Introducing the PlayStation Vita

[Lily]

It's finally here in North America -- the long awaited release of the PlayStation Vita. Join me over the next few days while I take an in-depth look at the system in a unique non-traditional review. This gargantuan piece of hardware needs an equally gargantuan amount of time to cover properly.

Watch this post -- it will continue to be updated as each section is added to the review!

[topic='321217']Day 1 -- The Initial Impression[/topic]

Day 2 -- The Memory Card

 

[paulfalcon]

My brother in law is getting his in 3 more hours. ^.^

 

[Another World]

its interesting but at this point i'd rather get a psp which is fully hacked. vita is an investment, especially when you consider their proprietary memory card. but i guess most gamers will view this as a possible ultimate solution, a psp/ps3/multimedia player in their pocket with a vivid touch screen.

i'm interested to hear how bloated their proprietary memory card software is and how it runs on older computers (say 1gb of ram, 1.3ghz, etc).

i grabbed the 3ds, saints row the 3rd, and uncharted 3 on launch day. i felt disappointed in one way or another by each. i think with the vita i'll really research it and try to get some hands-on time before making a decision.

-another world

 

[Lily]

its interesting but at this point i'd rather get a psp which is fully hacked. vita is an investment, especially when you consider their proprietary memory card. but i guess most gamers will view this as a possible ultimate solution, a psp/ps3/multimedia player in their pocket with a vivid touch screen.

i'm interested to hear how bloated their proprietary memory card software is and how it runs on older computers (say 1gb of ram, 1.3ghz, etc).

-another world

The Content Manager Assistant is a tiny program that sits in the system tray. Currently it's eating 5MB worth of RAM on my netbook. All it does is facilitate backing up and restoring data -- it's nothing like the previous Media Go. The only other thing you can use it for is to grab system updates via your PC while the Vita is connected.

 

[Hop2089]

I will be getting mine in 12 hours due to no midnight launch in my area.

 

[paulfalcon]

Heh, I'm no hacker but, when it comes to hardware, I love opening up the box and poking at all of it's little doo dads! Heh, that's what I'm so going to do... despite of this belonging to my brother-in-law. >.> Also, Lily-chan!!! Did you have to charge it before you can play with it?

 

[Lily]

Also, Lily-chan!!! Did you have to charge it before you can play with it?

Nope! It came at least partially charged -- we played around with it for about 4 hours without even taking the charger out of the box.

 

[EyeZ]

Wish i never read your Initial Impression Lily, I've been telling myself to hold off on getting the Vita, and now, after reading your article i'm starting to beat myself up over it

 

[paulfalcon]

Nice! I look forward to meddling with all of it's options. -grins evilly-

 

[Mythrix]

I bought mine in Hong Kong in the beginning of January. :3 That said, I didn't buy any other games besides Uncharted. It certainly seems to be quite powerful, the graphics in Uncharted were quite nice! But as always, whether the Vita will be "worth it" depends on the games it gets. I'm not really interested in any of the other games that are out now for the console.

I do plan to buy FFX once it's released for the Vita! I never bought a PS2 or 1 (or PS3 yet actually), so there are a few older games that I'd like to play, hopefully they will release more of them on the PSN Store.

 

[Satangel]

Nice post, looking forward to hear more! It's a real shame though they already stated PS2 isn't going to be natively supported, so that pretty much means no PS2 on PSV, ever....

 

[spotanjo3]

Not for me. Its nice design and sleek looking but not a good enough for me. Why ? There are not enough good games out there and the price is a little bit pricey. I dont want to waste my money over it. I am fine with many games I haven't played yet with PS3, Wii, and PSP. I am focus on them until they are finish. We should wait for next few years for better games to come. Wise decision is a important one. Right now, not thanks.

 

[.Chris]

It looks nice, I guess. The design and the controls. And plus it has a touch screen to add to the nice UI/GUI, whatever it's called. I'm more a Ninty fan
(Offtopic: lol, it came out on my birthday )

 

[Mr Slug]

i just held a vita in gamestation, and the nub sticks were both very loose :S is that correct on all vitas or is it just because it was a show vita? and the screen wasnt as big as i expected either not sure if its because its in the shop and not at home or not as i always think they look smaller in shop for some reason and when i get home i think yer this is cool size screen lol not bought one yet though will wait and see how well it does and let more games come out for it before i decide on that.

 

[Satangel]

The nub sticks are always that loose I think, it just takes some getting used to, nothing more.

 

[prowler]

Nice post, looking forward to hear more! It's a real shame though they already stated PS2 isn't going to be natively supported, so that pretty much means no PS2 on PSV, ever....

I don't see how this is a disappointment, I hate to compare it to the 3DS but do you see the 3DS running Gamecube games any time soon?

PS2 games are coming, obviously but they need to be ported just like PS2 PSN games.

 

[Hop2089]

I have my Vita and I have one word of advice for current and future owners, screen protectors you will need them.

 

[EyeZ]

I have my Vita and I have one word of advice for current and future owners, screen protectors you will need them.

oh! please give more detail

 

[BasedKiliK]

Some friends of mine have it. It feels really slick and left a good impression on me. The sticks were a bit weird, but nothing you can't get used to. I'm fine with my 3DS for a while though. Maybe this summer....

 

[p1ngpong]

Well I picked up my Vita today. Prior to buying it I had only seen pictures of it, as I sat it the car and took it out of the box my first reaction was "wow".

Its a monster in size and yet it feels really light and comfortable to hold. The screen is massive and absolutely stunning on it, I agree that the sticks feel kind of strange and a bit loose, but other than that I can not fault anything in its design. And I hate to say it, because despite the fact that I love my 3DS, in comparison to the Vita the 3DS just seems really clunky and badly designed. The 3DS just isn't in the same league as the Vita as a piece of modern technology.

So far everybody I know who has a Vita has raved about its excellence. And I fully agree with them. Make no mistake about it, the Vita is one of the slickest and most glorious pieces of consumer electronics I have ever seen or used.