Sony slams Nintendo Wii U functionality
Vita will beat ya
Sony has stuck the knife into the Nintendo Wii U, claiming that a PlayStation Vita combined with a PS3 is a superior setup able to do "special things" that the Nintendo kit will struggle to match.
Sony Worldwide Studios VP Scott Rhode highlighted the fact that Nintendo's tablet controller is without its own games processor, so will be always be driven by "that box sitting under your TV".
The Vita on the other hand, being a console in its own right, has the horsepower to do interesting things on its own screen even when it's operating as a wireless controller subsidiary to a connected PS3, Rhode hinted.
Sony promises it will reveal more about such a role for the Vita in the coming months, GamesIndustry reports.
Until then, it's hard to see Sony's claims as anything more than competitive hot air - no matter how much potential the Vita undoubtedly has. ®
COMMENTS
No shit, Sherlock
"Sony Worldwide Studios VP Scott Rhode highlighted the fact that Nintendo's tablet controller is without its own games processor, so will be always be driven by "that box sitting under your TV"."
It's designed to be driven by the box sitting under the TV. That's the point. Nintendo already have a portable console with it's own games processor. It's called the 3DS. Why would they want to make another one in the form of this controller and bundle it with the home console? It would kill off the 3DS if they did that.
Fragmentation
Also, how many customers can be relied upon to have a PS3 and a Vita? Relatively few, I'd wager (certainly compared to the install base of the average Nintendo console) so games makers cannot make that stuff central to the experience nor is it really economical for them to do so anyway.
So the hardware may be better (and more expensive) but it is less likely to be really used.
Re: Only a little bit more.
The problem here, though, is that, when the Wii-U is released, it'll be a package that includes everything required so developers can create software that takes advantage of all it's functionality, because they know that everyone who owns a Wii-U will have the required hardware. Developers are much less likely to include similar functionality in their PS3 games because they have no knowledge of how many people will have both a PS3 and a Vita and who just happen to want to play the type of game they're developing.
It's the same issue as with Kinect and PSMove. The market for games utilising these peripherals along with their attendant consoles is far less than the market of those consoles alone. Thus, games feature their functionality as merely supplementary to the normal gamepad lest they lose sales by relying on everyone having said peripherals.
