PSP Vita: Is It Dead on Arrival?

The PSP's successor, the Playstation Vita, was announced this past January with a lot of fanfare. Many sites were cautiously optimistic to be downright excited about the new system- after all, the PSP turned six years old in March, and a subsequent upgrade was long overdue considering that time span.

First off, I am the owner of a PSPgo. I started as a proud owner, then a still kinda happy owner, and now it's just "meh". Here's why:

• There was little to no synergy between the PS3 and the PSP go
• No Trophy support
• 16 GB can't store that many PSP games
• System apps included in updates were either stupid or had a non-user friendly installation process
• The PSP Store had an underwhelming library, and the games in that library were way too expensive

For $250, the least the PSPgo could have given me was a better UI, more memory, and a couple of free games to compensate for having to get rid of my entire library of tangible games.

But enough about the PSPgo; let's move on to this generation's issues. The Sony Xperia Play, the PSP Phone that Sony addicts have been clamoring for over the past 3 years, made an underwhelming debut. Sure, it plays PSP games over an Android base, but reviews have cited it as too awkward and an overall "lacking" device. And because it's basically a PSPgo/Android phone, it comes with the issues outlined above that plague the PSPgo.

Sure, the PS Vita looks pretty awesome; it has a touch screen, dual analog sticks, and improved graphics; but is that enough to take back market share? Personally, I don't think so, and I'll tell you why.

1. It's a dedicated gaming device
Sorry Sony and Nintendo; your systems are slowly becoming less relevant. Gaming devices can't just be gaming devices; they have to be phones, office suites, music players and more, all wrapped up in a sleek little package that can beam 4G. The Vita is coming into a market where all-in-one devices rule. They're smaller, sleeker, and faster. Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 may be working out a few kinks, but it complements my Xbox 360- not to mention I can pull up Office documents on it or play Xbox Live games and inflate my gamerscore on the road.

2. Sony overcharges for their games.
Prime example: Angry Birds on the iPhone? Just under a buck. On the PSP? $4.99. That's a 400 percent markup on a game you can download on virtually any other device for less. EA has created- iPad specific versions of their better games, and the most I've paid was $6 for Madden '10. Even at full price, it would have only cost me ten bucks. On the PSP Store, Madden '11 and '10 were both $40. Sony has shown that it wants to continue charging a premium price, and in today's marketplace where you can get the same product for less on a different medium, they can't afford to do that.

This time around, Sony has to make a conscious effort to keep their games competitively priced; if that means that they have to charge $20 or $30 for Madden on the NGP, then so be it. Back in 2004, 2K Sports, then still making NFL games, charged $20 for a new copy of NFL 2K5, while EA Sports still charged $50 for Madden 2005. 2K Sports may have cut their profits, but they definitely increased sales, exposure, and market share- let's not even mention that those games often bested Madden in innovation. If Sony wants to put a Vita in every gamer's hands, they'll have to improve pricing; maybe even imposing a $30 cap on all games would help. My iPad may have set me back a small fortune, but the apps are so cheap that it balances out.

3. Their Minis suck
Around the time they released the PSPgo, Sony also introduced Minis to their store; these were to be sub-100MB games that cost little to nothing- obviously their attempt to cash in on the App Store craze. Well, it didn't work out so well. Sony only released a few Minis a week, and most of them were highly obscure games that nobody ever heard of. On top of that, some of these Minis cost as much as $5. Listen Sony, if you're going to capitalize on Minis, only one price needs to be on your mind. NINETY NINE CENTS.

As a final nail in the coffin, Sony announced at Minis launch that Pac Man Championship Edition would be one of the flagship Minis. Guess what? They waited so long to release it that the game's successor, Pac Man Championship Edition DX, the more than worthy sequel to the original, was released to consoles before the original made it to the PSP. Sony will definitely have to do a better job here if they want to compete.

4. Nintendo is still king
Yes, I said that dedicated portable gaming systems were becoming less relevant, but that doesn't mean that Sony still isn't a big seller. The DS was crushing the PSP even when the PSP was in its prime. The DS is seen a much more accessible device for all demographics, while the PSP is only aimed at serious gamers. Guess who wins that battle every time? That's why Microsoft began repositioning the Xbox 360 a few years back as a family device that is living room worthy, and that's a decision that has paid off really well for them.

Bottom Line:
Sony is releasing the Vita in the 4th Quarter (i.e. holiday season) of 2011, but if I were them, I would have pushed the launch up to August or September; the PSP product, for the most part, has been out of the public eye, and Sony just recently annunced that they were no longer manufacturing the PSPgo in all but a few countries. They need a clean break from the first generation system for now, and positioning the new system and building it's hype for the holiday season is what they need. Otherwise, we could see Sony exiting the handheld game a lot sooner than planned.