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It's still hard to accept that Sony left handheld gaming
- Thread starter LongLivePlay94
- Start date
I still use my Vita but mostly to play PSP games. I definitely preferred the PSP to the Vita in terms of software. I had the silver Final Fantasy VII psp, wish I hadn't sold it but food seemed more important at the time.
Sony needs to be 100% in if they make a handheld. They made the Vita and then forgot about it after launch.
The PSP was the only portable system I enjoyed. It had a form factor that I enjoyed playing games on, and it had a library of games that felt familiar to what I had on my home console.
The vita to me felt off, and lacked the type of games I enjoyed as a console gamer.
The vita to me felt off, and lacked the type of games I enjoyed as a console gamer.
Anyone who released a handheld gaming device from 2011-2013, the time tablets went mainstream, didn't see explosive sales in units or in games. That includes the Wii U and its USP the tablet. They just weren't unique enough at the time, and were no longer the only "game" (heh) in town when it came to portable gaming.
I need context, I'm dying here XD
Sony had no choice once vita was jailed
Vita is still my favourite handheld ever. Sony screwed up so damn hard.
Still, I doubt they won't try again. I think they will do something in the future. Not now but later.
Still, I doubt they won't try again. I think they will do something in the future. Not now but later.
Vitas are cheap right now, you can get a Gen 2 model for $120 used. Then you can modify it to work with microSD.
Vita remains my favourite portable hardware. I still use mine mostly as a portable PSOne. It's just a nice size. I prefer the games range on the Switch but the Vita just feels great in comparison. I'm not surprised that Sony gave up on it though- their bigger developers weren't that interested in it and it was a niche business for them, and one that is historically the strongest one for Nintendo. Why continue to try and compete there, when their strength was in the big games for home cinema setups. I'd buy another Sony handheld in a heartbeat but I don't think it'll ever happen outside of streaming devices, the days of having multiple exclusive software ranges on one platform holder's devices are behind us.
lmao this is amazing
Sony had no choice once vita was jailed
although Vita is known for anime games...... ironic considering they're the FBI here
I loved the psp and vita but sadly had too many games on other systems to keep them. I do think Sony could do decent if they tried again, but it's probably too risky
would love to see them come out with something using the Samsung ARM+ AMD GPU chip that's coming
would love to see them come out with something using the Samsung ARM+ AMD GPU chip that's coming
I don't think they are really needed anymore since Nintendo designed a handheld which works well for "home console-style" games and attracts developers who make these games better than the PSP and Vita ever did. I'd love some more features and functionality on the Switch but I can live without that. Or I just use Xbox Cloud Gaming when at home and needing portability. I don't really miss Sony's handhelds at all since what replaced them is better at doing what they wanted to do.
I still love my Vita, it is such an awesome portable device on so many levels.
I bought a Switch to keep having a good, contemporary portable option (I have no love for Nintendo at all). I loathe playing games on a phone, so a Switch is really the only mainstream option with a steady flow of releases. But the Switch isn't exactly a Vita in terms of coolness and flexibility. My old OLED Vita still trucks along after thousands of hours of use where the piece of shit Switch joy-cons broke down after only a few hundred hours tops. Then they were repaired and then they broke again. Absolute garbage. And the system has no browser, no way to put videos on it, no folders and no soul.
Vita is <3
I bought a Switch to keep having a good, contemporary portable option (I have no love for Nintendo at all). I loathe playing games on a phone, so a Switch is really the only mainstream option with a steady flow of releases. But the Switch isn't exactly a Vita in terms of coolness and flexibility. My old OLED Vita still trucks along after thousands of hours of use where the piece of shit Switch joy-cons broke down after only a few hundred hours tops. Then they were repaired and then they broke again. Absolute garbage. And the system has no browser, no way to put videos on it, no folders and no soul.
Vita is <3
This. Even if the impossible happened and a new Sony handheld was released I would have a hard time imagining Sony getting behind it in the way they would need to. Sony seemed over the Vita the moment it launched.
I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I'm glad they did. It was obvious they couldn't support both the Vita and PS4 simultaneously. I'd rather them just put those resources all behind their home console than try to split the difference. Plus the handheld market was shrinking anyway; hardly room for two big players.
The PSP was cool and all, but I have no love for the Vita despite its nice hardware.
The PSP was cool and all, but I have no love for the Vita despite its nice hardware.
In 2015 youporn did a breakdown of the top searches for consoles called "How Gamers Get Down With YouPorn".
Gif was posted in response.
It's funny, the story is that DS line defeated Sony's handhelds, but the Switch is much more in the PSP/Vita tradition than it is in the Gameboy/DS line.
I would love a new Sony handheld, but it doesn't seem likely. I wonder if they would ever put out a streaming accessory. I'd love something that had a 7 inch OLED screen, side buttons, and would just run remote play from my PS5.
I would love a new Sony handheld, but it doesn't seem likely. I wonder if they would ever put out a streaming accessory. I'd love something that had a 7 inch OLED screen, side buttons, and would just run remote play from my PS5.
They had a good shot with PSP, but DS was just bigger and more successful, more imporatly , regardless of how well the hardware units sold, PSP software sales were poor, and 3rd parties gave up on it. Vita proved they couldn't sustain both a home console and a portable , same problem Nintendo had but even worse since Sony is much more reliant on 3rd parties.
It was the right call to focus on 1 device for both companies.
It was the right call to focus on 1 device for both companies.
Whoa, are PSP batteries hard to come by these days? I had to get a replacement a few years ago and eBay was full of 'em!
True irony of history. Waiting for someone to do a recap of the 2000-2020 console history to take this angle. Switch is indeed very much a successor to the PSP credo. If it was called the PlayStation Switch I think lots of people who poo poo it would be onboard 110%.
It's a genuine shame there isnt more portable competition. But Sony was stretched thin with trying to keep up with two simulationious platforms and Vita clearly didnt get the focus.
Also Smartphones have cornered the market, but it annoys me that we dont get proper AAA mobile titles except for like once a year.
Also Smartphones have cornered the market, but it annoys me that we dont get proper AAA mobile titles except for like once a year.
Fwiw the back touchpad as a component cost them less than four dollars so I don't think that had to go. It's legitimately just a standard sized capacitive touch panel without a screen behind it. The 3G Vita 1000 unit was however clocked as costing somewhere around $160 USD to produce iirc so your price suggestion isn't completely unrealistic if they were willing to loss-lead. I don't think Micro SD was ever realistically in the cards given the piracy problems the PSP had, but even just having 8GBs of storage built in out of the gates would have made a massive difference. 16GBs would have been wild.
Giving the Switch Vita analogue sticks would be a 110% upgrade.
I loved my PSP and my Vita was played a LOT (granted, small indie games and VNs a lot, but still). I'm actually remote playing 13 Sentinels on Vita every now and then currently. Switch is becoming the Vita replacement for VNs and small indie games, so it's mostly OK but I do like my Vita quite a bit. Motorstorm RC is amazing.
Fair enough, I always saw the back touch as a superfluous feature even if relatively immaterial to the overall cost. I seem to recall the PSP Go having 16gb onboard storage so I think at least that amount would have been feasible for the Vita, especially had they ditched the OLED for a more mature LCD panel ( yes, 'dat OLED' purists will frown on that but it was just one of those features where a degree of conversatism would have probably been better). They wanted to cultivate a healthy digital platform and forcing customers towards expensive proprietary cards was 1000% the wrong way to go about it.
The Vita probably ranks up there as one of the biggest gaming disappointments for me. It didn't even have A/V out like later models of the PSP (probably due to the PS TV), or Bluetooth controller support like the PSP Go.
Hey, Change your avatar! lol I saw this post and thought I was drunk posting or some shit 😂
JK you had the avatar before me :P
Sony made better handhelds problem is they didn't put the same effort first party wise Nintendo did for their systems.
It sucks, PSP was top tier and Vita had potential. I agree with the observation that PSVR sort of replaced them as PlayStation's supplementary platform.
PSP was actually more a direct continuation of the GB line. It's DS that diverged and Switch is something of a return.
My favorite systems ever (can you tell?). Would love to see Sony's take on a Switch concept. And then they can unclose Cambridge and Liverpool to make Killzone and WipeOut for it, perfect. Nope I'm not salty at all.
Lack of L3/E3 bothered me more, especially since on my Vita 1000 the sticks literally could be pressed down as though they were clicking.
Lack of L3/E3 bothered me more, especially since on my Vita 1000 the sticks literally could be pressed down as though they were clicking.
Smartphones didn't kill the Vita, Sony did. They seem to have a big cultural issue internally where their major first party teams don't want to work on handheld games.
Sony will never be replaced in the handheld space. It's not the same without them and it never will be.
I agree with you that Tearaway is amazing.
The thing is : Tearaway is not amazing because it's a portable game. What makes Tearaway different of Tearaway Unfoldeld is not the fact of it being made for a handheld is the fact that the Vita had gimmicks that weren't present on PS4.
I don't have a doubt that ND or SSM could deliver a great Vita...but it would be a better game, Vita's gimmicks aside, on PS3 or PS4.
There is nothing that portables brings to the table, again form factor aside, that can't be better on home consoles.
So while I agree with you that yes they could deliver great games and yes they could find success I feel like from a gaming perspective these games, even being great, would always be limited from a hardware perspective since the nature of handhelds.
Nintendo doesn't find trouble in this because they left the hardware focus a long time ago. This is a route I'd never like to see Sony taking.
Dedicated handheld consoles are dying. No matter what.
In my humble opinion this is simply a result of the increase in development costs and time.
Handheld consoles that exist as a companion along larger "big" home consoles are dead. There is no way around it. You cannot keep up the notion that both are getting amount of attention. Since they are both in a different performance class you can't just port stuff over.
Hence you have to choose which dev does what. This mainly results in the handheld getting the B-teams, which is immediately noticeable for the consumer. Especially now, when you cannot alternate between consoles with large studios because there is already insane development times and incredibly large budgets. No, ND would never touch the Vita or a successor. They can barely make 2 games in a generation.
The result is less than stellar spinoffs of big franchises that are great on the home console. I can't blame the devs for this. It's just that the these companions hardly have any real killer games.
Killer games can be made by these smaller B-teams, but not on the budget and AAA style the Vita was running on. It worked for Nintendo because they were never playing in the Vita category in terms of scope and technology. There is a reason indie games are the best thing on Vita.
Maybe a console that doesn't try to be a small home console could work. Much like the DS and Nintendo handhelds. The problem is Nintendo already has a lock on that market and Sony started the PSP exactly in the opposite corner. That was somewhat feasible back than but it is definitely not feasibly now.
A great solution is what Nintendo did with the Switch.
TLDR: Sony PSP style handhelds are not feasible and won't ever come back.
In my humble opinion this is simply a result of the increase in development costs and time.
Handheld consoles that exist as a companion along larger "big" home consoles are dead. There is no way around it. You cannot keep up the notion that both are getting amount of attention. Since they are both in a different performance class you can't just port stuff over.
Hence you have to choose which dev does what. This mainly results in the handheld getting the B-teams, which is immediately noticeable for the consumer. Especially now, when you cannot alternate between consoles with large studios because there is already insane development times and incredibly large budgets. No, ND would never touch the Vita or a successor. They can barely make 2 games in a generation.
The result is less than stellar spinoffs of big franchises that are great on the home console. I can't blame the devs for this. It's just that the these companions hardly have any real killer games.
Killer games can be made by these smaller B-teams, but not on the budget and AAA style the Vita was running on. It worked for Nintendo because they were never playing in the Vita category in terms of scope and technology. There is a reason indie games are the best thing on Vita.
Maybe a console that doesn't try to be a small home console could work. Much like the DS and Nintendo handhelds. The problem is Nintendo already has a lock on that market and Sony started the PSP exactly in the opposite corner. That was somewhat feasible back than but it is definitely not feasibly now.
A great solution is what Nintendo did with the Switch.
TLDR: Sony PSP style handhelds are not feasible and won't ever come back.