PS Vita

[Consignia]

Any other technology magpies picked up this new shiny piece of kit to line their gadgetry nest? I've had mine for a week now, but I've only just been able to give a good seeing to over the last couple of days. I've found it's quite a nice piece of kit, the best thing being the beautiful screen, and everything seems to be in the right place. The interface is quite swish once you get used to it, although there seems to be a lot reliance on swipe.

I got three games to play on it. The Uncharted game is a really good attempt to put the PS3 games onto a portable. It doesn't quite look as good, and there are too many gimmicky uses of the Vita's control schemes, but overall it's a very fun game, and even feels like it has an extra degree of freedom in exploration in places compared to the PS3 games.

I also got Rayman Origins, which is a port, but looks the absolute business on the Vita. Like a platforming cartoon adventure, it's absolutely joyous a real pleasure to play.

I'm a bit worried about the long term future of the console, but for the time being at least, I'm pleased with it. The short term horizon is looking decent, so at least I'll get me money's worth.

[Too Many Cochranes]

On Saturday I went to CeX and bought a 2nd hand tablet. The young lad in the shop put the tablet on charge to show me the condition before I bought it and it didn't take long for us to both deteriorate into nerd speak about dual-core/battery life etc...

He told me he'd just got one of those PS Vita things and his eyes lit up. I'd not heard of them, being a non-gamer, but he enthused about how cool and fast it was for such a small piece of hardware. He was saying that it's amazing that you can play a PS3 game in full quality on something in your hand. Umm, so I get the impression that they are nippy little things.

[Utter Shit]

I was just about to come in here and ask what sort of level the Vita was at, presuming it to be around PS2 standard or something...is it really as advanced as the PS3? Surely not?

[Ignatius_S]

I was just about to come in here and ask what sort of level the Vita was at, presuming it to be around PS2 standard or something...is it really as advanced as the PS3? Surely not?

Arguably, the iPad 2 is about the same standard as the PS2 - if you look at something like GTA 3 on both platforms, I don't think you'll see much difference and developers have made this kind of comparison in the past. A lot of the reviews have been saying about PS3 quality graphics - or not far off.

How much of a selling point that is, remains to be seen - in the past, high specs haven't proven to be the most important aspect in portable gaming.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

The rather large size reminds me of the Game Gear.

I don't think I can get used to how much portable gaming costs these days.

[chocky909]

When was it cheaper?

[Utter Shit]

FUCK I remember the Game Gear. It was almost literally NOT portable, if you unplugged the mains the battery lasted about ten minutes. Or mine did anyway. I would honestly say that I got more enjoyment out of my Game Boy than any other game on any console ever. Super Mario Land 2 (Six Golden Coins) felt like a world that I actually disappeared into when I was playing it as a seven or eight year old. I wonder if it's the same as actual buildings etc where, if I revisited the game now, it's much smaller than I remember it being.

[Consignia]

I was just about to come in here and ask what sort of level the Vita was at, presuming it to be around PS2 standard or something...is it really as advanced as the PS3? Surely not?

No, it's better than PS2. It's not quite as good PS3, but it has some pretty good specs. I think it has half a gig of RAM available for it, which is similar to the 360, although it's GPU isn't as powerful. I also believe it's memory architecture is similar, but I'm just patching some rough memories together.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

When was it cheaper?

Well in comparison to costing 250 quid, I seem to remember these launching for (roughly)...

Game Gear - £145
Game Boy Color - £65
Game Boy Advance - £100
Neo Geo Pocket Colour - £70
PSP - £120
Nokia NGage - £150
DS - £100

While the games were all much cheaper.

It just feels wrong to be spending over £200 on a standalone portable games machine and 30/40 quid each for their games. That's the sort of money I want to be spending on a proper console, even if the Vita is a serious piece of hardware it feels too big and expensive to be twatting the face buttons to bits on a train to Doncaster.

[Ignatius_S]

When was it cheaper?

These are the launch prices for the Nintendo DS range – I've left out the XL one, as that had a much narrower target:

DS - £130
DS Lite - £99
DSi - £149
3DS - £230
When the first PSP launched in the UK, it was £179 – the RRP for the WiFi Vita is £230.

The Game Gear started at about £150 and I think the Atari Lynx was £200. The latter was felt to have been priced far too high for something that had great graphics, but wasn't very practical and had awful battery life. With inflation etc, I think one could argue this was an eye-watering price at the time - arguably, it was one of the reasons that manufacturers tried keeping costs down (the PSP I think was sold at a loss) and it took over two decades before a handheld cost more than that.

Because the Gameboy was cheaper, more portable and had great battery life, manufacturers learned a lesson that having high-specced, high-priced hardware wasn't the way to go. If we consider that the Game Gear was more expensive that the DS and DS Lite (at launch) and even more so, allowing for inflation, and it's only been in the last two years that hand-held consoles have ever cost more than £200 (and in the case of 3DS, needed to be cut), I think it's reasonable to say it has been cheaper in that past.

However, I do feel that in that past, it's has been a wee bit more pricey than some people think. Also, if you want affordable gaming – iPod Touch and iOS games is pretty damn economic.

*edit* Should have waited for Shoulders!... my figures were all launch.

[chocky909]

Oh. I had no idea this was so overpriced in comparison. Mind you, the Vita is probably the closest to current home console tech that there has ever been and I suppose you could factor in a bit of inflation over the earlier handhelds.

Still, I think the take up will be low at first until they bring the price down a bit or release some killer apps and games. They really need to copy the smartphone market and make cheaper, simpler games for a couple of quid to download but taking advantage of the Vita tech and most importantly proper gaming controls.

[falafel]

Uh, guys. Inflation. Gameboy was literally decades ago.

[NoSleep]

Not to mention the casting adrift of currency from the gold standard  about a decade ago. Everything has accelerated upward in price faster than technology getting cheaper (as it used to).

[Ignatius_S]

Found this article that looked American prices for handheld devices after inflation was taking into account.

Oh. I had no idea this was so overpriced in comparison. Mind you, the Vita is probably the closest to current home console tech that there has ever been and I suppose you could factor in a bit of inflation over the earlier handhelds....

Personally, I think the PSP wasn't too far off - I remember being blown away by how close GTA Liberty Stories was to playing on the PS2, but then thought to myself 'Why not play on the PS2?'. The PSP was obviously more portable than a PS2, but the gaming experience wasn't different enough - and I think that was a key problem. With the DS, on the other hand, when the touchscreen was used well, the playing experience was something that couldn't be offered elsewhere. (When it wasn't utilised well, I preferred the PSP).

The touch panels and screen hopefully will change this.

re: Inflation, you're right - and additionally, as I say, all of us can confuse prices (when I was a lad, etc. etc.)

...Still, I think the take up will be low at first until they bring the price down a bit or release some killer apps and games. They really need to copy the smartphone market and make cheaper, simpler games for a couple of quid to download but taking advantage of the Vita tech and most importantly proper gaming controls.

With these things, early adaptors will pay early adaptor prices so I'm sure prices will come down at some point. Personally, I think the the £197 price point that Asda and Amazon for the WiFi version more like it - psychologically, £200+ may be a bit rich for quite a few.

You're dead right about the killer games - I know I mentioned some of the advantages that helped the Gameboy become dominant, but people often forget how big a hit Tetris was on it and people who wouldn't have usually bought that kind of product did, because of it. Similarly, Brain Training and Nintendogs helped Nintendo get punters who certainly weren't considered 'hardcore gamers'.

As for the downloadable games, if someone is willing to pay £200+ for a handheld console, I'm not convinced that they want simpler/casual games. Sony certainly need to make sure that there are good offering to download, certainly.  One reason that companies price iOS apps so low is because of the installed user base - last year, 156 million iOS devices were sold bringing that grand total to over 300 million. Put it another way, the number of iOS devices bought by punters in 12 months, greatly exceeds the amount of Macs Apple has managed to flog in 28 years.

Uh, guys. Inflation. Gameboy was literally decades ago.

The £130 launch price for the DS is equivalent of £156 today if inflation is taken into account, and that was about the amount analysts estimated Nintendo would price the 3DS at - but because Nintendo thought people would pay £230, that's the price it set.

I did mention about inflation above - and curious about the Lynx, according an online check the price I quoted is equivalent to £422 today. Then again, if take inflation is into account with any of those DS prices I posted, it comes nowhere near the 3DS launch price. With the DS Lite and the DSi, there was about 18 months between them and a price increase of 50%, which for such a minor update seemed an awful lot.

Prices have fluctuated and they certainly haven't stayed at the same level comparatively for the last 20 years or so.

[Too Many Cochranes]

Oh. I had no idea this was so overpriced in comparison. Mind you, the Vita is probably the closest to current home console tech that there has ever been and I suppose you could factor in a bit of inflation over the earlier handhelds.

Still, I think the take up will be low at first until they bring the price down a bit or release some killer apps and games. They really need to copy the smartphone market and make cheaper, simpler games for a couple of quid to download but taking advantage of the Vita tech and most importantly proper gaming controls.

Yeah, the guy in CeX was saying that the games he had on his were very impressive but it's early days and the game developers don't know the ins and outs of the hardware when a new platform first comes out.

He said he's looking forward to six months or a years time when the developers really know what it can do and take the console to it's limits.

I had to agree with him. That's what happens with most consoles, isn't it? Slightly sub-standard early releases until they get the hang of the hardware?

[chand]

I've got one of these, love it so far. But it's useful to me cos I take regular three-hour train rides, so I used my PSP a lot. Asda are doing the WiFi version for £197 which seemed okay. As ever with games systems though, it's the hidden stuff that bumps up the cost; you need a memory card which is kind of expensive, and the £15 starter pack with the soft case/games case and stuff seemed pretty necessary to me. Nice bit of kit, would prefer it if it didn't stick with the PSP's pointless insistence on not playing videos that aren't in its proprietary format tough.

Uncharted is excellent, not quite up there with 2 or 3 (it seems to lack variety in locations cos of the nature of the story), but thoroughly enjoyable, and after a bit of getting used to it the sticks seem pretty good.  Everybody's Golf is much like the PS3 version, which is to say very enjoyable too. Rayman Origins looks great but I couldn't justify that as I already have the PS3 version. The cheaper games are providing a lot of fun too; Motorstorm RC and Mutant Blobs Attack are both good cheap options, and Escape Plan is pretty much a must-have. Gorgeous game which makes good use of both touchscreens without being annoying with it. Of the big Sony IPs, it could really use a Ratchet & Clank title; the PSP R&C game was decent but hampered by the one-stick restriction.

[buntyman]

The rather large size reminds me of the Game Gear.

I saw these in the shops for the first time yesterday and they really are massive aren't they! I don't think you can really beat the ds for size and design as a portable device. You can get away without any addition protection for a ds as the screen is safe when its closed up. With the Vita, you'd have to make an effort to ensure it's in a well protected hard case which would probably mean it taking up about a third of the space in your rucksack. No matter how good it is technically, I wouldn't buy for that reason.

[wasp_f15ting]

Come on chaps.. the game gear was humongous and heavy with a naff screen. On this the screen takes up most of the space available and it isn't too bad to hold.

As for what will happen with this in the long run I have no idea, so I am going to wait a bit and see what happens. Having the new ipad and the games it comes with, its the perfect inbetween for my pc and console gaming.. I don't think i'll use another intermediary. Since I don't commute much either. I do see the appeal of it especially for that pureblack OLED screen. When it comes to £150 I might pick one up. £39.99 for portable games is taking the piss though, Nintendo do it but Sony should be competitive and release console games like Rayman for £20.00 max.. since its console buddy was full RRP.   

[wasp_f15ting]

I waited till I a good deal came along, and finally got a great second hand unit for £160 with 16GB memory and 3 games. Rayman is absolutely amazing.. uncharted isn't that great and not what I expected, I also got modnation which I am trading in for Gravity rush. Retrocity looks good when it comes over to the UK eventually..

Are there any other essential games for the Vita?

[chand]

Rayman is wonderful, identical to the PS3 one in almost every respect, mind. But it looks glorious on that screen. It's one of my favourite games of the last few years.

LittleBigPlanet is great, if you've ever played the others you'll know what to expect, but the Vita one is arguably the best version so far, some nice little Vita-specific touches. I enjoyed Uncharted, it's not quite as polished as the PS3 ones. As for other essentials, depends what you're into. Of the full-priced games, I've got a lot of love for Everybody's Golf, but then I've always loved that series. Lumines is brilliant if you like puzzle games, Wipeout essential if you, well, like Wipeout style games. The same goes for FIFA, though I haven't played the new one. The original Vita one was great though, and the rear touchscreen shooting option was surprisingly enjoyable. Unit 13 is worth a go, there's a demo of it. It's not mind-blowingly amazing but it's a decent enough third person shooter. All those are basically what you'd expect.

Escape Plan, Mutant Blobs Attack and Motorstorm RC I mentioned, definitely worth getting, all downloads and all relatively cheap. If you like Metal Gear games, the collection of 2 and 3 is worth getting, they look brilliant.

[Consignia]

I think all the essential games have been covered. I've had a couple of games, Disgaea 3 and Persona 4, that given me lots of joy, but I'm not sure they are platelable enough to recommend generally. Besides, both are ports (enchanced, but still PS2 games).

I think even if you haven't played Metal Gear games before, Metal Gear Solid 3 is worth checking out. MGS2 isn't bad, but it's snarled up to much with continuity. MGS is both a much better game, and the story largely stands on it's own. I played it on the Vita recently and enjoyed every minute.

[madhair60]

Rayman is wonderful, identical to the PS3 one in almost every respect, mind. But it looks glorious on that screen. It's one of my favourite games of the last few years.

Does it have the multiplayer?

[wasp_f15ting]

Thanks for the heads up guys.

Persona does look great. I am going to explore my psone games which I never played. I really really want to play Chrono Cross but it is only on the bloody US store :(

Anyone know if there is a UK launch for this one?

[chand]

Does it have the multiplayer?

Hmm, apparently it doesn't. I was never that interested in multiplayer.