Vita Means Life But Maybe Not For Sony

The History

Back in 2004 when Sony was at the height of power with their PlayStation 2, they unveiled the PlayStation Portable (or PSP for short). This was a handheld that was designed for PlayStation on the go and at a time when the only main handheld competition was the Nintendo DS, it wasn’t hard for Sony to break into the market and be successful where others had failed. With its advanced media features and wide selection of memorable games (personal favourite being Monster Hunter Freedom Unite) it became a huge success, and had sold over 80 million units as of November 2013. So the question today is why hasn't the PlayStation Vita had the same success?

The Release

The PlayStation Vita has surprisingly been around for over two years now. It was first announced back in June 2011 at E3. Other than the odd name, the system and price were actually surprising good at £229.99 for the wifi model; considering the the device had a quad-core processor with 512MB RAM and a 128MB GPU as well as a high quality OLED screen it was a powerhouse. The problem and part of its downfall was the cost of accessories and games. The most crushing blow to the system was the proprietary memory cards; these weren’t included and were only made by Sony, so the price was ridiculous, costing around £40 for 16GB. Not only that,  the cost of games was on par with console titles costing around £40 as well. While all this doesn’t surprise, considering that Sony was selling the Vita system itself at a loss, it didn’t bode well for the future of the handheld.

Nonetheless, the games released were good. There were new titles designed specifically for Vita including the visually impressive Uncharted: Golden Abyss. The Vita even supports PSP game downloads from the PlayStation store and although it lacked the UMD support, it was still a nice addition. You have to admit the Vita did have a good-ish start but the main problem wasn’t just its high priced accessories or lack of games at launch; this affects all new releases. It was its longevity.

 

The Problem

The problem today and at the time of release for the Vita was that lots of new technology was around which wasn’t available when the PSP was released. One such example is the arrival of smartphones and tablets. With the release of those, a new kind of mobile gaming was created, the market was stepping away from dedicated handhelds and instead, you could get a mobile device that could play games just as well if not better, and Sony knew this. It was clear that people would rather get a smartphone or tablet that could do more than just play games, and when the Vita arrived there wasn’t anything that it could do or had available that was convincing enough for you to buy one. You would have to admit that if you wanted to play a game on your travels, it’d be easier to play on a smartphone than buying a dedicated handheld.

So what’s changed?

While the launch and life of the Vita so far has been bumpy it wasn’t until the release of the PlayStation 4 and the rise of indie development that it started to show its potential. I bought a Vita before my PS4 and while I did get some fun out of it, enjoying some exclusives and taking advantage of PlayStation Plus, what impressed me the most about its power was from playing Killzone Mercenaries. It showed this handheld had the capability to have the console quality games that we’ve always wanted. It’s just a shame that now it’s too little too late and many AAA developers (unless it’s Sony themselves) can’t be bothered to develop for the Vita. This is where indie games come in.

Because of Sony’s heavy endorsement of the indie scene, we’ve been blessed with a barrage of new indie titles coming to PlayStation, and if you didn’t already know many of these have a feature called Cross-Buy and/or Cross-Play. Cross-buy and Cross-Play to put it simply means if you buy it for one console you own for it all three (PS3, PS4 and Vita). This serves as an excellent value for all, and even if you don’t care about the extra version it’s still a nice bonus.

Cross-Save does what it says, and allows you to use the same game save across all platforms. Take the excellent, merciless Rogue Legacy for example. You can spend sometime adventuring (and likely dying) in the castle and leveling your character on your PS3 or PS4, then away from home with your Vita you can take your save with you and try to get further. It’s an excellent feature and has even been included in retail titles like Metal Gear Solid HD Collection and Final Fantasy X / X-2 Remastered, although the Vita titles of these are sold separately.

Should you buy one?

Well I've told you the history and explained a bit about the problem and the lovely cross-play and buy feature but should you buy one?

Yes. Now is the time to get one. While the Vita did have a bumpy start, I believe this was due to it not finding its footing but putting it simply, if you're a PlayStation console owner the Vita is the best companion for your console. It’s not really a dedicated handheld any more. Of course you can get Vita specific games for it, and it’s not going to run out of Vita-only titles; there are in fact over 150 Vita titles in the works, if you don't believe us, see some of them here (credit Neogaf.com)

The best feature though by far is for PlayStation 4 owners: Remote Play. The Remote Play feature will let you play all PlayStation 4 titles anywhere, meaning you can be away from home (as long as your PS4 is on standby) you can play your PS4 games over wifi. It’s an excellent feature, so much so that it is heading to newer Sony Smartphones and Tablets, although personally going for the Vita is the cheaper option.

The price of the Vita has come down a lot to around £140 so now is the right time and I’d highly recommend that you get yourself the little pricier (and maybe harder to find) OLED model, simply because its got a lovely OLED screen. However, the newer slimmer model released earlier this year is still an excellent choice, offering better battery than the previous model and has 1GB internal memory as well as being in multiple colours; if you're into that.

 

So with the Vita being a companion to your PlayStation you can take advantage of free titles via PlayStation Plus (if you're a member), and the Cross-buy and Cross-Save features across all the supported PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 titles. It’s by far worth getting one now and actually is great value. Just make sure you get yourself a memory card to hold all those games.