Both a rival to Wii U, together?

What do you get when a Nintendo system's big selling point is innovative dual screen play — with a GamePad featuring its own screen — and a competitor's handheld and home console systems also offer various dual-screen connectivity options? You get a lot of corporate boasting and big talk, that's what, and the Nintendo vs Sony battle has picked up again with Sony Computer Entertainment America VP of marketing, handhelds and home consoles, John Koller, weighing into the fight; that's a heck of a job title, so he must be important.

The potential cross-play and interaction between Vita and PS3 titles has already been proven, and Koller has spoken to engadget about a Wii U comparison and Sony's hopes of finding the right ways for its two systems to connect in more games.

We tell our PlayStation fans all the time that what the Wii U is offering is something that Vita and PS3 can do quite easily.

It's dependent on the content. So we need to make sure the content isn't force fed. And, to us, making sure that the gamer receives the right type of experience is what's most important. So we're gonna pick our spots, but that technology does certainly exist here.

Of course, an important counter-argument is that Wii U has everything you need right out of the box, and Koller was quizzed about whether Sony is contemplating a bundle of PS3 and Vita in one purchase.

As we look at the lineup, there are gonna be some opportunities to do that. Whether we want to bundle the hardware together remains to be seen.

In the meantime, you look at the Vita consumer and a very high percentage — almost all of them — own a PS3. So you see that crossover works.

One major point in Wii U's favour is that the GamePad screen and the console are directly integrated together, so it's a standard for games and a natural part of a title's development; as Vita and PS3 are two separate pieces of hardware, there are likely to be different challenges in development.

It's an interesting debate, and it's not necessarily easy to churlishly dismiss Sony's argument, even if the differences between Wii U and its rival's connectivity options are notable. What do you think about the comparison, and is it a potential threat to Wii U?

[source engadget.com]