Topic: Comparisons to the Vita from a Longtime owner who recently switched to 3DSXL

That's not what I'm saying. You're being pedantic.

For gamers on a budget, $50/yr for unlimited access to a select library of software is a great deal. A single game can cost more than $50, but with PS+, you would be getting a couple dozen per year, and they are yours to keep for as long as you renew your subscription. If you buy games regularly, the discounts alone are well worth the subscription fee, but even budget gamers have unlimited access to the free games. Nintendo does not have a competing service.

And speaking of Netflix, that's also a great service for movie lovers on a budget. $8/mo for unlimited access to a huge library of movies and TV shows is a fantastic deal that most people can afford. If you have PS+ and Netflix, you're paying $12/mo for your entertainment budget. That's less than the price of 2 SNES games on VC.

I've grown too fond to having a consistent and decent gaming library that I actually legit own to fully appreciate the otherwise insane deals of PSN.

For people who don't replay their old games that much, it's a valid thing.

Also as someone who thinks Vita is a pretty cool little system, I can't blame you. Vita is like a Wii U if instead of Mario Kart and Smash Bros coming out, they decided to use it primarily as a minor selling point for QOL. :/

Eh, I've barely touched my 3DS this year, and I'm one of the few people who thinks its library is pretty lackluster. I think the Vita is better hardware and is better designed in just about every way, but its library also has a very long way to go.

The Vita has Persona 4 Golden though, and that's kind of an automatic win in my book.

Also: my $50 PS+ membership has paid for itself several times over since I got it earlier this year. It's an incredible value for me.

They're both pretty awesome in their own way, and have their own strengths in terms of their game libraries.

3DS = Nintendo games; JRPGs, due to extensive support by Atlus; GB, GBC, GG, and NES titles
Vita = Ports of PS3 and PS2 games; Fighting games; Indie games; PSone classics

So far this year, Vita has a really epic line-up, whereas the 3DS... doesn't. Thus far, at least.

Perhaps, but quality is often indicative of sales. Look at it this way - the Vita is mostly ports of superior console games and lots of indie titles. On the flipside, the 3DS has some of the finest handheld games ever conceived, most notably Fire Emblem: Awakening, Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Super Mario 3D Land, Bravely Default, and Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The Vita's lineup pales in comparison to such games, the Vita has fewer games in general, and most of those games aren't "built" to be a handheld experience, they're just scaled down from Steam or Consoles. So yes, the 3DS has better quality games, and people have noticed, hence the sales.

@Caviarmeths
It depends on what games you like. I had a PS3 w/ PS+, so I know how it works.
Alot of the games would go on sale for all customers eventually, anyway.
You could spend that $50 on games you can keep.

I think they could have done a better job with it, especially the fact that you can't redeem past "free" games. If you forget to download some of the weekly games, that offer is gone, so the service is still flawed. I'd rather have a complete service. If PS Now isn't the same thing as PS+, you're being ripped off.

@Scar392 I can't understand your hate for ps+ the service sucks a bit for the PS4 so far, but on the PS3 and Vita is an amazing deal, specially if you have both....... you do not need to download every game, you just need to "buy" it from the store and most stay at least a month there, you cannot download every game that ever has been in the collection because that would be an unfair deal for those who have been paying longer

@Captain_Baiko I don't think anyone can seriously argue that Vita's library is better, we are just arguing that Vita is not so bad, and as I said 2014 is being a better year for Vita than it is for 3DS (games wise not sale wise)...... Of course I don't think Vita will ever have a year as 3DS did back in 2013 but the console has its merits, its not as bad as people make it sound... its not better than the 3DS of course but I think its better than the Wii U

I gotta say this year the Vita seems to have a better line up of games, the 3DS just hasn't been as good as last year though SSB4 and Pokemon RS looks good.

@ferthepoet I can understood why people love psn+, I was on it for a year and loving it too until my subscription ended. Then I realised I could never play those games unless I renew (as obvious as it sounds) which got me thinking Sony will eventually drop their support for the PS3 and I wondered if something like 10 years from now I'd still be able to download and play those game.
I've made it a thing to buy physical copies now because who knows I might revisit them in the future like I do with my SNES, megadrive and PS2 games.

On the Vita I mainly agree with the OP's points. Although I have two gripes with the Vita.
1 - The placement of the speakers bug me! No one has mentioned it so maybe it's only my problem lol. When I'm holding it normally I'm thinking this is ok my hands aren't blocking the sound but when I'm playing a game my hands will accidentally block them or make it so that the sound echoes from my hands. They should of placed it in the area where the inner camera is and camera in the middle, weird design on that part..

2 - WiFi is always on. Why can't we switch this off? atleast I'm not aware I can. Such a waste of battery..
Just a little minor one depending on the game, I don't like touching the screen in gameplay, kinda blocks my view of things.

On the 3DS, I probably sound bias but I think its almost perfect in what I want from it. Only thing that would be nice if it was more powerful, everything would run a lot smoother and 3D mode wouldn't hinder the framerate

@WashioYuji You can turn WiFi off by holding down the home button. A screen will pop up where you can adjust brightness and turn on/off every wireless feature.

@moomoo you legend mate, thanks!

The Vita's really cool and so is the 3DS. I love them both. Too bad the Vita is struggling but at least most owners are satisfied. (PS+ might have something to do with that.)

Well, personnaly, I sold my 3DS to buy a VITA the day it came out. It was an ambassador 3DS, so I was not sure, but the different previews of the Sony handeld, coupled with the-year-without-game I had with my 3DS made me do it.
Very quickly, I regreted this. The 3DS took his flight, many games came to the system while I was stuck with my VITA and - again - not so many games.

But now, you know what ? I plan to buy another 3DS this summer, I'm just waiting for Smash Bros to come out to see if there will be a 3DS special edition that come with. But for not a second I'm planing to sell my VITA.
It's an amazing system : I love the OS, and yes, maybe there is a lot of ports from home consoles on it, but to me it means a lot. Playing final Fantasy X on the train, it's really something I thought I would never do. Plus, if you like the oldies and indies, it's litteraly heaven.

I bought a 64 gb memory card (even if I agree the price is just tooo "OUCH!"), and now I can play the entire final fantasy saga from One to Ten. On the go. And I suspect the XII is coming, too. I play a lot of PS games, PSP games... and being able to play Jet Set Radio or Limbo wherever I want... Just Wow.

Of course, there's not a lot of MUST HAVE in the VITA games, but Soul Sacrifice and Gravity Rush are for me ones of the best games I ever played.

So, I agree with you : the 3DS is far more superior now, as a handeld. More choice, more exclusives, a lot of fun. That's why I want one again ! xD
But the PSVITA is still a great machine, only it's for a far more specific public of gamers, who like retro and indies. I really love this machine.

And both are free for PS+ users right now.

The service actually makes most sense on PS4, because you have to pay for online, anyway. It doesn't matter whether someone's being paying longer. That's why I'm comparing it to a Netflix. I've been paying $8 a month since 2009 to stream movies, but I don't have access to more movies, because of that.

That's why I think PS+ and PS Now should be the same thing. It doesn't make any sense that they would allow you to have some things on your HDD, but are required to stream others. PS Now could easily allow people to download the games, OR stream them. Now we have 2 different services that could have been 1.

We also don't expect to download movies from Netflix, because it doesn't take as much data to stream a video than a video game.

i would like to see Nintendo do what sony does with PSN. you say its 50 a year but you can find the cards on sale for as low as 30 to 35 per year.

Who cares you dont own them most people dont Keep their games forever (they play them and resell them)
i only have 3ds and vita (I have a ps3 but dont play it)
I was with PSN for 1 year What i got and was able to play (this is only the games i played this does not even count for how much money i saved being a psn member. (what i mean by that last week they had sale on Chrono trigger and cross there would like 5 or 6 bucks but if you was a member it knocked the prices down to 3.49) AND ALL OF THE FREE ADD ONS TO GAMES

Disgaea 3 (VITA GAME)
PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate HD
Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark PS Vita
UNIT 13 (VITA GAME)
MONSTER HUNTER
Lone Survivor: The Director's Cut
STREET FIGHTER TEKKEN X (VITA GAME)
MODNATION (VITA GAME)
SMART AS (VITA GAME)
SONIC ALL STAR RACING (VITA GAME)
SOUL SAC.
SINA MORA
RAYMEN (VITA GAME)
GOD EATER BURST
ZERO ESCAPE (VITA)
GRAVITY RUSH (VITA)
WIPE OUT (VITA)
UNCHARTED (VITA)

11 VITA GAMES THAT WOULD COST 30 TO 40 EACH (EASY 300 BUCKS) WHAT I WOULD OF BEEN VERY LUCKY TO GET 200 OUT OF THE BUNCH...SO HAVING PSN SAVED ME CASH ... TOO BAD NINTENDO WOULD NOT DO THE SAME

IF I HAD TO PICK
60% VITA
40% 3DS

due to the fact i can play all of my PS1 RPG games on my vita

@slidecage
Ya, and that's your and many others' opinions. That still doesn't change that are flaws to services, as I pointed out. I think a better subscription service could exist.

So you're saying that you'll pay $50 a year(no discounts included) to have a service that will exist for as long as PS exists? How long do you think Sony can provide you $300+ worth of games for $50 a year? You would have to spend upwards at least another $40 on discounted items in order for it to be worthwhile for Sony as a business.

PS+ and PS Now just look like a huge gamble that derives from a console they were already losing money from(I'm talking about PS3).