The Vita's Position, Or An Uphill Battle File 1

File/ Vita Vs 3ds/ Japan/ 1 of 2
Thursday, The 10th of May 2012 Approx. 1700 hours US EST

Okay, Here's the Situation.
Sony and Nintendo are currently engaged in a war with two fronts: Japan And Everywhere else.
A battle Nintendo has been dominating since the Winter of fiscal 2011.
And as things stand now, that's not about to change.


Front 1: Japan

There are many factors to consider here, but lets start at home. In Japan, The vita has two opponents: The army of Nintendo 3ds, and It's own Forebear; the incumbent PSP. (Dismissing the ps3, as it is a constant for all involved parties that for this scout report can be overlooked.) Fighting a war on two fronts is challenging enough on its own without the added factor of a revolution at home. A Revolution against a seasoned Veteran with far more standing and support.

The PSP continues to gain extra support everyday, but much of this will refuse to follow the Vita once the Revolution finally ends. And even then, this support will come at a cost to consumers; consumers who would rather support the old King in the first place. Or, of course, Nintendo. A competitor whose transition of power was not only peaceful, but fully amicable; nearly all support from the previous regime has come over, and new support continues to follow along. (Two new Pokemon games, for instance.) Support that may be completely unnecessary anyway.


The PSP may be strengthening, but the Vita's inheritance will be lacking and veiled behind Proprietary Memory

For you see, Nintendo has and continues to gain extra power for the 3ds's army in Japan: and at an alarming rate. A rate that even the PSP will struggle to keep up with in the coming months. The main cause of which could be attributed to the Betrayal of the PSP's greatest general: Monster Hunter.(Of course, support may have been building behind the scenes before hand, but this was the obvious visible turning point.) Even without the addition of Backwards compatibility, the 3ds has more than enough power to keep both the Vita and PSP pinned down.

Furthermore, even if the Vita were to gain a large boost of additional support to match the 3ds's lineup, it may hardly matter: For Nintendo has already announced that it still holds reserves ready to meet such an assault. With Monster Hunter no longer being an exclusive supporter, even its appearance on the Vita or the PSP would do little to help their position against the 3ds.


Monster Hunter Tri G's Impact was obvious, as it was a combined effort with multiple big hitting exclusives. Something a Vita version, as things stand now, would lack.

My Assessment: The Vita, with its higher price and comparative lack of support is no match for its opponent, a problem compounded by troubles at home against its own predecessor.

My Western Front Report, And Final Assessment, will be detailed in the forthcoming page 2.