Why I’m Excited/Nervous for the Playstation Vita

Against my better judgement, I have decided to jump onto the early adopter bandwagon once again. On February 15th, the Playstation Vita First Edition Bundle and five games should be en route to my house. The last time that I was this enthusiastic about purchasing a piece of electronics at launch was when the very first MacBooks were announced in 2006 (that is, the polycarbonate ones). In that particular case, my initial excitement over owning one of the very first MacBooks was tempered mere months later when Apple updated those MacBooks with Core 2 Duo processors (the launch MacBooks only had Core Duo processors). There are plenty of risks associated with being an early adopter, and my experience back in 2006 represents only one of many possible scenarios (thankfully, my MacBook didn’t have any hardware issues, though random shutdowns were apparently quite prevalent during the first generation).

There are so many reasons to wait for a few months (at least) before taking the plunge with the Playstation Vita. However, my excitement for Sony’s newest platform runs deep, and the positive impressions from various reputable sources have only served to fortify my excitement. I thought it would be an interesting mental exercise to go through some of the reasons why I’m so excited for the Vita. Additionally, I will also discuss a couple of the potentially concerning aspects of the system. Let’s get started:

Reasons Why I’m Excited

Traditional portable gaming experience: Ever since my parents bought me the first generation Game Boy (remember that gigantic thing with the spinach green display?) when I was six years old, I have been a huge fan of portable gaming. Throughout my life as a gamer, I have been the owner of a Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Playstation Portable, and a Nintendo DS Lite. With the exception of the PSP (which I ended up selling in order to help pay for the aforementioned MacBook), all of those devices received ample amounts of attention. While I am a very satisfied owner of an iPhone 4, the truth of the matter is that it’s a poor substitute for the traditional portable gaming experience, at least in my view. I don’t know if it’s because of the lack of buttons, the selection of games, or some combination of the two, but even after owning the phone for over a year, I always reach for my DS Lite when I want to do some portable gaming before going to sleep. The Playstation Vita’s potential to preserve the traditional gaming experience while giving us the most console-esque experiences ever seen on a handheld is enough to excite even the most skeptical side of me.

Good platform for indie developers: I have so many small PSN games and XBLA games that I have been itching to play, but have never actually gotten around to checking out. Games like PixelJunk Shooter 2, PixelJunk Eden, Joe Danger, and even Super Stardust HD have been sitting on my console, just waiting to be played. I really feel like those kinds of games would be much better served on a portable system, where it is far easier and far more comfortable to get some gaming in during small 10-15 minute blocks. Thankfully, it seems as though Sony is committed to supporting smaller developers, and they have even taken steps to provide indie developers with Vita development kits. When it comes to being developer-friendly, there is no denying that Sony does not have a great track record. The Playstation 3 is notoriously difficult to program for (despite what the Sony Defence Force would have you believe), but there is hope that the Vita will be different. Assuming that Sony can deliver on their promises to be a facilitator of indie development (especially at a time where Microsoft seems to be running in the opposite direction), I am confident that we will see many great indie titles and smaller “arcade-style” games throughout the PS Vita’s lifespan.

Sony’s track record for supporting consoles: A lot of people seem to be worried about the PS Vita’s initial sales in Japan, and while the initial outlook is hardly something to write home about, I wouldn’t take it as some sort of doom call for the system’s long-term future. Rocky launch periods are par for the course when it comes to Sony, but they have always emerged from the initial storm in fairly good shape. People declared the Playstation Portable to be a dead system more times than I can count, but if you look at the library of games available for that handheld, it actually turns out to be a pretty respectable list. Meanwhile, the Playstation 2 had an absolutely horrific launch, with almost no good launch titles, insane shortages, and a heap of bad press. However, when you look back on that console, it had a fantastic library of games (especially for JRPG fanboys like myself). And of course, one cannot discuss discuss problematic Sony launch periods without an analysis of the Playstation 3. From the absolutely embarrassing E3 2006 presentation to the Blu-Ray diode shortages and the software quirks, the Playstation 3 spent the first year of its life oscillating between a tragedy and a running joke. Sony didn’t give up, though. Instead, they got their shit together and turned the PS3 around, and now it’s a solid entertainment system at a great price point that still has at least one more good year left in it. All of the fear about the Vita being “doomed” because of a rough launch is unwarranted when you look at the past storms that Sony has weathered.

Reasons Why I’m Nervous

Selection of RPGs: Like I said before, I’m a huge JRPG fan, and the Nintendo DS’s dominance of that genre in this console generation is almost an indisputable fact. With games like Suikoden Tierkreis, Dragon Quest IX, SMT: Devil Survivor, Radiant Historia, and The World Ends With You (I suppose that the specific genre of WEWY could be debated), the DS has been keeping the beloved JRPG genre afloat at a time when the major consoles have given us equally disappointing lineups. Between the 3DS and the PS Vita, it is difficult to tell which of those portables is going to carry the JRPG torch. There are some PS Vita games that seem to suggest a promising future for JRPGs (Final Fantasy X, Tales of Innocence R, and Disgaea 3), but I am certainly hoping that in this specific area, the Vita is more like the DS and less like the Playstation 3.

Continued developer interest will depend on sales: We can already safely assume that the Vita is going to attract sufficient interest from first- and second-party game developers, but whether or not third-party developers will continue to support the Vita is going to depend on how many systems Sony manages to get into the hands of consumers. In a world filled with iOS and Android devices, there is no denying that the portable landscape is very different than it was in the previous generation, and Sony has a whole new set of opponents to compete with, not only for the consumers’ money, but for the developers’ attention as well. If the Vita doesn’t end up being a strong seller, a lot of third-party developers may decide that it’s much more practical to just develop games for iOS and Android devices instead of dedicating resources to making Vita games. Earlier in this post, I talked about how I’m not concerned with Sony’s support for the Vita, but third-party support for the Vita is something that requires an entirely separate discussion. The launch lineup certainly looks promising from a third-party perspective, but the long-term support remains to be seen.

We’re not that far off now! When my PS Vita arrives, I will probably start working on a full review of the system. That review will eventually be posted on this blog as well as on the Neowin forums. It also might end up on the front page of Neowin as well, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Until then, I still have some DS games to finish while I wait for my Vita.