IHC Tech Reviews: Playstation Vita

This thing seems kinda cool. Or “Playstation is trying way too hard to overcompensate for something.”

I got a PSP for my birthday in 2005 and I immediately ran out and bought Maverick Hunter X. I’ve played the Grand Theft Autos’ on it, and while technical achievements they were not very good. I still have my PSP to this day, and it gets frequent use, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the Final Fantasy Dissidia series, and all the great Playstation One downloadable titles.

Playstation was trying seven years ago to make an “all-in-one multimedia handheld” and it ultimately failed, the web browser sucked and still sucks to this day, the music, pictures, and video features were all but useless. I have a bunch of UMD movies, I loved the idea of tiny DVD powered media, but Sony abandoned the idea.

While the Playstation Vita really is a graphical powerhouse, it seems that not much has changed.

The system is sleek, the buttons are responsive and smaller for the most part. Playing games I was always having trouble hitting the Start and Select buttons on the right side. The PS Home button on the left is always easy to hit though. It boasts two cameras, a touch screen, a back touch pad, two analog sticks (finally!) and I bought the 3G model but I’m not sure I’m going to “subscribe” to a  plan.  

 My advice right out of the gate: buy a case for it. The analog sticks stick out too far for comfort. They are fantastically designed, responsive, comfortable, but I wouldn’t carry around the Vita without a case. I wouldn’t want to ruin my $350 system over a busted analog stick. Although Sony might, under “apps” on the Playstation Store they really want me to buy a protection plan.

The Vita lets you customize app placement on pages for you to flip through. I’ve sorted mine into “Useful, Games, and Useless”

Useful!

-PS Store is the Playstation Store, currently anemic, but the option to buy digital copies of Vita games at a discount (up to 10%) is appealing. I wouldn’t recommend that though, for example, Uncharted: Golden Abyss is 3.2 gigs, and while I’ll review it later, I’ve already beaten it. After I complete the trophies (Vita games have trophies now that link to your PSN account) I probably won’t be keeping it.

-Welcome Park is a series of touch, tilt, and camera mini-games to show off the system’s potential. I’m not bored with it yet so it gets to stay on this page.

-NEAR is a cool little concept. It’s like Nintendo’s Street Pass only not as unreliable. You check in (without pinpointing an exact location, it’s not like foursquare or something invasive) using the 3G or a wireless access point. It displays any and all Vita Players within a certain radius. 

You can click on them, find out what they’re playing, and even send gifts to and from games that you have been playing. Modnation Racers, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 all use this feature so far.

-Photos lets you browse pictures you may have dumped to the card, or take pictures with the front or rear camera. One of the absolutely best features I can’t stop gushing over though is the ability to take screenshots with the system. If you hold the PS Home button and Start the system takes a screen shot. It’s brilliant.

-Videos I was about to right off as another failed attempt by Sony, but it is much improved over the PSP model. You can bring up movies or rent movies from the PS store. You can search through the movie, and it will give you live previews of the part you are trying to fast forward to in a timeline.

-Trophies are trophies. They link to your PSN account and you can look at them

-Settings are settings. They allow you to tweak settings for the PS Vita.

Games!

The Playstation Vita allows you to play any Playstation Portable game that you’ve downloaded off the store. It up-scales the 480 x 272 resolution of the PSP to the Vita’s 960 x 544. I read somewhere that some games would get second analog stick support, but this was not the case when I played Peace Walker. After playing Peace Walker on the PS3 it was hard to go back to PSP controls.

When you bring up a game’s “bubble” you can click on various links concerning the game. You can do a web search on the game, look at a digital manual (hard copy Vita games do not come with manuals, I was upset by that.)

It’s so empty. 

You can update the game if the game is in need of patching. With a game like Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 this will most certainly be the case. You can touch the link to bring you to the PSN store for DLC. You can also touch the orange bubble to see what you’ve done in the game, which like the PS3 Facebook app gets really annoying really fast. Make sure you aren’t posting this and irritating your friends.

I doubt they care how many kills you have gotten with the M4 in Uncharted.

Also, I have an extensive downloaded PSOne library that I can’t use on my Vita yet. I was going to shell out for a 32 gig card ($99) but there is little point, the 4 gig card that game with the Vita will do the job until then.

 Useless!

-Friends is the exact same as it is on PS3, you can compare trophies, send messages using the Group Messaging app and I guess see where they are playing using NEAR but none of my friends have it yet, so for me it’s useless.

-Party is like Xbox Live’s new “Beacon” feature that never gets used. You can create rooms for people to wander into to talk or play games. No one uses it so it is deemed useless. 

-Maps is Google Maps, it has satellite view, traffic updates, and bookmarks. I have this on my phone, and I don’t have 3G for my Vita so I can’t see myself using this very much, if at all.

-Music is kinda a mess, I hooked it up to the Content Manager (a new app that replaced the old swap out the memory card, drag and drop system of the PSP) and it only found some of my music, there wasn’t album art, and when I transfered it to the Vita to listen it sounded tinny, despite playing with the EQ presets. I have a Zune, so again, I probably won’t be using this app.

-Network Operator is AT&T wanting me to pay them for 3G service. After mucking about in the godawful Browser for a few minutes I decided I’ll look up on my computer how much plans are. “250MB for $14.99, 30-day recurring, which starts at the date and time of purchase, with the ability to opt out at any given month or 3GB for $30, a 30-day recurring opt out, which starts at the date and time of purchase.” Yeah, I am regretting paying the $50 extra bucks for the 3G model.

-Browser. I can’t believe I’m actually saying it, but I miss the PSP browser. At least I could use the face buttons for various functions. It’s touch screen only, no flash, slow, clunky, useless, next.

-Remote Play. Once again, Sony dropped the ball with this one. It is just as “functional” as the PSP with one saving grace: you can use the back touchpad for L2, R2, L3 and R3. If you’ve played PSone games on the PSP using the analog nub for those settings you will know that is a very welcome addition.

Now if I could only play my PS One games on the Vita without Remote Play…

-Content Manager. The Content Manager works well enough I guess, when I first hooked up the Vita to my PC using the USB cord it came with it wanted me to go to some website, but I clicked on the link, and it instantly installed the necessary drivers to the PC, and scanned my Videos, Pictures and Music folders.

So that’s an overview of all the apps. I’ve remarked on what I like, but now I will address some glaring issues with the PS Vita.

-Charging. This is the PS Vita charger.

It’s three cords! Different, needed-to-be-constantly-checked-they-haven’t-become-disconnected cords! This may sound nitpicky, but when the battery life only lasts four or five hours and takes around two hours to recharge, it is an issue.

-No multitasking. Come on. Really Sony? My phone can play music, view Google Maps, has a better browser, I can do all that simultaneously, and it did not cost over $300. 

-God awful menu music. By default the “bubble media bar” or whatever Sony calls this has this horrible repeating music. Thankfully, you can shut it off. But it’s musical style permeates into the other apps like NEAR. I don’t know who was hired to compose them, but they need to be fired and never be allowed to make music again. They’re not even lighthearted and calming like the Wii’s menu or shop themes.

I’m going to explain the rankings for the Vita as I go. 

It gets one star for effort. It is a much more solidly designed handheld than the 3DS at launch, I know, I bought that at launch and regret it until about September. 

It gets one star for potential. If Sony tears down the wall between the PS3 and the Vita, the Vita will truly become something great. Make the Vita an extension of the platform. Cross-platform play is already capable with some titles, and cross-platform DLC was just announced. Let me play my PS3 downloadble titles on the go and we would be in business. Also, Netflix might be nice. Netflix on my 3DS has gotten alot of mileage so far. 

It gets one star for games. At the 3DS launch, I bought Ghost Recon and Super Street Figher IV. I played SSFIV for maybe a week before I shelved it then traded it. Ghost Recon lasted longer if not for my sheer rage and determination to get through it. That game was so cheap. 

So far, Uncharted: Golden Abyss is like nothing I’ve ever seen on a handheld. It’s graphically as capable as the first Uncharted for PS3. It is truly something to see in motion. I’ll do a review of that soon.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Rayman Origins are just as gorgeous as their console counterparts. It is mind blowing to see them in action. 

It gets a half star for design. While comfortable, and light, (9.8oz) it still feels delicate. The original PSP is like a brick, but it’s a solid design and feel, like it wouldn’t shatter if I accidentally dropped it. I’ve already said to grab a case for it because of the analog sticks. They are responsive and comfortable but I don’t see them standing up to pocket wear and tear. The buttons and touch pads are are conveniently and familiarly placed, but the back touch pad can get in the way with some game features, which I will get to when I review Uncharted: Golden Abyss.

So there you have it. Three and a half stars. I wouldn’t rush out to get one February 22nd if your rent is due, or you need groceries or something. It’s not worth starving or being homeless for. It definitely has room for improvement, and there will probably be the inevitable redesign, so I would recommend waiting for that.