Is Copying The Wii U One Possible Route To Success For The Vita?

To celebrate the PlayStation Vita's one year birthday, ComputerAndVideoGames has posted a detailed look at Sony's struggling platform. It does a great job of pointing out its core strengths, while also noting how said qualities are weaknesses in certain cases. Along for the ride is Tom O'Connor, a senior producer at Sony's XDev Studio Europe.

Though one interesting question that was posed is if the Vita can emulate the capabilities of Nintendo's Wii U. And, according to O'Connor:

"That is technically possible, yes.

What we would need to do is allow the Vita to detect markers on the PS3 screen to know where it is positioned, and that's something we already have great expertise in with our augmented reality tech.

And the Vita has more precise motion sensors than a DualShock pad, as well as two cameras and a mic, so there are lots of different Cross-Controller options that developers can explore."

Why is this even being brought up? Well, Sony is set to release a Cross-Controller DLC pack for LittleBigPlanet 2, which will allows users to control the console game via the handheld, and even tap into the touchscreen's functionality. Essentially in a way that Wii U games operate:

"We're only now starting to understand the potential of both devices working together… Cross-controller gives publishers an extra option.

There will be some games that are being developed for other dual-screen platforms, though I can't name any names, and we can allow that to be possible on PS3. That gives publishers more multiplatform opportunities."

Is copying the Wii U really the best course of action for Sony? Well, as the aforementioned piece explains already, the Vita has all the elements of being a winning system. Yet it is not, and it's getting to the point that perhaps some desperate measures need to be taken.

Though even O'Connor admits that it's going to take more than one game to truly sell the Cross-Controller concept.