Topic: Should Sony change their approach on the Vita?

I always thought the Vita isn't selling because it doesn't have a lot of games.  Those people that don't check sites like Push Square take to the assumption that it's getting more games, but they didn't get a Vita because it didn't have those games in the Vita library at the moment.

For example, say a God of War game with confirmed multiplayer and cross-buy/play, I'm pretty sure people would be excited about that but because it isn't out right now, why buy a Vita now and have to wait all that time when you can wait for the game with enough money to to get the Vita, IMO.

I pretty much agree with everyone is saying.  The system needs more games, because it seems that the only company really putting a lot of support behind it is Sony.  It's definitely Sony's biggest problem.  It looks like they're stuck in the same catch 22 that other systems, like the Turbografx 16, where devs won't make games until it proves successful, but it won't prove successful unless if devs make games for it.
As for the "building up a library by having games with cross-play" I can see the argument.  It's just that it'll take a while before enough games come out that come out for both PS3 and Vita, and even then most people will beat games like Ratchet and Clank or Need for Speed (not sure if the latter has cross-play, but it is the same game).  What I'm trying to say is that even if they have the library, it's full of games they've already played and beaten, and if they haven't beaten them, then they can just do so on their PS3.

It happens mostly the same with Nintendo, which is the only company really putting a lot of support behind 3DS. Sony already owns many dev studios, and they are more than able to put some of them to work for Vita, but it might be that Sony itself is delivering most of their resources for the far more profitable PS3. Aside of Nintendo titles what is the big materialization of third party support for the 3DS? RE Revelations (if any)?

Good point, actually.  3rd party support hasn't been rampant on the device, but there's certainly support.  Dead or Alive: Dimensions and Street Fighter 4 came out at launch or soon after.  Then there's RE, like you mentioned.  There's many other games that have been quite good, but maybe not $40 good.  There has been a pretty good balance overall in terms of support though.

I think it's more a problem with demographics (I hate saying it).  Mario, Zelda and Pokemon, as much as the older crowd is able to enjoy them, are aimed and marketed towards the younger crowd (though I have seen Zelda commercials on adult oriented networks though).  Nintendo will always be able to attract people with their devices because those three franchises are, especially Pokemon, get people to buy devices.

Sony doesn't necessarilly have that.  Their franchises are great, but I don't know if they're enough to sell the Vita, especially at the rate they're coming out at.  Nintendo recently delayed some games, and considering that Luigi's Mansion 2 looked ready by Spring this year, they're doing so to keep a steady stream of releases on the system, keeping people interested in it.

I seriously hope this system does well though.  I'd hate to see it go away.

While Nintendo keeps doing Marios, Luigis and Peaches Sony will be safe. Now Sony might want to fish also in the same pool as Nintendo with kid oriented games, and that would be great for their sales. But Sony can also fish in the same pool as Apple as their device allows so. They have the best fishing rod, they can fish anywhere they want, the limitations are in the others.

@Mandoble: I don't know if fishing in their ponds is the right choice.  Sony would have an even harder battle trying to face Nintendo, and there's no way Sony can get the kind of amount of content that the App Store has.
Personally, I think that fishing in more smallish ponds would be better. Covering games that aren't really represented all that well, like JRPGs.  It's a pond not really covered by anything else, as well as just unique, quality stuff as well.  The PSP, though not a resounding success outside of Japan, was hardly a failure, and definitely made a profit for Sony over the long run, and it took a similar approach.

Sony may have the biggest fishing rod, but it may not be the *right* fishing rod for those ponds.  Nintendo and Apple have better fishing rods for their respective ponds, and Sony's rod, big as it may be, doesn't catch the fish the same way the others do.

What'd be awesome is if Sony made their own pond.  Yeah, making a pond takes time, but the benefits are usually worth going into.  While they work on making their own pond, they can work on ponds without much competition.

Wow, I can't tell if I love or hate these fishing metaphors.

The point is that creating small apps and small and good looking games for kids as well as educational apps is way way cheaper than creating a new Uncharted. With little effort they can start fighting both, Nintendo and Apple while keeping their traditional line of more mature games as well. Remember the brutal punch in the face of Nintendo caused by Kinect and its army of "shovelware" oriented for kids and family. Probably the sum of all the development times of all these kinect "nanogames" was still below the time required to create the first version of Mass Effect, but this alone rocketed up 360 sales in the west aiming to the same type of users expected for the Wii. Trying to fish in the same pods as Nintendo and Apple must be an small investment but with a tremendous potential reward.

I think I have to agree. My friend is not buying it since he thinks it is a portable PS3. Tearaway was the only Ps Vita game at Gamescon that is only on the Vita!

Not really, they presented other exclusives as well as COD BO, KZV, ACL, all these are not for the PS3, but only for the Vita.

In a word, no.

They need to stick to the core that made PSP such a great machine.

Vita IS a great machine, that has great games and has more incoming. People are choosing to misunderstand the platform and it's purpose.

If Sony do anything, they need to advertise more. I don't watch huge amounts of television, but I'm pretty much guaranteed to see a couple of 3DS ad's over the course of one show. And it's advertised well, to every possible punter!

Vita will be first and foremost what all Playstation machines were: a gamers machine.
Statistically speaking, gamers cover the least people in the world, therefore, there will be less people playing Vita than playing 3DS. I'm a gamer, I'll apt for the Vita even more than in the days of DS/PSP.
In a word, you'll never see Vita surpassing 3DS or iOS devices in terms of sales. But that might be somehow dangerous for Sony. One audience is still not enough. Sony has the audience of the 16 to early 40s. Nintendo has the audience from birth (lol) till death!

They did, and all of those (except COD) look fantastic.  The thing is, they are all extremely similar to their cosole brethren, and even though they are not the same games, it won't matter to most people.
To people who own a Vita, these games are fantastic.  To people who don't, these look like games that are inferior to ones they can already play on a console they already own.

I feel that the core who supported it can be put into one of these categories (with combinations, of course):
1) Having console gaming on the go (God of War, MGS: Peace Walker, etc.)
2) Having unique games you couldn't find anywhere else (Patapon, Locoroco, etc.)
3) Having a crap ton of JRPGs (the majority of it's library)
4) The homebrew market
5) Having a device that does more than play games (more important earlier on when the system was in its early years)
6) Effectively acting as a portable PS1 with the PS1 classics
7) It had Monster Hunter

Obviously the Vita has number 5 down, and the Vita will have number 6 down in a couple of weeks (better late then never, I suppose).  Also obviously is that Sony will fight number 4 with all its might, so that's one to cross off.
Then there's 1, 2, 3, and 7.  Right now, Sony seems to be emphasizing on #1, which is okay.  But that alone, especially since console gaming has gotten better, probably won't be enough, since it wasn't enough for the PSP.  The only unique games that are truly unlike anything you can play that are on the Vita are Gravity Rush, Mutant Blobs Attack, and Escape Plan, with Gravity Rush being the only one that's a full retail game.  The only JRPGs on the device so far have been ports/remakes of PS3/PS2 games.  Then there's Monster Hunter, which single handedly made the PSP explode in popularity in Japan, becoming a game worth buying the system for.  As I'm sure we're all aware of, Monster Hunter is a 3DS only thing right now.
If Sony were supporting the core who bought the device, they'd have all of these points, except 4 for obvious reasons and 7 for contract reasons.  Also, they'd lower the price on their freaking memory cards that are too small yet cost a ton of money.
If they don't get 2, 3, and 7 on the Vita, Sony has a really hard road ahead of them.

Well, I have 2, 3 and 7 covered with PSP downloads. And for PSP monster hunter fans the Vita is a must, not only they look better, but they can also use the second stick.

Anyway, while Sony is a Japanse company most of their dev studios as western ones and as you can see with the PS3 they are focusing much more in the west than in Japan, and we must not forget that what sells in Japan doesnt sell in the west and viceversa (with the exception of generic minigames like Marios).

You can also do 2, 3 and 7 with a PSP.
Pretty much all Monster Hunter fans in Japan have a PSP already.  Most of them aren't going to buy a new device at the price it's at to play a game they already own.  The claw has become a proffesional technique at this point.  Most people that own PSPs, who are probably interested in the device, including myself, have very little reason to buy a Vita when all the things I'd like to do with the Vita I can do with the PSP.

I get that they're catering to the west, but the west isn't as big into portables as Japan.  Just look at how many less people are in Japan, yet how many more systems were sold there.
Also, a lot of franchises (mostly on Nintendo systems) sell pretty well in both territories.  Just look at Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon.  Weirdly enough, Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil have really good sales over there as well.  Considering those are games that the west is more into, I'm kind of surprised by it, though part of it may have to do with it being made by Japanese devs.
(For the record, Mario is no generic minigame.  I hope you meant "and" instead of "like".)

Japan is not the most important market for Sony's portables, from a total of 75M PSP units sold, only 19M come from Japan. For the Vita it is 1/3 of the Sales. Sony sells portables way way better in the West. Even 3DS sells more in the west as well, and what counts is sales numbers, not sales per habitant.

And for the record, Mario is a generic minigame, you might change generic by platforming if you want, and if you like Marios you may also add Excellent there, but it is still a fast paced minigame composed by mini stages. And these usually appeals everywhere, it is not an Skyrim.

You've got to keep in mind that most of the PSP's sales in the states came within the first few years the system was out.  Japan was the opposite; most of its sales came on later, though it was much more steady than the west.
It's a significantly different market now.  A lot of people have migrated over to mobile gaming because there is some quality stuff on there, and a dedicated video gaming device just doesn't matter as much to them (which saddens me deeply).  Most of the gamers who want similar games on the go would rather just go with Modern Combat or Nova.  Japan doesn't seem to be into mobile gaming at all.
I hope I'm wrong though.  I'd love to see this system do well; it'd make for a better industry.

If Mario is generic, I'd like to see a game that isn't, because I can't see how a portly plumber speeding through space, collecting coins, eating mushrooms to dramatically increase his size, taking flowers and somehow gaining the ability to throw fire, etc. is generic.  You can say it's outdated, you can say it's simple, you can say it's for kids, but you cannot say it's generic.  If that was truly the case, the only games considered original would be stuff like Child of Eden, and even that'd be a stretch, since it involves shooting things, a video game mechanic that has been used since Asteroids.
There's a difference between a minigame, a regular game, and a massive game.  Skyrim falls into a massive game.  Mario Galaxy falls into regular game.  Cube Runner on my ipod falls into minigame.  They're dramitically different from each other in what they they set out to do and how they accomplish it.  Cube Runner and games like it are very simple and set out to exilerate the player immediately and are very easy to understand.  Skyrim and the like set out to wow the player and immerse him or her into something incredibly deep and vast.  Mario Galaxy sits somewhere in the middle.
If the only regular games were Skyrim, then pretty much everything out there would be a minigame of verying degrees.

Mario has been in some of the most creative games ever made.  If Mario is generic then so is every other game ever made.  It's funny you call Mario generic and then cite Skyrim as something that's not.  Seriously, how many RPG's out there actually are not in just another fantasy setting like Skyrim?  I don't see what's creative about that.

I think there are way more people, even adults now into their 30's like me, which would quite dig a Vita if they actually knew more about it.  It's only because, due to a lot of downtime in my current job, I've had the sort of time to read all about it on the internet. Had I not, I'd not even know it existed really.  Half the problem is at a glance it looks like a mild upgrade on a PSP, rather than the technical masterpiece it really is.

It suits me quite well, the novelty of playing games on a handheld means I even quite enjoyed Resistance BS, even though on a console I'd have found it rather lame. When the GF is taking up the TV watching soaps, or we are both chilling in bed and she's reading, the Vita is always to hand.  If I have a game (like sound shapes) which is on the Vita and PS3 and pretty much the same, all else being equal I actually rather play the portable.  I even rather play Pinball Arcade on the Vita, even though does look much better on a PS3.

Of course, in an ideal world I'd go on about how cool it would be to be able to run all the best emulators on it (man, a N64 Emu on this would be so great). That's not gonna happen legally and I kind of hope it does not at all (at least, until the system is well established) but I think Sony are generally working in the right direction slowly and the Sony mobile could really help things, if only to make Android owners more aware of the Vita itself. 

The Machine sells itself to those that know what it's about, its' the ultimate 'omg I want it!' gagdet to overgrown boys like me, and why they are not going on a big TV advertising campaign is baffling.  Us that have had a Vita a while still feel it's short in games at the mo, but someone just coming to it has a massive selection of great games to pick from now, enough to keep them going until the holiday wave of titles.

I'm happy with it anyway, and tbh as long as a steady flow of great AAA games and PSN games keep coming as they have been, I'll be happy for the foreseeable future. And as a LBP fan... I'll never had a lack of new content to play once that hits.

tl;dr

Sony need to create awareness outside the PS3 crowd and Internet to adults that grew up with the PS / PS2 and now have more money than sense.

I would ask you what do you think generic means there, but I will not.

Mario is generic because it is aimed to everybody as a fast paced minigame of any type based on a character, it is not RPG, it is not simulator, it is not strategy, it is not adventure, it is just a character used for fast paced minigames and that's all about Mario, it covers platforming, driving or tennis, it doesnt matter becase it doesnt go in depth in any category.

Generic =/= Lack of depth