I have been absolutely shocked at the complete lack of strategy guides for Vita games. It’s not as if all games for the Vita are direct ports of other games, puzzle games, or games meant for brief bursts of play, such as many 3DS and DS games. The Vita has had an RPG and an Uncharted game, both of which typically have strategy guides. Not even Unit 13, which could use a strategy guide for those of us who hate freaking timed missions, has one. From the looks of my two most anticipated upcoming games, Resistance: Burning Skies and Gravity Rush, neither will have strategy guides.
Does this mean that Silent Hill, Ragnarok Odyssey, and Dragon’s Crown won’t have strategy guides either?
Strategy guides for handheld games are definitely nothing new, and I don’t believe that there haven’t been any guides simply because the Vita is so new. I remember that the DS and PSP both had games with guides fairly early on. Well, let me backtrack. Nintendo launched the DS with mostly platformers, which, at that time, traditionally did not have strategy guides. As for the PSP…well…the poor thing hardly had any games for months.
That said, though, neither the DS nor the PSP had a launch lineup that the Vita has had, with the caliber of games the Vita has and will have in such a short time. As such, it seems crazy that the only strategy guides for these Vita games can be found in the online universe. In other words, neither the DS nor the PSP had a launch game like Uncharted, and it absolutely baffles my mind that Uncharted: Golden Abyss does not have a guide. Not having an Uncharted guide seems like such a sorely missed opportunity for both guide collectors, Uncharted fans, and guide publishers’ wallets. I mean, have you seen how much strategy guides for Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune sell for?
I admit that I know nothing regarding the behind-the-scenes work to secure a license for writing and publishing a video game strategy guide. Most likely, it’s a complete pain in the ass. But, maybe it has nothing to do with the licensing and everything to do with the predicted market for the Vita and Vita games. Maybe the publishers decided not to take a chance on spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on publishing a strategy guide for a game on a system that isn’t predicted to do well. As the Vita still hasn’t done well–thanks to a high price at launch and a fizzle-out with game releases–perhaps publishers are in no hurry to take that risk in the near future.
Whatever the reason, it’s very disappointing. IGN wikis and GameFAQs will have to do for now. Ooh, that made me shudder.
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