The Sony PlayStation Vita is a next generation games console that has been desgined to revolutionize gaming and compete in the “gaming on the go” marketplace. With the forthcoming release of the PS Vita outside of Japan we’re pleased to give you a hands on review of this new console.
Is it going to save Sony’s bacon or is it going to be their downfall?
The New PlayStation Vita is a nice looking console, offering a decent gameplay experience, high quality graphics and relatively simple to use controls.
The Vita is entering a pretty saturated marketplace and I suspect it’s going to struggle because it has to combat the 3DS, which has had a good amount of time to embed itself in the minds of its users (over 4 million units shipped to date). On top of this, it also has to combat the smartphone market which has become increasingly focused on handheld gaming.
In fact (and on an aside) this smartphone gaming market is so important that Sony has bought out Ericsson from the Sony Ericsson joint venture to create smartphones, but this technology will not appear in the early releases of the PS Vita.
So how does the PS Vita compare with the smartphone market and its arch rival, the Nintendo 3DS?
Sony PS Vita Build Quality
The Vita is an impressive piece of equipment, particularly when you look under the hood. Unfortunately Sony haven’t really taken advantage of the new release for a redesign with the Vita looking very similar to the PSP it is replacing.
It has a 5 inch OLED screen (twice the resolution of the old PSP) and is slightly bigger than the old PSP, making it not the smallest portable device. It’s unlikely to be squeezing in to your pocket due to its size, which makes it somewhat harder to carry around unless you’ve got a bag to put it in.
However, saying that it is pretty light at the end of the day.
Sony Vita Controls
Unlike a smartphone, the PS Vita is designed for gaming from the ground up and doesn’t suffer from the poor controls some phones have. It’s designed to fit easily in your hand with all the controls within easy reach.
The annoying analogue disc from the PSP has been replaced with responsive, easy to use dual analogue sticks and the buttons are smaller and easier to use.
whilst there are a lot of controls, which aren’t as intuitive as you might like. There’s the Sixaxis button and motion controls plus a touch screen, a rear touch panel and front and rear cameras.
As an example, in Uncharted you have to use the touchscreen to climb vines instead of the buttons and the general feeling is that games are trying to use a lot of the new controls as gimmicks rather than concentrating on playability, which is a shame.
Sony Vita Games
All new consoles go through teething problems, and this is no exception as the many Sony Vita Reviews will tell you.
There is a lot of potential for gaming on the Sony Vita from technologies such as augmented reality. You can take pictures of locations, scan your face on the camera and do battle in some games in those locations.
This technology, combined with geo-caching prize battles through Sony’s own Near network and you’ve got some very interesting possibilities for gaming. How much of this geo functionality will require you to have the costly 3G model is not currently known.
The Sony PlayStation Vita has been designed to work closely with the PlayStation Network. The new Vita uses flash based storage cards and you can also download content to it.
The screen is a good quality one and high definition movies will look good on it.
Sony are also looking at cross over gaming between the PS Vita and the PS3 (and presumably the PS4 when it is released). Games like Wipeout 2048 are designed to support Playstation 3 versus Playstation vita play, which will encourage competitive, head to head play.
Sony PlayStation Vita Price
The Vita is a fun console to play on, once you get used to it, but probably the most imoprtant factor in the success of the Vita is going to be the price. Much of the Vita is aimed at the hardcare gamer but for it to truly succeed it needs to target the mainstream market much better, and one of the keys to success in this market is price.
With the recent release in Japan, Sony have seen poor sales of the Vita, well below that of the 3DS which wasn’t very good at all. In less than two weeks from its release, resellers are already discounting the Vita by as much as 20% in order to shift units.
The pricing isn’t cheap, with the wi-fi model currently on pre-order for £229.99 ($249.99) and the 3G model on at £279.99 ($299.99) plus around £30 ($40) a month for the 3G contract! It really isn’t cheap.
To give you an idea of comparison, a brand new PS3 is under £200 ($250) nowadays and if you want a 32GB iPod touch that’ll set you back around £250 ($270), and the iPod slips very nicely into a pocket or handbag with room to spare!
With the economy so tough, people are counting their pennies and being much more cost conscious than they used to be. The Nintendo 3DS has seen slow sells and has been discounted heavily already to promote sales. Even the 3DS is facing stiff competition from the smart phone market.
The Vita can browse the Internet, take photo’s and play all sorts of media (kind of like a smartphone but without the phone functionality) but is nowhere near as portable because of it’s size.
Are portable gaming systems dying out because of the rise of the smartphone? I mean, do people genuinely want to carry around a smartphone and a Vita? The need to carry around two devices and the increased functionality led to the demise of the pocket organizer market and we have to wonder if the portable gaming systems are going the way of the dodo too.
Whilst the Vita is powerful, there is a premium attached to buying any new item of technology, and the worry is the Vita has been left behind by significant changes in the gaming market brought on about the increasingly powerful smartphones.
The Vita needs to realize that it isn’t everything to everyone and that it’s appeal is limited to hard core games. Most casual gamers will be more than happy with angry birds and their smartphones.
There is a lot of competition out there for the wallets of gamers, who are becoming increasingly discerning in their purchases. Whether the PS Vita succeeds will depend a lot upon the actual launch pricing and the availability of games (which is looking good so far).
All in all, we like the Sony Vita and think it’s a good gaming console but how popular it will be will only be proved on its widescale release in February 2012.
