PS Vita Hardware Impressions

[RaychelSnr]

Our editors Chris Sanner and Dustin Toms as well as staff writer Bishop Tart share their impressions of the PS Vita hardware thus far, look for launch title reviews starting tomorrow!

Read More - PS Vita Hardware Impressions

[Acedeck]

Price is going to be the biggest barrier for myself, as I'm sure will be the case for many others. The idea of a console experience coming from such a small device is extremely intriguing. However, price of the system, as well as the games, will deter many. With apps on mobile devices and tablets costing mostly in the $0.99 to $4.99 range, dropping $50 for a mobile game seems absolutely outrageously expensive. I hesitate to even spend anything over $10 on my iPad or smart phone. Granted, the experience is significantly more full featured on the Vita, it's still a huge hurdle to get past the prices.

MLB: The Show alone is enough to interest me in this new handheld, and I'm really liking the hardware from the sounds of it. I'll probably get around to buying one, eventually. I want to support advancements in gaming, such as this new technology. As much as I enjoy those apps in the app store, they are essentially just there for short spurts of entertainment while on the go. The Vita is a full gaming experience.

[DetroitStyle]

Yep, this was exactly my thoughts in my blog. The cost-benefit of owning a PS Vita just isn't there. Picking up a new 360 or PS3 for LESS than the vita just speaks for itself. Also, the games are way over priced. $40 max for a top tier game (such as uncharted). Also, not having any top sellers at launch is going to kill it's initial sales. Just the show and uncharted are the only ones worth while from what I can tell. The smart move would be to play the waiting game and wait for the big price drops. Remember, Sony has always been notorious for over pricing their products at launch.

[Retropyro]

With the Wii U coming out this holiday season and a new Xbox possibly next year, I can't justify dropping a minimum of $620 to get the full experiance. Especially when I play games the majority of the time at home and would prefer to be on my 360 or PS3.

[ebugaloo]

I disagree on the pricing bit. Sure, it's expensive now compared to full-size consoles, but that's what happens at launch. XBox 360 was $400 at launch with the hard drive. PS3 was $500 for the 20 GB model. Pricing will come down over time as the manufacturer gains scale with parts and process.

The other relevant factor is that Vita's pricing, when announced, came in below expectations. People were expecting at least $300.

If you don't want it at this price, that's your decision. If you have the means now, though, you're only thought should be whether you believe you can get your incremental money's worth out of the system before a $50 (probably) price drop later this year. For me, I'm going to play the crap out of FIFA and MLB the Show in that time period, so it's worth it to me.

[addybojangles]

Only one day with this thing, but I LOVE it.

It's my personal Hot Shots Golf machine, but when The Show hits, oh baby...

[VladCanada]

I'll buy it down the road when it's cheaper. I just hope it doesn't get hacked so developers keep putting out quality games for it.

[Sublime12089]

Not being able to do anything with my UMDs and the overall price are making me wait. I may reconsider with a price drop or with a solid bundle (The Show?)

[Nexgenrulz]

Re: PS Vita Hardware Impressions

Yep, this was exactly my thoughts in my blog. The cost-benefit of owning a PS Vita just isn't there. Picking up a new 360 or PS3 for LESS than the vita just speaks for itself. Also, the games are way over priced. $40 max for a top tier game (such as uncharted). Also, not having any top sellers at launch is going to kill it's initial sales. Just the show and uncharted are the only ones worth while from what I can tell. The smart move would be to play the waiting game and wait for the big price drops. Remember, Sony has always been notorious for over pricing their products at launch.

I wonder if people would be saying this if it was an Apple product.

[bluengold34_OS]

Well after owning the Vita for 10 days now, I feel like it was a bargain at that price. I can play games that look beautiful and replicate what you see on a PS3, watch Netflix, check Twitter, check Facebook, browse the net and party chat with people on my friends list......not to mention many other things. This is just my opinion though=)

Sent from my SGH-i917 using Board Express

[GlennN]

Not being able to do anything with my UMDs and the overall price are making me wait. I may reconsider with a price drop or with a solid bundle (The Show?)

I'm with you. I'll wait until I can replace my PSP gaming experience (I don't want to be carrying around 2 systems), and I can definately wait for a price cut. I'd also like to make sure there will be a football and hockey game, and a GTA and/or Burnout type game. Yeah, no rush for me.

[djcorrosive]

Absolutely love the Vita so far with one exception....You can only use one PSN account per machine. This is no big deal for most, but if you've downloaded Vita or PSP games to your PS3 with a different account than the one on your Vita you are SOL. I have many PSP games I want to transfer to the VIta from my Japanese account, but can't do it. Even though the PSP used only one PSN account you could still transfer games from other accounts on your PS3. Again, not a big deal for most, but something to consider if this applies to you, especially families with multiple PSN accounts. Maybe it could be changed in a future firmware release but doubt it.

[TheHammer19]

I'm waiting for it to go under the $200 mark...

[JohnDoe8865]

I played Virtua Tennis 4 on a Vita that they had on a kiosk at my local Gamestop, and even though the game probably doesn't push the system at all, the experience of the whole thing was just great! The graphics were truly impressive. I love the Vita after just playing it for less than 1 hour on a kiosk. I can't afford one right now, but when I can, I'll be buying one.

It'll be the first handheld gaming system that I've owned. What really pushes it over the top? I don't have a PS3 and I would love to play The Show and some other Playstation exclusives.

The ability to play games that look as amazing as the games I demoed on a portable device is just awesome. My previous experience with handhelds consisted of GBAs, the original DS (which I liked but never seriously considered purchasing), and the original PSP.

The Vita is absolutely killer compared to those systems.

[Blzer]

Re: PS Vita Hardware Impressions

Absolutely love the Vita so far with one exception....You can only use one PSN account per machine. This is no big deal for most, but if you've downloaded Vita or PSP games to your PS3 with a different account than the one on your Vita you are SOL. I have many PSP games I want to transfer to the VIta from my Japanese account, but can't do it. Even though the PSP used only one PSN account you could still transfer games from other accounts on your PS3. Again, not a big deal for most, but something to consider if this applies to you, especially families with multiple PSN accounts. Maybe it could be changed in a future firmware release but doubt it.

Can you, say, activate your Japanese account and download those PSP games on your Vita memory card, then deactivate it and activate your U.S. account, and still keep those PSP games on your memory card? Or is that not possible?