Sony’s new handheld, the PlayStation Vita is a wonderful handheld, packed to the brim with interesting tech and fantastic features. Unfortunately, it’s not doing very well, anywhere. Conversely, Nintendo’s 3DS – which also had a bit of a slow start – has been top of the Japanese sales charts since its dramatic price cut last August.
The reason the Vita’s not doing so well, says Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto is that the thing just doesn’t have enough games.
“It’s obviously a very hi-spec machine, and you can do lots of things with it…,” Shiggy told Edge in an interview “But I don’t really see the combination of software and hardware that really makes a very strong product.”
It’s a situation he’s all too familiar with. The 3DS launched to critical acclaim and good sales, before the lack of launch titles started taking its toll.
“When we launched the 3DS hardware we didn’t have Super Mario 3D Land, we didn’t have Mario Kart 7, we didn’t have Kid Icarus: Uprising. We were striving to have all of these ready for the launch, but we weren’t able to deliver them at that time. We were kind of hoping that people would, nevertheless, buy into the product, find 3DS hardware promising, but looking back we have to say we realise the key software was missing when we launched the hardware.”
He certainly has a point, and I have no doubt that the a will be a really successful handheld – once the price drops, or the software library becomes really compelling. R3 000 is a heck of a lot of money to spend on a handheld gaming device without many “must-have” titles. On that note; while Japan clamours for Monster hunter, what games would convince you to buy a PlayStation Vita?
I’ve already sunk money in to the thing, but If i hadn’t I’d happily buy one with the announcements of new Loco Roco and Patapon games, or big RPGs like Elder Scrolls or Fallout.
Last Updated: May 7, 2012
