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The PlayStation Vita never really got its chance to shine in terms of popularity, with initial supporters quick to abandon it, followed shortly by being left behind by Sony itself. However, pre-production hardware is a topic that can unite even those who weren't fans of the Vita. For those that enjoy prototype video game systems and have a lot of money to burn, this PlayStation Vita development unit might just be for you. We first saw this "slider" prototype a few years back, when a user on assemblergames got a hold of one and posted a video, showing the differences between it and a normal retail Vita. The most notable features were that the prototype used normal sized SD cards, rather than the controversial and costly proprietary memory cards, and that it slid upwards to reveal its face buttons, much like the prior PSP Go.

This development unit has resurfaced once more, with new pictures giving us another look at the original design. A seller by the name of vandalsgames has put it up for sale, for the low, low price of $19,999.00. On the auction page, the seller claims that it's a DEM-3000H84 unit on firmware 0.990, and it comes with the original power supply, an HDMI cable for the HDMI out function, and the power supply, as the prototype lacks a battery.

This is it. This is the rarest and most sought after PlayStation Vita hardware ever. This is the famous PS Vita Prototype that was has been leaked and discussed all over the web in 2014-2015.

The system is in very good shape given the nature of prototype hardware. It's fully functional and the original SD card with development files are still on there. The HDMI video out feature works perfectly. The system doesn't have a built-in internal battery, as a result, it needs a power supply source to operate.

Source: eBay
Source: Assemblergames video

 

[DANTENDO]

i keep seeing comments on what if they had standard sd cards... NO, it would not have saved the vita, the vita was a trash console with flawed everything. The games for it weren't good at all, and the performance of those games had a lot of shortcomings. Plus when you played in the dark there were a ton of black splotches on the screen.

https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/best-ps-vita-games/ go buy a vita and those games then comment again

 

[wurstpistole]

I offered three fiddy and it was declined

 

[gameboy]

The Vita is easily one of my favourite portables of all time, it was very well-designed. There's a number of reasons why it failed, but the hardware itself isn't one of them.

As for the prototype, it's very interesting and matches the early leaked photos of the system, including the Go-style slider. I hope someone purchases and preserves it for future generations, it deserves to be cared for.

Wtf are you talking about, i still use my vita to this day a lot. It has a great library of games

the design was trash, the touch pad at the back didnt help at all and the 576p screen made zero sense because you could see that a lot of games were being stretched to fit. I also owned the PSV before any of the major hacking stuff came out and wifi was a lot slower back then too. Any time you tried to log into youtube the damn thing had a full firmware release that needed to be downloaded and installed to just enjoy little videos. Im rating my PSV experience from around mid 2012-early 2014. I had a lot of the games for it but those games just werent that good and i got rid of the console about a year and a half after purchase. none of the games even came close to a Crisis Core, GTA stories, GoW psp, or Ratchet and Clank series.

 

[kumikochan]

the design was trash, the touch pad at the back didnt help at all and the 576p screen made zero sense because you could see that a lot of games were being stretched to fit. I also owned the PSV before any of the major hacking stuff came out and wifi was a lot slower back then too. Any time you tried to log into youtube the damn thing had a full firmware release that needed to be downloaded and installed to just enjoy little videos. Im rating my PSV experience from around mid 2012-early 2014. I had a lot of the games for it but those games just werent that good and i got rid of the console about a year and a half after purchase. none of the games even came close to a Crisis Core, GTA stories, GoW psp, or Ratchet and Clank series.

I guess you didn't play freedom wars, shinobido 2, muramasa rebirth despite also having the lesser version on the wii, oreshika tainted bloodlines, ys memories of celceta, sayonara, fantasy hero unsigned legacy, tales of heart R, new little kings story, soul sacrifice etc. I can go on and on but i'm pretty sure you haven't played any of these games

 

[gnmmarechal]

You know what would be hilarious? Is if if someone genuinely was stupid enough to pay 20K only for the thing to not work

Again, complain and get a refund. It's eBay. It's not that hard.

 

[AngeloftheNight091]

Too bad the production vitas didnt use regular sd cards

 

[AlexMCS]

the design was trash, the touch pad at the back didnt help at all and the 576p screen made zero sense because you could see that a lot of games were being stretched to fit. I also owned the PSV before any of the major hacking stuff came out and wifi was a lot slower back then too. Any time you tried to log into youtube the damn thing had a full firmware release that needed to be downloaded and installed to just enjoy little videos. Im rating my PSV experience from around mid 2012-early 2014. I had a lot of the games for it but those games just werent that good and i got rid of the console about a year and a half after purchase. none of the games even came close to a Crisis Core, GTA stories, GoW psp, or Ratchet and Clank series.

The back touchpad was a terrible decision, yes, but the rest of the design is pretty much perfect.
Other than that, it's FULLY backwards compatible with the PSP, so you could simply trade your PSP for it and have a MUCH better experience, since the Analog sticks are WAY better than the analog crap the PSP had.
And the original Vita's AMOLED screen is so damn beautiful. Even the Switch, half a decade later can't match the color vibrance (actually, the contrast quality) of the Vita's screen.
Other than the games mentioned earlier, you also had enhanced ports from some PS3 games, like the Disgaeas.

The reason Vita did not work out was because of Sony's lack of interest, and it alone.
Quite a few exclusive games would have made Vita a blast, since it had 0 competition on the higher res. portable market.
It needed a GTA/CoD for the FPS gamers. It needed a new, traditional Breath of Fire, Wild Arms for RPG players.
I bet if they at least kept churning out even PS2 ports to the Vita, it would have fared a lot better, since PSP lacked a lot of good PS2 games.

Up to this day, there are a TON of PS2 games, mostly RPGs, I'd buy a portable port of in a heartbeat that simply are not available.

In summary - Sony killed Vita with a ton of bad decisions, but the worst was abandoning it, software-wise.

 

[Foxi4]

the design was trash, the touch pad at the back didnt help at all and the 576p screen made zero sense because you could see that a lot of games were being stretched to fit. I also owned the PSV before any of the major hacking stuff came out and wifi was a lot slower back then too. Any time you tried to log into youtube the damn thing had a full firmware release that needed to be downloaded and installed to just enjoy little videos. Im rating my PSV experience from around mid 2012-early 2014. I had a lot of the games for it but those games just werent that good and i got rid of the console about a year and a half after purchase. none of the games even came close to a Crisis Core, GTA stories, GoW psp, or Ratchet and Clank series.

I can see your point when it comes to the screen, it's technically low resolution, but it was the early days of OLED. It was praised, even at the time, for unparalleled colour reproduction. I've never seen the stretching issue, perhaps it's mire visible on ports. I suppose it's entirely a matter of taste, there's no denying that the Vita was a big wasted opportunity and Sony definitely failed to wrangle market share away from the otherwise dominant Nintendo.

 

[fmhugo]

normal SD card
Not for sale

 

[kumikochan]

I can see your point when it comes to the screen, it's technically low resolution, but it was the early days of OLED. It was praised, even at the time, for unparalleled colour reproduction. I've never seen the stretching issue, perhaps it's mire visible on ports. I suppose it's entirely a matter of taste, there's no denying that the Vita was a big wasted opportunity and Sony definitely failed to wrangle market share away from the otherwise dominant Nintendo.

well i do get where he gets the stretching from since he was also talking about the vita tv. I have a hacked vita tv and sometimes switch my sd card over to the vita tv but it does stretch quite bad when using the vita tv and gets all blurry and pixelated

 

[gameboy]

The back touchpad was a terrible decision, yes, but the rest of the design is pretty much perfect.
Other than that, it's FULLY backwards compatible with the PSP, so you could simply trade your PSP for it and have a MUCH better experience, since the Analog sticks are WAY better than the analog crap the PSP had.
And the original Vita's AMOLED screen is so damn beautiful. Even the Switch, half a decade later can't match the color vibrance (actually, the contrast quality) of the Vita's screen.
Other than the games mentioned earlier, you also had enhanced ports from some PS3 games, like the Disgaeas.

The reason Vita did not work out was because of Sony's lack of interest, and it alone.
Quite a few exclusive games would have made Vita a blast, since it had 0 competition on the higher res. portable market.
It needed a GTA/CoD for the FPS gamers. It needed a new, traditional Breath of Fire, Wild Arms for RPG players.
I bet if they at least kept churning out even PS2 ports to the Vita, it would have fared a lot better, since PSP lacked a lot of good PS2 games.

Up to this day, there are a TON of PS2 games, mostly RPGs, I'd buy a portable port of in a heartbeat that simply are not available.

In summary - Sony killed Vita with a ton of bad decisions, but the worst was abandoning it, software-wise.

the oled screen was really overrated and i owned a lot of games for it: gravity rush, toukoden, ratchet clank trilogy, lbp, tearaway, tales, sly cooper, uncharted, metal gear, psn+, etc etc many more games. Its the only console i went mostly legit on and it is the worse experience ive ever had with console or handheld. I wouldnt even consider getting one if it was hacked with a sd card mod honestly.

 

[kumikochan]

the oled screen was really overrated and i owned a lot of games for it: gravity rush, toukoden, ratchet clank trilogy, lbp, tearaway, tales, sly cooper, uncharted, metal gear, psn+, etc etc many more games. Its the only console i went mostly legit on and it is the worse experience ive ever had with console or handheld. I wouldnt even consider getting one if it was hacked with a sd card mod honestly.

You didn't mention one of the games i said. But i get that that is your opinion but you're one of the very few with that opinion

 

[darkmolddd]

like the prototype better than original vita and similar to PSP-GO

Are u just kidding no????!!!!!!!!!! better for whar???!!!!! no for my wrist and hands, that for sure. Ps vita better portable ever designed by far. I will buy a new portable only if its a copy of this one. I have a age...

 

[gameboy]

You didn't mention one of the games i said. But i get that that is your opinion but you're one of the very few with that opinion

dude if i had kept it long enough to when it got hacked i wouldve tried some of those other games but all the games i bougt physical because of the mem card thing and the wifi on it just sucked really bad alongside the multiplayer and online and all the multimedia stuf f and the psn store was dreadful

 

[Deleted User]

I'm practically scamming myself with this offer.

 

[vanrocka90]

i keep seeing comments on what if they had standard sd cards... NO, it would not have saved the vita, the vita was a trash console with flawed everything. The games for it weren't good at all, and the performance of those games had a lot of shortcomings. Plus when you played in the dark there were a ton of black splotches on the screen.

I thought it was just my handheld that had the black blotches under the plastic on the screen lol. figured previous owner dropped it or maybe even had the screen replaced. lol good to kno

 

[kumikochan]

I thought it was just my handheld that had the black blotches under the plastic on the screen lol. figured previous owner dropped it or maybe even had the screen replaced. lol good to kno

It's a thing with early oled screens. All early oled screens have those black spots but it's still way better compared to lcd

 

[KingVamp]

I think if they would have made it slightly bigger for better controls, I would have prefer this design.

I bet a million dollars (jk) ps5 will be like switch

I doubt it. I mean, they could make a portable that just happens to play the same games, but a 2 in 1 isn't going to happen.

 

[isoboy]

Very nice of the seller to include a HDMI cable.

 

[Foxi4]

well i do get where he gets the stretching from since he was also talking about the vita tv. I have a hacked vita tv and sometimes switch my sd card over to the vita tv but it does stretch quite bad when using the vita tv and gets all blurry and pixelated

Well yeah, it's qHD versus full HD. There will be some pixelation once the screen is stretched to 1080p, but it shouldn't be malformed as the aspect ratio is the same - 16:9. That is, unless you run it on an exotic display of some kind.