PlayStation Vita Games Will Be Cheaper When Bought Online

A lot has been said about the upcoming PlayStation Vita, especially since Sony’s next portable console hasn’t performed quite well in Japan. When it launched, the Vita sold around 325,000 units in its opening week and then sales started declining. A few weeks later, many sites started reporting that even the PlayStation Portable was outselling it, though that is slowly changing. Nevertheless, the Vita is coming out in America in about two weeks and some really interesting titles are being released along with it.


The launch lineup of games (which you can read in this very article after the break,) features lots of exclusive titles and those that aren’t, seem particularly suitable for the Vita. For example, it seems like the handheld will be perfect for those players who love fighting games as the console will receive games such as BlazBlue Continuum Shift Extend, Mortal Kombat Vita, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Street Fighter X Tekken. This is great news, as handheld users don’t usually get games in the genre and those that are ported to portable consoles tend to have terrible control schemes.

Regarding the success of the PSP in Japanese territories, I could beat around the bush and provide different reasons why the console was extremely successful in that particular market, but it all comes down to one game: Monster Hunter. As you can see in the lineup of games, the Vita won’t be getting a new iteration in the series (or at least not any time soon.) But those games which were released in Japan aren’t very appealing for that market. Titles like Uncharted: Golden Abyss or Little Deviants seems much more suitable for the American and European markets and those are the games I’m predicting will sell quite well in those territories. In the meantime and until Japan gets a new Monster Hunter, Sony’s new handheld will keep selling moderately in that territory.

In addition to this personal analysis about the upcoming console, it has been confirmed that both Sony and its publishers will be charging less for digital purchases on the Vita. Andrew Yoon from Shacknews talked to Sony and the company confirmed that digital games will come with a 10% discount. Although, theoretically this should apply to all existing games, some titles are download-only and as a consequence there won’t be a discount associated to them. Still, all the money you save in games will probably have to be used on the overly expensive memory cards.


Retail Games:

• Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational - SCEA
• Little Deviants - SCEA
• ModNation Racers: Road Trip - SCEA
• Uncharted: Golden Abyss - SCEA
• Wipeout 2048 - SCEA
• Army Corps of Hell - Square Enix
• Asphalt Injection - Ubisoft
• Ben10 Galactic Racing - D3
• Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend - Aksys Games
• Dungeon Hunter Alliance - Ubisoft
• Dynasty Warriors Next - Tecmo Koei
• F1 2011 - Codemasters
• FIFA Soccer - Electronic Arts
• Lumines Electronic Symphony - Ubisoft
• Michael Jackson The Experience - Ubisoft
• Rayman Origins - Ubisoft
• Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen - Namco Bandai
• Touch My Katamari - Namco Bandai
• Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 - Capcom
• Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition – Sega

PSN-Only Games:

• Escape Plan - SCEA
• Hustle Kings - SCEA
• Super StarDust Delta - SCEA
• Plants vs. Zombies - SOE
• Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack!!! - Drinkbox Studios