PS Vita

[Firestorm ZERO]

Got myself the PS Vita and here are my thoughts.

It is a great portable system. High powered. Battery life is decent (around 4 hours). Light weight (which was a surprise). Beautiful screen (I can't stress this enough). Capacitive touch (if you had a DS, you know how unresponsive sometimes it is. If you have a modern cellphone, that's how it reacts). And the two thumb sticks! (Finally! And not slide pads, actual sticks!).

It is very large but still okay in size. I would say like PSP Fat size (but I never owned one so I can't really compare). It is also comfortable to hold. The sticks are positioned more in like a dual shock controller, unlike the PSP where the slide pad is directly under the D-Pad (which was a pain to use sometimes).

The D-Pad is finally a cross D-Pad (like the original Nintendo pads) not the separated arrows like in the Playstation. This is because the patent Nintendo held for the D-Pad is finally over (yeah, you can actual patent this which is stupid). This makes fighting games much easier on the thumbs.

The buttons are smaller which might be a problem for people with big hands. Also the buttons are like hard buttons. Kinda hard to describe. Basically when you press they don't push in. Also the PS button, Start and Select are flat buttons so you have to really push it to push it. PS button I am okay with but for start and select I have a problem with. Because like in Uncharted, you use Select often to go to the menu.

There is no video out (which sucks). I think because to prevent it being use as a home console (like just plug it to the TV and play because the resolution is half HD).

Motion controls and front touch are there to catch up with the competition. Now the back touch. It is interesting but I haven't seen a really good use for it. I seen some good ideas like using it to raise the ground from behind and push things out. Another use is to use it like L2/R2. It does detect force in that if you slam your fingers it registers a harder hit. But like touch, I say it is a gimmick and is only good if it fits the game. It is another option for game developers to think of so I hope some game comes out that can utilize it really well.

For you importers, the PS Vita is region free but there is a catch. The Vita can only use one PSN account. The system and memory cards are tied to that one account. So to switch, you will have to get another memory card and have to do a factory reset of the Vita to switch accounts (which can take up to 10 minutes). So this is a problem with downloaded games. It might be better just to buy another system. For game carts, there is no issue of switching but as most games now have DLC. And since the DLC is tied to a PSN account, if you use it in another account from what I heard you have to format the game cart (the game carts have it own memory storage where updates, DLC and saves can be stored).

Now will it succeed or not? I say it can definitely survive. There will always be people who want a really game experience. Sony is definitely not targeting the casuals (the cellphone people). If they support it better then they did the PSP, I say it can beat the 3DS. It was amazing that the PSP even survived. They abandoned it in the early days but when they started supporting it, it got great games. Even when the DS was king and before the whole cellphone games, the PSP was still selling fairly well. So I think the PS Vita will do as well. The issues that it might not is most definitely the price. Even though people were amazed at the $250 price (which at that time was the same as the 3DS) and we were expecting over $300, but ever since Nintendo dropped their price, now everyone is saying they should drop too. Also due to the whole piracy, Sony locked down so much of the PS Vita. Memory cards are proprietary and cost way too expensive ($100 for 32GB). You also now have to use a program to transfer files from your computer. No more USB in exchange of a proprietary port. I do hope the hackers give the PS Vita some time to grow, as the early hacks is also what killed most of the 3rd party support for the original PSP.

So my final verdict. If you have the cash to spend, it is definitely well worth it. The games out right now are great and ones coming out (like Gravity Daze) look amazing.

[Onegai]

The way I see it, the Vita fits somewhere in the middle between the established traditional PC/console and casual smartphone gamer niche.

[Slaigar]

I'm not too excited about it right now. Still waiting to see what companies develop for it. But, I've seen screens for Persona 4: The Golden. When that comes out, I will be very tempted to grab a vita just to play it.

[Onegai]

I'm not too excited about the price right now.