Sony seems to be dripfeeding gamers with details about what we can expect from the PlayStation Vita and the latest cache of info to drop from the mothership relates to the handheld’s online and social features.
We’ve known since the PlayStation Vita was first announced that it would bring a web-connected staging area for each game, location features and a new chat features. Now we’re actually hearing about what we’ll actually have to play with. Read on for a quick run down of the latest on the PlayStation Vita’s online and social smarts…
Near
Near sounds a lot like the Nintendo 3DS‘ SpotPass system. Sony describes it as a location-based gifting system which will allow you to leave presents at certain locations. They can be anything from in-game items to challenges within a specific title and you’ll be able to choose who’ll be able to pick them up or just leave them open to anyone to grab. Near will also let you limit how many times an item can be taken.
LiveArena
LiveArena will be the update system on the PlayStation Vita pulling together announcements, new DLC, other game updates, promotions and notifications from your friends. You’ll see a LiveArena screen whenever you start a game on the handheld.
Party
Party is the most intriguing of the social features discussed by Sony. It’ll allow you to put together group with three of your friends that will allow you to chat via voice and text regardless of what you’re doing. That means cross-game voice chat will be a reality with the PlayStation Vita, ticking of an item thats been on a lot of PSP gamers wishlists for a long time. You’ll be able to override the voice chat for team-based games and split into channels but otherwise it’ll be a constant feature.
We like the sound of the online and social features Sony is planning to bake into the PlayStation Vita but what we really want it to do now is tell us when we’ll be able to properly get our hands on one!
