PS VITA (official thread)

[Rowan]

I didnt find a thread so I shall take the pleasure in creating the first official PSP vita thread. Here we can talk about;
What do we like/dislike about it?
Future firmware updates/What we hope to have in future firmware updates
Games
Compatibility issues.
Device issues/malfunctions.
PSN questions in relation to the VITA
General FAQ
Troubleshooting issues.


Id like to start of by saying that I received my VITA yesterday , the day of the Australian release. I have the standard WIFI model as I think 3g is a waste of an extra $100 since theres basically wifi everywhere now and 3g will cost you monthly fees as well as drain your battery life far worse than wifi.

First appearances/Function.
Looking at the console I noticed that it was quite larger than its predecessors. Its not something thats going to fit into your pocket, especially if you are going to be putting it in a case; which you should. The buttons are quite solid, although the L1 and R1 are a little squishy. Powering up the device requires you to hold in the power button (yes, now its a button instead of an ugly loose slider) for several seconds. You will be indicated of a power on by the blue PS light representing the home button flashing on. There is a back touch panel which I have yet to find a use for, Its very gimmicky. The VITA features 2 cameras, both are absolutely shocking in terms of image quality. I remember reading that it has 0.2 megapixel VGA quality. This is very noticeable the first time you open the camera and take a photo. Ive seen less grains at rice farms. The VITA also comes equipped with dual analogue sticks. They are quite nice and are loose just like the ps2/ps3 controller. You will not be disappointed with the buttons, which I think is very important. It does not come with internal memory to store games or save files. The PSP VITA game cartridges will have spare storage on them to store save files and DLC should there be any, which I think is an interesting concept. If you wish to play your PSN titles, dont rush. PSP VITA uses VITA only memory cards which are quite expensive. They come in 4gb, 8gb, 16gb and 32gb. They are used to store photo, music, video and your PSN data. The reason I say not to rush is because VITA has yet to implement backwards compatibility for PS1 classics and PS2. The VITA was not intended to play ps3 games either. If you see videos on youtube portraying the gameplay of any other format than psp or vita, they will be using remote play (something I find incredibly useless).

Getting Started
When you power up the VITA for the first time it will take you through a series of prompts in which you will sign in with your PSN account, connect to your wireless and set your date time/settings. After you have setup those things, it will then preview a video to you of some of the features you will be able to have access too and how to use them. This can later be viewed again by selecting Welcome pack from the UI. Getting started is quite simple and user friendly.

Interface.
I dont like the new "live arena" interface. It is trying very hard to 'compete' with apple in its new 'click' and 'swipe' app design. I much prefer the xmbar. The 'apps' are clunked all over the place, and everytime you put a new game into your VITA, it creates a new icon and slams it on the user interface even when you havnt got the cartridge inside the console. The icons also look pixelated. Hopefully with some updates and tweaks, they can make the design more user friendly. A noteworthy feature of the UI is that if you want to close an app, you press the home button which then allows you to swipe the screen from the top right to the bottom left to close the window as if you were tearing a page out of a book, which is kind of cool. Bad luck to those of you hoping to copy your games from PC via Media Go to your VITA. There is no compatibility there. VITA uses a new application called 'content manager' (pretty inventive title) and you will no longer be able to access to psn store via pc using this program to transfer games to your VITA. So to those of you without wireless connections at home who are hoping to download games VIA pc to VITA, forget it. The only way I've discovered so far to download your psn to vita, is VIA wifi directly from the VITA itself. This was a problem for me initially, but have resolved since.

What I like
Buttons are solid
Screen is gorgeous
touchscreen panel creates new fun and exciting ways to play games
Games are great, some great titles yet to come.
The power button is an actual button, not a slider
Has great potential.

What I dont like
No ps1, ps2 backwards compatability as of yet (sony is very unclear on this matter) Although in an interview I read a representative said they plan to implement backward compatability after they perfect current PSP titles. This is a big issue for me and was almost a deciding factor into buying the VITA, although I am glad to have purchased.
UI is a bit clunky and somewhat pixelated.
rear touch panel hasnt been implemented into any games I've played yet.
There was no need for Content Manager when we had Media Go. I mention this because its essentially the same but without access to PSN Via PC, which is a step backwards.
The cameras are absolute junk. Especially taking into consideration how advanced the rest of the hardware is, I ask myself why they even bothered including such dated camera technology. its almost as if they are trying to stuff as much as they can into it, which has the possibility to create more problems.


Overall, I cannot rate the VITA because I feel it is incomplete. I still feel as if im holding a BETA device. There seems to be a lack of options in settings and customizations for the new UI. I cannot play 90 percent of my PSN downloads and so far have only been able to use it for VITA games. I think the VITA has great potential and hopefully we see it in the months to come.

What do you think?

[Andres]

I got my Vita on Launch day!! The hand-Held is Amazing!!!

[Mystyrion]

Played around with it at gamestop today.
Definitely bigger than i thought it would be, it felt a little awkward in my hands to be honest.

Extremely dislike the Operating System.

The dual analogs were definitely a great plus. A little small for my taste. Really enjoyed the time i played Gravity Rush.

[Unknown Entity]

I prefer the XMB too. I hate that Sony is designing a new menu for the next console they bring out. I don't understand what's NOT to like about the XMB. =/

I've played with the VITA at work... and it is a pretty awesome piece of equipment. I honestly thought it'd be smaller though. The thing is HUGE. And very pricey,especially considering you have to fork out an extra £45 for a 16GB memory card (£18 for a 4GB... may as well go all the way) so you can save the games that cost anything from £5 to £43 each.

[nix]

In theory this handheld sounds exactly like what ive been waiting for, but when will they implement the PSX and PS2's backwards compatibility?

Likely reason they havent made it available at release is that they are thinking about the best way to squeeze as much cash out of it

How will it even be compatible? Dont think it has a rom drive does it?? Will have to buy all games again and download from PSNetwork i presume???

Hope they dont make the games crazy prices, id love to play the FF games from 7 through to 10 again

[Mystyrion]

Yes you have to Rebuy all the games. I'm not sure if psx/2 compatibility has been implemented yet, but it's coming, we know that much.

So we had a local GameStop open and they were advertising +50% trade in value on anything you brought in. I thought this would be a good time to dump my psp along with the games I have for it and some other games on Xbox that I repurchased on the PC.

I ended finding out my psp is only worth 20 dollars. Sigh, looks like I'll be waiting until for a few games to drop before I make the plunge for the vita.

/coolstorybro