I've been fairly obsessed with the Nintendo 3DS lately, but the Playstation Vita is in the back of my mind... the PSP is my all-time fave gaming/multimedia handheld after all....
But I have to admit, I'm not super SUPER excited over it the way other bloggers & posters seem to be. Sony did say that it was coming this year, and according to 3rd party leaks it may have a UK release date of October 28, 2011?
I've been kind of skeptical that the PS Vita would be out in 2011, but maybe it could happen... so that's got me perked up, that it's within reach this year.
Another thing I can't understand the excitement over is that everyone assumes that it will be super powerful & do everything. These were the EXACT SAME assumptions fans made before the PSP came out, but 2005 was so 100 years ago (give or take 94) Nobody who was around back when the PSP launched is even ALIVE nowadays, right??
Ok, there will be a PS Vita SKU with 3G connectivity. I think they all have wireless B/G/N(?) and there's a capacitive touch screen-- good that it's capacitive-- and touch panel on the back, motion sensors (like the 3DS) and GPS(?)
But we don't know the media playback formats, nor do we know anything about what kind of "apps" there will be. This thing isn't running Android where you can mod it like crazy, nor is it an Apple iOS device with a huge selection already.
So why are people just assuming that it's going to be this multimedia monster when there's no solid official indication to back it up yet?
Then there's the game: well, everyone's excited for an Uncharted game, then there's that Little Deviants where you pinch the front/back touchpads & such, and a few other portable versions of third-party franchises vaguely announced (title only)
So why the excitement? Sure, if you're an Uncharted fan then I guess this is your portable year. But it's like Nintendo pinning all their hopes on Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for the 3DS. It's ONE game, what ELSE is there?
I've made it no secret that I haven't been happy with Sony over the years. Sorry to come off as a hater... like I said, I *love* the PSP, and I'm really looking forward to its successor. I don't know, maybe it will blow away the 3DS. I can tell you I used my PSP(s) way more than my DS Lite (though I do love my DS Lite) because I value multimedia as much as portable gaming, and the PSP fit that niche very well. Maybe the PS Vita will.... but it's whole different ballgame now. This is the era of the Smartphones. They are for different customers but there's clearly a lot of overlap between the user base.
In 2005 the market was shocked to see Sony enter the handheld gaming field with a big splash. In 2011, we have 2 dinosaurs of the videogame industry pumping out slight iterations of past innovations, expecting to charge $40.00+ per cartridge game in a world where pocketable phones with huge processing power can load games on their internal storage that might cost from $0.00 to say, $8.00 or so per game. Aside from the quality and physical buttons argument, the portable gaming industry has changed.
Even though the PS Vita feels like a last kick at the can, I'm still anxious to learn more about it. I'm sure I can see it in my collection, but right now I can't see it being my go-to device the way the PSP was.
later
don
4 comments:
testing
testing because I just wrote a comment and it didn't go through. It was long as well!
In summary what I said was:
Good blog. re: Vita vs smartphones. I have a history of using psps as multimedia devices, always with me, then i got a smartphone with a good screen and mkv support, psp died a death really. I hate transcoding!!!psp video 9 etc were so hit and miss.
But if Vita can get the right video codec support that would be amazing - even ipod/iphone can't play mkv which is a bit of a deal breaker for me.
Then it would be my number one portable media player again. Which just leaves games. The physical buttons question is crucial. I have used touchscreen control of games on my samsung galaxy s and it clearly has severe limitations as a primary method. 2 analogue sticks, however, is something most gamers have ever wanted on psp, as it means a lot of top games that rely on 2 sticks can be ported over. I know some people are against ports but imagine the impact a high quality Vita COD could have?
However good it is it probably won't be very successful in the West. In the East. however, it will be massive no doubt!
Phil
From what I've read, it seems like Samsung's Galaxy S (and Galaxy S2) have pretty good video codec support. Historically, Sony hasn't. I'm not sure that even Sony Ericsson phones have a variety of codec support. If the Vita has anhy, I'm betting it will use the Apple .M4V extension as well as their past .MP4 ones... basically the same as the PSP. Though they may throw in some .AVI support.
As a recent touchscreen phone user, I agree with the need for physical controls. It's hugely important, and it's good that the Vita will have both dual analogue sticks (finally!!) and touchscreen... though that touchpad on the back will be more trouble than it's worth because it will restrict how we can hold the device (there will be a a lot of accidental touches I'm sure, unless they have an option to disable it for some games)
I'm personally for good games, whether they be ports or not. If the Vita can have shooters or whatever that are (reasonably) comparable to the PS3/360, that would be awesome.
The East success depends on when a Monster Hunter Vita game comes out. The west, I'm not sure how they can assure a home-run hit out here. Just hope it's a quality made portable.
later
don
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