PlayStation Vita; I'm your repairman.

Sony, the PlayStation Vita can be saved - if you let us save it.

Since the beginning, it seems like the Vita has been put on Sony's backburner - the project that had so much promise and not-so-much follow through. I remember reading about the "NGP" on the front of major tech sites, but I never saw the "PlayStation Vita released" notice on those same pages. I remember seeing a preview commercial before the system came out, but I haven't seen a Vita commercial in over a year. Sony, what are you doing with my precious Vita?

I've grown up with Playstation - from trading in my consoles to get that first Playstation bundle in '95, to opening that Vita on Christmas day I was there... I've been with the community, supporting and backing it for a while now. I just wish I could say the same on the other side of the fence. Now don't get me wrong, Sony can be loyal to its customers when the mood strikes it; I've been the recipient of money back via a PSN voucher, and a few freebies from them as well... but not supporting the Vita is a breach of our trust.

I am not a college graduate - I don't have any special qualifications other than being a gamer, a high amount of common sense and a knack for solving problems - but I've got a few ideas for you. How about we draw in some console buyers, and sell some products, hmm?

Step one is to go back to what works. Where are the hip Vita commercials, with cool-looking people who dance around to today's popular music? Where are the pre-movie game ads and the celebrity endorsements? Where are the first party games? These questions getting replies via fixes is a start. You guys really need to work on marketing, and here are a few tips.

Have you ever seen someone else with a Vita that you didn't convince to buy one? I haven't. Idea number one involves taking a popular celebrity (or a few) and giving them a PS Vita and some cash (or if they love the Vita, just that). The bribe is to play the Vita around major cities during the following months, and to make sure that pictures leak of you playing said Vita. Popular by association, even a dead celebrity hologram could probably sell 100,000 units.

Advertise your great games. Are you listening to this one? This one is the most important, and works the best if you advertise all the good games for your system... not just the first party or ‘triple-A’ titles. Have you heard of Haunt the House: Terrortown? Neither had I until recently but it's an amazing PlayStation Mobile game for cheap. All great games should get some coverage - games sell systems. Along with this, play more PlayStation ads before movies. I don't know how many times I've seen things first there in the theatre, and couldn't wait to tell everyone - pre-movie trailers and commercials are a big talking point, and a big push for good media.

Step two is to give the Vita its own standing. It needs something to make it say "I'm a great console, not just for quick, portable gaming." Sure, I play games sometimes for less than twenty minutes at a time - but I've also sat down and put six hours into Hot Shots Golf. I know it doesn't connect to the TV but it IS a long-play console for a lot of us. We need some real games to compliment that; and they need to show off the Vita. Quantic Dream isn't the only company that should make games that showcase true potential, and a great IP would go a long way to get the Vita sales. Doing something illogical like dropping Killzone Mercenary near the PS4 launch and including a Killzone title in the launch is also a no-no; how do you expect to drive sales of a handheld with a game if people think they can buy a 'better' game on PS4 guaranteed? You guys need to be more logical with this stuff.

Step three is to give the people what they want. Do you know how many times I've heard that people are unable to find information on the Vita? They don't know when new games come out, and they don't even know half of what the Vita can do for them. Things like localization of games are brought up a lot - people try and find information about new games and end up finding all the great games Japan is getting. Then, forums and news sites are blasted with questions about localization of these great titles and the informed users have to tell the newcomers that they won't be getting these Japan-only titles. Tales of Hearts R is an example of this, and also an example of a huge missed opportunity.

I'm not saying that every good-looking or praised Japanese game needs to be localized, but that's a huge market people seem to forget about. Why not make it easy on the developers (who might not know what their buyers in the west want), and the consumer and give them a place to "petition" for localization of popular games? Once a game hits a certain amount of sale or pre-orders, it gets posted on the Playstation website of different regions asking if it should be localized. If enough people sign the petition in a set period of time the game gets translated, if not then it doesn't. it's really a very simple and elegant way to bring more games to more people that want them. Not everyone speak Japanese and even those who have some understanding have trouble reading a newspaper, let alone a video game as you're trying to play as well.

Like I said at the start; I'm nobody special. I don't have any degrees in anything, and I have no commendations. I don't work for any game companies, and I certainly don't develop or market games. I am, however; a problem solver. Sony, please take my advice - solve your problem. I'll even help, if you ask.

/end rant.

Man, you should say this to the head of sony! Amazing!

well i think its looking rather tight with the vita, ps4 is just around the corner and its getting all the atention and dev's on it,its oficial that every single sony dev is working on a ps4 title,im just disapointed with lack of 3rd party devs, kinda funny how everyday i log into the oficial ps blog and check if there is a new game anounced for vita cuz i really want to play the vita more but im very upset that all these psn games are being made for it, games that my psp and phone could run easily, i want retail vita games is it to hard to ask for? the vita is a great console with fantastic online capabilities like party chat and built in mic and its fun, not only that for some reason the ps vita's psn download speeds are way faster, such as updates, demo downloads etc, it really has the potential to become a great online console especially is a 4g LTE version gets released later on,

games I want to see on vita:
1 Dark Souls
2 motorstorm(motorstorm in the psp was awsome)
3 Dirt
4 a horror/action game like dead space, vita dosent have one
5 resident evil
6 gran turismo
7 socom with online co op and multiplayer
8 syphon filter
9 fight night boxing game
10 battlefield
11 better cod (there might be a cod vita in 2013)
12 battlefront
13 GTA
14 bioshock
15 kindom hearts
16 brand new final fantasy
17 basketball game
18 airplane game
19 more action RPG's like phantasy star online 2 but more like dark souls
20 rainbow six
21 a brend new mech game
22 all gundam games on NA
23 all good jap games on NA
22 more games of genres that are lacking in ps vita

great post, i agree with everything you said and have wondered these same things. why havent they tried to advertise and endorse vita games, especially the console itself? and i truly do wish the vita games would be made a bit less for mobility and on the go, but more for sittin down and playing for awhile. idk bout u guys, but i honesly play my vita more than my console lol.

lol thats cool, what games you play on vita? i do look for way more info on vita than ps3 cuz pretty much everything is garranteed to be on ps3 but with vita im just curious on how games will look like in 2 years or so once sony takes the underclock out of the vita like what happened with the psp, if you noticed the psp incial first years of games didnt look as impresive as when games like final fantasy 7 crysis core,3rd birthday, kindom hearts birth by sleep,motorstorm came out.