Not exactly. “Nintendo-Switch-style” means it would be part of the PS6 stack, like any game that releases on console PS6 would also have to work on handheld PS6. And docking=the device runs in a higher power mode.
Exactly. Nintendo is sort of known for crazy overcommitment. They really commit to the bit, wherever the wackiness takes them. Two screens? All in. Funky controller for 3 handed people? Ship it.
Nunchucks? Say no more.
Moving their entire line to a single portable device was probably one of their safer bets.
Sony though, everything is very much a slight twiddle of the prior version, and as you say, the side hustles all end up in the bin - sometimes with very little notice.
Interesting that the article doesn’t mention the Steamdeck and the explosion of portable PC gaming devices as well. The Switch opened the market, but the Steamdeck expanded it and showed there was room for competition.
That’s because that market is still niche. It’s “exploding” relative to the population of PC gamers, but outside of that circle, people still find the Switch more appealing than any of those options. Certainly there are people out there for whom the Steam Deck is obviously better than the Switch, but those people are a niche within a niche. Small fries compared to the Switch audience that Sony is eyeing.
About time. The PSP and Vita were beautiful devices that gave a great playing experience. Sony obviously knew how to make a good portable, and throwing that away was a big mistake.
Vita was a little too ahead of it’s time - trying to use psn without consistent network traffic was awful.
You shouldn’t need to reconnect just to see if you have messages. Hopefully they don’t require propriety memory or abandon the unit months after release either
Imo the biggest failure of the bits was the egregiously priced proprietary memory cards. Outrageously expensive for very little space. Made the value proposition compared to the post price drop 3ds (which used micro SDS) a no brainer unfortunately
Honestly the biggest failure IMO, was because like usual, they didnt actually support it after release. I’ve fallen for this one too many times with Sony, but no more. Whenever Sony releases something other than their mainstream products, they immediately stop developing for it and basically rely on a bunch of third parties. Who usually give up shortly thereafter when they notice the dwindling support.
My vita is collecting dust with my PSVR, my PS proprietary headphones, and all the other useless shit Sony has released over the years.
They didn’t support either VR’s. Most of the titles for PSVR were third party, there was very little AAA support after the first few months around it’s release. Two years later it was dust and echos, just like PSVR2 (Blood & Truth arguably an exception, but I also believe it was still released within that two year window).
I recently dug up my vita and installed CFW out of boredom. With the built-in PSP and PSX emulation, decent retroarch support and a fair few source ports, it’s quite a respectable retro handheld these days. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend sourcing one over say, an anbernic unit, but if you already have it, it’s a fairly easy jailbreak and worth the effort IMO.
I will say I am glad to see that the current Atari CEO is actually trying to do stuff with the brand again. It seemed like it was really dead for a long time. But it’s refreshing to see Atari celebrate it’s long and bumpy history. As well as trying to do new things in the modern gaming environment. I hope they can find some real success. It would be neat to see Atari actually become a big player again.
As a cautionary tale, I said the same things about Embracer acquiring unused properties and underutilized studios in an attempt to revive more niche series for underserved segments of the market.
Fair enough, but it’s really just a hope. I certainly don’t have confidence that it won’t turn to shit. But the gaming landscape could use some shakeup with some new/old players.
I was going to say the same thing. I noticed it with the new Busby game, I hope they find a lot of success are are able to bring that retro game design back to the forefront.
More testing of what? How to do basic market research so you don’t release a full priced game in a space where the thriving competitors are free to play?
During a Q&A session following Sony’s latest financial results, Tao said that despite the negativity surrounding Sony’s live service offerings thanks to the issues with Concord and Marathon, she still believes live service games are worthwhile because they’ve added a revenue stream that didn’t exist for the company five years ago.
videogameschronicle.com
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