I can already hear the voices about to yell out in anger, and the sounds of catapults and trebuchets being loaded. Yes, it's a topic about the Vita: the latest gaming toy to make us wonder how relevant portable gaming still is. Everybody seems to be riding the hate train when it comes to the Playstation Vita, but the anger seems misguided. I'm not asking do you like it or hate it, i'm just asking what your personal experience with the device has been.
I bought a Vita about a year ago, probably around june or july. I played with it a bit as i bought Uncharted: Golden Abyss with it, and when i had beaten that i started to mess around with some of the other features. I tinkered with the remote play feature, and at a few points even used it to play some old PS1 games through the remote play on my vita. trying to get this feature to work in a public setting however is horrendously difficult, especially since the 3G version still has yet to come here to Canada, and probably won't at this point. (and even if it does it's data plans will be absolutely ridiculous because of our data monopoly)
Other than that i played a bit with near, some other social network features, and of course the free-to-play games that they had to release to tide people over. But so far, after a year of owning it, i seldomly use it. i've only ever played 3 games on it; Uncharted, Treasures of Montezuma, and Motorstorm RC (the latter two of which were free to download). whenever i do pick up my vita, i just play montezuma to compete scores with my brother and his girlfriend but that's about it. i recieved Ninja Gaiden as a gift for christmas and still haven't so much as started it once. I once took the vita with me somewhere to use the cameras on it, but when i hooked it up to my computer to loook at them, surprise surprise, the image is the same on the computer screen as it is on your vitas; incredibly low-res. which brings me to my next point, the synchronization -- OH CHRIST! trying to plug this into my computer and transfer files is too much of a hassle for me to want to put anything on the expensive, over-crowded memory card it has.
The thing is though, i love the vita, and i still do. it is a very interesting piece of technology, it performs very well (for the most part, i have had a few crashes randomly)and i think it has a lot of potential to be more than it is. It holds a parallel to the 3DS, in that it was hyped up, launched, got dismal sales, and then all attention was dropped towards in favor of the next big console. I'm standing here with my vita saying "what the fuck, i want more!". the games lineup is still mediocre, and not many apps and innovative ideas are being done with it.
TL;DR
VITA PROS:
- fast processing, quick interface
- applications for Facebook and Youtube are well-layed out and very comprehensive for a mobile device.
- more free-to-play games, with the possibility of more to come in the future.
- the motion-sensing, and touch pad mechanics in the games i've played so far (which keep in mind aren't many) are interesting ideas that bring a lot more to mobile gaming.
- Physically sturdy, i've dropped mine a million times. i ain't even mad.
VITA CONS:
- bad game library
- subject to random crashes (Blinking lights of death they're called, i've had to hard reset mine a few times)
- camera images are very low-res
- connectivity to other devices is a nightmare, taking me 6 times at one point to install the content manager on a new installation of windows.
- memory cards are ungodly priced, to this day i still only use a 4GB
- lack of adequate attention on Sony's part, i feel as if they promised more than they could deliver (large game lineup, certain titles coming to vita).
what was YOUR experience like?
I bought a Vita about a year ago, probably around june or july. I played with it a bit as i bought Uncharted: Golden Abyss with it, and when i had beaten that i started to mess around with some of the other features. I tinkered with the remote play feature, and at a few points even used it to play some old PS1 games through the remote play on my vita. trying to get this feature to work in a public setting however is horrendously difficult, especially since the 3G version still has yet to come here to Canada, and probably won't at this point. (and even if it does it's data plans will be absolutely ridiculous because of our data monopoly)
Other than that i played a bit with near, some other social network features, and of course the free-to-play games that they had to release to tide people over. But so far, after a year of owning it, i seldomly use it. i've only ever played 3 games on it; Uncharted, Treasures of Montezuma, and Motorstorm RC (the latter two of which were free to download). whenever i do pick up my vita, i just play montezuma to compete scores with my brother and his girlfriend but that's about it. i recieved Ninja Gaiden as a gift for christmas and still haven't so much as started it once. I once took the vita with me somewhere to use the cameras on it, but when i hooked it up to my computer to loook at them, surprise surprise, the image is the same on the computer screen as it is on your vitas; incredibly low-res. which brings me to my next point, the synchronization -- OH CHRIST! trying to plug this into my computer and transfer files is too much of a hassle for me to want to put anything on the expensive, over-crowded memory card it has.
The thing is though, i love the vita, and i still do. it is a very interesting piece of technology, it performs very well (for the most part, i have had a few crashes randomly)and i think it has a lot of potential to be more than it is. It holds a parallel to the 3DS, in that it was hyped up, launched, got dismal sales, and then all attention was dropped towards in favor of the next big console. I'm standing here with my vita saying "what the fuck, i want more!". the games lineup is still mediocre, and not many apps and innovative ideas are being done with it.
TL;DR
VITA PROS:
- fast processing, quick interface
- applications for Facebook and Youtube are well-layed out and very comprehensive for a mobile device.
- more free-to-play games, with the possibility of more to come in the future.
- the motion-sensing, and touch pad mechanics in the games i've played so far (which keep in mind aren't many) are interesting ideas that bring a lot more to mobile gaming.
- Physically sturdy, i've dropped mine a million times. i ain't even mad.
VITA CONS:
- bad game library
- subject to random crashes (Blinking lights of death they're called, i've had to hard reset mine a few times)
- camera images are very low-res
- connectivity to other devices is a nightmare, taking me 6 times at one point to install the content manager on a new installation of windows.
- memory cards are ungodly priced, to this day i still only use a 4GB
- lack of adequate attention on Sony's part, i feel as if they promised more than they could deliver (large game lineup, certain titles coming to vita).
what was YOUR experience like?
