One of our regular guest contributors, OrigamiKiller kindly decided to share his thoughts again. This time around he’s taking a look at Sony’s new portable contender, the PS Vita.
Portable gaming has never interested me. This has been quite clear to me as my PSP, bought at launch, has never had its fair share of my gaming playtime over the past few years. It is probably my lifestyle that has never captivated my interest for portable gaming. I don’t travel a lot or more importantly I don’t experience situations for which portable gaming is intended for.
Sadly this has meant the PS Vita hasn’t caught my eye over the past few months. If I was to own one I know that it wouldn’t get much use; at home I would always choose to play on the PS3 if I wanted a gaming session. The only real situation I would use it on is long journeys and in my life these don’t occur too often. However, in the last week my interest for the Vita has risen considerably.
[drop]There seems to be something special about the Vita. For one it looks fantastic, both in terms of its physical appearance and the visuals of the games. The styling for me can be best described as slick, something very characteristic of a Sony product. It was a major factor in my decision to buy a PSP instead of a DS all those years ago.
From gameplay footage the Vita’s visuals look stunning and are easily on par with the capabilities of the PS3. Uncharted and Wipeout highlight this best for me. It’s not just the visuals though, there are so many other technical details that should win me over instantly, like the introduction of a touch screen.
It is not this that interests me about the Vita though. The main nature of my newly realised excitement comes from the actual games that are on offer. Ironically it is not the “big games” that interest me as to be honest I have more than enough of them for my PS3. It is those games which look to be adopting the pick up and play style – something that has never interested me before.
This pick up and play style gaming is something which is on the rise in my gaming life. Recently I have discovered Temple Run. What a great little game that is. The way you can have a quick go here and now has come into great use in the past few weeks. After watching Little Deviants and Ridge Racer footage I can see those two games providing the same play style for me, switching them on for a quick race or level every now and then.
[drop2]It’s this that’s really tempting me to put a preorder in for the Vita. It feels strange how a device that isn’t even out yet can change my views on portable gaming. Sure my iPod Touch and the App store have dosed me with the pick up and play style for many years now, but the Vita offers that bit more. You don’t get PS3 visuals and online play on Apps (excluding a few) for a start. I can now look back at the view conveyed in my first sentence and say that portable gaming has begun to interest me with the potential of the Vita.
I sound pretty much sold on the Vita, but there’s one big hiccup – the price. In my opinion portable gaming needs to be at a low price. The thought of the initial price of the Vita plus memory cards and games on top is daunting. It feels overpriced to me. Whilst the difference between in cost between the iPod Touch and the Vita hardware might not be that much, it’s the exceptionally low cost of Apps (many are free) that make me feel Sony may find it difficult to enter the market that iOS and Android devices dominate; it’s fortunate that the Vita does offer much more than this. Sadly that “much more” is not what interests me about the Vita and for the time being I think I will keep to my iPod Touch and the App store.
Is it only me that has become increasingly interested in portable gaming with the prospect of the Vita? Also what excites you most about Vita – is it that pick up and play style gaming or something else?
TSBonyman
I can’t justify the cost at the moment but i’m very tempted and i think i will really, really need to play Uncharted :GA at some point.. ;)
Sympozium
At first I thought the PSP would’ve been a worthless system with the same Fifa being sold yearly and a crap versions of HD games. Then comes the PSP Go…. and I re-discover Monster Hunter…with ad-hoc party and a great Japanese contact along the way.
I wouldn’t have bothered with the Vita if I hadn’t gone deep into the RPG genre, from that I wasn’t arsed with western game desgined bar a few racers and other things? they’ve got something lost unlike the Japanese style.
Pick and play is 50/50 for me I mean.. I like a few things like Temple Run but I don’t find those things to be interesting again.. I look at my carely organized tab of games… but I just don’t feel like to play one any of them.
A part Vita is perfect.. but a few western games won’t do, short games won’t do, only RPGs, Fighters and racers will interest and then of course the odd outstanding that I discover along the way.
Who knows gaming simply is spilt, many tastes one may go by…. its beautiful you never know what will happen in a few years, never know could dislike FPSs and get addicted to Phantasy Star Portable 3.
I’ll be honest won’t be buying GTA, NFS, Fifa, likes of Toca… again with a Vita, depressing stuff theres so much more to been seen…
freezebug2
Great article Origami, I know that I wouldn’t use console enough to justify buying one right now, it would end up the same as my phat PSP that I still have….played the arse off it when I first got the thing but it gets dusty these days.
That said though, I would still buy a Vita at launch if the cash was readily spare, as I know that it’d be same as buying that state of the art brand new PSP back in the day….couldn’t leave it alone!!
I know that the Vita is very good value for money, as it costs more to manufacture than it retails for, and people are happy to part with far more cash for mobile phones, but for me it is a huge outlay in these financial times for a short term of novelty factor followed by the occasional dust off when some awesome new game is released, so I’m happy to wait before buying one ;)
freezebug2
Oh, and it was never pick up and play with my phat PSP…I never put it down :P
Origami Killer
Thanks. I would actually buy it if I had the money. I played my PSP to death at launch but it hasnt been played since I had MOH heroes 2 for it about 3 years ago. Gathers dust somewhere in my house!
I really like the look of the puck up and play style games. Would rather see UC:GA on the PS3!
Sympozium
I’d love some NHL
Nutbrown
The thing I would say against Apple is that they do annual upgrades of hardware. This means, with constant iOS upgrades, that in a few years you won’t be able to buy games and apps that run on your machine. Very few new apps now run on my Touch and even some old apps no longer run as they require iOS software that my gen hardware can’t support. At least you’ll be able to keep playing your games on a Vita.
Deathbrin
Umm yeah but it’s really much more than other phones can hold, i mean really, a few years? Surely you’d change your phone like two times by then
Origami Killer
I just update my First gen Ipod Touch with Itunes every now and then. Makes all the apps work apart from those which use the camera on the newer systems though.
ico
Halbpro, I know you’re not doing it but it infuriates me all the sites that ring the death knell of handhelds due the the ipod/ iphone. It’s a sad reality that people who don’t fully understand the joys of gaming will dismiss a handheld due to the apple market. I love my ipad and ipod touch but one word, for me as a gamer with over twenty years pedigree stnads out, buttons. And sticks of course and i know thats more than one word.
Yes the reality is that the PSV wont sell as well due to the existence of the apple products but i wish these other sites would stop the blatant comparisons between the two. Its like apples vs pears. Not a like for like comparison. I also think the vita is priced very reasonably and the games are not so expensive when you shop around. The memory cards though, now sony are being a bit cheeky there. Still mine is on order with amazon and i feel my ipad getting a well deserved rest for some time.
Origami Killer
Dont blame halbpro/Kris. I was the one who submitted this article, stand by all the points I made as well.
ico
Also hoping TSA will do a weview thingy on PSV shorty after release.
colmshan1990
Pretty sure it would be ‘buy it’ all round, as the only people who’d have bought that early on would more than likely still be enjoying the novelty factor, even if it’s crap (which I very much doubt it will be).