Ben-DutkaThe majority of Sony's TGS 2011 press conference centered on the PlayStation Vita, but that's not a bad thing.
If you weren't in the audience, here's what you missed:
Firstly, the Vita will launch in Japan on December 17. The first 500,000 3G models will come with a data plan included and 100 free hours, and at the Tokyo Game Show, 31 games will be available to sample on 80 Vita units scattered around the show floor. That oughta be fun.
Secondly, Sony is coming heavily with the games. They will have no less than 26 titles for the Japanese launch, and over 100 should be available by March 2012. The launch lineup includes games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss , Wipeout 2048 , and Ninja Gaiden , and Japanese fans can pre-order the Vita as of October 15. With the specific mention of March, some are thinking that's when Sony's new portable will hit store shelves in North America and Europe.
Thirdly and lastly, Sony says they're considering special downloadable versions of UMD-only titles for the Vita. There's nothing official right now, but we expect to hear more news in the coming months. And that's that. The conference is over and I'm going to bed. Thanks to all for sticking with us; as always, we were one of the first to deliver all the major news within minutes of the stage announcements.
Catch y'all tomorrow.
Nighty night, sweet dreams about Vita and knowing you'll get it before all of us!
Holy poop, that's a ton of games! At least their vita launch looks incredibly better than the 3ds' launch
Hi:
Thanks for the info, Ben. I'm waiting to see some new videos for PS Vita. For now, lets see what UMD games they bring back. I don't like the idea to re-buying but, I haven't finished LocoRoco yet.
Red 5.
Is there any reason yet not to buy the PlayStation Vita? It's got my minimum requirements all checked and some other cool stuff to go along with it. I'm just waiting now for the official release in my country (I'm now more determined to buy the 3G+WiFi version).
I'll buy the 3G version so long as it's not locked to a specific network, and doesn't come with a mandatory plan.
You'll need AT&T for the 3G model in the States.
It may be a long shot since Sony announced that they're partnering with AT&T, but I still hope that it will not be provider-locked in my country as our unlimited data plans in here are not too bad. For about $25 a month, that's already unlimited internet access from any device (I assume the Vita would not be an exception). Keeping my fingers crossed!
I know that they are initially partnering with AT&T. But, what I won't do is buy a Vita 3G model that is vendor locked to AT&T. What id Verizon or Sprint offer service as well, and I bought a Vita locked to AT&T? Screw that.
If they're locked to a carrier, I'm sticking to Wi-Fi.
That's what I'm hoping for as well. Sony may have partnered with AT&T but maybe, just maybe, they won't make the Vita itself locked. If that's the case I'll probably just import the US version of the Vita when it gets there. My PSP and PS3 are from the US anyway. And all of my games are R1 too, save for two or three that are R3.
Last edited by ZettaiSeigi on 9/15/2011 12:13:30 AM
Please let the 3G data plan in my country be a decent provider that isn't overly expensive after the free hours are over *crosses fingers*.
But do I really have to wait another half a year to buy it? I want it NOW!
26 games for the Japanese launch? Over a hundred by the likely American/European launch?! Holy crap. With a reasonable price, such an incredible line-up and all the features, what's the point in waiting to get this thing?
Now, I hope that Telstra are the 3G suppliers here, because Optus is only mediocre around these parts and Vodafone sucks.
Funny you said that. I once was a QA for Telstra. LOL
In that case, tell someone to hook it up so I can get broadband at home. Dial-up is too slow and 3G is too expensive!
But what a coinky-dink >.>
f*ck no!
if telstra are the 3G charges it will be priced through the roof!
i use to be with them, but switched to optus because they offered me DOUBLE my download usage, a faster connection and a faster download speed when i go over for the same price!
O, not to mention they dont count uploads towards your limit, only telstra does that.
theres a reason why people call telstra the M$ of the ISP industry.
Agree that Optus are a better supplier in terms of value, but I can't get bugger all reception from them 'round these parts. The only service provider that's any good is Telstra, which annoys the ever loving crap out of me, because they do charge way too much.
Lawless, you don't have broadband at home? O_O And oh, I used to work for them but not anymore. That was a little less than three years ago. Haha!
really?
i use their 3G dongles every couple of months when i go visit the family in bathurst because theres no ADSL access and its been working perfectly for me all the time.
vodafone are certainly useless, even when im in the city where all the radio towers are i struggle to get a single bar of reception!
optus though i have found to be just as reliable and available as telstra at half the price!
Zetta, ergo why I don't have my PS3 online. It actually is annoying as hell, but hopefully that'll be remedied by the NBN rollout. Ah well, it was worth a try.
Anon, I'd say you're lucky on that one. I'd give just about anything to be free from the BS of Telstra.
not bad not bad at all.
wonder if there will be english dialogue in the games or not for people who want to import it.
apparently its fully region free so any games will work on it, so as long as you can set the language in the system menu and play all the games in english there should be no problems.
wonder if you will be able to connect to PSN with it in other regions, or if only the JP one will be available.
This isn't going to be good. If there'll be so many launch titles, they should expect low sales for each. There no way one consumer is going to buy over 5 of those games during launch. Some of them are just ports from ps3 games anyway. It seems Sony learned from ps3s launch lack of games, but having more games than you need could have an opposite effect. it don't need 100 games when its not even released and all this strong support will likely burn out. I'll be surprised if it lasts five months. Does Sony expect to sell over 10 million units on the first day? I'm not.being negative, but overestimating what the vita can do could end up killing it.
Last edited by The Doom on 9/14/2011 8:39:07 AM
People can get the games they want first on launch day then grab the others a bit lower on their priority list at a later time. It shouldn't immediately spell disaster, I think. And this is Japan we're looking at. They have equal appreciation for the blockbuster titles and the weird, quirky titles that don't necessarily get noticed in the west.
OK, hold on. Traditionally people whine that there are not sufficient launch titles and that a platform has too small a library to be a success. the clear implication that strong developer and publisher support with many launch times and more to come is necessary for success. I mean that was one of the sticks with which the PSP was beaten for the first 18 months of it's life.
Yet here you are complaining that there are too many games at launch? Sorry, I think my irony meter exploded.
I don't think I've been this excited for a console/handheld launch in a long time. The onslaught of games is just mind-boggling. I was considering getting the 3G but after seeing the pricing structure for the Japanese version, I'm starting to not care for it as much. Either way, the Vita is looking to be one hell of a beastly machine.
i can see nintendo fans drooling over this
Well, considering the chunk-o-tastic dual stick add-on for the 3DS, they ought to be drooling. LOL! Apparently the rumor is that there will be a new dual stick 3DS SKU, and the big 'n bulky adapter might be given away with cornflakes for free to early adopters (what they are calling the poor saps that paid full price for the 3DS).
Given the consistent grilling of the PSP over it having a single stick, I cannot understand why Nintendo stuck with a single stick on the 3DS in the first place…
Downloadable versions of UMD only games sounds a lot like the way the ISO's of PS1 games get re-packaged for PSN. I really hope that they do it this time, unlike what happened with the PSP-Go.
Either way, all I need now is a US date.
Sweet, sounds good for a March release date for the US.
Hopefully there will be enough in stock for everybody.
There is a story in the Norwegian media today (on NRK, the national broadcaster) where they express disappointment about how the batteries in the Vita only will last for 3 hours of gaming? Is this true or did they misunderstand/misinterpret something? I don't remember if I've read about this earlier.
Last edited by Beamboom on 9/14/2011 3:11:31 PM
Battery life is rated at about the same as the PSP and 3DS, 3 to 5 hours depending on use. As always it's a trade off between weight and power. It would seem that weight overrode power capacity and a smaller battery is included. However, I should point out – before anyone throws a hissy fit – that if I open the browser on my Droid and simply brows the net for an hour, I can burn through 60% of the battery, even if the screen is not exceptionally bright. Not to mention, the things turns into a hand warmer. So, I'm not at all surprised or perturbed. Not to mention, we had numerous discussions about battery life about 6 months ago, and I was definitely of the opinion that this thing would have a battery life in the region of 4 hours simply because the rated battery life of a PSP is about 4 hours, and even doubling the size of the battery, I couldn't see how it would power the quad core CPU and quad core GPU along with the larger brighter screen for more than about 4 hours since the power requirements of the chips themselves are much more than double the consumption of the original PSP CPU/GPU. The more efficient OLED screen helps, but this battery duration is more or less what I expected.
I'd bet that if you play music with the screen off, it lasts a lot longer because it can put all but one CPU core to sleep and all but one GPU core to sleep. Both CPU and GPU have the ability to dynamically adjust their clock and turn off cores that are not in use to save power. However playing a game, the battery life will be between 3 and 5 hours.
It really is important to put things in their proper context. Thanks Highlander, for pointing that out. I wasn't bothered by what may seem as a short battery life for the Vita.
For its power alone, 3 to 5 gaming hours is respectable. Did they say if that's when gaming online/wireless? I was hoping that the battery would be swappable, but the only thing that would save me is not bringing a charger along. And guess what? I always have a charger with me anyway.
So yeah, that doesn't scare me from buying the Vita on day one.
The claimed life seems to vary depending on network activity, screen brightness and presumably how 'heavy' a game is on the CPU/GPU too. The battery is not a removable one like the PSP's battery, so there's no swapping it for a replacement, and no Pandora either. On the other hand, I bet you'll be able to buy an external battery pack from a third party, and as you point out – carry a charger (or USB cable…)
Besides if I am going too settle in for an extended gaming session, I'm unlikely to use my PSP, so why would I worry about Vita's battery life either?
too many launch titles…
i got at least 10 games i want to buy from the list…