Topic: PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) - previously known as NGP

[Chozo Ghost]

At least they won the format war against HD-DVD and are collecting licensing fees from blu-ray.

[BlackNMild2k1]

The funny thing is that they have to split those royalties with the rest of the Bluray Association and Sony sees change (as in cents and in $0.XX) per disc & drive sold. And that was ontop of them eating more than $250 per drive at launch.

[Chozo Ghost]

But a few cents multiplied by hundreds of millions of units is still a lot. Well, maybe not, but its something anyway.

[BlackNMild2k1]

But a few cents multiplied by hundreds of millions of units is still a lot. Well, maybe not, but its something anyway.

Yeah... something in this case doesn't quite make up for the loss suffered to acquire it.

$250 x 10million = 2,500,000,000
vs
$0.30 x 300million = 90,000,000
-----------------------------------------
Difference of *drumroll* -2,410,000,000

and I was being generous on the software side of things (Movies and Games).
Of course sony didn't lose $250 on the drives for a whole year (I don't think), but they were rumored to have been losing between an average of $100 - $300 each system sold for till the Slim was released. That's a lot of money lost to not make much of it back very quickly.

[BlackNMild2k1]

It was mentioned how here how Wuu would probably lead to some more support for PSVita --> PS3/4 connectivity
(I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one to mention it)

there is even a dev mentioning it here:
http://www.develop-online.net/news/37930/Yoshida-Wii-U-will-inspire-Vita-experiments

SCE Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida is interested in Nintendo's recently announced Wii U, and says it will likely inspire PS  Vita developers to carry out experiments with the newly named Sony handheld.

"It is very interesting the ways that Nintendo went with Wii U, and I was surprised it wasn't exactly as it had been rumoured," Yoshida told Develop at E3.

"Already people are starting to ask about linking Vita and PS3 to do something similar, in terms of using two screens, and having controls on the screen.

"That's very interesting, and we will have to experiment," he added, before suggesting that such work was already, to a certain extent, underway.

but who would be copying who in this case?



Obviously Nintendo has the better and cheaper implementation of connectivity,
but Sony's PSV will hit the market first.

Nintendo's will have 0 lag when using the controller with the screen in game
PSV will probably not be quite so quick.. but then again it processes it's own video on the PSV

Nintendo allows you to take the game from your TV and instantly switch it to the controller and continue playing.
PSV allow you to save your game, then load it on the PS3 version (or vice versa). This requires you to own 2 versions of the game

But Nintendo's version doesn't allow you to take that handheld controller with you wherever you go
PSV is a true portable. self contained and does all of it's own processing.

A uScreen controller will likely cost $60-$80
a PSV will cost $250-$300

Now it's true that Nintendo experimented with connectivity first, but Sony has been the only one pushing it as of late (PSP-->PS3). Nintendo didn't attempt it at all with DS-->Wii and there has been no mention of 3DS -->Wii either.
Funny enough, there has been mention of Wuu-->3DS though, which is funny because uScreen + (3D)TV is basically a 3DS(XL) already.

[Ceric]

Sony has a lot of that Tech already built.  Remote play being a big portion of that.   It really wouldn't be hard but its a GCN->GBA minus the Cable situation all over again.

[ThePerm]

id really love to find some old GBA/GCN connectivity photos. Man I used to be the most amazing media collector....thank you google for making me lazy

also hard not to find images without IGN watermarks, and also sad Matt Cassamasina is gone from IGN because i know he would finally be happy...have to look for his blog.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Apparently Vita is Region Free
http://psp.ign.com/articles/117/1174783p1.html

In a PlayStation Vita session for European and Australian press at E3 today, Michael Denny, Sony's Vice President of Sony Worldwide Studios Europe, confirmed that - to the best of his knowledge - Vita would be region free.

[Ceric]

Apparently Vita is Region Free
http://psp.ign.com/articles/117/1174783p1.html

In a PlayStation Vita session for European and Australian press at E3 today, Michael Denny, Sony's Vice President of Sony Worldwide Studios Europe, confirmed that - to the best of his knowledge - Vita would be region free.

Well that's a kick in the pants to Nintendo.

[BlackNMild2k1]

PS Vita FAQ
http://us.playstation.com/support/answer/index.htm?a_id=2254

some things of note:
battery is not removable
proprietary storage not defined
They didn't rule out a 3D revision
can't be used as a phone
no bluetooth internet access or accessories
UMD transfer could be a future option
No video out option

[Chozo Ghost]

battery is not removable

What if it dies?

[BlackNMild2k1]

battery is not removable

What if it dies?

hasn't been an issue for the iPhone.

[Shaymin]

Theoretically, the iPhone gets replaced every 18 months - 2 years. If you buy a launch Vita, it could have to last up to 5 years.

[BlackNMild2k1]

PS Vita 3D (PSV3D) might be out in 2013 pick the rest of the 3DS's bones clean.

[Chozo Ghost]

PS Vita 3D (PSV3D) might be out in 2013 pick the rest of the 3DS's bones clean.

But what about the 3DS revisions? Nintendo might have one or two up their sleeves between now and then.

[Adrock]

To replace the battery, you'd probably have to send it to Sony like Apple does with everything they sell that has a rechargable battery.

Does anyone really think Nintendo is actually in trouble? $250 isn't a mass market price for a portable game console. If it was, 3DS would be doing much better even with the dearth of games. If Sony releases 2 Uncharted games at the same time on different platforms, I can tell you which one is going to sell more. Nintendo doesn't have to drop the price of 3DS and it's still going to outperform Vita this holiday season. Once Vita starts rolling, announce a revision and drop the price.

[blackfootsteps]

Apparently Vita is Region Free
http://psp.ign.com/articles/117/1174783p1.html

In a PlayStation Vita session for European and Australian press at E3 today, Michael Denny, Sony's Vice President of Sony Worldwide Studios Europe, confirmed that - to the best of his knowledge - Vita would be region free.

Well that's a kick in the pants to Nintendo.

It should be a wakeup call. Great work, Sony. It extends to the treatment of Europe and Australia. We're like a desert outpost, such is the disdain from Nintendo. Copy Sony for once: region free games, region locked online store. It can't be that hard. Oh and try to release games day and date worldwide, an act of which Sony and MS seem capable. Don't blame the European languages, here's a hint, get those translations done in parallel with the Japanese to English work.

[GoldenPhoenix]

To replace the battery, you'd probably have to send it to Sony like Apple does with everything they sell that has a rechargable battery.

Does anyone really think Nintendo is actually in trouble? $250 isn't a mass market price for a portable game console. If it was, 3DS would be doing much better even with the dearth of games. If Sony releases 2 Uncharted games at the same time on different platforms, I can tell you which one is going to sell more. Nintendo doesn't have to drop the price of 3DS and it's still going to outperform Vita this holiday season. Once Vita starts rolling, announce a revision and drop the price.

To be fair DS was released at 150 and didn't sell very well for several months either. So one could argue that 150 wasn't mass market and was overpriced.

[Adrock]

Nintendo battled shortages and the lack of compelling software. It's best game was a port of Super Mario 64 which oddly enough still trumps 3DS'sesses dearth of titles. For early adopters, $150 is an easier pill to swallow than $250.

And I disagree. $150 is absolutely a mass market price because DS, particularly Lite, sold very well at that price for years. I believe that was cheaper than the original Gameboy's price of entry. DSi/XL sold reasonably well at sub-$200. Every other handheld that sold above that, including and especially PSP, didn't perform that well at that price point.

[Razorkid]

Nintendo battled shortages and the lack of compelling software. It's best game was a port of Super Mario 64 which oddly enough still trumps 3DS'sesses dearth of titles. For early adopters, $150 is an easier pill to swallow than $250.

Thats some mighty hyperbole going on there.  Everyone is entitled to their own tastes, but I would argue that the 3DS' launch line up was way better than the DS'. I never bought a DS until a year later when substantially better software was available (and a better looking and functional unit was available in the Lite).  Contrast that to now where I bought a 3DS at launch with 5 (!) launch titles that I've enjoyed and has kept the system in play for me (without even dipping into my DS backlog) and I would say you are overstating your quote just a bit.


To me, if given the choice between one port of a 3D Mario game controlled with a d-pad or several solid titles in various genres, I'm going to skip that Mario game.  But that's just me. 


Anyway, PSVita day one! And I'm not even interested in any of the possible launch games they displayed at E3...it's that mega backlog of games I'm eyeing on the PSP....

[Oblivion]

I'm pretty sure it isn't backwards compatible at this point and time. Plus, it has no built in flash memory anymore, so you won't be able to get digital downloads of PSP games.

[Ceric]

Anyone who thinks the 3DS launch was on par or weaker then the DS didn't get a DS at launch.  The 3DS could have only launched for the first month with SSFIV and Pilotwings, it would still blow the DS launch out of the water.

[Razorkid]

I'm pretty sure it isn't backwards compatible at this point and time. Plus, it has no built in flash memory anymore, so you won't be able to get digital downloads of PSP games.

It's been confirmed that the PS Vita will be able to play all the digital back log of the PSP, which is fantastic! There are many games for that system that I wanted to play (various jrpgs, fighters, and original titles) but didn't think the price and lack of support for the system justified me getting one when I already gamed heavily on my DS.  Now that the PS Vita has been announced and will cost me the same as my 3DS, I am going to fill my time building up an ungodly catalog of PSP games that I'll never be able to finish  .

[Oblivion]

How the balls will the digital backlog of games to stored? On memory sticks? Because without the built-in memory, you'll probbaly be only able to fit a few games on it.

[Razorkid]

How the balls will the digital backlog of games to stored? On memory sticks? Because without the built-in memory, you'll probbaly be only able to fit a few games on it.

The PS Vita will have proprietary memory sticks (think Sony branded SD cards) that range from 8gigs-32gigs. PSP games run anywhere from 100mb to 1.5gigs. So depending on the size of the game and memory card you purchase, your mileage will vary.  Of course, this is how it's pretty much been with the psp.  I personally don't have a problem buying a (probably overpriced) 32gig card and filling it with up to a max of 20 1.5 gig psp games.  It would be preferable if the system had internal flash or allowed for the use of SDHC SD cards, but their solution is more than adequate  for my backlogging tastes when it finally does come out.