Ben-DutkaOh sure, it's quite the advanced piece of equipment. It can do all sorts of cool things.
And all those features have been highlighted and pored over a thousand times in the past few months. But what will strike gamers most of all is – wait for it – the games. And as we at PSXE have come to learn over the past week, the launch lineup for Sony's new portable is about to make a very strong statement.
Not only is the quality of these handheld productions impressively high, but the variety is there as well. Just about any kind of gamer can find at least a few titles that appeal to him (or her): for the action/adventure fans, there's Uncharted: Golden Abyss , for those who want a pure, high-adrenaline racing rush, there's Wipeout 2048 , and for the platforming peeps who find fewer and fewer titles on store shelves, there's the artistically amazing Rayman Origins . And we still say just about anyone can have fun with Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational . It's just impossible not to like.
But it doesn't end there. No, we haven't even made it halfway through our stack of Vita games. There's more racing in Asphalt Injection , strategy with a dose of dark action in Army Corps of Hell , the kooky and always entertaining Touch My Katamari , a top-notch fighter in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 , a likely sports gem in FIFA Soccer , what should be a great puzzler in Lumines: Electronic Symphony , the Tenchu -like Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen , rhythm fun in Michael Jackson: The Experience , and even old-school dungeon-crawling RPG entertainment in Dungeon Hunter Alliance .
Is it the very best launch lineup in PlayStation history? Very likely. It might even be the best starting lineup in console history, period. We're not about to make that judgment with so many more reviews to conduct but right now, we're pretty damn happy with the result. And hopefully, these titles will do all the talking required today; tech-y stuff is cool, but remember, the PlayStation Vita is for gamers .
And in that respect, it seems to succeed beautifully.
I'm like 10 and a half hrs. away from picking up mine and still haven't decided what game I want to pick up first yet.
Gravity Rush.
According to Amazon, Gravity Rush has a project release date of May 29th. Would've been my 3rd pick for launch titles if it were, though.
gravity rush got delayed, because of localization issues.
which is why the demo for HK had english, but the full release is chinese only they did not have enough time to have it for launch.
shame, id definitely be the first game i pick up, the demo was freaking amazing!
Hi:
So, do you suggest "Rayman Origins and Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational" as two Must Have Games? I want to buy two games and one as a gift.. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, I guess.
Red 5.
I'd say Rayman and Uncharted are the two top titles for everyone, and then there's Wipeout 2048.
Hot Shots is great, but it really helps if you're a fan of the series.
just beat uncharted: golden Abyss pick it up great game couldn't put it down, and i just found out with the vita if u don't plan to update past any F/W its not like the ps3 you can still use the store,web, friends,sync trophy data,ect.. but you can not use the friend chat and near functions those are the only restricted apps if you choose not to download for homebrews or anything you might wanna do. just throwing that info out there
OK…
The firmware update we got was a day 1 update, so there's no way in heck that it will restrict access to anything. So to draw a conclusion that a failure to install future official firmware will not restrict you is shortsighted at best and delusional at worst. The truth is that there's no way that Sony are going to permit casually cracked devices onto PSN. They way you phrase it it sounds like a 100% confirmed fact and yet I can't envisage anything that would lead to Sony saying that future firmware will not include security measures to prevent unauthorized access.
After the trouble that Sony went to with PSP and PS3 firmware and with the steps they have taken with respect to encryption and secure activations, I just can't think of a reason why they'd leave PSN open to an attack via a cracked Vita.
As for just throwing the info out there, you might as well throw it under the bus since it has as much validity as every piece of rumor and speculation yet written about Sony products.
ESCAPE PLAN not to many ppl have talked about it but i would have to say WOW great game and fun to play and very addictive!!!!!!
My damned GS didn't do a midnight launch like I was hoping it would.
When I asked why, he said there were only 17 preorders(or 18 counting mine), so he couldn't justify all that overtime.
DAMN, only 17 preorders, that's pretty shabby.
Oh, I wanted it, so this "Gamer of One" is getting it.
Not sure if I'm going to do the B2-G1F deal or not, but I do know that I'm going to get Uncharted & a $50 Sony card so I can also get Escape Plan & maybe some other PS3/PSP games on sale too, for 2/3's off like Swarm & Blacklight Tango Down and Rocketbirds for only $5.99 by way of my PS3 messages form the PSN. They've been sending me an awful lot of individual game offers the last couple of month
Just wish all the D/L's I want were all on disc too, damnit!!!
Exact same story with my GameStop. There are 5 in town, so I hope each store got at least as many pre-orders as mine.
OMG just had to share this with you guys!!!!! i just picked up a 3G vita with a 16 gb mem card, the vita case, uncharted golden abyss, marvel vs capcom 3, lumines, and little deviants for 300 bux! beat that deal! WOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Did that fall off of the back of a truck? LOL 😛 Good job, very frugal for release date.
no no no, no funny business but craigslist can be quite useful at times.
pretty much scored right their, good job.
Damn it… an amazing score! Well done!
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
I'm going to pick my vita up at midnight.
Just opened mine up, bout to see if all this was worth it. (Which im sure it was)
Yeah I'm messing around with mines right now it's pretty neat huh.
I'll be picking up mine as soon as I get out of the doctoer's office tomorrow morning. VITA FTW!
im getting more and more worried about this.
as i said yesterday only having vita content as preorder is just ridiculous!
and cancelling midnight launches 2 days prior?
and leaving it till a few days before launch to announce bigw, kmart and target, 3 of the biggest retailers wont even be stocking it!
yeah, not exactly shaping up well and its not even out yet!
i always said the vita will flop so hard, but they did not have to prove it to me!
oh well, not even jesus christ could save $ony now!
R.I.P to what was the best electronic company in the world!
Why are you such a douche?
You're off your medication again.
Looolll Ben… that was just too classic for words!
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Dude, step away from the crack pipe.
It's interesting, I read a review of Vita at the largest Norwegian gaming site today.
He basically thought Sony should have focused *more* on making this a games machine and only that, and not even try to pretend it was anything else. He were not at all impressed with the other applications that came with it.
All in all the review were OK, he praised the quality of the screen and graphics.
But were less enthusiastic about the proprietary stuff, to put it mildly. In addition to the memory card even the USB cable is proprietary and has to be made by Sony (according to the reviewer), and that was not well received.
Last edited by Beamboom on 2/22/2012 9:19:05 AM
Sounds like someone predisposed not to like it in the first place.
It can't be more about games. It just isn't possible. It's also completely meaningless to review a piece of hardware and not say games are the most important element.
Well, I can only tell what he wrote of course, but he thought the other software (I assume he mean facebook, web browser etc) were too little and too weak to make anyone want to use it anyway, the user interface less intuitive than the competition, too limited storage capacity for movies and music, ergo Sony should just skip all that and make it a 100% games machine and nothing else.
He also called the software/account system a "DRM hysteria", the lack of default storage capacity and proprietary memory cards as a big mistake, saying "it looks like Sony created this machine five years ago and refused to realise the market has changed since then".
He summarise it as a "modern day Game Boy" who will mainly only appeal to PS3 gamers and gadget freaks.
That said, he *do* speak warmly about Vita as a portable gaming machine, the sturdy feeling of the hardware and the excellent screen.
However he also said that while playing he could not fully shake the feeling that "this would have been cooler to play on the PS3".
So there you have it, that's the verdict from one of the major Norwegian reviews in a nutshell. Take it for whatever it's worth. I am merely the messenger. 🙂
Last edited by Beamboom on 2/22/2012 12:02:55 PM
I'll take it that he's dead flat wrong in his analysis and like too many people, seem to think the Vita is in competition with smartphones and tablets.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion but people like that irritate me. It's a games machine. You compare it to other portable game machines, like the 3DS. When you do that correctly and objectively, everything changes.
I mean, I'm sorry, but you have to disqualify anyone who calls the Vita a "modern day Gameboy." That's…idiotic. In all respects.
Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 2/22/2012 12:18:04 PM
Beamboom,
Here's an Vita tech article you might find more enlightening…
Check out this IndustryGamer(dot)biz(UK) article that just came out today on Digital Foundry's "Tech Focus: The Power of PlayStation Vita"
And except for a bit of negativity towards the Vita's memory cards & it's browser, the rest of the article is pretty much a glowing report & review on the Vita.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/digitalfoundry-the-power-of-playstation-vita
A second of the larger Norwegian games media has published their review too.
No rating, but essentially I'd say it's more positive overall. Not ecstatic, calling it a niche product too, but at least it reviews it as such. Main concerns are the memory cards and also question if "the niche for this product will be too small for the major games devs", voicing concern about the future software support.
What's weirder is that none of the non-game-specific media has given the launch any attention at all – not even a story, let alone any review.
Not that I'd expect a huge bang, but I'd expect it to at least be noted…
Last edited by Beamboom on 2/22/2012 2:17:19 PM
Beamboom: They won't because again, it isn't a smartphone or tablet. It is NOT a gadget. Of course it's "niche." It's for gamers and that's that.
There's no doubt that it should come with a memory card. And storage capacity could've been higher. But we're talking about a portable machine designed for video games, not for the bored techies who think apps are something special.
Well, these are game sites, not general gadget/tech sites. Anyhow, that's pretty much it from the Norwegian press!
Since when is being compared to gameboy a bad thing?
Wasn't the game boy a massively popular, well received portable gaming device? Didn't it shape the future of portable gaming?
Regardless of the meaning, I don't appreciate a beloved part of my childhood being used as a technological insult.
No I didn't really read it as an insult either… That's Bens interpolation.
and to make things worse, i just got a text from EB saying ninja gaiden sigma, shinbido 2 and MVC3 will not be stocked.
and GAME are not stocking those, and all ubisoft titles!
dear lord, the vitas already dead and its not even out yet!
this has got to be the worst launch a product has ever had here!
Your words are like your name, they mean nothing…….
oh and Im loving my new Vita…..
Dude, outside your little dystopic imagination, people are loving their Vita and the games. Kindly cease.
Just waiting for UPS to drop off my Vita. I ordered it through Amazon and this morning they just sent me an email with a $20 credit because of the free 4gb memory card that everybody is offering with the purchase of the Vita. They assumed I already ordered a memory card which I had, a 32gb, so awesome for me.
I already bought Uncharted, Blazblue, Escape Plan, SSD: Delta, and TFS: Mutant Blobs Attack. I also plan on stopping by Target after work to pick up some more games with the B2G1 deal. Probably Wipeout, Lumines, and Ninja Gaiden. Also may pick up Katamari.
Whoever wants to play some Vita sometime go ahead and send me a FR.
PSNID: DazeOfWar
I'm not picking this up just yet — plenty of games to play, not the biggest handheld guy, waiting for my beloved God of War to get an entry, etc. — but I really and truly hope this is a smashing success. I hope Sony proves that high-end, game-centric portable hardware can thrive in the smart phone era. I think it can. I think a lot of us "hardcore" gamers are willing to spend a little extra to get the games we WANT.
I just picked up my G3/Vita bundle & it's now sitting in it's newly bought charging cradle/stand.
Besides buying the cradle too$19,95) I also got GameStop's B2-G1F deal & got Uncharted, Wipeout & Hot Shots Golf(came out to less than $27 each after deal).
And I also bought the D/L code for Vita'S Escape Plan($15) plus a $50 Sony card in case I want to add any PSN games.
And my GS manager also gave me a free PC code for for some kind of dynamic puzzle arcade game called "Stoneloops of Jurassica".
I also bought some non Vita games to go towards filling in some of my other system's games collections too.
PS3….Alice:Madness Returns(plus Alice American McGee DLC code, Battlefield 3, Fear 3, & inFamous 2(been completely hooked on I2 for the last few days….and all-nighter's too).
360…The First Templar, and Morph.
PS2….Dark Cloud, Yu-Gi-Oh: The Duelists Of The Roses, Gladius, Monster House, SSX & SSX 3,
And 7 assorted GameCube games.
(I guess one of my bill collector's will be pretty mad once he finds that he's getting paid a bit late next month, LOL)
Just phenomenal Biker… man, I would love to see your collection…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Qubex,
I've been in the progress of re-doing my whole living room to make it into one big-a$$ gaming den.
Although it's been going "slower as molasses in January", I hope to have it done by late Spring/early Summer.
My biggest problem that has been temporarily stopping me, has been trying to find either 5-console(preferably higher) switchbox's, or at least a bunch of "2 into 1" piggyback adapters so I can chain-gang, all those older red, white, & yellow audio/video wires from some of my retro consoles into just one straight combo line.
In the meantime, I've already found some cool adapters that change RF cables output ends into ends for coaxial inputs.
But here again, I haven't found any proper way to do some "2 into 1" piggybacking of those either.
I know it's OT, but if anyone's got a better way, any ideas, or solutions, please let me know so I can get this project finished.
Anyway, once that's all been rectified and after everything's all completely set up, I'll try and post the pics of everything over in the forum so all can see.
Last edited by BikerSaint on 2/22/2012 7:21:01 PM
And now you have twisted the knife the Vita stabbed into my wallet