ou might say it’s comparing apples to oranges: the Sony Vita portable, just now coming out, doesn’t do 3D like the NIntendo 3DS does. And it doesn’t use gaming cartridges, like the 3DS (memory cards work here instead) or have to compete with accessing online through a cellular connection, besides the ubiquitous Wi-Fi.
The way you control gaming on the Vita isn’t similar to the 3DS at all: dual joysticks and buttons on a single touch-sensitive screen (using a bright OLED technology rather than plain-jane LCD) makes gaming more active than dealing with the 3DS’ dual screens, with only it designed use a stylus to activate functions.
Other aspects of the hardware, like having cameras and access to online games and backward compatibility for downloading older and earlier hardware-based titles can be considered similar as well. And while the Vita’s price is higher than the 3DS’ at this time, it is placed in the “norm” of the under-$300 range that the 3DS also occupied when it first came out. This is also true of the costs for the games -- they’re at the same retail as the 3DS titles, though obviously there are fewer titles right now.
But here’s the thing -- the Vita doesn’t do 3D in any way, shape or form. It cannot be upgraded to do glasses-free 3D -- although a 3D employing “active” 3D glasses isn’t impossible since the Sony PlayStation 3 showed you could add this functionality via a hardware update. But it doesn’t look likely that 3D will be added to the mix, at least not for this first generation model.
So where’s the entire hubbub coming from? The Japanese stock market, apparently, which “leaked” some info stating that game developers were thumbing their noses at the Vita for the 3DS. As one who has seen games come and go, along with their companies, over the years, I see this as hogwash. Game companies will develop titles for any viable game system; it’s just a matter of the system getting enough “oomph” to justify their interest. There’s no loyalty here -- it’s just the simple matter that there are more 3DS consoles out there right now. If Sony sells hundreds of thousands of Vita’s over the next 6 months worldwide, you can bet that game companies will dive into the pool to cash in.
So what I see here is a continuation of the Sega Vs. Nintendo mentality of the early 90’s: the Nintendo games, in this case for the 3DS, are designed to employ the 3D effect as efficiently and “up close and personal” as possible. That’s the selling point of the console after all. Vita is going after the hard-core and action-oriented gamer who doesn’t care about the fine nuances of gameplay: it’s all about big graphics with big explosions and even bigger body counts. A Super Mario World type game on the Vita wouldn’t be a selling point, 3D or no. Sony’s new baby will have to stand on its own by employing the familiar battle tactics of “our games are more astounding than yours,” and not “our games look more real than yours.” The 3DS is not going to be “taken out” by the Vita, as I see it, although it’s fair to say that most of those buying the Sony might never have bothered to even look at Nintendo’s console because of it’s “tamer” pedigree. So no one is going to lose here, because having gaming competition in the portable console field is necessary to keep companies from getting complacent. That’s good for all us gamers.
3dtv.com