There has been no shortage of doom and gloom surrounding the vita. I must have read a dozen articles predicting the death of the artist formerly known as NGP, and for the first few months of release these predictions are seemingly becoming true.

However according to http://www.m-create.com/ranking/ the release of persona 4 has just about doubled the vita's weekly sales in Japan. That's got to be a good sign for the little playstation. Having never played P4 and already owning a vita I , for one, can't wait to get my hands on the fabled eccentric RPG.

I think the obvious answer here is that its too soon to tell, but whatever, Do you guys think that the vita is only a few titles away from becoming a hit in Japan? Or should we not derive anything from this but that the Japanese really love Persona?

I think what we can draw from this is that a console will sell when games come out. So yeah, if Sony keep pumping out good games for the Vita then the sale will most likely pick up. In Japan all it takes is a couple of games from a system to start selling, I mean Persona 4 has shown what one game can do. It's why having Monster Hunter is a massive thing for Nintendo.

P4 might sell it in Japan, but not in Europe and Americas.

I'm happy to see the Vita picking up in japan, I just hope there are more games announced that are appealed to western gamers.

I really like the Vita and think it's a great handheld, so I hope it does pick up.

@zombie2011 said:

P4 might sell it in Japan, but not in Europe and Americas.

Hopefully AC: Liberation & the Vita Black Ops games will do the same in the US as P4 did in Japan. I'm not really into CoD, but I can't wait to get my hands on Liberation, hopefully it will hold me over until AC3 is released on PC.

If we're gonna describe the Vita in terms of Persona 4 quotes, I'll just say that there's no easy way for real bliss. It's gonna have to keep on fighting.

@ZoomyRamen said:

I think what we can draw from this is that a console will sell when games come out.

Exactly, I myself as about to get a Vita a month ago, then I looked at the available games and realized there were 0 which I would want to play... I think the only possible way that I'll ever get a vita is that if monster hunter 4 comes out in it as well and its considerably better than the 3DS version.

This may not mean anything in the long run. A sales bump from one game can die off pretty quickly. Microsoft tried several times earlier in this generation to directly target Japan with games tailored specifically for that market and saw several sales bumps each time one of those games was released, but the numbers would drop down again within a week or two.

The Vita has a Call of Duty game coming out, the Vita is going to do just fine.

and it hasn't been out long, most systems are ass to start with.

Someone fuse a Vita with Enduring Soul, quick!

I'll buying a vita and importing P4 from the US, but I'm crazy

I primarily bought a VITA for PS4G. In the meantime, I guess I've been playing other games on it?

@hughesman said:

However according to http://www.m-create.com/ranking/ the release of persona 4 has just about doubled the vita's weekly sales in Japan.

It's also worth noting that this doubling came after the Vita received another substantial increase in sales due to the release of a Gundam game, so, yeah, if they get the right games out people will buy it. The fact that Persona 4 Golden topped the Japanese game chart should also help the Vita get more games, as it demonstrates that there is an audience out there willing to pay full price for high quality games, and right now there are few enough Vita games that none of them run much risk of getting buried.

quick question: is the Vita Region specific? ie if I have a UK Vita, will I be able to run an American version of P4G?

cheers

@Adaurin said:

I'm not really into CoD, but I can't wait to get my hands on Liberation, hopefully it will hold me over until AC3 is released on PC.

It's kinda interesting that the Vita's "great savior", Liberation, is being made by the same team that did Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars, which was the real stand out among the 3DS launch titles. Sadly I believe Shadow Wars sold poorly, and ended its days as a bargain bin iPad release. Hopefully the Assassin's Creed name will allow Liberation to shine.

quick question: is the Vita Region specific? ie if I have a UK Vita, will I be able to run an American version of P4G?

cheers

Vita needs Monster Hunter badly. Anything Monster Hunter will sell there. This is a good small victory, but it won't be easy.

Well, the fact that it's sales doubled due to P4 seems pretty good until you see that double only comes to 35K units, and that that was still about 30K less than the 3DS. I'm not saying Vita is doomed but, I'm not sure this is any kind of great sign.

Well from the way I understand it apparently SMT is the third most popular RPG series in Japan after DQ and FF. So I wouldn't surprise me if they could push some units in japan. The case however is fairly different everywhere else. I mean just this year I have a "hardcore" gaming friend who is in to JRPGs and had never even heard of SMT. I pretty much had to force him to buy P3:FES. Now he's bought Devil Survivor and Nocturne. So even SMT target audience hasn't even heard of the series here in States. Not exactly a massive system seller.

@Eirikr said:

Someone fuse a Vita with Enduring Soul, quick!

It's gonna need Growth 3 too.

@Bane122 said:

Well, the fact that it's sales doubled due to P4 seems pretty good until you see that double only comes to 35K units, and that that was still about 30K less than the 3DS. I'm not saying Vita is doomed but, I'm not sure this is any kind of great sign.

It's far, far better than when the Vita was selling less than 10K, and puts the system in second place in Japan. Also, what's far more important to the Vita's long term health is that Persona 4 Golden itself sold over 137K copies, over twice what the second place title did. That's a clear indication that there's good money to be made putting out high quality Vita exclusives, without the need of a big marketing budget necessary to get noticed on more crowded platforms.

The fact is it's too early to say the Vita is doomed. People were saying the same thing when the PSP came out and, to a certain extent, the 3DS. Maybe it'll take longer, but give it some time. When Final Fantasy games and other popular RPGs and japanese favorite genres start hitting the console, it'll start to sell.

I don't think the portable games market will ever be popular outside of Japan again--cell phone gaming (no matter how light or casual it is) has pretty much destroyed all competition. I guess kids under twelve who don't have cell phones or an iPod touch would still use a 3DS, but they aren't going to buy a Vita. Will the Vita survive? Yes. Will Sony keep making games for it? Yes. Will it be needed? No.

@Red said:

Will it be needed? No.

The hell does this mean?

@FluxWaveZ: I mean the people who play games on their Vita would probably just rather be playing it on their PS3. People will buy it so they can play the games on it, not so they can have a portable system.

@Red: I've been primarily using my Vita outside in the summer weather. Replicating that with my PS3 would at best be wildly impractical.

@Red said:

@FluxWaveZ: I mean the people who play games on their Vita would probably just rather be playing it on their PS3. People will buy it so they can play the games on it, not so they can have a portable system.

And I think you're wrong. A lot of people who have purchased the Vita, at least from what I've been reading, actually got it because of its portability, and this includes me.

I'm real keen on bringing updated versions of games to Vita, since that is helping to bring some more familiar faces to the platform, but it still needs more original, legit titles. Name a franchise you want to see on Vita (or simply want to see another installment of), continue the story or start a new but with a game that makes sense on a handheld.

I don't think anyone is sold on the "console-like experience". It can't and won't be what people want out of the system in the long-term.

@zombie2011 said:

P4 might sell it in Japan, but not in Europe and Americas.

We....shall...see. Its a day one for me, and I'm not anything close to a hardcore fan of the series.

@GooieGreen:

I would love to see some support from Square Enix. The DS and 3DS got quite a few final fantasy titles, why not the Vita? I wish they would give an update about the FFX remake.

Thinking about it just now, I wouldn't mind an Infamous platformer...