PixlBit

From where I'm coming from, Rich's initial tweet didn't bother me but then my twitter feed started filling up with all these retweets with responses and it seemed like he was unnecessarily feeding the trolls, sort of speak. Furthermore, right before you recorded this podcast, Jason, I listened to Nintendo Voice Chat on IGN and he was on there basically saying I remember last year when the 3DS wasn't doing so well. This means he empathizes with the state of the Vita right now. So why are you antagonizing that fan base if you don't feel that way? I'm talking about the responses that follow, mind you, not the initial tweet.

I personally don't like the launch of either handheld (3ds didn't have games, Vita has too many additional costs) but as someone who actually wants a 3DS now, I'm not going to sit back and say "The 3DS sold more copies than the Vita in half the time. Therefore, it had a better launch." That's like saying, "The crap I took last year is better than the crap I took right now." Not to get too crude but that was the first example that came to mind.

Looking at his tweets, I don't think that's what he was saying at all. His case was that Sony (and Nintendo) need high handheld platform sales, and that Nintendo's were higher. Similarly, he cased that Sony had lower software attach rates. He was stating direct fact, and most of the tweets he retweeted tilted his facts to an argument of which console was better. The fact was, the 3DS had better launch numbers than the Vita in every conceivable way, and unless something changes, it very well could go the way of the PSP.

The one place where he didn't refer to factual information was when someone pointed out that the Vita had better launch titles. That would be the place where he was antagonizing the fanbase. The rest was practically factual comparison. The incitements he made weren't incitements. He's just in a high position with a volitile fanbase who get too carried away in regard to things that have little bearing or meaning. Is it a big deal the 3DS sold 3x the numbers of the Vita in half the time? Not really. Look at what's happened with the 3DS since then. Things change. There were plenty of quality games on the PSP, and if the Vita does go in that direction, there will be a lot of happy gamers. The problem here wasn't Rich from IGN, but rather people overreacting to information that favored one console over the other. Rich defended his point of view well, and if that agitated anyone, it's because they weren't able to think about the situation or the numbers critically.

Did he really need to mention the 3DS did 3x the sales of the Vita right after the 1.2 million sold announcement and only a week after its release in America? Anyone can see how that could be perceived as undermining.

Also, I feel it is feeding trolls when you respond to over 25 tweets bad mouthing you. To what extend do you need to back up what you're saying to so many people?

Did you accidentally call the featured Pokemon on Black and White 2 Q*Bert?  That may have been the most amazing mistake ever.  Q*Bert would be the most awesome Pokemon in history! Make it happen Nintendo!

In a related note Q*Bert is also the name of my awesome, orange cat.  Zelda is the name my other.  Yup, I'm a bit nerdy.

I don't believe I did, Kyurem was the name I was *trying* to say. Those legendary Pokémon names get stranger every day.

I aggree with the VIta argument.  I recently had a brief hands on with one, and while I have no reason get one any time soon, the hardware is impressive.  Should a decent library appear, there's no reason for it not to eventually succeed.