Sony has resigned to its destiny of becoming the next Sega.PS Vita was dead BEFORE arrival,only the hardcore Sony fanatics believed in the successor of the mighty PSP GO.

A GameSpot staff member did an opinion piece, and you disagree. We are awful and must be exterminated, one by one.

The piece isn't a review of the Vita--it is a rantish opinion piece from a staff member who has spent significant time with the hardware. As a fellow critic Tweeted not so long ago, "If you want to p*ss off a game reviewer, call something that isn't a review a review."

Mark's article does not represent a collective voice, but like most people in the industry (and like most people in this forum), he has thoughts on where the Vita might have gone wrong, and what it does right. By all means, develop your own thoughts on the Vita as you play it. I am developing plenty of my own, many of which agree with Mark, and some of which don't.

As an aside, it's always amusing/incredible to me that a person would read an article/review/feature, not agree with it, and make a blanket statement that so-and-so individual/publication no longer has credibility. Is credibility a commodity that is lost at the moment you read a review you don't like? Why would you hang an overwhelming concept like "credibility" on the hook of a single review?

In any case, the handheld space has changed, and yes, that is in large part due to the existence of smartphones and tablets that play games, many of which are extremely good and deep, contrary to the prevailing opinion in this thread. Do I think the Vita has an audience? Why yes, but I do not think it is a wide audience. (Nor does it have to be to be a success.) The Vita is for people like you and me--hardcore gamers that want hardcore games on a handheld. By nature, that limits its appeal. I am having a good time with the games I am playing, but there is a major cognitive disconnect when you use your hurt feelings over a review, opinion piece, feature, or preview as a barometer of "bias" or "credibility." Those words in this forum have come to mean very little, as most folks here use such words in ways other than their definitions intend. The gist--usually--is this: "GameSpot said something I don't like, and therefore they have no credibility, or must be biased. And I will now express an outrageous conspiracy theory as to why those things must be so."

The great thing about games, art, entertainment, and technology is that they invite evaluation and inspection. As such, they also invite strong opinions and passion. That's great. But when GameSpot expresses a strong opinion or a passion, why would that be a bad thing? After all--isn't that why you come here to discuss games? Because you have strong opinions and passion? Why would you want us to not express our own?

My guess is this: because you come hoping we will tell you what you want to hear. And when we don't hold a mirror to your own mind, you can't possibly comprehend how that could be. It's the ego coming to the forefront: "This is my truth, and when you do not share in this truth, you are inferior." Or more simply put: sometimes, human beings don't all share the same opinions. And for some reason, certain individuals respond to differences of opinion with rage, incredulity, and accusations.

Kevin-V

thats an impressive piece about fanboys in general.This should on the main website.Although Gamespot díd lose their credibility after Skyward Sword and Tom Mcsheas noobish review and the 20 points lower score than on metacritic. :evil::(:o:?:x:cry::|:P

well they wont go bankrupt but they are as much doomed as Sega was during the Dreamcast era.The best case scenario for any Sony hardcore fan is that they will continue making games on the WII U and XBOX KINECT 720 by 2015.

Kingdom Hears 3D is the closest we are going to get to a Kingdom Hearts 3

so Vita is still on its death bed?Monster Hunter3 and 4 killed Sonys PS Vita.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/08/idUSWLA260120120208

Wed Feb 8, 2012 2:32am EST

Sony downgraded from A- to a BBB+, credit outlook negative

-- The likelihood of a strong recovery in Sony's earnings is low, due to a massive erosion of prices, falling demand, and harsh competition in Sony's mainstay businesses.

-- Standard & Poor's lowered the long-term corporate credit and debt ratings on Sony to 'BBB+' and removed the ratings from **** We affirmed the 'A-2' short-term corporate credit rating.

-- The outlook is negative, reflecting our view that we could lower the ratings further if we see no meaningful sign of recovery in Sony's earnings within six to 12 months.

----

Ouch.The news of Sonys downfall is continuing.After they lost billions in hte last quarter the credit agency had no choice anymore.Kinect 360 outsold the PS3 in 2011 despite the Playstation brand haveing the best year in terms of first party exclusives in 17 years of its existence .PS Vita is on its death bed in Japan.3DS is destroying it in terms of sales and in terms first and third party exclusives:e.g. Resident Evil Revelations,Kingdom Hearts 3D,Mario 3D land,Mario Kart 7 and Monster Hunter 3 and 4.

What do you think System wars?Does Sony deserve this after their immense arrogance this gen?Just like Sony asked us consumers to get a secound job to afford the 599 PS3,should People working at Sony also consider now getting a second job?Should Sony sell their game studios to Nintendo or Microsoft before they are forced to leave the hardware buisness?Will we have only 2 competitiors in Nintendo and Microsoft in couply of years,just like they were only Nintendo and Sega during the early 1990s?The PS Vitas current failure shows how low the Playstation brand has fallen.PS4 could do a PSP GO or PS Vita if Nintendo gets all the third party support,just like it is happening with the 3DS(e.g. Monster Hunter and R.E. Revelations etc.)

I've been spending lots of days thinking over what exactly went wrong with the Vita's launch (saw the figures earlier... barely sold 600k globally still it's insane) i also read a book on business and I put together how I think the Vita should have been handled:

• MUCH bigger marketing campaign (at-least $100m more spent), the Vita should have been seen in every shop window in the center of Japan (Tokyo)
• At least 3 AAAAE launch titles, as well as a monster hunter title for the japanese market. Maybe even two - like a red and blue version people buy more.
• $179 price tag, to compete with the Nintendo day 1. People say this won't happen then you need to google 'economies of scale' if they had produced more they could have sold them for cheaper - solving both problems
• 3D screen - the one thing nintendo has over the Vita - if we looked at the hardware sheet for the 3DS they only cost like $9, if you take out the current psvita screen it would work out roughly the same price
• First 5-20k consoles given out for free. This would instantly mean people would have them and cause circular marketting, aswell as increasing reputation for Sony.

Hopefully Sony will be able to rectify alot of these mistakes next time around. Can anyone think of anything else they could have done differently?

YoYo278

ROFL one of the funniest things I have read in a while.LOL LOL LOL

I would suggest you should improve the points a little bit more:

+At least 10 AAAAE including GTA 5 ,Halo 4,and Zelda Skyward Sword.

+Monster Hunter HD collection including 8 different versions(like blue,red,yellow,pink,green,silver,gold,white and black) of Monster Hunster 1,2,3 and the new 4,5,6,7 and 8.

+99$ to match the price of the original PSP,as it is competing with Vita and even outselling it.

+10 billion for marketing.Sony should have bought Apple,the entire company,to sell the PS Vita with Apples brand and super marketing.They could have charged 500 bucks for Vita and people would be queing up to buy dozens of it.

+ 4D screen which allows you time travel.

+First 10 million units for free or free for the first 5 years on the market.

why is this thread still alive?

Wii won the gen already.Only losers care about 2.place.