official Playstation Vita Thread

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

At then end you said you don't want your giant investment to go wasted because people won't give it a chance? that's kinda the risk you take whenever you buy any sort of product at launch right?

Right.

So enjoy gaming on your smartphone, we will enjoy gaming on the Vita. At this point you keep saying the same thing in different ways. Not only that, you make it out to be that it has to be one or the other. I am pretty sure every Vita owner also owns a phone, and I am also willing to bet the majority of those phones are probably smartphones. So guess what? We will get to experience the best of both worlds. Not sure why in your examples of the superiority of gaming on smartphones that someone has to choose one or the other. I know personally I will own both, and I also now know that my smartphone is going to be used for calling people and texting people and checking the weather. That and pretty much playing either Bejeweled or Jetpack Joyride as I take a **** at work, which is the extent of my gaming on a smartphone the past 3 months. While you think smartphones are great for gaming, I am in the camp they are not that fantastic for gaming. And I wanted them to be.

One other thing... I think most normal people would not even bother putting the vita in their jeans pocket. At the very least, maybe a pocket in their jacket, but I think most people would put it in a backpack or a laptop bag, etc., how people tend to carry around iPads.

So if you do not feel the need for a Vita since you have a smartphone, more power to you. But obviously most of us in this thread feel otherwise.

BOT - This is literally torture. I now have everything in my possession. 4 games (2 purchased, 2 rented), my starter pack, my 32GB memory card, and $100 in my PSN wallet, and no Vita until next Wednesday.

[compl3x]

I just found out 3 major retailers(Kmart, Big W and Target) here in Australia won't be stocking the Vita. This isn't great considering those guys usually undercut other stores and offer a better deal.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

Right.

So enjoy gaming on your smartphone, we will enjoy gaming on the Vita. At this point you keep saying the same thing in different ways. Not only that, you make it out to be that it has to be one or the other. I am pretty sure every Vita owner also owns a phone, and I am also willing to bet the majority of those phones are probably smartphones. So guess what? We will get to experience the best of both worlds. Not sure why in your examples of the superiority of gaming on smartphones that someone has to choose one or the other. I know personally I will own both, and I also now know that my smartphone is going to be used for calling people and texting people and checking the weather. That and pretty much playing either Bejeweled or Jetpack Joyride as I take a **** at work, which is the extent of my gaming on a smartphone the past 3 months. While you think smartphones are great for gaming, I am in the camp they are not that fantastic for gaming. And I wanted them to be.

One other thing... I think most normal people would not even bother putting the vita in their jeans pocket. At the very least, maybe a pocket in their jacket, but I think most people would put it in a backpack or a laptop bag, etc., how people tend to carry around iPads.

So if you do not feel the need for a Vita since you have a smartphone, more power to you. But obviously most of us in this thread feel otherwise.

just today i bought Shadowgun on the Android Market for $5. it's easily the most in-depth game ive played on my phone yet, and the graphics are great! but guess what, the controls are bad just like every other cell phone game. the touch-based emulated controls just dont work. i'll probably still play it here and there, but i just want my Vita :)

also, i bought/downloaded Escape Plan today - weighs in right around 900MB. cant wait for next weds!

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

just today i bought Shadowgun on the Android Market for $5. it's easily the most in-depth game ive played on my phone yet, and the graphics are great! but guess what, the controls are bad just like every other cell phone game. the touch-based emulated controls just dont work. i'll probably still play it here and there, but i just want my Vita :)

also, i bought/downloaded Escape Plan today - weighs in right around 900MB. cant wait for next weds!

Nice, had no clue Escape Plan was available. So with that and Super Stardust Delta I will have 6 games total.

[rajputwarrior]

Right.

So enjoy gaming on your smartphone, we will enjoy gaming on the Vita. At this point you keep saying the same thing in different ways. Not only that, you make it out to be that it has to be one or the other. I am pretty sure every Vita owner also owns a phone, and I am also willing to bet the majority of those phones are probably smartphones. So guess what? We will get to experience the best of both worlds. Not sure why in your examples of the superiority of gaming on smartphones that someone has to choose one or the other. I know personally I will own both, and I also now know that my smartphone is going to be used for calling people and texting people and checking the weather. That and pretty much playing either Bejeweled or Jetpack Joyride as I take a **** at work, which is the extent of my gaming on a smartphone the past 3 months. While you think smartphones are great for gaming, I am in the camp they are not that fantastic for gaming. And I wanted them to be.

One other thing... I think most normal people would not even bother putting the vita in their jeans pocket. At the very least, maybe a pocket in their jacket, but I think most people would put it in a backpack or a laptop bag, etc., how people tend to carry around iPads.

really when?

[Boxster17]

Well they called me today to let me know they had an extra first edition bundle (assuming they were going through the list of people who pre-order the normal ones) so I figured I'd go check it out. Well I ended up walking out with that instead of my original purchase. It came with the case that I wanted to get originally and the memory card will likely hold me over until xmas at which point I may pick up the 32GB I had planned to grab (Worst case it becomes a birthday gift next month and I'll pass this mem card down to a friend). Trade in Value for Little Deviants I think was 10 bucks so I'll have a play around with it a bit more and if I don't like it then I'll trade it in for something else.

Played around with Welcome Park a bit as well as Little Deviants (thinking I'll probably trade it in sooner rather than later based on what I've played so far). Was hoping to play some Super Stardust but this is stopping me. Going to get Escape Plan downloading here in a bit so I have that to play at work tomorrow, granted I'm not sure that won't have the same problem. Have those 4 PSP games from the Welcome Back thing they did last year, so I have those to play if I really need (though I doubt I'll even bother to be honest).

[TheLegendOfMart]

man now i am arguing with a fanboy... kidding!

what you say makes sense, basically you are telling me there is a market out there for it. which i completely agree there is, i just think that market is becoming a niche market. everyone needs a cell phone nowadays, that's a given so im going to give some examples of how cheap smart phones can be here in canada. the average cell phone contract in canada is between 2-3 years. right now you can get any of the super powerful android phones. RAZR are 50 bucks with a contract, S II LTE's are 100, Nexus 130 all with a 3 year. Are all super fast, can play all the latest games. iphone 4 are 50 bucks now i think... anyways, my point is, is why spend the ?279 on a portable gaming machine when you can spend a crap ton less on a cell phone (or a ps3 for that matter) that can do almost as much in terms of gaming and a crap ton more in terms of everything else?

i'm not trying to convince anyone not to buy a vita, do your thing, your opinion, your life, do what you want, i couldn't care less. i'm just saying i think it's a waste and it's not going to get far in the smartphone world we live in (especially cause the thing is massive... whos pant pockets are big enough for that thing?) I also hate that sony is using their own expensive memory cards again... just another cash grab.

At then end you said you don't want your giant investment to go wasted because people won't give it a chance? that's kinda the risk you take whenever you buy any sort of product at launch right?

I agree that smartphones have taken a big chunk out of the handheld market purely because of install base, as you say everyone has a phone/smartphone. The problem is that phones while they may be cheap up front you are paying FAR more in the long term. Sim free phones cost easily twice as much as Vita, including the iPhone. If you go down the contract route you are paying 50-200 up front and then 50 a month for 2-3 years that works out at a ridiculous amount of money before you've even started to buy apps.

That's not even touching on the hardware specs of phones. If you go cheap then you go weak, I bought my Motorola Defy for ?120 last year used on ebay and it doesn't have anywhere near enough power to play 3D games at a smooth framerate. Even with my dual core Kindle Fire some 3D games just arent compatible.

Why is it an either/or situation... I have a smartphone, ICS tablet, Gaming PC and a PS3. I want a Vita because it sits in the middleground of all my gaming capable electronics. Smartphone games get boring very quickly as they are meant to be pick up and play timewasters, I want my Uncharted/Gran Turismo/Killzone/Metal Gear Solid and I can't carry my PS3 around with me.

I've already said it and I'll say it again, smartphone games are always a less than experience. Why should I put up with Real Racing 2, or Generic Uncharted clone when I can have the real thing?

As for proprietary memory cards the rumours are that they arent allowing regular MicroSD cards because of inconsistent performance, with proprietary they can guarantee a minimum level of performance near retail media card performance, many cheap MicroSD are class 2 and that might not be enough to stream games.

512MB ram, ain't that a bit low memory? I thought it would be at least 1GB.

Unlike the PS3 which has 512Mb total (split into 256Mb each for OS and GPU) the vita has 512Mb dedicated for the whole OS, the GPU has its own 128Mb VRAM. Its more than enough.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Been offered ?300 cash on collection for my iPad 2. Have it on Ebay, so I think I'll accept that offer and pull it - Means I avoid Ebay fees which are terrible. Good deal you think? It's only 2 months old.

[Lingwo]

Sounds ok, is it wifi only? plus what size is it?

If it is the 16GB wifi only model then ?300 is about right.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Sounds ok, is it wifi only? plus what size is it?

If it is the 16GB wifi only model then ?300 is about right.

Yeah 16GB wifi only. Accepted the offer, waiting to hear back from buyer. Considering Ebay take about 10%, I'm happy to get ?300 in cash. Will pretty much pay for my Vita (?224.99) and Kindle (?79.99). Getting the older Kindle with a keyboard from Amazon (it's a refurb but most are reported like new).

This is a good video to show off the OS - Same guy as above, decent HD videos

[TheLegendOfMart]

Not a fan of the bubbles but it looks like a well thought out OS, being able to jump out of a game while it is still running and load the browser, music, etc.. and then jump straight back into the game is brilliant.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

Not a fan of the bubbles but it looks like a well thought out OS, being able to jump out of a game while it is still running and load the browser, music, etc.. and then jump straight back into the game is brilliant.

i still dont understand why Sony went w/ the new UI. i mean, ive only used it once so far, but it just looks horrible. why not just revamp the XMB? it worked to well on the PSP...

[TheLegendOfMart]

Because the XMB isnt touch friendly.

[AbandonedTrolley]

i still dont understand why Sony went w/ the new UI. i mean, ive only used it once so far, but it just looks horrible. why not just revamp the XMB? it worked to well on the PSP...

Because it's a touchscreen now and that makes it faster and easier to navigate

Just read about the cross play. People with Hustle Kings, Top Darts get the Vita version for free. Those with Wipeout HD get all the ships and tracks from HD and Fury.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Because it's a touchscreen now and that makes it faster and easier to navigate

Just read about the cross play. People with Hustle Kings, Top Darts get the Vita version for free. Those with Wipeout HD get all the ships and tracks from HD and Fury.

?When you buy MotorStorm RC you will be able to play it on PS3 and PS Vita at no additional cost.

?When you buy Hustle Kings and/or Top Darts for PS Vita, you will get the PS3 versions for free. If you already own these games on PS3, you?ll be able to download the PS Vita version for free.

?If you purchase WipEout 2048 and you already own WipEout HD and the HD Fury DLC on PS3, you will be able to download them for free when they launch on PS Vita later this spring.

?DLC purchased for the PS3 version of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 can be used on the PS Vita version for free (and vice versa).

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2012/02/16/try-ps-vitaps3-cross-play-content-for-one-price/

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

Because the XMB isnt touch friendly.

yeah youre right, but that's what i mean by revamp. you could easily swipe the XMB left/right, up/down and tap to select.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

yeah youre right, but that's what i mean by revamp. you could easily swipe the XMB left/right, up/down and tap to select.

If you done an XMB all the games would be "hidden" under a few menu options, then displayed in a huge list like the PS3. Compare that to not needing to move at all if the Vita game you want is on the main home screen, or one/two swipes to go to other home screens.

It is simply quicker, and the argument portable gaming is going to use is things need to be quick.

Here's some pics of the crystal case, it's the one I've pre-ordered on Amazon

The colours on the OLED screen are simply awesome

[LingeringSoul]

Okay so I made a decision tonight to sell my iPad 2 and get a Vita/Kindle. Vita will do my portable gaming needs, and Kindle my reading. My iPad 2 is slowly becoming a glorified Kindle reader, especially as I have a new Sony Vaio laptop incoming for portable web browsing/work.

Nice. I have a Kindle that I use for reading (obviously) and I should have my Vita this week (First Edition bundle), so that's going to be my setup more or less. The Kindle has definitely served my modest purposes quite well, so hopefully it works out equally well for you.

I now have all four of my games (Lumines, Wipeout, Rayman Origins, and Hot Shots Golf) along with the charge cradle. All I need now is the unit itself, which might be coming in later today. You never know with Best Buy, though.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Nice. I have a Kindle that I use for reading (obviously) and I should have my Vita this week (First Edition bundle), so that's going to be my setup more or less. The Kindle has definitely served my modest purposes quite well, so hopefully it works out equally well for you.

I now have all four of my games (Lumines, Wipeout, Rayman Origins, and Hot Shots Golf) along with the charge cradle. All I need now is the unit itself, which might be coming in later today. You never know with Best Buy, though.

I'm sure it will. I went with the Kindle 3, prefer it in black and with a keyboard. The slightly bigger size is more ergonomic for me anyway.

Btw, the PSBlog has put up a massive FAQ - http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/02/16/ps-vita-the-ultimate-faq/

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Just read about the cross play on IGN. Kick ass for sure.

That is a nice case AB. How much?

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Just read about the cross play on IGN. Kick ass for sure.

That is a nice case AB. How much?

Amazon UK was ?14.99. US seems to be $19.99 - http://www.amazon.co...9412077&sr=1-13 Or from the manufacturer - http://www.pdp.com/p...or-ps-vita.aspx

One negative review, but I'm keeping it pre-ordered for now as feedback from GAF seems okay. Some of the other cases do not have memory card storage.

[TheLegendOfMart]

I was thinking of getting one of these.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

You know something I just realized, I really, really hope Sony does not count the Vita as one of the 2 authorized consoles one can have on their PSN account. I have 2 consoles at home right now, so the Vita is technically going to be my 3rd device. if they do, that is pretty beat. My PS3 upstairs could be the one I deauthorize, but I prefer not to if possible. Guess I will have to wait and see.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Yeah that one looks "bulletproof", but I think it lacks a little class. Still, I think it's the same price as the case I've got pre-ordered so it is an option....

You know something I just realized, I really, really hope Sony does not count the Vita as one of the 2 authorized consoles one can have on their PSN account. I have 2 consoles at home right now, so the Vita is technically going to be my 3rd device. if they do, that is pretty beat. My PS3 upstairs could be the one I deauthorize, but I prefer not to if possible. Guess I will have to wait and see.

No, it counts as 1/2 portable devices allowed. You can have up to 5 PS3s, and up to 2 portable devices (PSPs or Vitas).

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I was thinking of getting one of these.

That is a real nice case. No doubt. Have a link or price for it?

Amazon UK was ?14.99. US seems to be $19.99 - http://www.amazon.co...9412077&sr=1-13 Or from the manufacturer - http://www.pdp.com/p...or-ps-vita.aspx

One negative review, but I'm keeping it pre-ordered for now as feedback from GAF seems okay. Some of the other cases do not have memory card storage.

yeah, I saw that one negative review, but considering it is only one person, not holding much weight in it right now.

Yeah that one looks "bulletproof", but I think it lacks a little class. Still, I think it's the same price as the case I've got pre-ordered so it is an option....

No, it counts as 1/2 portable devices allowed.

Phew. Thanks, that just put my mind at ease.

And if that bulletproof looking one is the same price, think I am personally going to go with it.