Vita – To 3G or Wi-Fi?

Speaking of Christmas, I have been having dreams and visions of a Vita dancing in my head. Alas, I am not going to import, so the wait continues for few more weeks. Which version will I get?

I have multiple pre-orders with Amazon. An early edition bundle, Wi-Fi version, and of course the dreaded ‘how much will AT&T screw me over on pricing’ Wi-Fi + 3G version.

If I decide to go with an AT&T 3G contract, I will get the First Edition Bundle, which has the advantage of a memory stick, storage case, and a game. Honestly, I could care less about Little Deviants, but it is nice to get a bundled game. Interesting enough, Amazon no longer shows the memory stick as part of the bundle.

Still time to decide, cancel orders, and watch the Japanese Vita news and updates. Sony will fix Remote Play and support PSOne classics before the U.S. launch, right?

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4 thoughts on “Vita – To 3G or Wi-Fi?”

  1. I would have to think the 3G would be for non-gaming functions, other than posting scores or simple turn-based games.

    On the iPhone, I don’t even try to stream video over 3G. I play a ton of turn-based little games but even on those, the updates take awhile to sync up your screen since the last update. It’s a good thing these games don’t depend on low latency.

    So if you think you’ll browse a lot on 3G or play turn-based games or if there will be apps. that are useful to be able to access all the time, then a contract might be worth it.

    I heard the browser doesn’t look that good even though it’s suppose to be a modern Webkit browser.

    One good thing is that a lot of the launch games are available for $30 on Amazon, instead of the SRP of $40. That might suggest the preorders aren’t going the way they wanted.

    I’ll take a look at it in person but I don’t see picking it up until the first price drop, if then. It can be useful on trips. I play a lot of these turn-based iPhone games during the day because it takes a couple of seconds to do your turn and go back to work. Probably would be tougher to take in a dedicated game player to the office and then be checking it throughout the work day.

  2. I’m thinking 3G for when I need to do something (not sure what that something is) and do not have a wireless network. I should be getting my wife a new phone this week – most likely going with some sort of droid and Verizon, which means I may punt on the AT&T Vita 3G. Just don’t need an extra monthly bill …

    For Vita game prices, I have not noticed any because for the most part, Amazon (where I shop 98% of the time) has not had a very deep list. I want Uncharted – not sure what else – and it is listed for $49.

  3. Well it’s reported that Vita sales went from about 300-350k the first week (actually may have been just 2 days) to about 70-80k in the second week.

    Maybe they ran out of supply, though there had been reports of 500k units available for the launch period.

    If they average 70-80k a week for several months, that’s not bad, that’s in the range of 3.5 to 4 million if sustained over a year.

    Of course you expect sales to drop off after the launch period and holiday season.

    But more steep drops week over week would not be good. I don’t know if there are big games planned in the first quarter but of course the US launch is in February and I believe Japan has a big shopping period in March.

    Hmm, wonder if Vita will see a price cut in the first year like the 3DS.

  4. You beat me to it. There has been a lot of negative press about the post launch sales drop. For example, http://www.forbes.com/sites/terokuittinen/2011/12/29/sony-in-big-trouble-with-ps-vita/

    Is it fair to even report on what went wrong without knowing if there was a shortage, or if this was expected giving the AAA games that game out on the 3DS at the same time? Not sure, but the drop does look bad.

    BTW – like I said, you beat me too it. I have decided against the 3G version. Just picked up my wife a cool Droid RAZR for Verizon. Decided to go with Verizon because my company bb uses Verizon and works all over town, so no point in risking AT&T.

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