Sony Smacks Apple: "Vita is the True Next-Gen Handheld"
Even more than the PSP - but competitor devices too.
Sony's got some swagger to go with that PlayStation Vita jagger. Michael Denny, senior vice president of SCE Worldwide Studios Europe, provided a most elegant slap in the face of Nintendo and Apple during its midnight launch at GAME last night.
During a quick interview, Denny said to SPOnG that, "I think what we have now with PlayStation Vita is a true next-gen successor. Not just for PSP, but for any other gaming devices and any other generic devices out there that include games. It truly is a great piece of kit for gamers."
Blimey. Makes you wonder whether they'll announce PS4 at all any time soon, with talk like that. The comments came as we asked about the lessons it may have learned from its experience with the PlayStation Portable. Refreshingly, SCEE's VP and managing director, Fergal Gara, offered his background in retail to ascertain where the PSP might have faltered.
"PSP didn’t quite seem to hit the mark in the UK for the core gamer audience," Gara said. "It wasn’t quite powerful enough. It didn’t have the full suite of controls. but at least as importantly, the stream of software wasn’t quite rich enough and that all started to dry up." He added that Sony has turned this right around with Vita - "it's really important with this device that we have the full suite of controls. And gamers clearly seem to recognise that, based on everything that’s been written about it already."
Denny was a bit more diplomatic. "PSP was our first entrance into the portable market, and I think without a doubt we see PSP as a massive success for us. We've had over 70 million units sold worldwide now, and true to the DNA of PlayStation, it was a system that was largely about gaming too. I think you know, we can always learn and always try to do better, however."
During a quick interview, Denny said to SPOnG that, "I think what we have now with PlayStation Vita is a true next-gen successor. Not just for PSP, but for any other gaming devices and any other generic devices out there that include games. It truly is a great piece of kit for gamers."
Blimey. Makes you wonder whether they'll announce PS4 at all any time soon, with talk like that. The comments came as we asked about the lessons it may have learned from its experience with the PlayStation Portable. Refreshingly, SCEE's VP and managing director, Fergal Gara, offered his background in retail to ascertain where the PSP might have faltered.
"PSP didn’t quite seem to hit the mark in the UK for the core gamer audience," Gara said. "It wasn’t quite powerful enough. It didn’t have the full suite of controls. but at least as importantly, the stream of software wasn’t quite rich enough and that all started to dry up." He added that Sony has turned this right around with Vita - "it's really important with this device that we have the full suite of controls. And gamers clearly seem to recognise that, based on everything that’s been written about it already."
Denny was a bit more diplomatic. "PSP was our first entrance into the portable market, and I think without a doubt we see PSP as a massive success for us. We've had over 70 million units sold worldwide now, and true to the DNA of PlayStation, it was a system that was largely about gaming too. I think you know, we can always learn and always try to do better, however."
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