this dynamic are still stuck in 2004. Times have changed.

Maybe thats why I have a hard time getting a girlfriend :/



Even if 3DS does begin to flop in the west, I highly doubt that it will result in PS Vita's sales increasing. Even with games like Uncharted and LittleBigPlanet, which are big sellers on PS3, Vita just can't seem to break out in the US.



I don't know what is more amusing, the OP's predition or the complaints about $40 games.



 

 

I don't think either are going to really get off to a great start in the West.



Dedicated handhelds will be dead in few years anyway.