As we found out today, Sony underestimated the amount of attention that the PlayStation Vita TV would be getting from gamers in the West, and they are “of course” thinking of launching it in the US and Europe.
With the PS Vita TV utilizing a DualShock 3 (or DualShock 4 when you Remote Play PS4 games through it), some of the Vita’s unique features, like the touchscreen, will be useless on games played via the new device. As Shuhei Yoshida tells USGamer though, he doesn’t think we’ll see developers forgetting about those Vita features anytime soon:
We’re working with developers so that the game will know which device it’s booting up. Developers have a way to customize the interface if the game is working on the PS Vita portable or the Vita TV. Touch has some distinct advantages. People like using smartphones or tablets that way. In many cases, the Dual Shock has to replicate that touch control. So I don’t think people will shy away from using touch. It’s much more intuitive.
Having brought up smartphones and tablets, Shuhei also gave out his opinion on just how badly he believes they have negatively impacted the handheld market:
Hm, hmm. How badly? Quite badly. It’s a matter of convenience. People carry their smartphones with them all the time. The tablet is there at home. So it’s hard to compete with something that easy that people already own. We have to provide a really great value proposition. We have to provide something special when we bring out our portable gaming platforms.
How badly do you think smartphones have damaged the handheld market? Let us know in the comments below.
