Exophase said:
And I disagree with you, that buying a Pandora over a PSVita sends any kind of tangible message to anyone.
Not to Sony or Nintendo, perhaps, but definitely to the people who do want to produce such open devices. "This idea you have is potentially viable" even if it is at small numbers. You can argue that it's worth buying a closed device for cheaper so long as you can crack it, but sooner or later they're going to get it right and you'll be looking for something that is open, but no one is producing such a device because it isn't commercially viable because everyone preferred the cheaper device they could crack. I'd be very surprised if ED, for example, actually invested in the Pandora 2 in the same way he has for this one given the history.
A counter could be that, given a sudden need, someone would find the niche market again and come up with a design, but it would be an entirely new company, making all the same mistakes that every new company makes. Waiting 3 years has already sucked once, I don't relish waiting it again.
And to be clear, I make the same arguments for movies, books, and video games: if there's a particular niche you enjoy, a style and genre that you think could be really good in the hands of the right director, you should go see that movie, read that book, play that game, even if it isn't quite your cup of tea, because if you don't then producers will be less willing to invest in your particular style/genre of choice. I came up with this theory after a friend lamented that a favourite book (the title of which escapes me) of his had been scheduled to be turned into a movie before the project was canceled, a lesser known but epic book I recall, and the reason given for it being canceled was fear that it would do as poorly as some other movie in a similar vein. He asked if he was expected to go see a crappy movie on the chance that it might lead to a better one, and my response was "basically, yes." What was a crappy movie to him was quite enjoyed by others, and what he considers great is no doubt crappy to a different group, but in the end they were both niche movies with tiny markets and big dreams, and if you want producers to keep investing in these epic niche movies you'll have to pay for them. It's a gamble, but if you don't take the gamble, I don't really see grounds to complain when it goes exactly as I describe here.
Anywho, rambling. That's just how my philosophy goes when it comes to niche markets: if you want them to continue to exist, you need to buy into them, sometimes even if it isn't quite your cup of tea. Nothing says you can't buy into alternatives as well, you can buy the Vita if it suits your needs, we don't need to get rid of the Sonys and Nintendos of the world, just have to ensure that the OpenPandoras survive for the future.
