Game Marketing Tips, Analysis, and News

Friday, August 19, 2011

PS Vita Vs. 3DS, Round Two

The battle will begin soon...
Sony has now published the specs for the PS Vita, and now we can do a head-to-head comparison of the hardware.

PS Vita CPU: ARM(R) Cortex(TM)-A9 core (4 core), GPU: SGX543MP4+.
3DS: ARM 9 CPU at 133 MHz, ARM 7 CPU at 33 MHz,  DMP Pica 200 at 200 MHz

What does this mean in terms of performance? For the CPUs, the PS Vita's ARM 9 4-core variant can deliver somewhere between 8,000  and 20,000 Dhrystone MIPs (millions of instructions per second), depending on the clock speed (which is nominally 800 MHz but could be varied dynamically, but at the cost of greater power consumption). The 3DS is running its CPU at 133 MHz, and it's only one core; the second CPU is probably dedicated to running the second screen. Exact comparisons are difficult, but it's safe to say the PS Vita is at least 5x as powerful as the 3DS when you look at the CPU power.

For the GPUs, the 3DS delivers about 15 million polygons per sec, while the PS Vita should hit around 133 million; the pixel fill rate for the 3DS is 0.8 gigapixels per second, while the PS Vita delivers about 4 gigapixels/sec. Obviously we can't run the same benchmarks on both sets of hardware to see how this translates into actual game performance. Again, though, the PS Vita is clearly more powerful, at least 5x as much as the 3DS.

Both devices have an array of controls and sensors, though the PS Vita has the backside touch panel and multitouch capability on the front screen. The 3.5 inch main screen of the 3DS is nice at 800 x 240 (400 x 240 in 3D mode), but pales in comparison to the PS Vita's 5 inch 960 x 544 OLED display.

The most important final stat: Price. The 3DS is now the clear winner at $169.99, with the base model of the PS Vita coming in at $249.99 (you can pay $299.99 for 3G capability).

The software lineup is strengthening for the 3DS, with some key franchises (Mario, Star Fox) coming this holiday season. The PS Vita lineup will no doubt be solid, given that Sony has watched Nintendo's problems with having the hardware shipping without any notable software titles.

The real issue is how well either of these devices will do against smartphones. Is there still a substantial market for a single-purpose device, when you can get a smartphone that does everything you can think of at around the same price? Yes, the dedicated game devices have exclusive games, and deeper game play, and offer more power... but very few people are going to carry two pocket devices around with them all the time. And you'll always make sure you have your phone with you.

For kids, will parents buy them a dedicated game device, or one that they can use for school, communication, music, taking pictures, watching video, and games as well? Where the games don't cost $40 each?

I think Nintendo's got a reasonable price point for the 3DS now, and Sony's got a reasonable price for the power of their device. I'm just not sure there are enough gamers willing to spend the cash for those devices, when they can get gaming and a whole lot more with a smartphone. Yeah, smartphone games aren't as deep, you don't have the great controls... but they are cheap and there's thousands of them.

If Nintendo can't post some great sales of the 3DS this Christmas, I think Sony's gonna have a rough time selling PS Vitas next spring. Apple's new iPhone(s) are going to make the choices even harder. The new iPhone(s) will certainly be more powerful, which means even more powerful games could be played on it. Apple may also introduce an even cheaper iPhone that is still as powerful as the iPhone 4... which will attack dedicated handheld gaming devices at their most vulnerable point, pricing.

I would love to be surprised by a resurgence of handheld gaming this Christmas, but my prediction is that while Nintendo will do well, 3DS sales won't be stunningly high. The torch for handheld gaming will be passed to the smartphones, for better or worse.


  1. People buy smart phones cause they need a phone first and foremost. They don't buy them just for games. Your arguments on your blog always ignores this fundamental fact.
    Nintendo and Sony both have huge decades old fan bases, that are just not going to abandon their favorite systems for phones with bad play control and cheesy titles.
    New fans will be drawn in by the cute and clever characters in Nintendo games and the jaw dropping graphics on the Vita.

  2. People buy smartphones because they need a phone, then they find out they can buy games... and then they realize they may not need a dedicated game device. The proof is in the declining sales for both handheld consoles and their accompanying software; we're in the the third straight year of regular monthly declines. I don't think it's a coincidence that smartphone sales have risen sharply over the last three years.

    So far, the 3DS has failed utterly at bringing in a new audience; their sales would indicate they aren't even doing a good job of attracting the existing audience, as compared to previous Nintendo handheld releases.

    As I noted, this Christmas will provide some key data. If Nintendo can't get a huge sales boost from their lower price, their new software featuring the best of their characters, and the holiday season, I think we can be pretty sure that smartphones have stolen the market and aren;t going to give it back.

  3. The games on such handhel device like psp,3ds and the ps vita will be more advanced and better than that of smartphones......because of their control,graphics......

  4. The hand held device rules over smartphones because of their powerful games.....and high end graphics ........

  5. The 3DS has after a slow start now a great game library with games of all genres and upcoming topsellers like "Resident Evil: Revelations", "Kid Icarus" and "Metal Gear".

    The Vita game line up is nice but seems shallow compared to 3DS. And almost all publishers already announced new 3DS game but be very quiet on Vita.

    The japan launch of the Vita was disappointing the software sales are catastrophical. I smell another flop vor Sony after the PSPgo.

  6. 3DS Sheet is wrong. its an dual-core with 320 MHZ, downclocked to 268. Since latest update developers can use the full speed. Also Fillrate 1,8 not 0,8.