Handheld Game Console Price Drops

The Nintendo 3DS was first released in Japan in February 2011, and then it was released in Europe, North America and Australia in March 2011. It came with an absurd price tag, and the library of games to play on it was severely limited which forced the price to drop to just less than $200. Surprisingly this was done deliberately by Nintendo for some bizarre reason which I don't know much about and let alone the details of their marketing strategy, all in all those early adopters just got trolled and there will be a lot more games on its way.

PS Vita had a similar story except the fact that the price slump it had was unprecedented. Currently the library is severely limited and there's a huge Tsunami of games on its way but we don't know when it will hit. Sounds familiar right? I don't know what Sony was thinking releasing a game console which only has 25 games to play in its library and because of this, the price has dropped, from it's absurd pricetag and down to just $249 for the Wifi only version and $288 for the Wifi/3G version.

So the question is - Would it be worth it to buy one of the current generation of handheld game consoles?

Both are good, but the Vita has more potential.

Should just depend on the number of interesting titles that are going to be released for each handheld, which will vary between individuals.

And I don't know about Vita having more "potential", having touch-screen kinda steals a lot of the "casual" gamers away from DS, but aside from that, the demographics of both of these handhelds shouldn't be changing at all.

Tuskin wrote:

Both are good, but the Vita has more potential.

Smaller library than the 3ds, no backwards compatability, no way to retrieve your old games to your new system (JP only, which even then is a waste cause you can just play your old PSP).

In my opinion, 3ds probably has more interest at the moment. Some interesting titles have been released, and are on the way to being released. Can't say the same for vita...

But really, anything you can cfw... wins.

^That's the thing though, PSP and DS had very different demographics, Vita and 3DS will likely be no different. Chances are, your average PSP owners wouldn't give less shit about SRPG/RPG/Roguelike/Dungeon Crawler/Visual Novel games whilst DS owners wouldn't give less shit about Sport/Racing/3D Action Adventure Platformer games. Not saying that the genres are fixed to specific console, but the more interesting/original games of each genre do tend to go to a specific one.

And let's face it, "average" western gamer couldn't give less shit about DS.

really now revelske
there is a alot more VN on the PSP than the DS, quite some RPG as well , and some SRPG, the problem is that.... they are Japanese

Vita have ONE exactly one objective advantage, and that is regionfree

Tuskin wrote:

Both are good, but the Vita has more potential.

Pretty much this, though it's too early to confirm it. Besides, if jp only games would cross the border, it'd give Vita more edge (since PSP had that jp only games policy). I dunno about the places where you guys live, but Tuskin's statement pretty much voices the general consensus at my place concerning this: Vita has more potential cause 3DS aims more at casual gamers. Moreover, ppl here who are sceptic towards 3ds claim that 3ds has functions that make it like a gimmick version of the first DS, especially when looking at some of the games that appeared(though you could say it goes for both handhelds,).

reVelske wrote:

^That's the thing though, PSP and DS had very different demographics, Vita and 3DS will likely be no different. Chances are, your average PSP owners wouldn't give less shit about SRPG/RPG/Roguelike/Dungeon Crawler/Visual Novel games whilst DS owners wouldn't give less shit about Sport/Racing/3D Action Adventure Platformer games. Not saying that the genres are fixed to specific console, but the more interesting/original games of each genre do tend to go to a specific one.

And let's face it, "average" western gamer couldn't give less shit about DS.

The first part feels abit biased, but like ret said, it's not as black-white as you make it sound like. You might be right about the "average" western gamer tho. I mean, just comparing the Wii with 360 and PS3 pretty much paints a clear picture.

Both hold hope imo, but ppl grant Vita more success because they see 3ds as some mini game console.

Retrias wrote:

really now revelske
there is a alot more VN on the PSP than the DS, quite some RPG as well , and some SRPG, the problem is that.... they are Japanese

Vita have ONE exactly one objective advantage, and that is regionfree

The only question is how many people are willing to deal with foreign texts.

LXE wrote:

So the question is - Would it be worth it to buy one of the current generation of handheld game consoles?

If you enjoy the games, obviously yes. ._."

Everything is still the same, shit gets expensive, it's up to you to see if you want it that badly or not.

Things never change ;A;

"Omigawd SonyHandheldOfToday has much bettar hardware than NintendoHandheldOfToday"

But I just wanna play fucking Mario, Blazblue, Kid Icarus and Kingdom Hearts,... so I don't really give a shit.

It would really just be better to save your money and hope better consoles come out, tbh.

PS Vita doesn't really have any good games out, just fighting games and racing games iirc, and it's pretty bad for regional-games and the shop restricts you pretty heavily, since you can only have one acc per Vita, which restricts games you can buy and then play and shit.

3DS has a bunch of oldies that've gotten revamped, but...Honestly, it's just not worth buying a console whose only technological advance is "it can do things in poorly-done 3D!"

Neither have sufficiently advanced technological improvements, so...Not really worth buying either of them, tbh. Wait a few years, check out what new systems are out then, then decide. If all else fails, buy a second-hand GBA or DS. Should take care of your want to game on the go.

Retrias wrote:

there is a alot more VN on the PSP than the DS, quite some RPG as well , and some SRPG

That doesn't contradict anything I said.

Nonetheless, 3DS's downfall would probably be the regionlock, that alone is the reason why I have no interest in getting a 3DS anytime soon as I will not be able to play future SRW titles on it. I'll likely grab it at a MUCH later stage for the sake of Etrian Odyssey, Final Fantasy and Castlevania (if Konami still cares) games that will inevitably show up, and if the original DS's titles are anything to go by, we really won't be in shortage of pleasant surprises. Might & Magic? FFTA? Luminous Arc (woops no I didn't say that)? Contra (actually, dual-screen really didn't suit it, it'd be a much better title on PSP)? Infinite Space (oh god yes)? Phoenix Wright? Another Mana game? More Roguelikes? Advance Wars? Fire Emblem? Jump Ultimate Stars? Megaman? Yeah I highly doubt there's going to be a shortage of good 3DS titles.

Quote :

And let's face it, "average" western gamer couldn't give less shit about DS.

Because the DS didn't have a good Fifa game, or NHL, or car racing game.
Oh, or with muscly marines or tons of blood and whores.

Vita still looks more of the same to me, so screw Sony.

Quote :

"it can do things in poorly-done 3D!"

3D was never good anyway.

Quote :

"Omigawd SonyHandheldOfToday has much bettar hardware than NintendoHandheldOfToday"

Though I like how Sony always comes later. It ends up not being a good comparison, but people seem to be compelled to do it anyway!

Suki_Eve wrote:

"it can do things in poorly-done 3D!".

You're right. Even old painters had a better time painting "somewhat 3d" paintings.

The Ambassadors:

iKray wrote:

Suki_Eve wrote:

"it can do things in poorly-done 3D!".

You're right. Even old painters had a better time painting "somewhat 3d" paintings.

The Ambassadors:

...That's horrifying. ;__;

Suki just doesn't like it when people try new mediums in 3D. 3D was cool, like, back in the 90s or early 2000s. Now it's kind of lost its luster. Plus, last time I bothered with something artificially 3D I got a headache for my trouble. :\

Suki_Eve wrote:

iKray wrote:

Suki_Eve wrote:

"it can do things in poorly-done 3D!".

You're right. Even old painters had a better time painting "somewhat 3d" paintings.

The Ambassadors:

...That's horrifying. ;__;

Suki just doesn't like it when people try new mediums in 3D. 3D was cool, like, back in the 90s or early 2000s. Now it's kind of lost its luster. Plus, last time I bothered with something artificially 3D I got a headache for my trouble. :\

I blame movie industry. Almost every movie i see now is in 3d...

Back on topic... I only have a 3ds, but that's not even mine. My bro got that for upcoming Kingdom Hearts. (Why you keep moving systems!?) Him being casual he said "3ds feels more like hype than actual goodness."

Good thing we have 3 GBA SP. ^.^

iKray wrote:

Retrias wrote:

really now revelske
there is a alot more VN on the PSP than the DS, quite some RPG as well , and some SRPG, the problem is that.... they are Japanese

Vita have ONE exactly one objective advantage, and that is regionfree

The only question is how many people are willing to deal with foreign texts.

its perfectly the same deal with the 3ds , huge huge library of untranslated game, the common thing in portable library is that
1. Japan get all of the nice shit
2. Westerner get shovelware

3ds wouldn't have a shortage of good title, it just so happen , that they will be in moonrunes, same deal with the vita

PS Vita cuz its hackable ;c
not saying you should hack it! its more fun and you spend more time on homebrew apps and stuff and it always have something new unreleased by sony

3DS cant play japanese ds imports from what ive heard :c hence why i got a ds lite instead xD
i wanted to play shakugan no shana!

Yuukiblaze wrote:

PS Vita cuz its hackable ;c
not saying you should hack it! its more fun and you spend more time on homebrew apps and stuff and it always have something new unreleased by sony

3DS cant play japanese ds imports from what ive heard :c hence why i got a ds lite instead xD
i wanted to play shakugan no shana!

Thankfully wrong....

My U.S. 3DS is perfectly capable of playing my copy of Super Robot Taisen W(2007) with no difficulties at all....

I assume regionlock only applies to 3DS titles but not standard DS ones?

3ds titles only , their reasoning is because they can contain DLC

Wait, what? I heard both the 3DS and the Vita have DLC for some titles.

But Nintendo only cares about their DLC? Odd.

nah , Nintendos statement on why the region block the shit out of the 3ds (this is their first doing this on a portable) is the statement that there would be "DLC"

I thought the regionblock was also to counter piracy.

>Counter Piracy
>2012

There are people who live to crack antipiracy codes. :v