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Vectrex Mini interview - David Oghia talks up the nostalgic vector powerhouse

Having been wowed by the news of the Vectrex Mini at Gamescom , I rushed off some questions to VectrexOn's main man  David Oghia . After a post-event, well earned, break, he's kindly given us a lot of detail about the project and some new images of the unit to share.  His story mirrors mine somewhat, Vectrex represents a glowing, unaffordable, obelisk of gaming power from our youth! But he's had the energy and drive to do something about it, and met the right people to get the job done!  What first got you interested in Vectrex and what spawned the idea of a Mini version? I’ve always been passionate about retro-gaming, but my first love was computers rather than consoles — the ZX81, then the Commodore 128. I only really discovered the console world in the late 90s, which is when I got my very first Vectrex. Of course, I had seen it in stores back in 1983, but at that time it was far too expensive for me.  Today, I own five Vectrex systems at home. Vector-based games ...

Will the Vita will struggle here due to tech media denial?

I follow the tech press pretty closely for a bunch of  reasons, and if you look at the top of some of the tech pages, you wouldn't even know the PS Vita existed today. Take a look yourselves. This is on the front page of VentureBeat, even though the site has a Vita story down the page...


This is the front of Techmeme, which aggregates what the tech press is saying, no sign of the Vita anywhere (at the time of writing). Search the site for PS Vita and you have about one story a week appearing.


And this is TechCrunch, one of the biggest tech sites on the planet. It too has a story, that the Vita is a tablet alternative, duh!



Basically, whatever Sony is doing marketing the Vita, it is somehow managing to ignore, confuse or overshoot a whole section of the online press that somehow manages to get excited about a fledging social service, some silly spectacles and other nonsense.

Sure the Vita can't hope to compete with iPad 3 mania, but you would have thought that by getting the Vita into some of the right hands early, it could generate some excitement and attention from the press which drives the digital device agenda, get it mentioned in the "hot" categories and not just as an afterthought.

By failing to excite these sites (which is different to merely sending them a unit and some press releases), the Vita will likely get ignored by a whole section of geeks - the same people who drove a novelty music player to the legend that is the iPod etc etc. Perhaps it is the "only for games" focus that puts Sony down the list here - but with the specialist gaming press dying on its backside - Sony needs to find the news where it can, which is right here in the sites above and its not happening.

You can't not read about the Vita outside the games press, but that is preaching to the converted. To get new players on board, Sony needs to touch the wider tech press who can expose it to a whole new audience, who if they get excited about every tiny iteration of a phone update, should be delighted to see something new and wholly different.

Just a thought.

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Currently playing on my Vita/PS3/PS4/PS5


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