PlayStation Boss Defends Vita, Slams Social Gaming [Slashdot]

[G-Boobie]

But ipad does not have BLAST PROCESSING!!

Sure it does. There are at least three Sonic the Hedgehog games on the app store.

If you prefer, we can say that the iPad has an equal amount of blast processing to the Genesis/Megadrive.

It may not have much in the way of games yet, but I love my Vita. Gravity Rush and Sound Shapes alone justify the purchase for me. In all probability, it'll go down in history as something of a failure, but then again, so did the Dreamcast and Turbo Duo. Are there proprietary games on the system worth playing? Yes? Then who cares how well it does, unless you're a stockholder or worry too much about what "your hardware says about you as a person".

[Press_Start]

Which market is Nintendo going after and which is Apple going after? And how do you define "small overlap"? If you look at total app use and consumption on iOS you'll see the most popular/most downloaded are video games. Furthermore, Epic, Activision, and Namco were showing off games at the new iPad unveil and Apple's CEO Tim Cook proclaimed it's a "graphics powerhouse."

Doom, Duke Nukem, Quake, Half-Life, Diablo, Starcraft, Team Fortress and jeez how many billions of worldwide subscriptions does WoW have now, huh? Did PC gaming kill off Nintendo, Playstation, or Xbox? No.

Both Apple and Google understand their machines are being used for games and are actively appealing to people who play games. There's more "overlap" than you think.

Good, then release their own brand of game-dedicated Xbox handheld, till then I won't believe for a second Google or Apple are seriously invested in competing against Nintendo.

[Bojay1997]

QFT, Rob.

Any gamer thinking there's a Braveheart epic-scale Mike Tyson ear-biting grudge match taking place between these two (blue facepaint, plaid manskirts and all) are essentially looking for a cockfight with no chickens. Nintendo isn't purposely taking money away from Apple. Apple isn't purposely taking money away from Nintendo. It's a simple fact immediately obvious by the handheld products they sell. Gaming on 3DS is a clear necessity. On iPad, it's a nice bonus as you're watching the Mel Gibson movie marathon on Netflix while commenting your FB status on how you're tweeting the pic of Mr. Mumbles reenacting every Dr. Evil scenes from all three Austin Power movies. Nothing more needs to be said than that.

Although I don't think Sony and Nintendo are in a life and death struggle for survival with Apple and Google just yet, I think you have grossly underestimated the impact cheap mobile gaming has on handheld game and hardware sales. I know plenty of people who bought a PSP or a DS and who haven't yet upgraded to the Vita or the 3DS simply because they are spending more time gaming on their tablets or iPhones or Android phones. In addition, I know many parents who have purchased smartphones for their 8-12 year old kids, so many of those kids are gaming on their phones and have less interest in the Vita or 3DS. As mobile devices get more and more powerful, the advantage Nintendo and Sony will have with dedicated gaming devices is going to get narrower and narrower. Will it kill handheld dedicated gaming completely? I don't know, but as Kodak and many other companies learned the hard way, specializing in an older way of doing something that can be done almost as well for much cheaper is a diffcult business model to maintain.

[RCM]

Doom, Duke Nukem, Quake, Half-Life, Diablo, Starcraft, Team Fortress and jeez how many billions of worldwide subscriptions does WoW have now, huh? Did PC gaming kill off Nintendo, Playstation, or Xbox? No.

And?

Good, then release their own brand of game-dedicated Xbox handheld, till then I won't believe for a second Google or Apple are seriously invested in competing against Nintendo.

Are multipurpose devices like iPad excluded from competing with more game-centric handhelds 'cause they're not exactly the same? That's what it sounds like you're saying. If that's the case, should PS Vita compete for the same market share as 3DS?

You don't have to believe it, but industry members and analysts would disagree that they aren't competing for at least some of the same market share. Don't stop (not) believing, man!

[Flashback2012]

Dinosaurs Dismiss Approaching Asteroid, Claim Nuclear Winter 'Pseudoscience' [Jurasstiq]

Not sure what I can really add to the conversation. I'm not surprised that Tretton is defending his product nor do I think he's not far off the mark saying the social/freemium games are cutting into his sales/profits. I'm sure there is some loss that can be chalked up to Angry Birds and Farmville but I imagine it's other factors such as inflation, rates of exchange, a sluggish economy worldwide, system/software pricing, a small software library, and half a dozen other things that are really hampering the Vita selling like gangbusters.

For me personally, I have far too many other systems I'm buying for and the Vita is just not in the cards right now. My personal reason is system/software pricing. I just can't bring myself to pay $40 for portable gaming, no matter how close they get it to consoles. To that extent, I have a hard time paying that much for console games. Color me a cheapskate I guess.

[Rob2600]

you have grossly underestimated the impact cheap mobile gaming has on handheld game and hardware sales. I know plenty of people who bought a PSP or a DS and who haven't yet upgraded to the Vita or the 3DS simply because they are spending more time gaming on their tablets or iPhones or Android phones.

In theory, you are correct. However in reality, we're still seeing very strong 3DS sales. In fact, even with supposed competition from the iPad and Android tablets, more people have bought a 3DS during its first 19 months on the market vs the original DS (and that was *without* competition from tablets!). Just because the Vita is flopping right now, that doesn't discount the 3DS's success. 21 million units in 19 months might pale in comparison to iPad sales figures, but historically for the portable gaming market, it's fantastic.

Maybe instead of hurting 3DS sales, the iPad could actually be *helping*. Perhaps parents would rather buy their children a $180 3DS instead of a $500 iPad.

[RCM]

In theory, you are correct. However in reality, we're still seeing very strong 3DS sales. In fact, even with supposed competition from the iPad and Android tablets, more people have bought a 3DS during its first 19 months on the market vs the original DS (and that was *without* competition from tablets!). Just because the Vita is flopping right now, that doesn't discount the 3DS's success. 21 million units in 19 months might pale in comparison to iPad sales figures, but historically for the portable gaming market, it's fantastic.

Maybe instead of hurting 3DS sales, the iPad could actually be *helping*. Perhaps parents would rather buy their children a $180 3DS instead of a $500 iPad.

If you look at DS sales per year last decade you'll notice its first year is its weakest. They also didn't substantially cut the price of DS in its first year either. It's absolutely true 3DS outsold DS in its first year, but that's masking a bigger problem.

Also, Nintendo's head honcho paints a worrying picture of 3DS performance in the US and Europe: http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/04/3ds-...ndo-president/.

[BydoEmpire]

I digress though, the best time for gaming was in the 80s

fixed

Fixed for real this time.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I know plenty of people who bought a PSP or a DS and who haven't yet upgraded to the Vita or the 3DS simply because they are spending more time gaming on their tablets or iPhones or Android phones.

I bought a 3DS and Vita (both at launch) and I'm spending about 90% of my mobile gaming time on my iPad and iPhone.

Doesn't mean that I don't like 3DS or Vita, I've supported software sales on both systems both at brick and mortar and their digital marketplaces, but when you have a marketplace on iOS that delivers IMO equivalency (games of similar production value/entertainment quality) at a lower price ($1-$10 average on iOS vs. $30-$40 average on 3DS and Vita) as well as FREE content on a weekly basis ... I find that it's really hard to pull myself away from it.

And the button argument is lost on me. There are varying degrees of how well joystick and button touch controls are engineered and when they're passable I'm completely adaptable to the experience, also, with a rise in the popularity of the devices with a physical controller wanting crowd, we're seeing more devices (iControlPad, iCade, etc.) that handle that need in the market.