Sony hopes the Vita will reach beyond its core fanbase

The PlayStation Vita went on sale in Japan at the weekend. Local reports suggest over 300,000 devices were sold over two days. "Currently, our information centre regarding PlayStation Vita as well as our usual customer service centre are receiving many enquiries.--Japanese publisher Enterbrain suggests 321,400 devices were sold over the handheld's first two days on sale. Sony has yet to release official figures.

If the estimate proves accurate it would fall short of Nintendo's 371,000 3DS tally during its launch weekend in February. Sony hopes to avoid that fate by releasing its device alongside a strong line-up of 24 titles. The recently recently reported sales figures that were scooped from Enterbrain by the Japanese magazine, cover the first two days of sales, December 17th and December 18th. For comparison's sake, Nintendo launched the 3DS earlier this year, and in a comparable time period, they sold over 371,000 units of the glasses free 3D portable. Better yet for Sony, the Vita launch appears to be going better than the launch of PSP back in 2004. Initial reports suggest that Sony has shipped around 700,000 units to Japanese retailers for the launch of the handheld.

Mobile-mad Japanese gamers bought 321,400 PS Vita handheld consoles this past weekend, local market watcher Enterbrain has revealed. The original PSP clocked up two-day launch sales of 166,000 units back in 2004. Nintendo shouldn't get cocky. The 3DS has arguably a broader appeal than the Vita. Yet 3DS sales plunged quickly once eager fans had acquired the device. Sony hopes the Vita will reach beyond its core fanbase. But it faces an uphill struggle persuading folk who already game on smartphones to buy a second device. Hardcore gamers won't mind carrying two gadgets, knowing that the Vita delivers a better gaming experience than a phone, but more casual gamers may favour single-device convenience.