The Playstation Vita, Sony’s supercharged handheld system that launched today, became a sticking point in the gaming community long before it was ever launched. Pundits, like myself, worry that the era of the dedicated gaming console might be over, but fanboys defend the system to the death as the only handheld a “real” gamer should want to own. And any traditional gamer that has gotten their hands on the device is duly impressed with Sony’s brick of technology.
The Vita is a beautiful device, but it faces an uncertain future. Still, for the diehard Vita supporters, the battle lines are clear: if you don’t trust in Vita, you don’t understand gaming. You’re not a gamer.
Sony keeps on using the terms like “mature gamer” and “core gamer” when they talk about their demographic. The first one is a little troublesome: I know many more mature adults that play games on their iPhones than play games on their consoles.
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“Core gamer” gets a little closer to what Sony and its supporters are actually talking about. It’s about an exclusive club with its own set of values, its own language, and most importantly, its own shared history. I signed up with the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, and I can talk about the history of games from that point on with the sort of complete familiarity that only comes from having lived it from the inside out.
There was a time when you could just call it being a “gamer.” But that definition is changing. Millions and millions more people are playing games every day through smart phones, web browsers and more accessible consoles. The club is getting a little less exclusive, and some old members are grumbling about the riff-raff.
The vast majority of people who call themselves “gamers,” or even “core gamers,” are reasonable people who like games, and see that more people playing games can’t be bad. The majority of people who buy Vitas will probably be reasonable people looking to get a different experience on the road. They’re people who can see the merit in both Fruit Ninja and Uncharted. But there’s another set who’s sticking to their guns. For the most elitist of “core gamers,” casual and mobile games are anathema. They’re boring time-wasters, they’re made for children, they’re derivative and they’re pointless: anyone with half a brain should know that a more involved experience is objectively better. They use the term “console-quality.” Anything else is just trying to catch up. Never mind that Zynga probably isn’t rushing to release anything for the Playstation 3.
They want to be the “mature gamers.” The implication being anyone who really gets games wouldn’t waste their time with the distractions of the plebians. It’s the same way some PC gamers talk about console gamers. In a certain way, it actually proves that video games are beginning to evolve to the point of novels, film, music and other established media: now we have snobs.
The Vita may be the last great hope for the exclusionary gamer. Even more so than the Playstation 3 before it, it’s a system that throws its lot in with the core gamer, banking that the club will still cough up the money required to keep it going. Sony may still be right: as I said in my review, if any system can survive without a nod towards mass appeal, it’s the Vita. Now, for the demographic Sony is going for, it’s going to be all about the software: core gamers will buy a system with good games, and they won’t buy a system without them.
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Article source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/02/22/why-is-the-playstation-vita-so-important-to-gamers/?feed=rss_home
February 23rd, 2012 by admin in news | No Comments
