PS Vita launches in Japan -321.000 units sold in two days

The PS Vita, Sony's PSP successor launched a few days ago and Reuter's is now reporting that the handheld gaming system sold 321.000 units during the first two days of it's availability to the Japanese buyers.

This is a little lower than what the latest handheld from Nintendo, the Nintendo 3DS managed to do, as it sold 371.000 units in the first to days of it's launch in Japan.

The new Uncharted game on the PS Vita is probably the biggest draw for me

I've previously looked at the PS Vita and put forward why I think that it will not manage to be a big success.
I believe that the time for expensive single purpose gaming devices has passed, and while the PS Vita is packing some very impressive hardware and even looks to have a pretty strong launch line-up, I think it is going to be a small hardcore minority that is going to be willing to lay down so much money for a PS Vita, when they can enjoy a pretty decent gaming experience on their smartphone.

Having said that, I have yet to decide if I will or will not be part of that small hardcore minority that purchases one of these systems. As a huge gadget lover there is a lot to like about the PS Vita, and I might just end up giving in to my gadget lust and get a Vita when it launches around the end of February.

This is a mistake I've done once before. I bought a Nintendo DS and I probably played a total of 20 hours on the system before it ended up as a space filler in a drawer. Hopefully, if I do end up getting myself a PS Vita, it will see significantly more use than my poor neglected DS.

It will be interesting to follow the sales development on the PS Vita and see if my doomsday prophecy on high-end handheld gaming systems will turn out to be true, or whether consumers are still ready to pay a large lump of money for the ability to have a "true" gaming experience on the go.



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The PS Vita coming to the rest of the world on February 22 - Should we care?

It was just announced today that Sony's new handheld system, the PS Vita is being released outside of Japan on February 22nd.

There can be no doubt that this is one serious piece of handheld gaming hardware

This is a couple of months after the launch in Japan and almost exactly a year after the release of the Nintendo 3DS, which is the other big player in this space.

The 3DS has really struggled out of the gate for Nintendo. It has not at all managed to live up to the massive expectations that were naturally created for the successor to the DS.
How seriously Nintendo is taking this was evident, when the 3DS recently received a very significant price drop to entice buyers away from their Pokemon toting systems of yesteryear.

Obviously Sony should be rubbing their hands at the apparent lack of success for the 3DS.
Surely this means that the PS Vita has a very good chance at usurping the Nintendo handhelds as the mobile gaming platform of choice, and start raking in money hand over fist.

However, there are deep rumblings in the handheld gaming market.
Since the birth of Snake on old Nokia phones, there has been a competing handheld product to these "pure bred" systems like the DS and Vita.