It Slices, It Dices…

The PS4 is coming. I’m sure you’ve seen the ads and are eating stupid amounts of Taco Bell to get one before release, please don’t do that to yourself. Interconnectivity between devices is one of the major themes Sony is rolling with this time and it’s as good a time as any to look at what seems to be the number one accessory to pair with your shiny new black box; the tablet, music player, web browser, 3G surfing, two analog sticked, picture taking, AR card using, app device, which also plays games. Today we fight against all odds (really, taking on Nintendo in the handheld market?).

I recently purchased a Playstation Vita. Recent news about the next model of the handheld have alluded to Sony downgrading the OLED screen they use in the device and I saw one bundled with The Walking Dead adventure game I hadn’t played, so why not buy it. It’s shaped like the PSP with smaller buttons, a second analog stick, and many more slots to put things in. This is definitely an attractive system with much more sleek look than other clamshell offerings. Holding it isn’t a chore with divots on the back side to rest your fingers with good button spacing make cramps a non issue if played for an hour or more because the battery will actually last long enough. The Vita is a well designed contraption; there are even TWO eyelets on the bottom to poke a lanyard through!

Let’s start with the good. That screen, oh that screen. It’s gorgeous, HD gaming in the palm of your hand is truly here. 3D games like Wipeout 2048 and Killzone: Mercenary move smoothly and look close to what you would expect on a PS3, while 2D games a la Rayman: Origins and Spelunky look exactly as the developers intended. You can also play the PSP and PSone titles bound to your Playstation Network account; they got rid of the UMD drive so you still can’t play your physical PSP games but it’s great to see some sort of backward compatibility attempted. I’ve beat the fact that there are two analog sticks into the ground, but this is the first handheld we’ve had with them out of the box and it does wonders for the feel of control. Before you had to arrange you hand into a cramping claw shape or use the face buttons to look around in a shooter and neither one of those is satisfying. Sony switched out the cross media bar that was present on the PSP and PS3 for an icon based touch screen interface that gets the job done. You’ve got control and good looking games on a pretty powerful platform, sounds too good to be true doesn’t it?

Here we go; the Vita tries to do too much. I’m not too sure the back panel touch screen was the greatest innovation. Sure, it can be used as a gimmick or help with quick time events but when it all boils down to are gimmicks and game features no one likes. The proprietary memory cards show their ugly heads again, and this time they can cost quite a bit. On a system where they’re trying to push digital downloads (the physical games don’t even have paper manuals or inserts) you’d think they’d try to reduce the entrance cost to make it more appealing to the average consumer. 3G through AT&T sounds like maybe a good idea, but in reality there are enough WiFi hotspots around where you can connect if you need to. Adding a SIM card to a device that isn’t my phone is pretty useless, the phone goes with me everywhere and I’m not into paying extra for adding a gaming device that primarily uses my home wireless. The majority of gripes I have are non gaming centric, I bought this thing to play games and it does that well.

If you plan on drinking the Sony Kool-Aid it makes the most sense to register for a PSN Plus account. Pay $50 a year and you get access to premium content and it’s likely to play a similar role to XBOX Live Gold in the next generation. The bright side to this is that you get full games to play on all of your connected systems, it pays for itself really quickly with titles for your PS3, PSP, Vita, and soon to be PS4. You spent $60 on Grand Theft Auto V already, take the plunge. The full programs and reduced prices on software rotate out every week to keep it fresh.

If you couldn’t tell I’m pretty happy with my Playstation Vita and I recommend a purchase for anyone interested. I know there’s no Pokemon to be had here, but there is a gravity shifting girl with a cat. I seriously hope the Vita catches on just so I have more games to play on it.