Sony PS Vita

[Harrison]

What do you all think of the official name for the PSP2?

And have any of you had time to look at some of the footage of it running at E3?

Looks great and a nice update to the long running original. I'm interested myself, but I'm not sure it will sell well though. Especially with the continuing popularity of Smartphones and its gaming market. Especially for Android which is now taking off at a great rate and has overtaken the iPhone.

As for the Wii U I have posted a separate thread about that.

[Phantom]

PS Vita name is really ridiculous for me.

[Demon Cleaner]

Name sounds crap!

[Harrison]

I don't get why they couldn't just call it the PSP2? That naming structure has worked out perfectly fine for the Playstation so why not for the PSP?

Who knows, it might change again before launch and go back to PSP2.

[Demon Cleaner]

I bough a Vita yesterday, got it for 195€ (new) bundled with Little Big Planet. I know that there are already some hacks existing, which let you play PSP iso/cso files, so I'm gonna fiddle around with that a bit if I get it.

But I also ordered Persona 4 Golden, which is apparently one of the best RPGs to come out so far, and I kinda like the Persona games.

IGN review of Persona 4 Golden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ba8LKmqYxA

(I also bought other handheld consoles, check out my other post here (http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/4925-Yinlips-YDPG18))

[Harrison]

I was interested in the Vita when it was in development, and during the launch, but since then I really haven't been interested at all, especially now that smartphones and tablets have really matured and over taken any dedicated gaming handheld. Yes they have dedicated real controls for gaming, but for such small displays touch based gaming definitely works much better (if the game is designed from the ground up with touch in mind).

If at a later date I saw one really cheap then I might grab one just to own and play around with it. And actually the one thing that would attract me is if the firmware is properly hacked to allow custom firmwares etc.. what is the current state of that on the Vita? You mentioned being able to run PSP iso/cso files. What kind of exploit is used? I'm guessing something to do with the Vita's PSP backwards compatibility?

[Demon Cleaner]

There's some old PSP exploit that was still not secured on the Vita, don't know anymore which one exactly.

Anyway, this is the site to go: http://www.dashhacks.com/ps-vita.html

[Demon Cleaner]

Got mine today, probably testing it next week. I'm off work now for 3 weeks, as I have to go to a health cure for my back, but I will be home every afternoon, so I have plenty of time for myself.

[Demon Cleaner]

Got my memory card today, and I wanted to install CFW on my Vita, but there's one big problem. It only works through the UNO exploit, meaning that you have to have the game UNO installed on your Vita. Unfortunately SONY took the game down in all of their stores, thus leaving me waiting for another exploit to come.

[Harrison]

You can't get hold of the game any other way? Was the game released on a "PlayStation Vita game card"?

[Demon Cleaner]

I don't think it was released on a game card, it's a very small game, so there is no point of releasing it on a card, it's a downloadable game from their store. I checked already eBay, but I cannot find it.

[Demon Cleaner]

Thinking about the hack, I have Persona 4 Golden to play, which, if I start, will probably take a while to complete. After that, I could install another PSP RPG to play, not very interested in other games for the PSP. So I checked the PSN store, and the PSP games are all between 5-15€, which is not very expensive, so I could also easily download the original for that price.

Otherwise I will probably end up putting again 20 games on the memory card, which I won't play, and honestly, what's the point of having 15 different RPGs installed? You won't play them simultaneously.

Would be a good opportunity to actually start playing what you want, instead of having another collection device.

[Harrison]

:lol: Not being able to hack the Vita to run free backup games is forcing you to actually play games on it. Ironic! :thumbs:

Same is true for me. I used to download loads of PC games, but never actually played most of them. I got fed up with patching them, having to manually download updates and then repatch, not being able to play them online etc... so over the past year I've been using the sales on Steam to buy the games I really wanted to play and have actually been playing and enjoying them.

Just shows you that when you can unlock a system to run backups you end up trying to collect everything for a platform, and it becomes an obsession.. to the point where you spend your time collecting and searching, and not actually playing anything.

[Demon Cleaner]

Always when I finish a game on the PS3, I don't know which one to play next, and I'm ending up by browsing around, and in the end, even after 2 weeks, I didn't start anything new, but only tried some of the PSN games.

[Harrison]

I finally got myself a Vita at the weekend for my 40TH birthday.

Got a really good deal on it. Looking online I couldn't find any deals, and any memory card bundles were all out of stock, so I decided to go into town instead and have a look around the shops. Ended up buying it in Game. They had the 10 game mega pack but with no price on it, and the Vita console prices were really confusing, so I asked a sales assistant and he didn't have any idea either, so he got the manager. Worked out well because they didn't have any Wi-Fi only vitas left so he said he would do the 3g version for the same price. He scanned the mega game memory card bundle in with 16GB card and it came up as £45, he then scanned the 3G Vita in and it came up as £139. He then adjusted the price to make the whole thing a bundle and it was £139 for the lot, so that was a great price.

I couldn't even find a Vita of any type or any bundle that cheap online or in stores, and no where else had the memory card game bundle in stock so that was great.

Once setup I discovered the PSN Plus this month has Uncharted, so that was good as it's one of the main games I wanted. And I also got Wipeout 2048, Motorstorm RC, Ratchet and Clank, Little Big Planet, Gravity Rush, Lemmings, the AR games, and a few lessor games.

Any other game recommendations?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

[Demon Cleaner]

Great deal!

Persona 4 of course ;) And perhaps Ys - Memories of Celceta (http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-vita/ys-memories-of-celceta).

[Teho]

You're well covered with good games allready. If you need a couple more suggestions then Alien Breed HD is a must, isn't it? If you'd like an fps then Killzone Mercenary is pretty good. Better gameplay-wise than the PS4 outing. Resistance: Burning Skies is pretty bad however, so avoid that one. And definitely get Stardust Delta.

The Superfrog remake has an interesting cross-play feature. The game itself isn't that well made, it's actually a sequel instead of a remake with all new levels and music. Except the new levels aren't very well designed. The old levels and music are included, but must be unlocked by playing the new stuff. Not worth it. But there's that one thing it does which is kinda cool, if you get the game for both PS3 and Vita (have to pay for both of course) then it has a bonus level feature where you play the game on the PS3, you enter a portal and Superfrog teleports to your Vita screen and you play a small bonus section there. Then he telports back to the PS3 screen and you continue. The one cool idea the game has, but i doesn't save it. If both versions turn up on PS+ sometime then it's maybe worth a look. If you're very very bored.

[Demon Cleaner]

Do we really need Alien Breed on EVERY platform ;)

[Teho]

Of course we do. Still waiting for the Android port. :p <-- Wrote that sarcastically, then I had a look on Google Play just for the hell of it and it turns out there is an Android port. Looks like the same HD version that's on the Vita too, and quite cheap.

..and apparently the strike-through bbcode doesn't work here. Oh well.

[Harrison]

I've really been enjoying Stardust Delta. Annoyingly I was away at my Mother-in-laws for new year and couldn't purchase anything from the PSN store because my existing card details on their has expired and I didn't have my PSN login details with me. I've now updated them and grabbed the full version of Stardust Delta. So only been playing the demo mostly until last night. Definitely prefer the traditional controls however at the moment.

I'm now on the lookout of some decent racing games. I have Wipeout. Any others worth looking at? Someone mentioned NFS: Most Wanted. I could put some PSP racers on their, like GT and Outrun 2006 but I wondered if there were any more Vita specific ones worth getting?

And are there any decent games that utilise the rear touch well? Really wanted to get something to take advantage of them.

Also enjoyed the AR games that use the AR cards. I've only played the free ones. I quite like the idea of the Football and Ice hockey ones which use 3 cards so you can see the whole playing area at once and move the Vita around it. Very cool (first saw this technology used in museum design to explore objects held in cases in full 3D on a tablet. Anyone played any of these, or any other AR games?

[Demon Cleaner]

I played some AR games, but in my opinion they're just some nice gimmick, but no real games.

I have NFS: Most Wanted, but didn't play it on the Vita yet, only played the PS3 version, is quite good, open world and that stuff. It dropped in price now for the Vita in the PSN store, it's available here for 9.99€.

[zapiy]

I've really been enjoying Stardust Delta. Annoyingly I was away at my Mother-in-laws for new year and couldn't purchase anything from the PSN store because my existing card details on their has expired and I didn't have my PSN login details with me. I've now updated them and grabbed the full version of Stardust Delta. So only been playing the demo mostly until last night. Definitely prefer the traditional controls however at the moment.

I'm now on the lookout of some decent racing games. I have Wipeout. Any others worth looking at? Someone mentioned NFS: Most Wanted. I could put some PSP racers on their, like GT and Outrun 2006 but I wondered if there were any more Vita specific ones worth getting?

And are there any decent games that utilise the rear touch well? Really wanted to get something to take advantage of them.

Also enjoyed the AR games that use the AR cards. I've only played the free ones. I quite like the idea of the Football and Ice hockey ones which use 3 cards so you can see the whole playing area at once and move the Vita around it. Very cool (first saw this technology used in museum design to explore objects held in cases in full 3D on a tablet. Anyone played any of these, or any other AR games?


Most wanted is a brilliant game and can be had cheap these days.

[J T]

The PS remote-play feature sounds neat... For a long time I've been waiting to see a company finally get some decent integration between their handhelds and big consoles.

[Teho]

Anyone who enjoyed Little Big Planet should definitely get Tearaway from the same developer. It reminds of Little Big Planet in many ways, but is a full 3D platformer and not 2.5D like LBP. Also the controls are less floaty and much improved in my opinion. And they've come up with several ingenious ways to utilise the Vitas touch-screen and rear panel too which rarely becomes annoying. Simply a well designed and fun little game, one of the Vitas must-haves I think.

[zapiy]

Thats one i am after at the right price, as for remote play i decided to give BF4 a go last night and well, to say i got owned is an understatement lol..

[Demon Cleaner]

For your information, Zavvi UK has the PS Vita (3G and Wi-Fi Enabled) for 119.99£ at the moment, for a limited time, don't know how long the offer stands.

LINK. (http://www.zavvi.com/ps-vita-hardware/ps-vita-3g-and-wi-fi-enabled/10480775.html?locover=true&switchcurrency=GBP)

[zapiy]

One of the best deals I have seen.

[Buleste]

Jeff Minter has just released a game for Vita. As per usual it has sounds from Flossy his old sheep in it.

[Harrison]

Is it a shooter, or something else? What's it called?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

[zapiy]

TxK mate. Bloody awesome it is too.

[Harrison]

Just got hold of it and had a quick play. Great game. Normally I find Tempest tunnel shooters a bit fiddly to control, but this one on the Vita seems to have got it just right and that makes it much more fun. The stereo effects in the audio work well on the Vita too.

Nice small download too, so doesn't hurt the card space too much. :)

[Buleste]

Rave reviews everywhere. Jeff Minter still has it.

[zapiy]

Glad you like it. Certainly as above, Mr Minter still has it.

[Harrison]

Resurrecting a very old thread, but is anyone still using their Vitas?

I recently rediscovered mine when unpacking some boxes I still hadn't since I moved house in October 2015! :lol: I managed to find the charger and got it up and running again. Forgot how good the Vita was, and it actually still holds up really well compared to any other mobile or handheld systems even today.

Looking at some Youtube videos I was surprised the Vita is still actively supported by Sony, although production has obviously ended. You can still purchase games from the Playstation store via the Vita itself, although no game offerings have been given away via PSPlus for quite some time now. I read that Sony will be removing the ability to buy Vita games from web browsers or PS4, only directly on the Vita, which is a bit restrictive.. but at least the ability is still there. The only concern I have is that all my Vita games are digital downloads. If Sony actually pull the Vita store at some point all my owned games would vanish and my Vita would basically be useless. This will be a huge issue going into the future as systems age, are left behind and get abandoned and their stores closed down. At least with Playstation and Xbox they are just becoming evolutions of the same hardware, meaning games will continue to run on newer systems. Really wish Sony had found a way to make the PS5 backward compatible with the PS3 but you can't have everything (I know the PS3 is hard to emulate due to the unique hardware). At least PS4 games work.

There have also been rumours of a possible Vita 2 in development. Not sure there is really a market for a new handheld any more. Although the Nintendo Switch Lite has been selling well, and if Sony could tie a new one into remote play PS5 games it might be a success. You already can do this on Smartphones with PS4 and PS5, but it's very fiddly without physical controls, so a Vita style handheld with real controls for PS5 remote play would be interesting.

[Demon Cleaner]

There is a new permanent Vita hack out, gonna do that with my slim one, just waiting for my Vita memory card. It's very straightforward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=312ooVtXAMM

[Harrison]

I noticed that the other day. Tempted to try this myself. I've not looking into it yet though. Can you still use the Playstation store with it?

[Demon Cleaner]

Can you still use the Playstation store with it?

Yes.