The PlayStation Vita has been a very popular topic among gamers, journalists, and developers ever since its initial reveal back in January, and even more so after E3. Japanese magazine Famitsu recently announced the results of a PS Vita survey sent to both gamers and game industry professionals. What you can see from the survey results is that Sony and the PS Vita should do very well out in Japan.
Here are some of the strong numbers from the survey:
- 87 percent of Japanese gamers have an interest in purchasing a Vita.
- 44.8 percent say they intend to pick it up on day one.
- 54.9 percent found the Wi-Fi model to be “inexpensive” at 24,980 yen ($249).
- 58 percent said they would choose the Wi-Fi model over the 3G.
Outside of the numbers, the Vita also got high praise from some of the industry’s brightest talents, including Akihiro Hino, Jun Takeuchi, and Yoshinori Ono to name a few.
Tomonobu Itagaki, former Tecmo/Team Ninja director who is currently with Valhalla Games:
I got to touch the actual system for the first time at E3, but it’s really amazing. I think the fact they’re releasing a system that comes so close to the PlayStation 3’s specs when the PS3 is still a primary platform in the marketplace is especially worth noting. I’ve worked on a portable game only once in my career, but I think I’m going to need to change my stance toward portables, and I think the game business will need to join me on that. Either way, I need to hit the state-of-the-art with a high-end project — if it winds up that portables are as powerful as consoles, then where does that leave consoles?
Akihiro Hino, head of Level-5:
I’m really impressed with the Vita’s specs, considering the net-based society we live in now. It’s a platform with the sort of new features that get creators excited about making new kinds of games, and that alone means there’s a good chance at seeing some really innovative stuff done with the system. I find its console-caliber specs to be really fascinating, and I’d love to release a product that takes advantage of those specs.
Yosuke Hayashi, head of Team Ninja:
Up to now, most developers thought to themselves ‘Okay, this project is for consoles and this is for portables.’ The PS Vita blows a hole in that entire concept; it offers a new challenge to the industry. I’m in the midst of thinking about what sort of game the Vita’s suited for — you can play smartphone games on it, but is that enough?
Jun Takeuchi, Capcom:
To me, the most impressive thing is how it brings visuals to a level previously unheard of in portables. The analog stick is easy to use, and the dual touch panels are extremely quick and responsive — as a portable, it’s the perfect package. That, plus its network capabilities, really makes it feel like the ultimate all-in-one game system. Assuming that the game media is faster than optical discs, it’ll be easy to take full advantage of the Vita’s memory specs. It’s a system that definitely demands serious effort from developers.
Yoshinori Ono, Capcom:
I think this hardware will let me do what I want to try in the future on the portable front. So far with Street Fighter X Tekken we’ve only talked about features that we can do on consoles, but we’d also like to implement some stuff that would only be possible on portables like this one in the future. If we can do fun stuff with the 3G/Wi-Fi, GPS and PSN functionality, then that just sets my imagination on fire. I’m looking forward to working with SCE to get everything out of the system.
Check out our opinions of the Vita from E3 as well and let us know in the comments if you plan to get a Vita, and if so, what model?
[Via]
