PlayStation Vita priced up for UK punters Prices are up for the PlayStation Vita, with Amazon UK now accepting advance orders. As predicted, Brits will fork out more than the Americans, with prices for the Vita at £230 for the Wi-Fi version and £280 for the 3G-connected model. According to Sony's announcements earlier this week, buyers in the US can pick one up for $ …
It also seems that if you have a PS3 already, you may as well get a PS Vita, as it will then do everything the new Wii will do (and a whole lot more besides) when the wii2 launches in a years time..
http://www.develop-online.net/news/37930/Yoshida-Wii-U-will-inspire-Vita-experiments
If the PSP is anything to go buy (and i guess it is), the vita will flop horrendously in the UK. WIll be HUGE in Japan, and do ok for itself in the US. I guess its a local supply and demand economies of scale type of affair?
Is £230 good value,? Compare to the SE Xperia Play (Playstaion phone) at £430, it seems good value for money.
"vita will flop horrendously in the UK. WIll be HUGE in Japan,"
Why is that? On the trains on the way to work I note LOTS of asian guys in the 18-25 demographic who play with the PSP and such, while not actually having noted seeing ANY other race, creed, colour, fanboi-ism, sex or anyone else who are willing to whip them out.
Just an observation...
At it's peak I had two and I often noted people with PSPs on my daily commute. I personally jailbroke 11 PSPs for friends and family over the course of 2 years, a couple of years back. Even now I still see people using full size, old style PSP units on trains and tubes.
So I think you're just trolling there me laddo!
The original was a flop here (UK) , and was big in japan. Therefore it seems fit that this product, which is largely identical in what it offers, will be the same. I could of course be wrong.
I'm not saying they didn't sell any in the UK, they did. I'm saying it didn't sell very well at all.
Its nice to see the UK get special treatment from SCEE (...not!) especially when we have the 2nd largest number of PS3 owners globally.
When it comes to the pricing, UK consumers lose out yet again! Have Sony not learnt anything from the PSP and PSP Go?
No mention of how much the games will retail for.
Better be very compelling other history will repeat itself with people holding on to their hard-earned cash.
Clearly this one thinks it's Sony got something in for the UK.
The reality is however, is that the price difference is caused by 3 factors:
1/ VAT (20%)
2/ Non EU produced goods (10% surcharge)
3/ Supporting Europe in multiple languages.
It's not just UK, it's everyone in Europe getting screwed... And Not by Sony.
1/ VAT (20%)
Was added in the article.
2/ Non EU produced goods (10% surcharge)
Add another 10%, still not the same price.
3/ Supporting Europe in multiple languages.
Which would apply if English =/= American, or if there was an EU-wide price. Which there isn't.
So yes, an idiot alert.
a) While it's convenient and natural to compare dollars to pounds, these devices aren't made in the US, they're made in Japan / China. I expect the price each region gets is a factor of a lot of things including currency hedging.
b) The US price also falls short of what US people will pay for it since it lacks sales taxes.
c) That's the RRP and it may well sell for cheaper.
I agree it's still a lot of money though and that in general the EU would still be charged higher prices even taking most of that into account.
They missed a trick, if they'd priced fairly they'd have been able to steal a march on Nintendo for the first time in the handheld market, but no, dumb ass Japanese business price gouging Europe again and surprisingly failing. I speak as a regular consumer of Japanese media and they're desire to take us from behind is impressive, so Me and others like me use US services as they're far cheaper and have a far greater range of products.
I ordered my PSP from Hong Kong before it was even released in the UK, I paid a total of £140, not bad considering Sony wanted £180 in the UK for the UK version, plus the Japanese version I have, has a superior screen so for the PSP2, I'll import from Hong Kong again and save a fortune.
To other touch screen devices such as the iPod Touch, smart phones etc. Is £230 that out of place for a gaming device with a hires OLED display, quad core ARM processor, 2 cameras, 2 touch screens? Or compare to the 3DS where the RRP is also £230 but your money buys considerably poorer specced device.
I think Amazon are engaged in a spot of hype / gouging at the moment and the price is likely to come down just like it did for the 3DS too. As with all new kit the early adopters get burned and it's always sane to wait and see.
compared to 650 for an iphone 4 its a bargain, surely.
you could buy an ipod, cheapo phone, this device AND a ps3 for less than an iphone. and you arent forced to use one of the worst POS s/w that is itunes.
dont get me wrong, the iphone is decent for emailing and has a nice interface but it is infuriatingly locked down for certain things - mass SMS (not a chance), easy access to file system? (not a chance - why on earth would you want to make your own ringtones?!? :() you need to find apps to do things nokia was doing 15 years ago!
yet another iphone died today. mid update just fucks up and has to be factory reset. lost all pictures and everything as itunes hadnt synched anything.
so far in our company 50% failure rate on iphone 4! 2 had to go straight back and 2 have lost all data.
annoyingly you cannot even access the photos from USB. normally you can at least plug in via USB and crab stuff without using the god awful itunes.
Don't take this the wrong way, it looks like a nice device but I just don't "feel" it (no pun intended). I have a PS3 (the old "fat" model) and a PSP3000 and I really love both products. One of the best parts (IMO) is using my PSP to connect to the PS3 (remote play) and then using the PS3 to play a movie from one of my (wired) media storage devices while in bed. Frickin' awesome!
(yes; I know I could just as easy hookup a wireless media player (like an AC Ryan) to the bedroom tv but I don't watch enough movies for that).
So... Why would I give up my trusty PSP (which recently has been expanded with Little Big Planet) for this ? Better graphics? When I play serious games I'm on PS3. Touch ? Using 2 hands with 2 analog sticks and then also your fingers at the back? hmmm....
The enhanced network connectivity is nice, but its not something I'd trade for my trusty PSP.
I think the pricing is about right. The PSvita has a lot of technology crammed in to it and im sure at these prices Sony are subsidising them as they did when the PS3 was initially released.
Sure, £280 is a lot of money BUT when you consider IPad, Iphone, Galaxy Tab etc these all come in at much more and apart from being telephones cannot touch the PSvita for features.
I have just preordered the WiFi/3G version from Game and cannot wait to get my hands on one later in the year !
Im not a Sony fanboy as I have also just purchased a 3DS. I just love playing good games on a convenient platform so good on you Sony for keeping the cost at a realistic level.
I will be getting the 3G model, I will pay that price for it and I won't think twice about it, as long as it's reliable and the build quality is equal or better than the current PSP.
In an age where fanbois will pay double that price for something half the size I think this is very good value for money and will be far more useful to me than anything beginning with i.
I generally hate all Sony stuff, except my PSP & PS3. I've had the same PSP since they were first released and it hasn't missed a beat. It's still on the original battery too and it still lasts for 3-4 hours between charges even though I have been using it every day for the last 2 years. It's been a solid piece of kit, I hope the Vita is as good.
The current PSP platform is ageing a bit though and has been due for a refresh for some time now.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
