PlayStation Boss Defends Vita, Slams Social Gaming 147
donniebaseball23 writes "Sony Computer Entertainment America boss Jack Tretton has come out swinging to defend the lackluster response the games industry has seen with the PS Vita. He deemed the sales level for the portable as 'acceptable' so far, and he brushed off any notion that social and free-to-play games are putting huge pressure on the portable and dedicated consoles market. 'I think the opportunity to be in the console business is greater than ever before,' he said. '[Social and free-to-play] is a business I think a lot of companies are learning is difficult to sustain for the long term. It's an adjunct or it's an add-on, but it's not where gaming is headed. It's an additive diversion. There's a place for social and freemium, but it's not going to replace the business models that are out there.'"
The company is having a hard time getting third-party developers interested in the Vita platform.
That's a shame (Score:4, Informative)
the Vita platforms has a ton of really cool potential.
Vita - Great hardware, not much else. (Score:2, Informative)
I can't buy a vita because looking at one makes me sad. .. And fatally crippled by it's software. Sony so completely, amazingly out of touch with what the consumer wants that it can not make a functioning game ecosystem. They've taken their previous. "You'll take our shit and /like/ it" development model to the extreme and wonder why developers are giving it a pass.
Amazing hardware with great controls. Fast quad core CPU, OLED screen, everything you want.
I know most of you reading this have a bias and predisposition that makes you unable to understand that iOS and andriod devices are now competing for the same dollars that traditional handheld game systems once had tied up.. But they do. Ask any young kid what they want between an ipad, iphone, andriod phone, andriod tab, vita, and 3ds. If you're over ~23 years old be prepared to be shocked. Kids want ipads. Not the machines you used to play pokemon growing up.
Portable gaming without traditional d-pad and button controls is here. Understand it, or be shoved aside. .. Imagine if nintendo sold an official iphone game controller shell and sold pokemon games on the app store. Yeah, they'd make a killing. You know it. I know it. Why don't they do it? Pride. Plain old stubborn Japanese pride will be the death of Nintendo and Sony in the portable arena. It's 2012 and they're products have not budged one nanometer from their previous iterations.
Re:Vita - Great hardware, not much else. (Score:3, Informative)
Oh, you bitter AC...what is it about this comment:
"You'll take our shit and /like/ it" development model to the extreme and wonder why developers are giving it a pass.
That makes this comment sound so hypocritical?
Portable gaming without traditional d-pad and button controls is here. Understand it, or be shoved aside.
It really has nothing to do with controls, and everything to do with the convenience of only having 1 device to carry around.