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PS Vita Five Minute Impressions

sevex

Starman DX
Alright, so I finally had a chance to try out the brand new PS Vita at EBGames the other day, and since my impressions are uncharacteristically positive I have decided that I should post them here.

The first thing I noticed was how light and thin the thing is. You see it and all you register is how big the screen is, and how large the device looks, but then you pick it up and all of a sudden it feels a ton smaller.

The overall feel is comfortable, although I found the slick touch-sensitive back was a bit strange. The d-pad and face buttons are slightly clicky, but have a bit more give than those on a DSi or 3DS. The tiny analogs may look a little awkward, but they actually work great, just like console analogs! My only issue may have been a tiny bit of awkwardness pressing the L & R buttons, but I'm sure that's just cause it was my first time trying them.

Onto the display, which is... amazing! Not only is it very large, but it also has a very impressive viewable range. I had it tilted every which way and couldn't get the image to look strange at all. The only downer here is the device's user-interface, which I have to say is pretty unattractive. It gets the job done, but I feel like it was designed with iPhone users in mind.

The first game I tried was Gravity Rush. It's a third-person adventure kinda game. Moving the character with the tiny left analog actually worked very well, but the camera controls on the right analog felt way too sensitive. Maybe they can be adjusted though. Despite their small size, the analogs on the Vita feel very natural, unlike the circle pad on the 3DS which I find gives far too much resistance.

Next I tried Uncharted: Golden Abyss for roughly two minutes. The initial loading screen was a bit long (and only brought up the game title menu), but after that any load screens appeared to be hidden behind cut-scenes, so it really wasn't too bad. On this game I felt both the character and camera controls were pretty much perfect, and the graphics manage to be extremely close to what you see on the PS3, although the area I explored was quite small.

I've heard the max battery life on the Vita with Wi-Fi enabled is about five hours. It's not fantastic, but comparable to the 3DS, and maybe even only slightly lower than my regular DS.

After literally five minutes with a PS Vita I have to say it took a bit of willpower to resist buying one on the spot. They're really that impressive. My biggest concerns at the moment are price ($249.99 for the basic model, and you need a memory card, the biggest of which costs $99.99) and the fact that there aren't any really interesting games in the launch lineup.

If the Vita can get one or two unique titles, and maybe a $50 price drop or bundled memory card, then it'll more than likely win me over.
"Hey, you! If you meet a beautiful, seductive woman who's looking for me, tell her 'hi.' Anyway, I don't think a woman like that would be looking for me." -Guy in Fourside Hotel



sevex

Starman DX
It also doesn't hurt that the PS Vita likely won't have any games that I can't play comfortably.
"Hey, you! If you meet a beautiful, seductive woman who's looking for me, tell her 'hi.' Anyway, I don't think a woman like that would be looking for me." -Guy in Fourside Hotel



ryan

Starman Jr.
I had to resist the urge to buy a vita as well.

Until I realized that you have to buy a memory card separate, and it's proprietary to the vita so a 32gb one is like 160$. I wouldn't want anything less so that I could fit all of my downloaded games on it.

But then I realized that it does not support my PS1 classics downloaded from the PSN store... That's one of the biggest reasons I wanted to get a vita.

Then if you want a 3g one you have to pay more for that, and then buy a subscription service?

Screw the vita.
"Why is the rum gone?!".



sevex

Starman DX
Actually it's $100 for the 32GB card, which is still too much. And I don't know if you can even buy the 3G version here yet.

Have you played one though?
"Hey, you! If you meet a beautiful, seductive woman who's looking for me, tell her 'hi.' Anyway, I don't think a woman like that would be looking for me." -Guy in Fourside Hotel



ryan

Starman Jr.
Yeah 100$. I was reading an old price from before it came out.

3G version isn't available yet. But it costs 50$ more and you need to pay for the 3g service. [actually from reading a little more, no one really knows if this is true or not]

I've tried one, but I'm not gonna get one that is gonna cost so much and doesn't have a memory card. Not to mention any games that I would play on it yet.

If I got one right now it'd end up being used as just a social media and app device, which is what I have my phone for.

I just wanted to store my PS1 Classic games on there but it can't even play those.
"Why is the rum gone?!".



sevex

Starman DX
That's weird that it doesn't do the PS1 classics. I'm sure they'll patch it in at some point.
"Hey, you! If you meet a beautiful, seductive woman who's looking for me, tell her 'hi.' Anyway, I don't think a woman like that would be looking for me." -Guy in Fourside Hotel



ryan

Starman Jr.
I will need 2x32gb vita cards to fit all my games on.

You can remote play them on the vita via the ps3. But if you're that close to your ps3 why not just play it on the ps3?
"Why is the rum gone?!".



sevex

Starman DX
I just realized that the PS Vita is region free. I wonder if, since all titles can be purchased digitally, they'll have an "imports" section in the online store. That would be amaaaazing.
"Hey, you! If you meet a beautiful, seductive woman who's looking for me, tell her 'hi.' Anyway, I don't think a woman like that would be looking for me." -Guy in Fourside Hotel



sevex

Starman DX
Phantasy Star Online 2 is coming to the Vita. Can you say SOLD? (In 2013 though.)
"Hey, you! If you meet a beautiful, seductive woman who's looking for me, tell her 'hi.' Anyway, I don't think a woman like that would be looking for me." -Guy in Fourside Hotel



subpop

Starman Super
Wow, that's cool! I really like how you can play on the same servers on both the PC, and on your Vita. Neat.
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