Why does the Vita get so much flak?

[Sack of Cheese]

Compared to the 3DS, I mean.
I reckon you could get as much enjoyment out of a Vita compared to a 3DS. Their prices are also roughly the same. I have a 16 GB memory card and it suffices so far.

For the sake of comparison:

Spoiler

Vita's pros:
-Most Vita games have demos, unlike on Nintendo Eshop. Generally, Vita games are cheaper too, since first-party Nintendo games hardly ever get a price drop.
-Region free! (only with physical games)
-You can customise backgrounds.
-Access games manual easily.
-Better friends system, and it is easy to send messages to your PSN friends.
-More online support.
-Built-in right analog stick.
-Trophies system to track/encourage completion and replayability (if you're into that sort of thing)
-Also backward compatible. (Not with physical PSP games)
-You can take screenshots (some games don't allow this function)
-Longer idle time battery. I can leave my Vita unplayed for weeks and the battery would remain, as opposed to lasting only 2-3 days like in the case of 3DS XL.
-Better resolution.

The only cons I find in the Vita is "near" feature is not as fun as spotpass and 3DS has 2 screens, which makes sorting inventory much more convenient.

Including ports, the games library is just as exciting. There're way more RPGs (especially if you take PS1 classics into account), caters to different tastes with games like Disgaea 3, Dragon's crown, Killzone Merc, Hakuoki, Borderlands 2, project Diva F, Blazblue, Muramasa, Persona 4 G, Tearaway, Godeater 2, Soul Sacrifice, Gravity Rush, Dead or alive, Danganronpa, LBP..., it also has indies support and the likes.

The 2014 lineup is pretty good too, I have many games on my watchlist/preorder like Freedom Wars, Danganronpa 2, Disgaea 4, Neptunia rebirth 1, Demon gaze, Girls und Panzer, Monster Monpiece, Love live, Swordart online, Kancolle kai, Senran kagura SV, IA/VT Colorful... and if I didn't already have a PS3, I would add Akiba's strip and Deception 4 onto that list.
Whereas the only upcoming game that seems remotely interesting on the 3DS is Persona Q, and if I didn't already have a Wii U: Mario kart 8 and Smash bros.

I initially thought if you don't like Japanese games, you wouldn't enjoy the Vita. Then I remember 3DS doesn't have that much Western support either (the only one I enjoyed were Tom clancy's games). Most "must-play" 3DS games are either platformers or adventure games, not enough variety.

Note: Just to clarify, I own both handhelds and am enjoying the Vita more while questioning its unpopularity among vocal gamers. I don't dislike the 3DS, but I'm a bit disappointed by its library and 2014's lineup.

 

[Exhuminator]

I own a 3DS XL and an OLED Vita, and I enjoy them equally. Both have strengths and weaknesses in comparison to one another. I would never say one is better than the other however.

My only valid complaint for the Vita is I bought it in hopes of playing AAA console style games in the palms of my hands. While there are a handful of titles that fit that description, due to the platform's inability to sell tremendously well, publishers with the financial clout to fulfill those hopes shied away from the platform. So now my Vita gets niche Japanese VNs/RPGs instead... I'm pretty OK with that.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Assuming that list is all in comparison to the 3DS and not just a list of pros, it should be pointed out that the 3DS is fully backwards compatible with the DS.

If SMT IV came out on the Vita, though, you'd better believe I'd trade my 3DS in for one, though. It's looking like it will never be released in Europe, so if it came out on a region-free system, that'd be great.

I haven't heard any poor sentiment towards the Vita in some time, though. It got some initial backlash due to the high memory card prices (still an issue for me, but not as bad as it was) high system price (3DS also caught flak for this) and poor library (3DS also caught flak for this and both systems have resolved the issue beautifully), but in recent times I've heard nothing but good things.

Then again, this is literally the only gaming forum I use, so y'know.

 

[Zhukov]

"It has no games."

A more accurate statement that essentially means the same thing would be, "It has no games that interest me."

Or perhaps it does but they haven't been sufficiently promoted for me to ever hear about them. Which once again comes to much the same thing.

Buying a Vita would let me do two things:
1 - Play on the move. Not such a big thing for me.
2 - Play games that I want to play but cannot play on platforms I currently own. So far that list consists of... Gravity Rush. And that's it.

So I'm not about to buy a Vita anytime soon. Not giving it flak, just have no use for it.

 

[Raikas]

Compared to the 3DS, I mean.
I reckon you could get as much enjoyment out of a Vita compared to a 3DS. Their prices are also roughly the same. I have a 16 GB memory card and it suffices so far.

I haven't heard a lot of complaining lately, but originally I think most of it was based on the cost of the memory cards (which are still too high in my opinion), and the lack of a library (the 3DS started with a smaller library too, but being backwards compatible helped it - sure, you could download PSP games for your Vita, but the high price of the memory cards makes that less attractive than it could be).

I have both, and like them about equally. They're both nice pieces of hardware. I prefer the look and controls of the Vita, but find that the battery life is too short - if I'm playing a game one afternoon and put the system into standby until the next day, it'll be dead by the next morning. The 3DS usually holds out at least another day if not a little longer. The other place where the 3DS wins out for me is that you don't need to buy an extra case or screen protector since when it's closed the screens are protected. I didn't buy any extras for my Vita and the screen was scratched within a couple of weeks just by sitting in my bag.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I don't think the Vita itself gets much flak, it's more Sony for being so stubborn, creating a device for which there just isn't a whole lot of market. People that like handheld games play their 3DS, iPhone, or iPad. And people who want a home console experience have... home consoles. Which sorta leaves the Vita shit out of luck.

 

[duwenbasden]

I don't think the Vita itself gets much flak, it's more Sony for being so stubborn, creating a device for which there just isn't a whole lot of market. People that like handheld games play their 3DS, iPhone, or iPad. And people who want a home console experience have... home consoles. Which sorta leaves the Vita shit out of luck.

They really, REALLY need to merge the Playstation portable line into the Xperia line. The Play was a good start, just ham-handed with the weak-sauce MSM8255 and the laughable selection of games.

 

[Exhuminator]

People that like handheld games play their 3DS, iPhone, or iPad. And people who want a home console experience have... home consoles. Which sorta leaves the Vita shit out of luck.

But there are people who would like both. Thus the Vita offering a "handheld home console experience on the go". That was the draw for me. I'm pretty sure it was an angle lots of people found interesting actually.

Unfortunately Sony shot themselves in the foot right out the gate with the cost of the Vita plus the cost of proprietary memory cards. If the Vita had been cheaper off the bat, and used industry standard memory cards, things would have turned out differently by now.

 

[spartandude]

To be honest ive never seen anyone give the Vita flak.... because ive never seen people talk about it. Heck until very recently i didnt actually know what it was, i just thought it was a different PSP model (like a slim or something like that). Its got very little publicity here in the UK and as far as i know very few games and even less worth mentioning.

 

[Eve Charm]

It's because Sales themselves are so much lower compared to the other handheld competition. Right now the Vita isn't actually getting as much flak because it has a way longer line up of games then the 3ds since strangely the 3ds doesn't really have anything first party with a date after may 2nd (( new console/handheld announced E3?))

Vita's cool and all but sony basically discontinued the model 4 months before the next model is even going to be out, Even sony isn't giving it much credit.

And for the love of hell why isn't Deception, Dynasty warriors XL, Akiba's trip and other Vita/PS3 games CROSS BUY!

Also $100 bucks for a 32gb memory card for the first 2 years.

 

[Casual Shinji]

People that like handheld games play their 3DS, iPhone, or iPad. And people who want a home console experience have... home consoles. Which sorta leaves the Vita shit out of luck.

But there are people who would like both. Thus the Vita offering a "handheld home console experience on the go". That was the draw for me. I'm pretty sure it was an angle lots of people found interesting actually.

Are those people enough of a market for such a high tech piece of machinery though? And it's not like this is Sony's very first handheld outing. They already knew with the PSP that a portable Playstation looked nice on paper, but really didn't have that much appeal. But then they go and the same thing again.

And I think the reason for that is that Sony simply doesn't have a handheld mindset. They think like a home console manufacturer, when a handheld system operates by different rules. You're not going to get people interested in a system that has lesser versions of popular home console franchises. At least, not enough for a succesful market penetration.

 

[Strain42]

My biggest problem with the Vita over the 3DS is the way it implements it's hardware. I hate the Vita's touch screen, I hate the stupid back touch pad, and I hate that most of the interesting games for the Vita like Tearaway force you to use those to a frustrating extent. Rather than focus on making good games, it seems like too much of the focus lies on "How can we make games...that use these things?"

The Vita is a perfectly lovely console that is a delight to hold, a delight to play, and I think in a few years I will probably have a lot of games for it that I love and enjoy.

But right now it's just this dust collecting paperweight where I have to get fingerprints on the screen to even select the game I wanna play (or maybe I'm just dumb. Can you select icons on the home menu without actually touching them?)

 

[Exhuminator]

They already knew with the PSP that a portable Playstation looked nice on paper, but really didn't have that much appeal.

I'd say the PSP had plenty of consumer appeal. As of 2011 the PSP had sold 70 million units worldwide:

http://us.playstation.com/corporate/about/press-release/psp-sales-70-million-units-worldwide.html

But then they go and the same thing again.

With such good sales of their PSP, who could blame them for wanting success again with the Vita?

Can you select icons on the home menu without actually touching them?)

Yes. Use:

Settings > System > Control with Buttons on PS Vita System

http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/psvita/settings/hwbuttons.html

Unfortunately you still have to use your fingers to bypass the swipe-to-start screen every time the Vita is turned on.

 

[FootloosePhoenix]

The Vita just has a lot of trouble convincing the general public of its viability as an actual gaming device, I feel. I love my Vita, but I do wish it had more and better exclusives for me to enjoy. If it weren't for its ability to play PSP and PS1 games, I'm afraid I just wouldn't have had reason to play it that often, much less buy it in the first place. The Vita does have a decent library of exclusives, but like Khukov mentioned, very few of these are likely to actually interest any given individual. And while there are a fair number of upcoming exclusive titles, these are all relatively niche. I would daresay the Vita itself has become a very niche system. Persona 4 Golden is just about the only Vita game I'm played more than a handful of hours...and it's a port, so it doesn't even fulfill my desire of seeing more quality exclusives on the system.

Long story short, the 3DS simply beats it in terms of having a hearty game library that a lot of people want to play and wouldn't be able to elsewhere; Pokémon X and Y, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Dream Drop Distance, Shin Megami Tensei IV, FE: Awakening and A Link Between Worlds, to name a few. Once again, the Vita is a beautiful handheld with a lot of awesome features, but even I find those titles highly tempting and am planning on buying a 3DS myself sometime this summer.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Honestly, I just don't hear about the Vita enough for me to remember it exists, let alone hearing about any games I may want. I would not mind having one, but I don't know if there is anything I want on it. It seem like to me the Vita has one bad similarity to the Wii U, not enough marketing. I see PS4 being advertised everywhere, yet I cannot remember the last time I saw an ad for a new Vita game.

Plus, I never enjoyed many of the Playstation portable offerings, I got a PSP about 4 or 5 years ago, and I only wanted a few games on it, most of which were later ported to consoles. That's just me of course, but I feel like Sony keeps their handheld library too close to consoles, even going as far as putting Vita games on PS3. Why get a Vita when you can play some of the same games on the console too?

It also does not help that the 3DS is its main competitor. Just like the DS and PSP before, Nintendo knows how to better handle selling a dedicated handheld gaming device than Sony.

 

[Goliath100]

To answer the question of this thread: It?s because the Vita rarely comes up outside of the 3DS vs. Vita question (which the 3DS is clearly winning). While the 3DS has killer apps (or ?games? if you wanna go nowhere) that is worth talking about by themselves.

 

[kilenem]

Sony screwed over Americans users with UMD. I know in Japan they gave you the option to trade in your UMD and get a digital copy of some game. I'm not sure what Sony did in Europe. They screwed over the people who bought their memory cards too, that are pretty much useless know. 3DS kept a lot features from the DS including the 2nd screen, back wards compatibility and it used the same memory cards as the DSi. Which was already a generally used product. On top of that Nintendo sells there own brand of SD cards for a decent price. 9 dollars American for a 8GB and 13 for a 16 GB. If you had a large digital library on PSP it makes since to buy a PS VITA but if your like most people and have physical copies of your game you were better of getting a 3DS. Even when I got my 3DS I mostly played DS games because you could find good games for a really low price.

Playstation Plus is tempting but Nintendo has Club Nintendo where you get free games for buying Nintendo products. Most of them are just eshop titles though.

 

[Nadia Castle]

Because it's a gorgeous system with some faults that were so obvious you'd have to actively try to be hurting it. I play mine all the time, there's a hundred games I'd go online and download at the drop of a hat, but the damn proprietary memory sabotages it. And it's the exact same damn thing that hobbled the PSP. With memory being as cheap as it is there was barely an excuse to not have it built in let alone create a whole new system.

There is also the other problem of audience expectation. I think 'Need for Speed' vita is great, it's as close to the console version as physically possible. But it isn't and never will be the same, and in all honesty a brand new game designed around its limitations would be better. 'Playstation All Stars' was a pixel perfect port and no-one bothered to buy it.

The best games on the system are the enhanced ports from older systems and indie titles. I've clocked in a ton of hours on the MGS collection, Strangers Wrath, Lone Survivor and Jet Set Radio, but Sony didn't promise us that, they promised us a portable PS3, that left a lot of people annoyed, and the system suffers for it. Personally I think the WiiU gets a LOT more unnecessary flack.

 

[Slvrwolfen]

The lack of really big new titles is what drags Vita down a lot. There's just not enough content to go with it, and what content they do release for it is mostly eastern RPGs that are quite often Monster Hunter -esque in gameplay, grindy and focused on multiplayer.

It's a pretty damn fine handheld, it just lacks in content, honestly.

 

[COMaestro]

The Vita doesn't really get much flak nowadays that I've seen, however there's still the (false) stigma of it having no games. There are literally hundreds of games that have been developed solely for the Vita, and I'd estimate half of them had retail releases, not just PSN downloads. Some are only available in NA or EU, and some are only available in JP, but looking at it, there's about 90 titles that are available in all the territories.

This does not count all the PS1 and PSP titles that are available for download. Adding those in there's likely somewhere in the neighborhood of 750-1000 games available to play on the system.

The Vita was originally hurting due to high price, absurdly high proprietary memory card price, and lack of games and content. At this point, however, the price has dropped to something reasonable, the memory cards are more reasonably priced though not great, and there's no lack of content. At this point, it's just Sony's failure to market these points

To be honest, though, I never see any advertising for the 3DS anymore either or any of it's games. I think the Vita just suffers from the original stigma of having no games for it and Sony's not doing any marketing to counter that belief. Judging by some of the comments above, that theory seems pretty solid.