Sony has tipped its cap towards Nintendo in an unusual display of respect, with SCE president and CEO Andrew House citing the success of 3DS over the holiday period to highlight the ambitions of Sony's newest console, PS Vita.

In an interview on the official PlayStation blog, House spent most of his time talking up PS Vita's chances despite it's slow start in Japan, stating that he believes a large portion of its launch line up is specifically geared towards American and European audiences.

However, he also had time for the handheld's main competitor, offering what even he admitted was an unprecedented level of praise.

Sony salutations

"Normally we don't really reference the competition a lot when we talk about the PlayStation business, but in this case it's perhaps a little salutary that the sales of the 3DS - having the advantage of releasing a little bit ahead of us - have been exceedingly good," House said.

"I think that shows that there is, in general, a lot of demand for a gaming primary portable device, which is how I would describe Vita."

Of course, House wasn't advocating Sony's audience go out and purchase a 3DS instead. Rather, Nintendo's recovery after a similarly slow start served as a good reference point for what he hopes will be PS Vita's long term success.

Us against them

Indeed, House concluded the interview with the Official PlayStation blog by reaffirming Sony's belief it has "so much more to offer".

"What I think we've done is point to a market that has really started out with potentially casual games on other devices, but now wants a deeper or better or more premier gaming experience," he said.

House's comments follow an interview with CVG, where he talked up the differences between PS Vita and smartphones, which – if analysts are to be believed – have taken a chunk out of handheld game sales.



[source: PlayStation blog]