Sony just released the Vita in Japan recently and things are not going as smoothly as Sony had imagined. Despite shipping ~500,000 units to stores, Sony only sold ~325,000 units, which is about 50,000 less than the 3DS sold in its first two day launch in Japan (371,326 3DSes). Not only have they not sold out of the Vitas they shipped, they are also seeing hardware/firmware issues with the some of the current launch systems.
After Nintendo's poor start with the 3DS, people were looking to Sony to make sure everything was in line for a smooth release so that they were not doomed to repeat Nintendo's mistakes. However, Sony has been having some problems during its launch. According to Sony Japan's site, Sony is working with a bunch of early adopters who are experiencing a variety of hardware related issues. If you can read Japanese, check it out, or read IGN's (1UP's) English translation. The current list of problems listed on the Q&A site are the following:
- The power cuts out
- Freezing in mid-operation
- Cannot connect data service
- Cannot register a PSN account at the initialization screen
If you're looking for examples of the Vita freezing up, you can search YouTube or just check out the video below. I know Sony wanted to get the system out before Christmas for the holiday sales but hopefully this is a lesson learned to make sure your system is ready to launch before actually launching it. Launching a system without games (strike against Nintendo), launching a system with firmware/hardware issues (strike against Sony)... companies need to be a little more cautious with these new system launches. Hopefully this is fixable and it doesn't become another XBOX360 RROD (red ring of death) fiasco.
