The PlayStation Vita will be out in October in the UK, according to a leak from Blockbuster this morning. Exciting stuff indeed, but what do we know about it so far? And what are we hoping for the extra skills it’ll come packing?
Read on for 14 reasons to save up for October 28th.
1 It’ll have location-based gaming options
Sony’s keeping quiet on its social media functions and broader apps until Gamescom, but rumours suggest they’ll be very similar to the Nintendo 3DS. Near is a location-based gifting system which lets you leave surprises at locations – anything from in-game items to challenges. You can specify whether they’re free for anyone, or only specific players. LiveArena, meanwhile, is like a news feed, bringing together downloadable content, updates, promotions and notifications from friends.
2 It’ll have cross-game voice chat
Party lets you form groups of four and then chat via voice or chat regardless what you’re doing. So that means even if you’re all playing different games, you can IM or speak to each other right there and then. Take that, noob!
3 The price will compete with the 3DS
A few weeks ago Sony Computer Entertainment’s CEO Andrew House dropped some quite large hints at the pricing, and things were sounding quite promising. The Wi-Fi only model is looking to be £229, while the 3G and Wi-Fi version will come in at £279. The Wi-Fi only is the same as the launch price of the Nintendo 3DS, though the price cut that hit Japan is set to reach Europe by next month. But still it’s encouraging, especially considering Sony’s usual high prices.
4 Sony will lose money on every sale
It’s the case with most consoles, and the Vita is no different: Sony will lose on every unit sold. SCEE CEO Kaz Hirai confirmed as much in an interview with Reuters recently, but added Sony hopes to start making a profit from the console within three years.
5 The rear touch pad will add a new dimension to games…
It’s one of the most intriguing parts of the Vita, a touch pad on the back that gives you added controls, letting you play games without pressing buttons. In some mini games, you drag your finger along it to make a series of mountains erupt, and in Uncharted: Golden Abyss you can use it to plot the trajectory of a grenade. The possibilities are endless: one we’d like to see is using it for windscreen wipers on a racer.
6 …though it was nearly dropped in development
Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida revealed in an interview that Sony execs weren’t sure players would get enough enjoyment out of the touch pad during testing phases, but after trying it out for themselves, they were sold.
7 PS3 compatibility
We’ll admit this is purely a hope from us, and we doubt it’s going to happen as it’s not powerful enough, but wouldn’t it be great to be playing on your PS3, then switch off and carry on playing on your PS Vita when you leave the house? Far more likely is it’ll only work with PSN games, but if Sony could find a way to somehow scale them down, for Wii U-style seamless compatibility, that’d have us stumping up our cash come launch day.
8 Beefy insides
Powering the Vita is an ARM Cortex A9 Core CPU, which is the same that’s used in Apple’s A5 processor that powers the iPhone; though the Vita CPU is quad core, the A5 dual core, so expect quite a disparity in performance.
9 Star of the big screen
That’s a massive 5-inch screen on the front, dwarfing most phones and other handheld gaming consoles, with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 960 x 544. It’s not HD, admittedly, but we’ll have to reserve judgement until we have one in our hands.
10 New software
LiveArea has replaced XrossMediaBar as the UI – it’s like a hub page, letting you jump between different parts of the game space (like XMB before it), with message boards and trophy support, for showing off your hard earned rewards.
11 It’ll play your old PSP games
The Vita is fully backwards compatible with all PSP games released digitally from the PlayStation Store. So if you’ve bought it as a download, it’ll play on your Vita, which is good news for retro fans and those in favour of saving space alike.
12 Dual cameras expand its possibilities
Front and rear cameras allow face detection, head detection and head tracking, and it’ll support augmented reality for laying computer graphics over what’s right in front of you in the real world, for some head-twisting shooter action, just like on the Nintendo 3DS. Get ready to start shooting your friends in their photo-realistic faces now.
13 Add in your own memory
It comes with a memory card slot, so you can slide in a memory card to add more space to load on more movies, photos and games.
14 Launch line-up
The launch games include: Unchartered: Golden Abyss; Hustle Kings; Everybody’s Golf Next; Killzone; Wipeout 2048; Resistance; LittleBigPLanet; BlazBlue; Continuum Shift II; Ridge Racer; and Call of Duty.
