Vita rising

Folks, this past Wednesday, the Playstation Vita finally dropped down in America. Finally, one can get a decent handheld that isn't the 3DS or a controller-less Smartphone. And I personally believe that the Vita will sell gangbusters here in the good ol US of A. In fact, I would recommend this device as the de facto device of the true patriots of America, who do their best to keep the moral grounds of this country afloat, even though the Vita, along with every other piece of electronic, was made in China.

So how is the Vita doing in Japan? Has it finally crushed the 3DS like the PSP did with the DS?

From a February 15th, 2012 article
PlayStation Vita has floundered to its lowest ever week of hardware sales in Japan, according to new figures from chart company Media Create (via NeoGAF).

Sony sold just 13,939 Vita units from 6th to 12th February, despite the release of new Vita exclusive Gravity Daze.

Sony-developed Gravity Daze still managed to perform well, however. It secured second spot in the software chart with decent sales of 43,462 copies.

Vita's hardware numbers were low enough that it slipped back below weekly sales of the PSP. Vita's years-old portable predecessor shifted 15,860 hardware units, while new PSP game Suikoden: Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki claimed the software chart's top spot.

The PSP continues to be popular as it remains a well-supported platform, Sony exec Shuhei Yoshida explained this week to Venture Beat. "Looking very objectively at the market situation there in Japan, especially on the portable, PSP is still very popular. You can see, when you see the new software calendars, every month publishers are launching good product, new products on PSP.

"And also, they're still announcing new products coming later this year. PSP is still very alive, still a viable business platform for third-party publishers."

Too popular, perhaps?

Too popular indeed. People of Japan, get ahold of yourself. You already let go of the DS. It's time to let go of the PSP for the sake of the Vita. It's no wonder why the 3DS is dominating in the charts. But it's not like they had a Monster Hunter on the 3DS instead of the Vita. I mean, take alook at what Sony's Jack Tretton has to say.

IGN has an interesting interview up this morning with Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO and President Jack Tretton about the PlayStation Vita in which Tretton teases sales details about the company’s cutting-edge gaming handheld. Wait, what sales data? You know, U.S. sales. The system officially launches in the U.S. today, true, but it’s technically been on sale across the country in a premium bundle since last Wednesday, Feb. 15.

About the soft launch, which included both system and accessory sales, Tretton admits Sony already has an “initial read.” In three words: “Very, very positive.” Make of that what you will. Tretton adds that “Memory is going out the door very aggressively despite the fact that memory is in a lot of the presale bundles” and that “the software appears to be selling quite well top to bottom.” The Vita’s proprietary memory cards — necessary since the Vita has no internal storage — are priced about twice as much as comparably sized flash memory cards, a sore point leading up to the launch and in every otherwise positive review. If Tretton’s right, it means buyers are shelling out anyway, just as they have in the past for arguably overpriced peripherals, like Microsoft’s $100 Xbox 360 Wi-Fi USB dongle.


We, the people of the United States, have spoken, and we have chosen Vita as the number 1 handheld ever. We even have to kiss AT&T's ring finger for the blessing of being used like a Smartphone across the Good Ol US of A.

However, on that same day, Nintendo managed to shock the US of A's Wii owners with a surprise that will make Ann Coulter flip out

The Last Story, the Wii role-playing game by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, will finally be released in the United States this summer, Nintendo said on Wednesday.

Although Nintendo originally produced the game, which went on sale in Japan in January 2011, in collaboration with Sakaguchi’s studio Mistwalker, it has decided to let the third-party publisher Xseed release it in the U.S. Nintendo’s European division will publish Last Story in February.

The Last Story, along with Xenoblade Chronicles and Pandora’s Tower, has been the focus of a fan-driven effort to get these games released in the U.S. Nintendo of America will publish Xenoblade itself this April.

First Xenoblade Chronicles and now Last Story? What's next: Pandora's Tower? And the Last Story is done by the original creator of Final Fantasy, who left Square Enix to form Mistwalker. Does this mean the characters of those games qualify for Smash Bros 4?

Stay tuned for when I have the report on the NPD(Which unfortunately may lack hardware numbers)

Works Cited
Eurogamer
Times - Techland article
Wired