I haven’t seen a single person speak about what I think is
the obvious, glaring reason that the Playstation Vita is not doing well. Sony
has got it all backwards in their direction. This entire generation of
handhelds, Sony has said that the Vita is the #1 spot for the home-console
experience on the go. They’ve touted “cross-play” and “cross-buy” games, which
are playable on both the Playstation 3 and the Vita, just to emphasize the
point. But that’s the HUGE, GLARING, OBVIOUS problem, and I haven’t seen one single Playstation gaming site talking about it: People don’t want the home-console experience on the go; they want the portable experience on the go.
The best handheld consoles have always provided a different experience than
what the console has to offer. Look at the Gameboy and GameGear vs. the NES and
the Genesis. Why did the Gameboy sell over ten times as many units as the
GameGear? The answer is that the Gameboy didn’t offer NES games; it offered
Gameboy games. GameGear games looked, sounded, and played like Genesis games. There
wasn’t much of a difference. Gameboy games looked and played nothing like NES
games. Think Marioland VS. Super Mario Bros. Those were two totally different
styles of games, with different styles, powers, maps, etc. You could barely
tell that those two games were in the same franchise.
The same thing is happening to the Vita, only much, much worse. The Vita offers a VERY Playstation 3-like experience… to the point where there’s not much of a reason to own a Vita if you already own a Playstation 3. Big gaming journalists don’t understand this because gaming is their job. They get games for free. They get to play with all the systems. But, for someone who has to decide between buying a Vita and going out for the next few months, buying a Vita is a big investment. If I already own a way to play All-stars Battle Royale, LittleBIGPlanet, Uncharted, and virtually every Playstation Network game, why would I buy a Vita? I already have a handheld console… it’s called a phone. Sony has effectively made the Vita's biggest competitor the Playstation 3. Those two systems have the most similar experience, so I as a consumer have to make my biggest choice between them.
Most home console like experiences are better on a home console. Big flatscreen, HD set. That’s how I want to have my home console experience. So, a Playstation 3 is worth my money. I bought one, but do I really want to take those experiences and put them on a tiny screen? No, and definitely not for 300 bucks.
3DS is different than the Wii. Super Mario 3D Land is not anything like Mario Galaxy. Kid Icarus, Pokémon, Animal Crossing, Scribblenauts, Brian Age…. these are portable experiences. I want portable experiences on the go, that’s what they were designed for. These are the reasons why the 3DS is selling like mad. Nintendo is making a different experience than what they had for Wii….
However, this also leads to an alternative problem that I’m seeing. Nintendo is trying to bring the portable experience to the Wii U. Scribblenauts, Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros… these are portable experiences… and likewise nobody is wanting to play them on the home consoles. This is why the Wii U is not selling. Also, Nintendo is making a huge mistake by putting the same Smash Bros game on both Wii U and 3DS. Why would anyone buy a pathetic Wii U machine when they already own at least 3 3DS a person? The Wii U's biggest competitor is really the 3DS, not the other home consoles. That's a huge mistake for Nintendo to make.
Home console means big, beautiful, deep experiences.
Portable means small, gimmicky, shallow fun.
Vita is trying to be a home console, while the Wii U is trying to be portable. It’s backwards, and it’s not going to sell. They need to understand this to turn these systems around.
The same thing is happening to the Vita, only much, much worse. The Vita offers a VERY Playstation 3-like experience… to the point where there’s not much of a reason to own a Vita if you already own a Playstation 3. Big gaming journalists don’t understand this because gaming is their job. They get games for free. They get to play with all the systems. But, for someone who has to decide between buying a Vita and going out for the next few months, buying a Vita is a big investment. If I already own a way to play All-stars Battle Royale, LittleBIGPlanet, Uncharted, and virtually every Playstation Network game, why would I buy a Vita? I already have a handheld console… it’s called a phone. Sony has effectively made the Vita's biggest competitor the Playstation 3. Those two systems have the most similar experience, so I as a consumer have to make my biggest choice between them.
Most home console like experiences are better on a home console. Big flatscreen, HD set. That’s how I want to have my home console experience. So, a Playstation 3 is worth my money. I bought one, but do I really want to take those experiences and put them on a tiny screen? No, and definitely not for 300 bucks.
3DS is different than the Wii. Super Mario 3D Land is not anything like Mario Galaxy. Kid Icarus, Pokémon, Animal Crossing, Scribblenauts, Brian Age…. these are portable experiences. I want portable experiences on the go, that’s what they were designed for. These are the reasons why the 3DS is selling like mad. Nintendo is making a different experience than what they had for Wii….
However, this also leads to an alternative problem that I’m seeing. Nintendo is trying to bring the portable experience to the Wii U. Scribblenauts, Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros… these are portable experiences… and likewise nobody is wanting to play them on the home consoles. This is why the Wii U is not selling. Also, Nintendo is making a huge mistake by putting the same Smash Bros game on both Wii U and 3DS. Why would anyone buy a pathetic Wii U machine when they already own at least 3 3DS a person? The Wii U's biggest competitor is really the 3DS, not the other home consoles. That's a huge mistake for Nintendo to make.
Home console means big, beautiful, deep experiences.
Portable means small, gimmicky, shallow fun.
Vita is trying to be a home console, while the Wii U is trying to be portable. It’s backwards, and it’s not going to sell. They need to understand this to turn these systems around.
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