Andriasang reports that Samsung will provide the CPU for Sony's upcoming handheld gaming platform, the PlayStation Vita. The news first appeared in the electronics industry newspaper The Semiconductor Industry News and reports that the CPU will be manufactured using the 45-nm process.
Previous reports indicated that Sony decided to cut the RAM in half, from 512 MB to 256 MB, in order to reduce the device's overall price tag. But an unnamed source at Sony Japan claims that isn't true, that there has been no reduction in the system's memory. That said, there's no official word on what the final capacity will be, whether it's 512 MB or 256 MB. After all, Sony hasn't officially made the amount known.
“Do not believe everything you read on the Internet," said Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida when asked if the memory had been halved.
Friday EA Play boss Jeff Karp told MCV that the PlayStation Vita faces some very serious challenges in a market currently dominated by Apple and Google. "I think it looks like a great device,” he said. “But the real challenge for all game handhelds is how they stack up against mobile and tablets. After all, how many devices do people want to carry?"
“We are a platform agnostic business and we want them all to succeed, but it will be challenge for handhelds," he added. "Just look at how smartphones and tablets continue to grow and emerge.”
Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli mentioned something similar a few weeks ago, saying that the PlayStation Vita is "an absolutely fantastic platform" but will have a hard time. "And it might be too late," he told Develop. "I love Sony as a company, and we have great relations with them, but the Vita is going to have a hard time against the next generation mobiles and all the tablets."
"There's also the 3DS investing in this market," he continued. "It's going to be a battle, and it will be about content and the platform's ability to receive the content. Streamlined social connectivity will also be very important."
David Cole of DFC Intelligence thinks the PlayStation Vita is one of the reasons why Nintendo chose to cut $80 off the price tag of its 3DS handheld gaming console.
"They are really being aggressive," he admitted. "It is very unlike Nintendo to be willing to take such a loss. I think what it says is that they really feel the heat from the Sony Vita. I see it as a move to protect their market share and position in handhelds. I would not call it desperation but more a very aggressive defensive action by the market leader to hold on to market position."
RW Baird analyst Colin Sebastian also added that "Sony is going up against a very aggressive leader in Nintendo." Billy Pidgeon of M2 Research believes Sony may need to reconsider its Vita pricing. "When Sony announced PS Vita pricing at $249.99, 3DS price had to come down. PS Vita pricing feels compatible with value now, but unless the economy improves more rapidly, a price cut should come sooner rather than later," he said.
