From a Sega point of view, a focus on the PlayStation Vita.

[ungibbed]

Been thinking about this for the past couple months and while I'm not blind to it's lacking sales figures, a "what if" keeps popping into my brain. Had the Vita been a exclusive hardware venture by Sega and getting Quality games and other Sega fan service, would it have been better?

Imagine Shenmue remastered for the system and many other classic games from the past and present. The catch, the games only being the best on the system and exclusive titles sure to sell.

I love the Vita as it is a technical beast even at it's current size. SNK-Playmore had released a wonderful handheld mainly for Neo Geo fans and thinking of getting one myself before they're gone.

What if Sega had done the same with the catalog of titles from current systems and previous such as the Dreamcast, Saturn, and others before it? Heck, even typing of the dead would be possible with a BT keyboard.

Given the track record of awful decisions over the years, would the idea flew or would it have flopped?

I just lhink of the older games and would love to play them again despite the loss of Outrun which breaks my heart. That was hands down my favorite arcade racing title. Would nostalgic souls save it or be the largest mistake ever?

[crackdude]

If priced right and with a constant stream of quality games, why not?
As I said in the other thread, those are the two things lacking in the Vita right now.


Unless I misunderstood the concept..

[semmie]

Been thinking about this for the past couple months and while I'm not blind to it's lacking sales figures, a "what if" keeps popping into my brain. Had the Vita been a exclusive hardware venture by Sega and getting Quality games and other Sega fan service, would it have been better?

Imagine Shenmue remastered for the system and many other classic games from the past and present. The catch, the games only being the best on the system and exclusive titles sure to sell.

I love the Vita as it is a technical beast even at it's current size. SNK-Playmore had released a wonderful handheld mainly for Neo Geo fans and thinking of getting one myself before they're gone.

What if Sega had done the same with the catalog of titles from current systems and previous such as the Dreamcast, Saturn, and others before it? Heck, even typing of the dead would be possible with a BT keyboard.

Given the track record of awful decisions over the years, would the idea flew or would it have flopped?

I just lhink of the older games and would love to play them again despite the loss of Outrun which breaks my heart. That was hands down my favorite arcade racing title. Would nostalgic souls save it or be the largest mistake ever?

honestly if vita was of sega. then i would swear it would be succesfull. cause one of the greatest skills of sega is that when they didnt find developers they massively made games theirselve. and this attribute is only found in sega.
we gotta give props to that.

so i am 1000 procent convinced that if it was segas it would be the best. not only because they can make games on their own. but also with the new reputation of sega which is a really good reputation people would die buying it for that sonic exclusive.

i dont think it would flop. cause it has been a decade and new kids are born that probably dont even know the past of sega.. they might have heard of it. but they werent really there.

ungibbled im 30 and you may be half in the 30 so we both did actually seen it all.
and let us just say what if you were 16. and you would like sonic. like most sixteeners do nowadays. surely a sega handheld would be your buy wouldnt it?

you said shen mue . this is actually a magic word. in the dc era there were shenmue fans all over. later on at xbox new peeps seen this game from hear n say. and even later on everybody has played the game. and those that didnt yet are curious. surely a game like that on sega vita or ps vita would explode the world into oblivion a forgotten place like in the manga serie fist of the north star.
im not exagerating but sega has a milestone at the moment that they can be proud of. sonic ll stars racing is allready a reason to have vita. and knowing that pso2 is coming will make vita have a bit more success.

but

if it was segas. and seriously then sega would have been back on the biz.

do they dare to take that risk. i hope so

[Centrale]

I think the Vita looks like a great machine, and it's disappointing to see it faring so poorly.  Of course, it doesn't have enough must-have games to get someone like me, who thinks it's wonderful from a technical standpoint, to go out and buy it. 

But if it had been made (and most importantly, marketed) by Sega, it would not be doing any better in the marketplace than it has been under Sony's stewardship.  Sega's already gone down the high-end handheld route twice, and though they had a respectable run, neither the Game Gear nor the Nomad were enormously successful.  And that was with Sega exclusives and a lot stronger marketing muscle than they currently have. 

[Barry the Nomad]

I think the Vita looks like a great machine, and it's disappointing to see it faring so poorly.  Of course, it doesn't have enough must-have games to get someone like me, who thinks it's wonderful from a technical standpoint, to go out and buy it. 

Thats pretty much how I view the Vita too. Very cool piece of tech, but not enough must have games to warrant a purchase. In fact, despite being more powerful and cooler in terms of tech than a 3DS, I prefer the 3DS at the moment due to the better library of games. Thats why I went for the 3DS XL earlier this year, and I don't regret it at all. Loved Shinobi, Crush 3D, Super Mario 3D Land (best 3D Mario game I've ever played). Sonic Generations was fun, and I really look forward to getting Rhythm Thief, Kingdom Hearts 3DS and want to check out NSMB2, Paper Mario and Kid Icarus at some point. Meanwhile, Vita has... Gravity Rush? Thats the only game that I want to play. 

[crackdude]

PSO2 looks pretty cool. I doubt it'll come west tho

[thearcticsea]

I have a vita and it's the only thing I've been playing as far as videogames are concerned. I expected to have serious buyer's remorse a week after I bought it, but to my surprise it has turned out to be my favorite gaming system since DC.

Persona 4 Golden is the game that made me grab it.

Other than that:

Sonic Racing
Uncharted
Gravity Rush

Persona 4 and Gravity Rush are the best games I've played in 2012. And Uncharted is a console experience in a handheld.

The Vita is ready so if you're on the fence just go get one. It's great.

[Emmett The Crab]

I don't buy a console unless there's an exclusive game (usually SEGA) for it.  PSO2 might do it for me, since my computers are not windows machines... If it ever comes west. Wouldn't they have given us a date by now?

[ungibbed]

I think the Vita looks like a great machine, and it's disappointing to see it faring so poorly.  Of course, it doesn't have enough must-have games to get someone like me, who thinks it's wonderful from a technical standpoint, to go out and buy it. 

But if it had been made (and most importantly, marketed) by Sega, it would not be doing any better in the marketplace than it has been under Sony's stewardship.  Sega's already gone down the high-end handheld route twice, and though they had a respectable run, neither the Game Gear nor the Nomad were enormously successful.  And that was with Sega exclusives and a lot stronger marketing muscle than they currently have.

I very much agree with you on your point of view. Many companies have come & gone (and were eaten alive) due to the marketing muscle of Nintendo. I also enjoy the 3DS and had bought the limited edition Legend of Zelda model with OOT 3D as a pack-in. Awesome looks with an awesome game all in one box.

Im a huge fan of all things tech and imported a Japanese PS Vita and the hardware is amazing having addressed all the shortcomingsof the PSP. Dual analog sticks, a much improved directional pad and true wireless gaming over 3G. I didn't bother with the 3G model as the only lock on the system is wireless carriers. What got me interested was Uncharted for the little beast. Amazing amounts of detail on that beautiful OLED display really showed what the Vita could do with a launch title of all things.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 also kicked much ass!

Between my 3DS and Vita, both are great handhelds. The exclusives from Nintendo can't be had anywhere else but I can't help be be annoyed by the absurd battery life of the 3DS. Perhaps the XL lasts longer but it's frustrating when I'm knee deep in Zelda and the red light of "charge me now" doom appears. I don't even use the 3D feature as being blind in one eye really defeats the purpose and also for the sake of saving battery life for a longer session.

A little frustrating to me, but I still love the thing. The Battery life on the Vita is more sensible but it's also pushing a lot more under the hood. I can deal with that.

I just miss the awesome design behind the Sega consoles from years ago and imagine if today like the Neo Geo portable packed complete in a AES shell was a huge fan service to the fans of the Neo Geo. I wish Sega had the balls to do the same with a huge piece of bait on the hook. Shenmue 3... ;-)

Just close your eyes and dream of that. The DC hardware could fit on a single die these days. Storage by encrypted SD or micro SD would be inexpensive to expand. Had I the hardware to sacrifice, I could make a dreamcast portable with a steel frame made out of an existing tablet design I have. Currently the existing storage solution I have is Compact Flash cards for raw speed (and the same storage my DSLR uses already)

CF is expensive but very fast but a possibility of Sega making such a device is a pipe dream. But at least a good one.

[Centrale]

Just close your eyes and dream of that. The DC hardware could fit on a single die these days. Storage by encrypted SD or micro SD would be inexpensive to expand. Had I the hardware to sacrifice, I could make a dreamcast portable with a steel frame made out of an existing tablet design I have. Currently the existing storage solution I have is Compact Flash cards for raw speed (and the same storage my DSLR uses already)

CF is expensive but very fast but a possibility of Sega making such a device is a pipe dream. But at least a good one.

Sounds great to me!  And while we're dreaming, why not have special editions of Unity and GameMaker for the new DC, to jumpstart the homebrew/indie scene for people who aren't already capable of programming for DC.  There could be built-in wireless broadband capabilities (it was already optional for the original DC -- well, wired at least) and a homebrew/indie hub online, like XBLIG and the Ouya.  It probably wouldn't ever become as active as XBLIG, but it would certainly be a welcome option for the developers who have already been cranking out DC games in the past several years.  Throw in the option for video out, and a way of synching up multiple systems for multiplayer games, and it would be an amazing little handheld.