Why are people buying the 3DS and not the VITA?

[quote name='jello44']It cannot play UMDs, but you can purchase PSP games (and soon PSX games) off PSN and play them on the Vita.[/QUOTE]

Which doesn't help me at all. So Nintendo gets my money.
 
Why are people buying the 3DS and not the VITA?

Speaking only for myself, the system is waaay too expensive (it's just not worth the asking price to me) and the library is severely lacking in games that I'm interested in playing. I feel like overall, it's a bad investment and I'm not convinced the Vita will truly gain traction until it is aggressively priced at less than the current price of a normal 3DS. Even with the extremely limited library though, I'll bite if it hits the $150 price point, until then, Nintendo is getting all of my portable gaming money.
 
[quote name='2supekards']I mean its not just about taste in games. If you want to play a lesser version of uncharted on the go I guess that's up to you. This thread however is about why the Vita is selling and that's why. Almost all the top games (according to IGN) are on consuls as well. Pokemon, mario and zelda will outsell anything on vita or PSP, since they are more popular - generally - for people on the go. [/QUOTE]

I think that's more the kid/family friendly thing than being more popular for people on the go.

I doubt there are more adult gamers who want to play Mario and Pokemon than there are who want to play Uncharted etc. I'd guess Nintendo and Sony are pretty close to even in terms of selling portables to adult gamers. Nintendo just kills in the handheld market as they're the go to for parents buying a portable console for their kids. And kids are the biggest part of the handheld gaming market I'd think.
 
Well I'll tell you I don't get it jkam.

One of the idiots posting on the first page loving the 3DS missed the point it doesn't have an OLED. Yeah the 3D mechanic is a great idea but it's still using shitty LCD tech. When the fuck will Nintendo get with it?

Also between the two, if I'm going to pay about the same since Nintendo is FORCING me to have to import a 3DS to play Japanese games and the Japanese DSi ware I'll take the Vita since it has no bullshit region restrictions.
I forgot to add the power as well. The Vita almost pisses all over the 3DS powerwise. It's pathetic how comparatively underpowered the 3DS is compared to the Vita though I'm sure it's that way because Nintendo can't afford to put some real strong tech. in it without losing money.
 
I enjoyed my PSP last gen and still do up to this day without ever having a DS handheld (never had a Wii either) of any sort in my lifetime. With that said, I picked up a 3ds xl last Sunday as there are several games that interested me to play as well as the HUGE library of DS games that I missed out on last gen.

When the 3ds debuted, I told myself I would wait for a price drop as I didn't want to shell out $250 for it and the fact that it was too small for my liking, so when the XL debuted, I had to pick one up as there are games I want to play now and there are upcoming games that I want to play when they release.

The Vita is a fine piece of hardware, but lack of backwards compatability, overpriced memory cards and lack of software that I am interested in playing are the main reasons why I am not getting one anytime soon. I have no problem shelling out $250 for it, but as of now there really isn't anything I am remotely interested in playing on that system that I can't play on another console.
 
Whelp, I pulled the trigger on the Vita. Picked one up yesterday from GameStop. They are having a special this week where you can buy the Madden 13 Vita bundle, and get a free 4 GB memory card and a free copy of Hot Shots Golf. Since the Hot Shots Golf price drop, the extras only come to about $45. But I really like Hot Shots, so that was $45 I would have had to spend on the Vita anyway.

Only minimal use at the moment, but I did play a few rounds of Hot Shots. Fairly pleased at the moment. The hardware is...just delightful. The build quality is fantastic, and holding it in your hands feels incredible. The buttons, d-pad, and analog sticks feel great. The screen is big, bright, and incredibly sharp.
 
I also just got my Vita today and man it is so amazing. Feels so well built and that screen is ridiculously amazing. Very pleased with the purchase.
 
[quote name='Sarang01']One of the idiots posting on the first page loving the 3DS missed the point it doesn't have an OLED. Yeah the 3D mechanic is a great idea but it's still using shitty LCD tech. When the fuck will Nintendo get with it?[/QUOTE]
I'm assuming your flamboyant rage is directed toward me.

Calm down, take a deep breath, and relax. You're going to get through this. No need to take criticism of a handheld that you happen to like so personal. ;)

As far as the OLED vs LCD thing goes..... coooooooooooooooool. That's a very important distinction that makes the Vita so much more worthwhile now; I think I'm going to buy it just because the screen is OLED and not LCD. :lol:
 
Because the 3DS has more games that more people want to play

It's also got a tremendous amount more momentum and support from Nintendo than Sony is giving the Vita.

When the company making the hardware is even treating it like an afterthought, consumer confidence in the device isn't going to be great.

The biggest problem the vita has is Sony treating it like the PS3 downport platform. Even if the games are free, what good does that do Sony? It needs new, unique content.

Even nintendo is outdoing them with the downloadable offerings. It's kind of crazy to say that.

I like the vita a lot too, but mostly for PS1 games now and PSP games. I don't play many vita unique games. I'd be pretty upset if I had bought it at full price.
 
Also I very rarely use my Ipad or phone for games. I check twitter, post photos to facebook, and browse the internet. I think i've played probably 5-6 games ever on my ipad and phone. It's just a poor experience, and I see no reason to spend much money on games for them.

All this fanboy bickering comes down to people aren't buying the vita because they don't feel it's worth it. No excuses, no buts - people are not interested in it.
 
[quote name='jer7583']I like the vita a lot too, but mostly for PS1 games now and PSP games. I don't play many vita unique games. I'd be pretty upset if I had bought it at full price.[/QUOTE]

Well, that's understandable. The Vita only launched this March, while the 3DS has been out for over a year. And the 3DS has already benefited from a holiday season heavily stacked by Nintendo's first-party efforts. The 3DS already has momentum that the Vita lacks, just from the fact that it launched first. And of course, there's the whole price difference.

But that's always the way with new hardware. Anyone who buys a system earlier on is banking on future potential. They are assuming that the games will eventually be there. And it can be a bit of a risk. Let's not forget the dearly-departed Dreamcast, cut down in its prime.

At this point, its a bit less of a risk, though. This is the benefit of having mega-corporations like Sony or Microsoft in this competition. It is considerably less likely that they are either going to tank, or stop trying. So picking up a handheld like the Vita is a bit less of a risk than such a proposition might have been. It could take some time, but there will almost certainly be games for it. The rest is just a matter of personal preference, and spending power.

No excuses, no buts - people are not interested in it.
Click to expand...

Let's call it what it is. It's not that no one is interested in it. It's an example of Sony's stylish engineering. Every red-blooded male who sees the thing is going to be interested. (and possibly some of the ladies too) It's a piano-black slice of slick technology.

The real issue is that very few people are interested in it...at its current price, and with its current competition.
 
[quote name='Richard Kain']
Let's call it what it is. It's not that no one is interested in it. It's an example of Sony's stylish engineering. Every red-blooded male who sees the thing is going to be interested. (and possibly some of the ladies too) It's a piano-black slice of slick technology.

The real issue is that very few people are interested in it...at its current price, and with its current competition.[/QUOTE]

It will be interesting to see how it does when the price drops and more games are out.

As I've said throughout the thread, I'm just not sure there's that big of a niche of adult gamers interested in porting gaming consoles these days.

So I'm just not sure you can hit huge sales in the portable gaming market without tapping into the kid market that Nintendo has locked down.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']So I'm just not sure you can hit huge sales in the portable gaming market without tapping into the kid market that Nintendo has locked down.[/QUOTE]

A valid concern. And the success and growing popularity of tablets and smartphones only makes it more of a concern. Adults control the majority of disposable income, making them a far more lucrative market for premium handhelds. But the presence of capable smartphones and tablets provides them with a more socially accepted alternative for getting their gaming fix on the go. The child-related market is more price-sensitive, which is why Nintendo has always tried to price their handhelds lower than the competition. It is hard to see a market like that jumping on the Vita.

Part of the reason why the PSP was able to take an early lead when it was released was due to its exterior design. The PSP looked slick as hell, while the DS looked like a drab grey plastic brick. A lot of consumers were willing to swallow the price difference just because the PSP was the cool, hip system.

But the same won't hold true today. While the 3DS is not quite as "slick" as the Vita, it is a far cry aesthetically from its grey-brick forbearer. And it comes in several tasteful colors, and now even in different sizes. While the Vita does have an advantage in external design and appearance, it isn't nearly the gaping disparity that helped to launch its predecessor.

It's an uphill battle for the Vita.

One thing that has always confused me is consumers balking over hardware prices while giving game prices a pass. This is a large reason why I opted to go ahead with a Vita purchase. While shopping a few weeks ago, I noticed that the prices for several of the earlier Vita games had been lowered to $20. While the hardware for the Vita is more expensive, it looks like there might end up being considerably more flexibility on its game prices compared to Nintendo's usual offerings. Nintendo's first-party titles are notorious for maintaining high prices long after launch. And as everyone knows, Nintendo's first-party titles are usually the reason for owning Nintendo hardware.

But when it really comes down to it, the games are always the biggest expense for me when owning a system. No matter how much I spend on the original hardware, I'm going to end up spending much more on the games for it. Having a library of inexpensive software for the system is a major selling point in my mind. It's still too early to say, but I suspect that we're going to be seeing far more flexibly priced titles on the Vita as compared to the 3DS.
 
Why are people buying the 3DS and not the VITA?

Games? And no support for PSP games are the main reasons me and most of my friends have not gotten a Vita. I think that Sony is kinda lost in Limbo and doesn't really know what they want to do with games anymore. The motion thing didn't work, and as far as the PS3 being the huge entertainment hub that they were pushing for. In my eyes they failed with that as well. Back in the PS1 and PS2 days they focused on games, ALOT of great games. Now they seems to be stuck on where to go from here. And devs aren't really helping them out. I mean what PS3 and/or Vita exclusive games are people really looking forward too? Me personally only The last of Us. Everything else is a rehash or a copy, whats keeping me on my xbox is Live and xbox arcade. Sony needs to get back to making awesome games before I jump at another one of there systems.
 
[quote name='St4rgalaqtic']I think that Sony is kinda lost in Limbo and doesn't really know what they want to do with games anymore.

Back in the PS1 and PS2 days they focused on games, ALOT of great games.

Sony needs to get back to making awesome games before I jump at another one of there systems.[/QUOTE]

This is a common misconception. While Sony's classic systems did indeed have quite an expansive and varied selection of quality titles, the vast majority of them weren't made by Sony. In fact, Sony's first-party efforts didn't actually begin putting out "good" games until the PS2. Most of their first-party PS1 games were rather lackluster.

In fact, I am entirely confident in saying that Sony's first-party and exclusive catalog is better right now than it has ever been. Ever. They have steadily been buying up and properly grooming promising studios, while giving their internal development teams the creative freedom necessary to produce top-tier software for their systems. When a game has had Sony's direct involvement in the development/publishing process, that is usually an assurance of quality.

What changed isn't that the quality of Sony's development decreased, it's that their competition increased. Microsoft wasn't sitting around idle, and managed to get their own stable of first-party developers. And Nintendo came back strong with the Wii.
 
[quote name='Richard Kain']But the presence of capable smartphones and tablets provides them with a more socially accepted alternative for getting their gaming fix on the go. [/QUOTE]

Perhaps, but I don't think the social acceptability thing really has a big impact. I don't think the typical adult hardcore gamer cares what someone thinks if they were to play a Vita or 3DS on the subway or whatever.

I just think people, being adult hardcore gamers themselves and this being a site geared to that crowd, overestimate the size of the adult hardcore gamer market.

The average adult gamer is someone who just has a 360 or PS3 and plays games a night or two a week, and just doesn't have enough interest in gaming to justify owning a portable as they have no real desire to game on the go.

But since they like games they may play Words with Friends or Angry Birds etc. on their iPhone here and there. But they wouldn't have bought a portable even if they didn't have a smart phone/tablet. So I've changed my thinking on that a bit from some of my earlier posts as I don't think many people are skipping Vitas or 3DS because they have smart phones or tablets. I think its more that most adult gamers aren't hardcore enough into games, and have other things (work etc.) eating up their time when out and about, and thus just don't care about portables. But they may drop .99 cents on a game when stuck in an airport or something, and thus help support mobile gaming even if they don't end up playing the games much.
 
[quote name='Richard Kain']This is a common misconception.

What changed isn't that the quality of Sony's development decreased, it's that their competition increased. Microsoft wasn't sitting around idle, and managed to get their own stable of first-party developers. And Nintendo came back strong with the Wii.[/QUOTE]

True but this is along the same lines as my post, when I said the Devs aren't helping Sony. I don't know if that's because they don't want to develop for Sony or what. Microsoft did go out and buy up some nice devs, so why hasn't Sony? As for Nintendo, they don't have great developers they have been redoing the same thing for years!!! But they are the last true Video Game Company, and they have a loyal..... scary loyal fan base. Everyone is still wanting Mario, Zelda, and Metriod in HD. I would love to see Sony get some nice devs, cause I don't know about everyone else but my PS3 collects alot of dust. Last game I played on it was LBP2.
 
[quote name='St4rgalaqtic']True but this is along the same lines as my post, when I said the Devs aren't helping Sony. I don't know if that's because they don't want to develop for Sony or what. [/QUOTE]

Well, apparently the PS3 is much harder to program for than the 360--which is basically the same as developing for PC. Which is why most big multi-platform games have had the 360 as the lead sku.

Especially for things like Skyrim that are big on PC. They can focus on the PC/360 version, and then just port over a PS3 version. Doing it that way often leads to more bugs and glitches on the PS3 version (like with Skyrim) so maybe some devs just don't bother with the port.
 
3DS games interest me more than the Vita games at the moment. Code of Princess more over Persona 4 Golden because I can settle for Persona 4 on the PS2.

Maybe I'm just not ready for a touchscreen gaming system without a stylus. I was like that when the DS was first released. I was more into Gameboy Advance games when the DS was the new system to own.

In other words, I'm a late adopter of newer gaming technology.

Honestly, I just want something to play Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward.

I don't care for the 3D aspect of the 3DS. I would be willing to buy ZE: VLR if it was ported to the DS.

Been thinking of getting a DSi XL if I can find it cheap enough and then a 3DS just for ZE: VLR.
 
I think the 3DS enjoyed a surge because of the price drop. A ton of cautious consumers didn't want to drop $250 during a ho-hum launch, but a lot of people on the fence were decided at the new price point. Bigger install base, more 3rd party devs sign on, more game sales, more games people want to play, more systems sold. If it wasn't for the price drop, or if the drop hadn't been as significant (say, $200 instead of $170) then it might not be as competitive for the Vita.

Don't forget the used market. The more systems that get sold (impulse buy on the price drop?), the more that show up in Gamestop and on Craigslist - I got mine on CL. That makes for an even cheaper price of entry for a lot of people. Even though we thirst for new IPs and better innovation, few games or characters can lay claim to a 25 year history across 5 console generations, and those brands (Zelda in particular - you should have seen the nerdfest at the Zelda concerts) move units.

Finally, first-party titles have always floated Nintendo consoles. Love it, hate it, it's the truth, and arguably for good reason. Zelda and Mario are system sellers, and transcend generations of people AND consoles. They're surefire bets, and no other company has that kind of selling power with their brand (although Halo has definitely sold more than a few Xbox's!)

[quote name='schuerm26']Could the ability to play DS games also factor in? DS has a huge library. Sorry if stated before. Only read the first page.[/QUOTE]

Having access to a ton of great games at cheap prices can't hurt. The Vita's BC is hurt by the fact you have to rebuy games, even if you already own them. Not the case with an old DS library. Although I'd be surprised if many people who bought a 3DS never had a DS, so the market for people who missed out on DS games and are catching up on the 3DS is probably not very big.
 
[quote name='johnnypark']Having access to a ton of great games at cheap prices can't hurt. The Vita's BC is hurt by the fact you have to rebuy games, even if you already own them. Not the case with an old DS library. Although I'd be surprised if many people who bought a 3DS never had a DS, so the market for people who missed out on DS games and are catching up on the 3DS is probably not very big.[/QUOTE]

This. I already have a library of games I can use with my 3DS, but I can't play my PSP games with the Vita, so I see no reason to get a Vita until it has a sufficient library of games to make it worth carrying around.
 
[quote name='jkam']Yeah the launch was so bad. I tried to like Street Fighter 3D but man that game was busted.[/QUOTE]

i think not too bad:)
 
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