In a rather surprising turn of events, Sony's PlayStation Vita has encountered increased sales in North America in the month of June. This has led to many stores and online retailers across the region without any Vitas to sell at all.

Sony has stated that the shortage is because of increased demand, and not diminished supply.

Though it is noted that many retailers keep the Vita low in stock, anticipating small sales, it is certainly good news to hear it's begun to break those barriers of low hopes it's had long since the last year.

The Vita is largely known as a niche system, providing many indie titles, and many Japanese titles for the crowds in North America who enjoy obscure games. Though having the highest attachnent rate of any console, it is not at all a popular system amongst the masses, and most attempts at opening the console to a larger audience, such as giving more big first party titles, and basic advertising, have all been abandoned, as Shuhei Yoshida has told consumers to "expect less first party titles", and there hasn't been any great marketing for the console since release.

But with this interesting info, and the "Playstation
4 add on" motif it's been given recently, there could be hope for the powerful little portable.

What are your thoughts on this? How does this news make you feel?

alexanyways :
How does this makes me feel? Great, and I think it deserve this too, because I have a PSP and many people I know look upon it as a lesser handheld console, while not realizing there are A TON of indie RPG games that has elements different than what we are used to (of course, some of them are terrible), in fact....there is a game called "dungeon maker", although the combat may not be very good, I liked the concept of building dungeon to lure monsters in instead of going an adventure around the world.....and then some smart monster make a dungeon INSIDE your dungeon.
Also, have you ever heard of a game called "FATE Extra"? You should try it if you haven't, it's like rock-paper-scissor in RPG, and you're ganna love it. Oh, how about "Dissidia Doudecim Final Fantasy 012"? That here is my favorite game of all time! It's like DBZ.....with RPG! And then there is an untranslated game called "Final Fantasy Type-0", I've seen the gameplay and I can't wait for anyone to translate this piece of relic.

So you see, despite all these games, I still don't get it why some people don't like PSP here, it's easily my favorite handheld console here, and I still spend time in it more than any console (that includes PS1-3, Gameboy, GBA, DS, 3DS).

And after reading your post, I think I'll be spending another 2 years in my closet with Vita when I my hands in it.

saldek : While I appreciate your words, the PSP was an incredibly popular system. Many people owned and loved it.


The Vita though, its a different story. Everybody just confuses it with the PSP because nobody has the slightest clue of what it is.

alexanyways : I think that the Vita is already a great system and that if the demand does start to rise, even more new features might be added to the system to make it even better, instead of just making a newer design that just looks better. It's just really a matter of time, and a few more great games.

This makes me both happy and sad at the same time. Happy, primarily because it means that the Vita is becoming more popular, but it also shows how little stores cared about the device, and its poor state as a system. I love it the way it is, and I am happy that I have been given the chance to play so many amazing Japanese titles on here, but with its increased popularity, I somehow feel that the Japanese titles will take the backseat, and become more rare on the system in the west. I could be over-thinking this though, and this could just be a surge due to the oncoming summer, and nothing really major, but it does have upsides and downsides. Most are up, but it can be kind of grueling knowing that you might lose some of your favorite titles in the future. 

For all I could care, the PS Vita can continue to be under demand and low quantities for sale. 

I bought it when it first came out, and was not impressed at all. I ended up selling it, and only loosing $20. 

I am more surprised that they are starting to sell, rather than that there is a shortage.