I hate starting this topic, because I know it has been done to death, at least I think it has. I just can't find a whole lot of information that seems recent.

Furthermore, has Sony or Nintendo announced a price drop? I've found articles about the Vita 3G model being dropped in price at select stores, but haven't seen anything on the wifi model. Also, has Sony announced any big plans to push the Vita in the future...besides the forced integration of remote play with all PS4 games? And lastly, do you think the PS4/Vita cross-play (remote play?) or whatever it's called will be a perfect reason to go with the Vita?

It's a really hard decision, one that I personally wouldn't be able to make. I really like a few of the games on the Vita (Persona 4 Golden in particular) and the device itself, but the 3DS has so many more good games at this point that it really isn't a competition. If you are purely looking for more good games (at least ones that are specific to that device and not VC/PS Classics), I would personally say the 3DS is the better bet.

I have no clue about a price drop, but I wouldn't be surprised to see one this fall because of the Vita-PS4 compatibility stuff. Even with this cross-play stuff, I don't really see Sony pushing the Vita that hard. It will be up to developers and publishers to put some great games out on it, something that is far from guaranteed.

I'll never regret my Vita purchase, as it allowed me to play Persona 3 and 4, two games that are now some of my favorite ever. However, those two games alongside Gravity Rush (or Daze) are all that have really drawn to my Vita. On the other hand, despite the much greater library on the 3DS, the only games I've really been invested in are Mario 3D Land and OoT. Fire Emblem is great for the first few hours, but then, for whatever reason, it just seems to lose appeal. Must have started a new game on it like 3 times now, on various difficulties.

For (mostly) original games, you're gonna want the 3DS. For slightly better value, considering the near constant sales/reductions and PS +, Vita is the way to go if money is a point of contention, seeing as Nintendo's own games seem to depreciate at a glacial pace. Which makes it good for reselling, but expensive to begin with. Don't really see much of a future for the vita in terms of exclusives, but if you're happy with a portable indie/remake machine or missed out on the PSP's back catalogue (which has its fair share of tactical rpgs to counter Fire Emblem), consider it.

However, one point which makes all this moot.

New pokémon coming out in October. Not a fair fight.

I just got a Vita for less than a 3DS costs, and if one includes all the PSX and PSP games (none of which I've played) - it's got a crazy library of great games. Together with PS+, picking up a Vita will put you in front of a nigh insurmountable pile of great games to play at no extra cost outside of the device itself and the PS+ subscription.

That said, I've never held a 3DS in my life. Could be the greatest thing ever, I wouldn't know. Fire Emblem sure looks enticing. Regardless - I'll show support for the Vita. Go get!

The 3DS is a great package, and I've had a lot of fun with it. I've actually bought a few Vita games, but I still haven't been motivated enough to actually buy a Vita to play them on.

It is going to depend on the type of games you like, or maybe grew up on, but I absolutely LOVE my Vita and 3ds. Still, if I had to pick, it would be hands down the 3ds for me. It is not nearly as nice as the VITA, in terms of its system and functions, but the DS library and continuing support of the 3ds from developers is just fantastic. On the other hand...PS+ is an amazing service even for someone like me who likes to have the physical copy of the game. Month after month, sony releases great titles from all their different library of games. In the long run, I have much more confidence in Nintendo to constantly bring out amazing games, but with a Vita, in the long run, if you remain a PS+ user, a ton of great games both from the PSP and Vita library is basically free.

I bought my vita preowned as there was a pretty sweet deal a few months back and it just made sense to get plus at the same time. Console was near perfect and (EU) plus has been amazing for me with the amount of games coming through it. That said I havent really bought any games for it, mostly because I am happy to wait for it to come through ps plus or just not interested (persona 3 was a great buy and once completed, would go to persona 4). It does slot me into a nice position with Playstation 4 but I dont think I will buy either next gen console this year, possibly not even next year.

That said in the EU theres some great 3ds promotions going, the so many games (buy 3, get a 4th free), a price reduction with codes meaning a 3ds xl dropped to £105 and a monster hunter 3 friends promotion (which worked with the so many games promo) combined with me getting a xl recently. I really look forward to getting into the catalogue of games the 3ds has (as well as some DS games I can borrow from my friends). If you can ignore the graphics quality difference and enjoy nintendo games along with some other third party nintendo franchise games then 3ds is for you (i suggest xl). If you like the graphics quality, have a ps3/intending on getting a ps4 and havent played some of those indie games coming in the future then i suggest vita with ps plus

Thanks everyone! I'm still a bit torn. You all raise some pretty good points, I just can't make up my mind due to not having played on either.

With me getting a PS4 on launch and renewing my PS+ subscription in the near future, the Vita should be an obvious choice, but I can't deny the abundance of 3DS titles vs. games on the Vita. It's a little weird, E3 hosted 30 something Vita titles and yet it feels like Playstation just doesn't give a shit about the system or its future, where the same can't be said for the 3DS.

Personally I much prefer the Vita. Battery lasts a lot longer, dosn't need a bolt on accessory like the circle pad pro to fix a design oversight of a second analogue stick and you can generally just leave it idle for a very long time and just pick the game up where you left off whenever. Can't speak to the battery life of the 3DS XL though, maybe it fixed the issue.

As for games PS+ is pretty nice to have, off hand I believe Uncharted, Gravity Rush, Virtue's Last Reward, Thomas Was Alone, Sine Mora, MGS HD collection and Rayman Origins have been free at one point or another. Also, it has Persona 4 Golden which is awesome. You can purchase from an assortment of PSP and PS1 games which are fairly cheap for the most part. Final Fantasy 1-9, Resident Evil, Persona 1-4, etc. Which is something to keep in mind. As it stands I have about 23 games on the Vita, most of them purchased digitally and installed. I only have 4 on 3DS.

I would say look into all the games on each system and see which one has more of what you want.

@gravier251: Last I heard the 3DS XL battery is almost on par with the Vita...if 3D is off, and I've never messed with the 3D function so I don't know if it would ever be something I could get into. To be honest I completely forgot the 3DS had 3D, even though it's in the name.

I think I'm leaning more toward the Vita. I have a few weeks to iron out my decision of course, but there are a ton of PSP and PS1 games I've always wanted to get into, but never have. And who knows, maybe I might go for the 3DS now and just wait until close to the PS4 launch, and hope for a price cut.

Another couple of questions for those that might know. Was the Assassin's Creed Vita game any good? I found a place still selling the bundle, which includes a 4 gig memory card, which might sway my decision...if the game is any good of course. Or, does anyone know of any upcoming Vita bundles that also include the memory card? After looking online at prices, the memory card is pretty much the only thing I hate about the handheld, especially since I haven't a clue how many games I want to download digitally, and how large save files are on certain games.

I've played 80 hours of Persona 3 Portable on my Vita and that alone has been worth the price. Also if you have PS+ you won't really need to many buy games. I have way more games than I have time to play now.

Wipeout 2048, Gravity Rush, Uncharted: GA, Luimines, Vitrue's Last Reward, Metal Gear Solid HD, Puddle, Thomas Was Alone, Sine Mora, Velocity Ultra, Rayman Origins... It's fucking riddiculous. Obviously you get different games, but it's pretty nice for 50€ a year. Also these are EU releases, I don't really know how the US PS+ has gone.

Coming from a Vita owner:

Get a 3DS instead. You can play all the Vita games worth playing on PC or other platforms, because they're either indie games or ports.

Being an ass I own both. If you never owned a PSP and have a fond remembrance of PS1 games, then personally I think the Vita wins out over the 3DS. If we're looking straight Vita titles vs 3DS titles though, the 3DS has a lot more going for it, plus street passing is fun if you work in a city or something.

In terms of which I enjoy using more, the Vita seems nicer to hold, and I can spend more time looking at its pretty screen than I can the 3DS.

As for memory, I have a 16gb card (32gb seems like it cost as much as the Vita...). For some reference; the PS1 final fantasy games are around 1.5gb in size (though VI is only around 2-300mb), PSP games like Persona 3 Portable are around 1gb, and Vita games like the Metal Gear collection are around 3gb. Save files (at least for the games I have) are negligible.

I own a 3DS and I thought it was an okay purchase so far (I bought it at $250 a mere weeks before the announced price drop and I'm still a bit bitter of that) I've bought LoZ: Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart 7, Mario 3D land, and Animal Crossing New Leaf. I'm sure there are other games out there that would interest you even more (as you mentioned)

As for Vita. I don't own one but I would like to get it solely because of Persona 4: Golden and playstation plus sounds like a neat service (even better when I play on getting a PS4)

No information has been said about a price drop on either system (I think Vita should be due for one fairly soonish)

It seems like the only question you need to ask yourself is "do I like persona?" if the answer is no it seems like you have very little reason to buy a vita, if the answer is yes then i would still say get a 3ds, you want to have something to play Nintendo exclusives on. (and we all know that wont be a wii u)

@spiritgod I own Assassins Creed 3 Liberation but I haven't really played much of it at all. Which is perhaps not a good sign with it. I had already played a lot of 3 at the time and the mechanics and narrative of Liberation just didn't really grab me.

In regards to memory I believe I have the 16gb card. which is enough in my case for 7 PS1 games, 5 PSP games, 3 Vita games and 3 PSN titles (e.g Guacamelee) that I have downloaded. And I still have 1gb spare. Usage varies by games of course, but I expect 16 gb will be sufficient to have a decent collection installed at any given time. 4 gb would be too small to really install much at all.

Do you have PS+ by any chance? Cause you get a ton of free games that way for Vita.

I will get a Vita first as I already have a ton of games for it. Otherwise it is hard. It really comes down to how much do you like Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing and Pokemon?

I just bought a 3DS last week and have been loving it. First of all, if you're in the states Target and Best Buy have pretty frequently put the XLs on sale for $170. Secondly, I just think the 3DS not only has more original games, it also has a brighter future.

When it comes to the Vita, I often hear people mention playing PS1 and PSP games. Well hell, you can get a PSP off craigslist for $50 if that's what you want to do. As someone else mentioned, a lot of the indie games are available elsewhere. Then there's Persona 4, which, again, can be played on a PS2 or, even better, a PC emulator.

If you already have PS+, get a Vita.

3ds has more games but I think alot of those games are one step away from being considered shovelware.

I think Vita has enough good games to justify it's existence now.

The only real knock against the Vita in my mind now is the cost of the memory cards; a 3ds with a 32gb card is $200, while a Vita with a 32gb card is $350.

I have a 32gb card for mine and it's full / I have to delete games when ever I want to get a new one, I can't imagine how annoying it would be having a smaller memory card.

For those that ask, yes I love Persona...really the only turn-based RPG I could really dive into, I've played half of 4 on the PS2, but never got into the earlier ones, which might be a good thing that I haven't finished the fourth yet. I'm hoping that the earlier Final Fantasy games will hook me, since I've never been able to get into the 3D ones, I probably wasn't trying hard enough, but I do love me some SNES style games. No, I don't like Pokemon, never really understood why it was so popular, and it probably has a lot to do with my age as I did not really grow up with the cartoons or games. I did own a PSP when it launched, but no, I never really got into a large library of games. I was so excited to have a powerful handheld system, but at the time I never really had a reason to play it on the go, and I certainly wasn't going to play it with a console mere feet away. I don't have Playstation Plus at the moment, but I will be re-subscribing very soon, not specifically for the Vita but because I've always liked the service and now will have enough financial resources to warrant the yearly purchase.

I'm still leaning more toward the Vita at the moment. The 3DS seems great, and there are several games I want to play on it, but the same goes for the Vita. Still though, there are a few things I need to figure out. One is, will my new job have wifi, I think it does but still not sure. Either way, if I can find a decent bundle, that at least gives the illusion that it's the same deal as if I waited for a price drop then I'll go Vita, if not I'll simply get a 3DS, save all the Vita games on Playstation Plus, and wait for a hopeful price drop on the Vita near the PS4 launch and decide from there.

I've made up my mind. Come time to purchase I'm going with the 3DS, unless the Vita hits a price drop. I'm going to download all the Vita games from Playstation Plus, and then when the Vita hits a price drop then I'll end up getting it as well. I just can't justify, bundle or no bundle, the price of the handheld along with a decent sized memory card...plus I have a feeling Sony might release a new iteration of the Vita somewhere close to the launch of the Playstation 4.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and opinions on the matter. Every post gave me something to think about.

I love my 3DS XL. I got it December of last year and have constantly had a good amount of games to play on it. As for the Vita I've never owned one so I won't be much help there. If you're looking to get into the Metal Gear Solid franchise I wouldn't buy the Vita version. The PS3 is releasing a new HD collection in a few weeks. Its MGS 1-4 and Peacewalker. The Vita version only has 2 and 3.

Vita all the way!