Hardware News, Hardware Features - Page 5 of 21

The Japanese games market declined in 2011, according to reports published by Enterbrain via Famitsu

That was despite a 2.4 percent increase in hardware sales — up to ¥179,740 million ($2.3 billion) — spurred by the releases of the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. Indeed, while the hardware bump was significant, it wasn't enough to stave off a whopping 14 percent drop in software sales,..

Considering all the doom and gloom around the Internet regarding the PlayStation Vita's unspectacular second week sales, the system actually held relatively well in its third week

Given some armchair analysts were expecting the sytem to drop as low as 10k units, its actual sell through of 42k units looks mightily impressive in comparison. Of course, it's still a long way away from where a newly..

Sigh

The media's smear campaign against the PlayStation Vita hit a new high last night, when a batch of US media outlets jumped on an erroneous Amazon listing that claimed the 3G SKU of Sony's new portable system had been cancelled before release in North America. Of course, those with an ounce of common sense would have realised this was a mistake on Amazon's part, but the story spread like..

When we saw headlines popping up around the web this afternoon regarding the price of the 3G PlayStation Vita, we wondered for a split-second if Sony had done the unthinkable -- prematurely slashed the price of the PlayStation Vita

After all, there's a lot of headlines filling our Twitter feed right now that run with the words, "Japanese retailers cutting the price of 3G PlayStation..

Anyone else got a sense of deja-vu? Those of you that follow the wider video games media in detail will recall hearing the death knells for Nintendo's 3DS earlier in the year

The agenda-pushing mainstream media informed us that dedicated handheld games devices are in decline, and that the market Nintendo once dominated was lost. Of course, no amount of agenda-pushing could change the fact that the..

The PlayStation Vita got off to a reasonable, if unspectacular, debut in Japan -- but its second week sales paint a troubling picture for the platform in the near future

The well equipped handheld was outsold by the 3DS, PSP, Wii and PS3 during its first full week on the market, recording sales of just over 70,000 units. For comparison, Nintendo's newly re-surged handheld platform scooped up..

Staying true to PlayStation's irritating penchant for frequent firmware updates, Sony's bumped up the PlayStation Vita's official firmware for the second time since its Japanese release earlier in the month

A tiny update released in Japan overnight ups the system's on-board software to version 1.51, which aims to alleviate any crashing and freezing issues experienced in "some" games —..

Here's a fascinating little factoid for you that comes courtesy of a feature published on the PlayStation Blog: the PlayStation Vita was designed by the same person as the original Walkman

Turns out that the man behind PlayStation Vita's sleek design was none other than Takashi Sogabe, a man that's spent 27 years working at Sony on products such as the very first Walkman. Sogabe told the..

Sales tracking firm Media Create has revealed that the PlayStation Vita pushed 300,000 units of software during its first couple of days on sale in Japan

As previously reported, Sony's sassy new piece of hardware shifted just under 325k units during the same period, giving the system a software attach rate of 0.92 titles per PS Vita. Despite the PS Vita's strong software line-up, it failed to..

Sony's lifted the lid on the PlayStation Vita's gigantic launch line-up for North America

Director of hardware marketing, John Koller, described the unprecedented 25 game strong launch line-up as the "biggest and best" any platform has ever released alongside. Even if Koller is paid to say these things, it's hard to disagree. Day one titles from the platform holder include Uncharted:..

So much for Sony denying any awareness of widespread PlayStation Vita glitches

A new video spotted by Andriasang shows a brand new PlayStation Vita running a bizarre underwater debug mode. The screen shows four swimming dolphins, a floating oyster and a pearl, all from different perspectives. The debug mode would be cool if it could be exited, but unfortunately for this new PlayStation Vita owner..

Sony has downplayed any suggestions that the PlayStation Vita is suffering from crashing or freezing problems following the device's launch in Japan over the weekend

Speaking with The Guardian, SCE UK's head of public relations David Wilson said, "We're annoyed with these stories, because we can't find any evidence of widespread glitches." He continued that, contrary to other reports,..

Sometimes we deliberate whether to even bother typing up the Japanese sales charts

There's often not much to commentate on, but this week is huge. Final Fantasy XIII-2 topped the Media Create sourced charts, selling over 500k units on the PlayStation 3. While the numbers look impressive on their own, it's worth noting that the game's predecessor managed to sell 1.1 million units back in 2009. The..

Following up Enterbrain's figures yesterday, Japanese sales tracking firm Media Create has released an alternative preliminary report on the PlayStation Vita's opening sales figures

Andriasang reports that the company puts the PS Vita's opening sales at about 325,000 units — slightly higher than Enterbrain. The firm also noted that the the initial shipment was around 500,000 units, supporting..

If you were a little disappointed by yesterday's PlayStation Vita sales numbers, it's probably because you believed an earlier rumour that put the system's initial shipment at about 700,000 units

But that number's been clarified overnight. In a column posted on Nikkei, IGDA Japan vice coordinator Kyoshi Shin said that the shipment was closer to 500,000 units. However, Shin was critical of Sony's..

The newly released PlayStation Vita enjoyed a strong start in Japan, but failed to outpace the Nintendo 3DS in its first two days on sale

Famitsu reports that Enterbrain recorded 321,407 PS Vita consoles were sold within the system's first 48 hours on the market. In the same period the Nintendo 3DS scooped up 371,326, but Sony will be not be concerned as long as PS Vita sales remain consistent. The..

Those of you in North America don't know how lucky you are

Not content with getting products for rock-bottom prices out of the gate, your nation hosts some of the greatest discounts in the history of, well, discounts. Take the recently released PlayStation 3D display (not yet out in Europe, we might add). Best Buy's already knocked $100 off the device's asking price. That means for $300 you can get..

The PlayStation Vita is now out in Japan

That means there are impressions, videos and information already all over the Internet. But if you want some definitive discussion all in one place, the 8-4 Play podcast has got your back. For those unfamiliar: 8-4 Play is fronted by a couple of former US games journalists who now work in Japan on video game localisation. You might not know their name, but..

As has become customary at every new hardware launch, images of a dismantled PlayStation Vita have emerged online

We were saddened to discover that the system is not powered by fairy-dust and the blood of Ken Kutaragi, but instead totally boring electronic parts. Still, make sure you enjoy these photographs: someone sacrificed their PlayStation Vita just so you could look at its insides. That's..