Somewhat comparable, not the same.

And since this thread has become so anti-Sony, you guys will have fun with this article: http://www.planetxbox360.com/article_18342/10_PlayStation_3_E...
_{Apparently their doing something right! Haha}
Cheers!

Half that list sucks - too many games that 360 owners have decent alternatives to and old games they can get on a used PS2 if they really wanted it but didn't want to shell out for an expensive PS3. Why have Killzone when you have Halo? Why bother with God of War when you have, like, a gazillion clones? Wipeout Ratchet & Clank, maybe even inFamous I can understand, but I just don't see much to be desperate about on that list.
_{Ooooh, back fire}

I've only read the last few pages, but it seems that quite a few people are only interested in bashing the Vita or 3DS to boost an 'argument'. It's a shame, because both are fantastic systems. If I was in my old job (which made me miserable but paid well), I would be enjoying both my 3DS and a Vita in a couple of months, because they're very different handhelds. As a student/writer, I have to limit my hardware purchases, but I nevertheless hope the Vita succeeds.

One point I would make (no doubt somebody has already said it) is that gamers should wish success on both the 3DS and Vita. Handheld consoles are facing a real challenge from smartphones, and I don't believe that either Nintendo or Sony can maintain a handheld business if the other drops out. A short-sighted view may be to think 'if Vita fails, 3DS wins', but if either fails it only further discredits the very idea of dedicated gaming handhelds to the general public. Enthusiastic gamers like us are a minority, while the majority who buy a 3DS or Vita do so as consumers simply seeking entertainment. It's tough to convince some of these people that they need a handheld console, so Sony and Nintendo are facing a big challenge (though they may both succeed).

3DS and Vita are both needed to stop tablets and smartphones obliterating handheld consoles, so maybe we should just say, 'everyone buy the handheld right for them, and keep on gaming'.

@Tom: who said you could post things encouraging people to purchase and play whatever interests them?! how dare you bring your common sense and/or Earth logic up in here?

Killzone 3 takes up 45 GB? Holy ****!

You do realize that the video game industry has a long history of failed handhelds: Sega Game Gear, TurboExpress, Game.com, NeoGeo Pocket / Pocket Color, N-Gage, PSP, etc. Despite this, Nintendo proved that there was still a viable market for handheld systems.

Nintendo dominated the handheld market for the past 20 years, and very few companies found the success that Nintendo had. Yes phones may be getting more gaming capabilities, but there will always be a market for gaming systems. After all, the PC didn't kill off home consoles, and the original DS line persevered even though the iPod Touch, iPhone, and other smartphones posed a major threat.

@LordTendoboy

Not a fair comparasion at all. Pc gaming didn't kill consoles due to rising costs,piracy, and lack of local mutiplayer.

I dunno, I was a console gaming diehard, but after the whole PSN hacking debacle, my consoles, especially my PS3, have gotten a lot less use and I've since converted to Steam. I'm feeling PC games through Steam are gaining more and more traction every day and since the future is supposedly cloud based, I feel like consoles are finally on the way out.

Nintendo has been king of handhelds since they introduced the Game Boy. While I don't foresee not owning a portable gaming handheld in the future, I don't foresee me purchasing a Wii U and there's been nothing that has been shown thus far that make Vita worth buying to me.

...so what is everyone's most anticipated Vita game, the only one on my radar is Wipeout, but I've always had a soft spot for Wipeout. Shame they're already considering nickel and diming people on game modes (I read elsewhere).

Not so much consoles are on the way out but more so retail games. Consoles and handhelds will stay and if anything games will go digital only. Lets hope not though.

I'd like to agree that there'll always be a market for dedicated gaming handhelds, though if the 3DS and/or Vita struggle, it will become a much smaller market, I believe. Industry analysts are already saying that a DS level of sales is very unlikely to happen again, as some of the consumers have already walked away from handheld consoles. Nintendo (and Sony) are hoping to sustain a solid level of sales, but the levels from a few years ago are already a distant hope.

I don't really think the DS comparison works as the app market, not to mention the capabilities and popularity of smartphones, have exploded in the last couple of years. Even a few years ago many people still had bog-standard mobile phones, but now smartphones rule the roost, particularly since Android joined the party. The iPad, and its various tablet competitors, also didn't exist in the DS days. Of course plenty of handhelds crashed and burned in the 90s, but the landscape is very different now.

My main point is that bickering between gamers is frustrating. I know not everyone is doing it, but considering the challenges that Nintendo and Sony face, willing one or the other to fail at the expense of the other is a foolish enterprise.

Oh I don't want either of them to fail. But here's another thought: How come PC gaming didn't kill off home consoles (like how smartphone/tablet gaming is eroding the handheld market)? PC's are much more powerful than game systems, they have more features, blah blah blah. All of these are reasons people love the convenience of smartphones and tablets. So how come the "smartphone vs. handhelds" debate doesn't apply to PC's and home consoles?

I honestly see there being a time when there is only handheld gaming devices, in a way. When you have something like a 3DS or Vita that is in itself a system and controller that will just have a cradle that connects to a TV. You come in playing a game, you sinc. it to the TV and keep going or set it down to charge while you use a regular controller. Things should get small enough where a dock could house a hard drive and blending the two means no need for multiple systems.

my guess would be because, like PCs and home consoles, smartphones haven't killed off handhelds. until they start releasing new, big-name AAA titles in the App Store, there will continue to be a place for both smartphone and handheld gaming, same as there is for PCs and home consoles. There's not really much in the way of debate over it; people are going to continue to purchase and support whatever allows them to play the games they want to play.

True, but there are plenty of big AAA games on Steam, which could be considered a competitor to home consoles. And then there's cloud services like OnLive.

[quote=LordTendoboy][quote="ThomasBW84"]

While true that Vita's failure may prompt buzz that the smartphone business is taking over, if one accepts that the handheld console market became smaller, then Nintendo and Sony are fighting for a share in the smaller market, and they are direct competitors. The buzz right now, and the strategy of Nintendo is : "ok, sure, the smartphone business is a big business, we are not going to take over, but the 3DS is cheap, has a magical 3D effect and it's kid friendly". That's where Nintendo is currently winning and can continue to win. The Vita is an annoying pest or mosquito, sort of, for Nintendo, and takes away some of its share. Also, I think this all "it does everything" approach is a complete failure. People are not going to stop buying ipads or ipods or iphones or whatever. Nintendo has it right when they say "it's just a gaming machine, and you will have fun of it. Keep your other devices too."

...What? Wait, so just because I put a trollface as my avatar for fun, you automatically believe I want to be seen as a troll? You know, I don't know why I even bother. You just can't be taken seriously in my book.

And for the record, I wasn't mad. I was being immensely snarky.

With Vita, you don't even have to cradle it. You can play your games on the Vita, turn the Vita off when you get home and continue playing the game on your PS3. It's a new gimmick that will work with a couple of the launch games. But for myself, I enjoy handheld gaming because it doesn't seclude me to a room by myself. I can chill with my wife while she watches her shows and still enjoy myself without being bored to death - though I've found that Brothers and Sisters is actually a pretty good series.

On the PC gaming topic, it comes down to money. For a good couple of years, there were necessary - expensive - upgrades you had to make to your system to play the next big game and when those same games became available on home consoles and those consoles cost about the same as your needed upgrade, then many flocked over to home console gaming to save themselves financially. But, PC gaming is starting to gain its resurgence lately too, with the fantastic Indie titles and downloadable service like Steam.

Oh, check out this new cool Vita feature:
http://www.justpushstart.com/2012/01/04/playstation-vita-has-...

All joking aside my only serious complaint about the vita is lack of sort of Dona or hemisphere function. I find it aerie as newer Sony phones and tablets have an airplay Like feature to display and share content between the Tv and mobile device.

That's a big oversight ti me in the era of wireless,hemisphere, and lightpeak.

I never said the 3D was bad. In fact, I use it sometimes. I just meant that the 3D to me is not good enough to be a system seller by itself. I'm sure you would have bought the 3DS if it did not have 3D. In the end, we bought the 3DS for the incredible games on it.

Never said that graphics were a seller, just saying that the Vita is way more powerful than the 3DS. I said close to PS3 since I wasn't sure about the Vita's exact power. Either way, I guess it's safe to say that the Vita is in between the PS2 and PS3 in terms of graphics. Not that I care anyway. Unlike some other people, I'm going to enjoy both handhelds since they are very different from each other. Also, some people like to play on handhelds instead of consoles. So there is a market for the Vita. I also never said that the Vita will sell well based on hardware alone. In the end, it all comes down to games for both handhelds.

Don't forget that the 3DS also had a rough start just like the Vita. 3DS sales picked up based on the games released for it, so that will be the same way with the Vita. It's western launch might go much better than the Japanese launch, but only time will tell.

The graphics on the Vita aren't really HD. They're more like slightly upgraded 7th gen. handheld graphics, made to give the illusion of being HD on a small screen. Blow them up, and you'd see. Also, the idea of the 3D on the 3DS being gimmicky isn't really true. Everyone who was looking forward to buying a 3DS at launch was, in some way, mesmerised by the idea of glasses-free 3D gaming in the palm of your hand. Sure, it gets old, but that was part of the handheld's selling point.

Sales-wise, we can't exactly write the Vita off. It's just going through the slight beginning crisis, just as the 3DS did. The 3DS did pick up a little after with a few good games, and seeing as it's finally 2012, it will obviously continue to do so even further. Same can be expected for the Vita, and with a better planned launch line-up in schedule, Sony definitely isn't losing here. Everything's quite on par. Admittedly, the 3DS price mishap will put off a few people, and expectedly so, but if you're a better informed gamer, this wouldn't be a deference at all.

Comparing sales of the two consoles on their first two days after launch, I'd say Sony isn't lagging far behind, and will eventually step up.

• 3DS - 371,326 units
• Vita - 321,407 units