E3 2011: Why the PlayStation Vita is Better than the Nintendo 3DS

The revelation of the PlayStation Vita at this year’s Sony press conference wasn’t surprising at all. What was surprising to everyone (including us watching it live) was when Sony announced the price. For the basic PS Vita with Wifi only model, it’s retailing at the same price as the Nintendo 3DS.

Now that the Vita is publicly revealed and the price is the same as the Nintendo 3DS, which console is the better of the two?

From what we played and experienced with the Vita, we must say that the Vita is the way to go. Why? We’ll tell you!

At $249.99, the Vita can give you…

Better Graphics
A lot of hardcore gamers are impressed mostly by the graphics the system has to offer. One of the games that Sony showcased in this year’s press conference was Uncharted. From what we’ve seen and played, the graphics that the Vita can deliver can even top the PS3 version. The shadows and the lighting of Uncharted are very close to its predecessor that anyone can mistakenly think that they’re playing on the PS3. In addition to Uncharted, there are other games out there that shows the true potential of the handheld like Ruin. As for the Nintendo 3DS, it cannot match Uncharted’s graphics at all.

Two Analog Sticks
The main complaint for everyone on the Sony PSP is the lack of the second analog stick. With the upcoming Vita, Sony has listened to its fans and finally put a second analog stick on the Vita. This makes it far easier to play first person shooter games. Now that the second analog stick exists on the Vita, using it to control the cameras are now easier than ever.

As for the Nintendo 3DS, it now has an analog stick however, it’s only got one. While Nintendo did improve on the 3DS by adding the analog stick, it still is inferior to the Vita as two sticks are always better than one.

Hardcore Games
The weakness that the Nintendo 3DS has is that it fails to deliver games that cater for hardcore gamers. While the PSP literally flopped due to its piracy and lack of third party support, majority of its games are focused to hardcore games as we saw with games like Syphon Filter, Resistance, Jeane D’Arc, Secret Agent Clank, and more!

With the Vita coming this Holiday, Sony fans can expect games aimed for hardcore gamers like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Ruin, Killzone, and a lot more.

For gamers who are thinking of getting a Nintendo 3DS, they can expect to seem more hardcore games but the majority of them will be aimed at casual gamers.

Two Touch Screen
The touch screen on the handheld was introduced first by Nintendo but apparently, Sony managed to copy and improve on this. In the upcoming Vita, a touch screen is one of its features but instead of having one, it has two. The touch screen on the front acts like the one on the iPad and on the Nintendo DS where players can simply just touch the Vita’s OLED screen and play it if they decide to ditch the controls. A game that shows the touch screen capabilities is Uncharted: Golden Abyss. Aside from the screen, the bottom of the Vita has also a touch pad.

No Friends Code Required
Everyone hates the Friend Code system of Nintendo 3DS as it limits the possibility of interacting with a lot of people. With the Vita coming up in several months, many people will appreciate its new friend system and the new way to interact with people.

27 thoughts on “E3 2011: Why the PlayStation Vita is Better than the Nintendo 3DS

  1. so its better spec wise

    so what?

    Does that mean the exclusive games will be better?

    The system with the higher specs has only outsold a direct competitor once or twice in the history of gaming

    Not to mention hes wrong on the launch. It will only be out in japan in 2011

  2. Pointless article. Now with Vita’s 250 USD price tag its all a matter of personal Choice and software. Fuck you sony fanboy

  3. Fanboy much? lol jk. Both the Vita and 3DS are worth picking up. I don’t know why people try to compare them. They are two different experiences. as for the touchscreens, honestly that’s just too much touch for my liking. and did you forget? Nintendo 3DS has Resident Evil (2 of them) and at least 8 other M rated games to be released by the end of the year.

  4. So read this article twice, not because I liked it but because of all the misinformation it puts out. First it seems that the writer of this article has never actually played the 3DS. Friend codes on the 3DS are not the same as they were on the other DS systems and no one is complaining about it. The friend codes are mainly used so you can see what your friends are doing and so they know what you are doing. It doesn’t prevent you Dom playing or interacting with others. It does protect players from perves though and allows you to keep in touch with friends better. Next, the Vita does not have two touch screens. The reach around plate in the back is not a screen and all that has been really shown about it was that it can be used like (L) and (R) buttons or instead of motion controlls. As far as two analog sticks, that’s what the motion controls on the 3DS are used for. Why take the time to move the camera with analog sticks when you can play and just look in the direction you want to look. Graphics better on the Vita? Have you seen the Snake Eater video, in 3D. Or played DoA. Apparently you hve not seen any 3DS games at all. While we are talking about games. Last time I checked MGS, DoA, Zelda and a lot of the 3DS games are for hard core gamers and there are a lot for casual players to. Also look at the regular DS games there were games for everyone there as well. Oh and don’t forget the Vita WILL NOT play psp games. The 3DS does play ds games and gb/gbc.

    Don’t get me wrong, the Vita will probably be a good game system but thy does not mean it will be better.

  5. lol @ all the Nintendo fanboys.The 3ds has been selling like shit all over the world, the 6 year old psp has been out selling it,and now that Vita is the same price the 3DS is done. Get over it.

  6. I rated your article 3 Star.

    I don’t disagree with the points raised. I just didn’t feel it was very well written, or enlightening. You didn’t really touch on anything beyond the obvious.

  7. Another thing to mention is that Nintendo could drop the price of the 3DS when the Vita comes out. Why are people comparing the current price when it’s so far away?

  8. Wow I like watching all these retarted Nintendo fans… wake up morons, you’ve got to realize that Nintendo is simply milking the cow, they offer way too bad hardware and people go and buy it same goes for the software.

  9. “4tehlolz Says:
    June 8th, 2011 at 9:25 PM
    lol @ all the Nintendo fanboys.The 3ds has been selling like shit all over the world, the 6 year old psp has been out selling it,and now that Vita is the same price the 3DS is done. Get over it.”

    So, 3.6 million units in 3 months is shit? Did you ever take a math class? Any ways, the only reason the PSP is still selling (in japan only) is due to monster hunter. without that series the PSP would have died off a while ago…

    Honestly, it’s ridiculous.Since the 3DS was released people have been making up inaccurate information to try and discredit it. People need to quit tryiny to make it sound like it does not do anything or has horrible graphics or what ever and just except the fact that just because they love Sony (the lowest selling hanheald and home console company) and just pecause sony keeps spreading hate and violince does not mean the 3DS is not a great syatem. The Vita could end up selling really well but the 3DS is an amazing system with great games out and coming our way.

  10. I’ve been a hardcore gamer all my life i love all systems and i am not biased, and i don’t take sides. I love the xbox 360 and the playstation 3 and I have a 3ds and i love the games that have arrived on the 3ds. DOA and street fighter 4 are fantastic games I believe are absolutely targeted for hardcore gamers. I must say ill probably pick up the Vita as well because that seems awesome too. But it’s different to the 3ds because the 3ds has 3d and looks amazing, so i believe ill enjoy bot handhelds for their differences. I don’t see why people have to love one console brand and hate on the other. Reminds me of racism :)

  11. 3.6 units were sold worldwide in the financial year. That’s impressive. The 3DS holds the record for the most preorders for a console ever. On top of that it had a day 1 record of sells! Nintendo had high expectations for the 3DS because they had so much success with the DS. They over predict number of units sold. They wanted to sell 4 million. Come on they were only .4 less than expected. Nintendo admitted that while the 3DS has set records and had a good start they feel like it could be doing much better. Some have said it’s the price of the handheld. They say no one is going to spend 250$ on a handheld. Well I say if the economy is making people second guess the 3DS then what makes you think people wont hesitate to buy a PSvita also at 250$? As for the games…yes Nintendo lacked titles at launch but Nintendo chose not to release major 1st party titles b/c they wanted 3rd party games to get sells. This worked..for the good games atleast… 3rd party games that sold well were… Super Street Fighter, Ridge Racer, Rayman,and Monkey Ball. And Nintendo’s titles Nintendogs and Steel Diver attracted the casual crowd. Now Nintendo are releasing BIG NAMES this SUMMER and WINTER! Zelda, Mario Kart, Super Mario, and Star Fox. Then 3rd party titles like Resident Evil

  12. Keep in mind guys, Vita is simply a better value for the price.
    Better Value -> Better Sales
    Better Sales -> Better 3rd Party Developer Retention
    More 3rd Party Devs -> Better Games
    Better Games -> Better Sales

    Sony has. I seriously doubt, especially with Uncharted in the pipeline, that Sony’s going to have a worse launch set than the 3DS. I mean, you really can’t have a worse launch set than the 3DS AMIRITE?!

  13. @ Nick… The value of the product is up to the consumer to decide. When you think about it the 3DS is well worth the $250. 3D gaming, Spotpass, Streetpass, built in games, Netflix (late summer), Nintendo Video (coming soon), franchises like Mario, Zelda, Luigi, and Super Smash Bros. And there is strong support by 3rd party developers for the 3DS. The value of the Vita is worth the $250. Although I believe they are taking touchscreen a little to far you get some cool things. Playstation Network,PS3 connectivity etc. Also, the original DS and PSP had a weak line up. But really why are we once again calling a system’s library weak when it has only been out for 3 months? And so far the only confirmed launch title is Hot shots and Ridge Racer. Nothing else is confirmed for Vita launch. and let me add that one negative for the Vita is no disc drive for PSP games. That means downloading old games you already own from PSN!!!!! The Vita uses flash type cards for their games.

  14. @tim… really? Nintendo SHOULD have the Right to brick your system if you are running illegal software. Oh by the way running Roms is illegal.. even if you previously owned the software.

  15. @noname…You obviously didn’t read everything…The fact that they brick a system for illegal software isn’t uncommon. Mose developers do that. That’s not where my argument lies. It’s the fact that this user agreement grants them the ability to liscense ANY user generated data from pictures to messages and use and distribute it as they see fit. If a cell phone or computer company dared do that they would be in front of Congress.

  16. “By accepting this Agreement or using a Nintendo 3DS System or the Nintendo 3DS Service, you also grant to Nintendo a worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display your User Content in whole or in part and to incorporate your User Content in other works, in any form, media or technology now known or later developed, including for promotional or marketing purposes.”

    Copied verbatim

  17. This article is pointless. Don’t get me wrong, the Vita looks great but you can’t call this just yet. You obviously haven’t watched the DS vs PSP battle because most of these points apply to the first PSP but the DS destroyed it because of superior software. And the future software lineup for the 3DS is looking pretty good. Most Nintendo fans here have stated that they like both systems whereas die hard sony fans just want the 3DS to die, cant they co-exist with each other

  18. @ Tim… you do realize that social sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter also own the rights to anything you post. That includes videos and photos. They can do whatever they want with your stuff. Also, why is this just aimed at Nintendo when Microsoft does similar stuff with Xbox Live?

  19. hahaha psv will destroy 3ds for a few reasons:

    one same price: ds was cheap so parents would by the eazyest thing to shut thire tween up. (Mabey they will lower there price 50$ by x-mas.)

    two software: uncharted modnation and wipeout kill enything for 3ds(right now) and who wants to play orcarina of time AGAIN!!! They even sayed the 3d made it worse in current gameinformer(june).

    three hardwear: nuff sayed.

    fore dose analog sticks: finaly good contrals for a worthy system. 3ds give nothing new to the contrals aspect. same crapy touchscreen and cheep look. oh and an analog nub.(sucky)

    five look at the current sales: 3ds is behind psp in sales hahaha. they just lost there only audience by trying to rip people off hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

    That is why 3ds will fail and the psv will win. Prove me wrong on eny of these point and you will win a solid gold cupid doll or somthing

  20. @noname It’s not the same. That’s part of the reason I’m not on social sites like Facebook and Myspace. Those sites do it in order to moderate content, although I can see why some would have a problem with it. An individual handheld console doesn’t have quite the same level of interaction, since it’s primary purpose is not social interaction, but to play videogames. This makes it seem unnecessary. MS and Sony will simply deny you service, not render the console unusable an Nintendo reserves the right to. I don’t mind them seeing what games I play and for how long, but do they really need to sort through my messages and pictures? I’m not sure MS and Sony go so far as to look at pictures, but the only way I would see find it permissible is if it were for content moderating purposes, i.e. no nudity etc. I find my problem with the fact that if I take a picture using their device, it’s automatically theirs and they and do with it whatever they want. That’s like MS saying that any document written with any of their programs like MS Word or Powerpoint belongs to them. Sound a bit crazy? That’s what this says. You use our hardware therefore it belongs to us. What happens if some 10 year old takes a questionable photo, or someone photographs content that is already copyrighted? By their own EULA, wouldn’t Nintendo be in lots of legal trouble? Then again, EULAs are not legally binding and cannot superceed established law. It just shows this is a pretty agressive (and not really well though out) EULA in my opinion, and has discouraged me from buying a 3DS. If you feel different, OK. I just felt people should know and understand what this EULA says, albeit in part, and see if that affects their decision.

  21. The Vita is an impressive powerhouse while the 3DS is…not, but if the battery was a shortcoming for the 3DS, the Vita’s battery will be horrible. Rumor is the Vita’s battery will be comparable with the PSP. Theoretically, that’s the same five hours as the 3DS. Theoretically.

    Realistically, the only time I have gotten my PSP to last anywhere close to 5 hours is when I’m doing a PSOne classic or playing music. With a real PSP game I’ll be lucky to get 2, maybe a half hour more if it’s installed. In other words, the 3DS with the 3D cranked up to full will have a comparable battery to the Vita. 3D off, it just might get twice the mileage.

    Oh, and the Vita will have to build it’s library almost from scratch, while the 3DS starts with the DS library. That’s a big incentive for PSP owners to keep their PSP, while DS owners trade in.

    It’s not like any of this matters, though; fanboy rantings aside, the Vita emulates home consoles, while the 3DS is an elegant toy. Yes, they compete for the same market niche, but comparing them is literally comparing apples and oranges.

  22. hey hey i agree the first and second ds were a piece of shit but wanted th ds lite so i got one till i got a psp i was blown away but i also thought the 3ds was pretty impressive but then they still made the same old corny games and it was ten times worse then psp because the ds could have started over but they fucking

Comments are closed.