t’s impossible to argue that the Sony PlayStation Vita has potential. The successor to the PlayStation Portable has all the right features, but lacks the first party support that would have pushed it past its rival, the Nintendo 3DS.
While Sony isn't spending time developing games for its own platform, other developers are releasing excellent games. If you've been thinking about picking one up, there are still plenty of great games to choose from.
One thing you should know is that many PS Vita games are cross-buy, meaning games you purchase for one platform (PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, or PlayStation Vita) gets you a copy for another PlayStation console. Some games even offer cross-platform saves so you can continue where you left off.
Here’s a list of my picks for the best PlayStation Vita games.
Sound Shapes
Puzzle and platform games work really well on the PS Vita. Sound Shapes is a cross between platformer and music game. You traverse levels collecting song samples to recreate the track as you move throughout the stage. Even after you finish the game, there are tons of user created songs you can download and play. Sound Shapes was one of the first games released for the Vita but is still worth the download.Buy Sound Shapes
The Walking Dead Seasons 1 and 2
Telltale Games has been crafting its iconic gameplay style for years but it wasn't until The Walking Dead series that the developer jumped into the spotlight. The Walking Dead forces you to make difficult decisions in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. If you finished the first season, you can import your save into Season 2 and continue with all your previous choices added to the game. While Telltale is working on other properties, The Walking Dead is still among the developer's best games to date.
Buy The Walking Dead Season 1 and Season 2
Guacamelee!
Guacamelee! is an action platformer that combines a hilarious story with addictive gameplay. Using a mystical luchador mask, you try to save El Presidente's Daughter from Carlos Calaca, an evil skeleton that can navigate both worlds of the living and the dead. The game’s style and polished gameplay are among the best for Vita games and one of the best showcases for platformers on the console.
Buy Guacamelle!
Muramasa Rebirth
Developed by Vanillaware and originally released for the Nintendo Wii, Muramasa Rebirth is a port of that game onto the Vita. The game is an action/slash RPG and features detailed graphics and simple but complex gameplay. The two branching storylines give you a reason to play the game more than once. If you’re a collector, attempting to forge every sword in the game is a challenge in itself. Muramasa Rebirth’s DLC adds four extra characters and stories to extend the life of the title even further.
Buy Muramasa Rebirth Complete Collection
Persona 4 Golden
Originally released on PlayStation 2, this PS Vita remake adds a lot of new content. like new characters, animated cutscenes and additional Personas. The Vita is home to many localized Japanese role playing games but Persona 4 Golden is one of the "must-play" classics. The gameplay hasn't changed so you still get to experience the challenging turn-based combat of the original along with the strange story the series is known for.
Buy Persona 4 Golden
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
If you’re looking for a difficult dungeon crawler, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is the perfect game for you. It's a remake of the original Flash game but has been updated with 16-bit graphics and a new engine. The visuals of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth can be a little disturbing, as each character in the game is designed with adult themes and is definitely not a game for children. The gameplay is challenging and addictive; expect to fail a lot in the beginning before you start figuring out the right way to play and complete the dungeons your first time.
Buy The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
Retro City Rampage DX
Retro City Rampage DX is a remaster of the original Retro City Rampage. Drawing inspiration from Grand Theft Auto, the game includes a lot of tributes to '80s franchises like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Metal Gear. The 8-bit style fits the Nintendo Entertainment System days and includes a big story mode along with other mini-missions for you discover. You can also switch between the original RCR or RCR DX in the settings. Even though it has a simple graphic style, the depth of Retro City Rampage DX is staggering.
Buy Retro City Rampage DX
Resogun
When it was first released on the PlayStation 4, Resogun offered impressive graphics and challenging gameplay. A port of the game was released for the Vita a year later and while it doesn't run at 60 frames per second like the PS4, its 30 FPS actually makes the game a little easier. Its simple controls and addictive gameplay makes Resogun highly replayable. Like mobile games for Android or iOS, Resogun can be a quick game to play on your commute.
Buy Resogun
OlliOlli
Where as Skate is the perfect skateboarding game, OliiOlli is the perfect arcade skateboarding game. While its simple graphics make OlliOlli look dated, the gameplay is still amazing. Use the analog stick to perform tricks, the shoulder buttons to rotate, and the X button to land perfectly. Completing massive combos in OlliOlli requires precision and skill. It’s also frustratingly difficult since you die instantly. If you trip and fall, your run is over and you have to start over. With OlliOlli 2 on the way, OlliOlli is will help you hone your skills before playing the sequel.
Buy OlliOlli
Metrico
The tagline for Metrico is “a game about infographics and free will" but what it really is is an extremely difficult puzzle platformer. While it looks graphically simple, the stylish visuals add to the tone of the game. Your goal is to get through the level by using the different obstacles to your advantage. Metrico is a game of trial and error. You will have to think before acting because one wrong choice will force you to start from the beginning. The basic gameplay is easy to understand but it won’t take long before you’re staring at one point and trying to figure out how to get past it.
Buy Metrico
Third party developers are helping breathe life to the PlayStation Vita. Sony may see the Vita as an extension of the PlayStation 4, but it's an underutilized platform that continues display potential. While there hasn't been much news about the console, there are more games coming in 2015. Stay tuned for news about upcoming games for the Vita.
The PlayStation Vita (officially abbreviated PS Vita) is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment.[22] It is the successor to the PlayStation Portable as part of the PlayStation brand of gaming devices. It was released in Japan on December 17, 2011,[1] with releases in North America, Europe, and other worldwide regions starting on February 22, 2012.[3][4] It primarily competes with the Nintendo 3DS, as part of the eighth generation of consoles.
The original model of the handheld, the PCH-1000 series includes two analog sticks, a 5-inch (130 mm) OLED[23] multi-touch capacitive touchscreen, and supports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and optional 3G. Internally, the Vita features a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor and a quad-core SGX543MP graphics processing unit, as well as LiveArea software as its main user interface, which supersedes the XrossMediaBar.[14][24]
In October 2013, a redesigned PS Vita model, the PCH-2000 series, was released in Japan,[25] featuring better battery life, more internal storage, thinner and lighter, among other improvements. It came to Western markets starting February 2014. In November 2013, the PlayStation TV allowing players to play PS Vita games on a television was released in Japan (as PlayStation Vita TV), and worldwide starting October 2014.[26][27]
Contents
History
Pre-announcement
Rumors of a successor to the PlayStation Portable came as early as July 7, 2009 when Eurogamer reported that Sony was working on such a device, which would utilize the PowerVR SGX543MP processor and perform at a level similar to the original Xbox.[28]In addition, on July 7, 2010, a report by the Wall Street Journal revealed that a new portable device is currently in development by Sony and that it "shares characteristics of game machines, e-book readers and netbook computers".[29] Prior to its announcement by Sony Computer Entertainment, several sites such as Kotaku,[30] VG247,[31] MCV[32] and IGN,[33] as well as the senior vice president of major video game publisher Electronic Arts[34] and Nikkei,[35] had confirmed that the handheld existed. Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, had admitted in an interview that they were indeed developing new hardware in the PlayStation family of gaming devices.[36] Development kits for the handheld had reportedly already been shipped to numerous video game developers including both first-party and third-party developers.[37]
On November 17, 2010, VG247 released pictures of an early prototype version of the PSP successor showing a PSP Go-like design along with two analog sticks, two cameras and a microphone. The source of the pictures said that the pictures were of an older prototype version that had overheating issues, and that the design had subsequently been changed to that more similar of the original PlayStation Portable device.[31] Kotaku and IGN corroborated the story, also claiming that the pictures were legitimate.[33][38]
The device was supposedly unveiled internally during a private meeting during mid-September held at Sony Computer Entertainment's headquarters in Aoyama, Tokyo.[30] Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, revealed in an interview with UK video game magazine, Develop that when Ken Kutaragi left Sony Computer Entertainment, the new CEO, Kazuo Hirai, told him to engage SCE Worldwide Studios in the development of the next PlayStation. Yoshida also said that developers were present at the meetings from the very beginning when SCE was developing new hardware, and that SCE had to constantly keep talking with Worldwide Studios developer when developing the new hardware.[36] Further confirmation came on September 16, 2010, during an interview at PAX 2010, Mortal Kombat Executive Producer Shaun Himmerick revealed a successor to the PSP, referring to it as the "PSP2" and stating "...we have a PSP2 in the house and we're looking at the engine, like what can it support. Always a big thing for us is the performance. We're running at 60 fps, what can we do and do we have to build all the art assets over. We're definitely looking at them. PSP2 looks like it's a pretty powerful machine."[39][40] When asked about the PlayStation Portable successor during the Tokyo Game Show 2010, Shuhei Yoshida, said that he could not answer the question though he noted that "Personally, I cannot see Sony not making another portable gaming device."[41] On November 2, 2010 senior vice president of Electronic Arts, Patrick Soderlund, confirmed that he had seen the PlayStation Portable successor when asked about it in an interview though he could not divulge more details.[34][42][43] On December 22, 2010 Sony Computer Entertainment CEO, Kazuo Hirai, answered questions about a potential successor to the PlayStation Portable in an interview with The New York Times, saying that they would impress gamers in the handheld market by using a combination of touch screens and buttons rather than touch screen-only games on competing platforms such as the iPhone and iPod Touch.[44]
The device, then known by its codename Next Generation Portable (NGP for short), was announced on January 27, 2011 at the "PlayStation Meeting" in Japan by Sony Computer Entertainment president Kazuo Hirai.[45] The last time the name "PlayStation Meeting" had been used was in 2005 where Sony outlined the launch plans for the PlayStation 3.[46] In addition, MCV claimed that Sony has told publishers that the device would be "as powerful as the PlayStation 3". Sony later denied this, with the SCEA platform research manager stating "Well, it's not going to run at 2 GHz because the battery would last five minutes and it would probably set fire to your pants".[47] Sony also revealed that the device would be using a mix of retail and digital distribution of games and that Sony would gradually reveal more details during Game Developers Conference 2011 and E3 2011.[32]
Post-announcement
On June 6, 2011 at E3 2011, Sony announced the name of the device would be PlayStation Vita, along with release and pricing information.[22][48] The name was chosen because "vita" means "life" in Latin. The device itself enables a combination of augmented reality gaming and social connectivity, along with the "Near" and "Party" services, nearby networking and cross-game conferencing applications, respectively.At the Game Developers Conference 2011, Sony revealed some details about the Vita cards during their Next Generation Portable panel. Another storage option, "Removable Memory", was also revealed to be available for the PlayStation Vita. Sony also said they are implementing a "single submission for both formats" to streamline the process of getting games approved for both card-based and downloadable releases.[49] Additionally, it was announced that only 3 of the 4 symmetrical CPU cores will be available to applications[50] along with two cameras, facial detection, head detection and tracking capabilities.[51] Following the Tokyo Game Show, Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida confirmed that the console would be region-free.[52]
Sony's Japanese arm told The Wall Street Journal that earlier reports, including those by SCEA president Jack Tretton, suggesting that Japan's recent earthquake would delay the release of the PlayStation Vita in some territories were outright "wrong". Sony representative Satoshi Fukuoka said he expects "no impact from the quake on our launch plan".[53][54]
In August 2011, Sony confirmed that the system would be released by the end of 2011 in Japan but not until "early 2012" in European and North American regions.[55] In October 2011, Sony announced that the system would be released on February 22, 2012 in Europe and North America.
A limited edition was released in North America on February 15, 2012, a week earlier than the official launch, which included the 3G/WiFi model of the device (Wi-Fi model in Canada), the game Little Deviants, a limited-edition carry case, and a 4 GB memory card.[2]
Finally on February 22, 2012, the Vita was released throughout Europe, North America, Singapore and South America.,[56] with Australia a day later.[5]
In May 2013, Sony announced that PlayStation 4 games that did not require the PlayStation Camera would be compatible to be played through Remote Play on the PS Vita.[citation needed]
On August 20, 2013, Sony confirmed that the Vita would receive a price drop in the U.S. and Europe, taking effect immediately. The price would be now $199 in the United States and €199 in Europe. The Vita memory cards also dropped its prices, with the 4 GB memory card being cut to $14.99, the 8 GB card being cut to $19.99, the 16 GB card cut to $39.99 and the 32 GB card cut to $79.99.[57]
2014 onward
By mid-2014, Sony made several comments regarding changing the direction of the PlayStation Vita. Yoshida stated that Sony would be releasing fewer first party games for the platform.[58] Sony Computer Entertainment’s Product Planning & Platform Software Innovation Director Don Mesa stated that the "economics simply don’t work with the traditional process".[59] In July 2014, Yoshida stated that the company would focus on it less as a dedicated handheld video game console, and more on its combination of uses, stating "it's not about individual Vita games any more. It's more about how Vita can have multiple uses – with PS4 Remote Play, PS3 games with PS Now, and the dedicated games. The whole ecosystem with PS4 at the centre, the Vita's a part of that."[60] Sony later announced that the Vita will have Project Morpheus integration in the form of a second screen as well.[61] Open beta trials for PlayStation Now functionality on the PS Vita began on October 14, 2014 in North America.[62]On November 25, 2014 it was announced by US government agency, Federal Trade Commission, that Sony was found guilty of false advertising over their Vita ad campaign launched in late 2011.[63] The ads promoted Remote Play and Cross Play interactivity between the PlayStation 3 to PlayStation Vita without mentioning that the compatibility for the features were limited to very few games. Sony settled with partial refunds to US customers who bought a Vita before June 1, 2012.[64]
In November 2014, SCEA president Shawn Layden suggested that the new approach was working on hardware level, stating that Vita sales had increased since the implementation of PS4 Remote Play,[65] though he and another Sony representative did not give specific figures.[65]
Hardware
First-generation (PCH-1000 series)
In the West, the original PCH-1000 series was only available in black
and white, whilst a colour selection of red, blue and silver models were
made available in Japan. Various limited edition models were also
released in Japan featuring game-specific decals. Pictured is a
"Sapphire Blue" variant.
, 
, 
and 
),
two shoulder buttons (L and R), a PlayStation button and Start and
Select buttons. Internally, the device features an up to 2 GHz[11] quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor (3 of the 4 cores are usable for applications)[50] and a quad-core GPU SGX543MP4+. The device also features a rear touch pad, two cameras (a front and a rear), stereo speakers, microphone, Sixaxis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), three-axis electronic compass, built-in GPS receiver (only for the 3G version) as well as Wi-Fi, 3G, and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR connectivity.[14][18][24][35][66]
The two cameras feature the abilities of face detection, head
detection, and head tracking. It also allows for customization and
personalization.[51][67] The PlayStation Vita has 512 MB of system RAM and 128 MB of VRAM.[15][16] The amount of RAM allows cross-game chat to be used on the system.[16]The PlayStation Vita has been released in two different variations: one with 3G and WiFi support, and a cheaper version without 3G support, but still including WiFi.[68][69] The 3G service has been partnered with NTT DoCoMo in Japan, AT&T in the US, Rogers in Canada and Vodafone in Europe and Australia.
Unlike the PSP-2000 and PSP-3000, the PS Vita does not have video output capabilities or a removable battery. Sony also confirmed during TGS 2011 that the battery would last 3–5 hours of gameplay (no network, no sound, default brightness level), 5 hours of video, and up to 9 hours of music listening with the screen off.[20] An external battery option was announced in an interview by SCE Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida.[70] PS Vita is equipped with a storage media slot in addition to the PS Vita card slot, so that users can choose their memory capacity based on their use.
Second-generation (PCH-2000 series)
The second generation PS Vita system, PCH-2000.
PCH-2000 was released in Japan on October 10, 2013, in Europe on February 7, 2014[76] and in North America on May 6, 2014.[77]
PlayStation TV
Front and side views of the Japanese PlayStation Vita TV console
Main article: PlayStation TV
PlayStation TV or PS TV (VTE-1000 series system), also known in Asia
as the PlayStation Vita TV or PS Vita TV, was announced on September 9,
2013 at a Sony Computer Entertainment Japan presentation. The device is a
complete non-portable variant of the PlayStation Vita console system.
Instead of featuring a display screen, the console connects to a
television via HDMI, allowing users to play PlayStation Vita games in up to 1080i resolution using a DualShock 3 controller (with a later patch to provide functionality with PlayStation 4 controllers).[78]
Due to the difference in features between the controller and the
handheld, certain Vita games that are dependent on the system's
touch-screen, rear touchpad, microphone or camera, are not compatible
with PS TV.[27] The device is said to be compatible with over 100 PS Vita games,[79] as well as various digital PlayStation Portable, PlayStation and PC Engine titles.As of firmware update 3.15, the system supports Remote Play compatibility with the PlayStation 4, allowing players to stream games from the PS4 to a separate TV connected to PS Vita TV, and also allow users to stream content from video services such as Hulu and Niconico, as well as access the PlayStation Store. The system was released in Japan on November 14, 2013, both on its own and as part of a value bundle including a Dual Shock 3 controller and 8GB memory card,[80] and it was released in North America on October 14, 2014. Open beta trials for PlayStation Now functionality on the PS TV began on the same day in North America, which allow both PS Vita and PS TV to play PlayStation 3 games via cloud-based streaming. Furthermore, the release date for Europe and Australasia has been announced at Gamescom 2014,[81] and the system was released in these areas on November 14, 2014.
According to Muneki Shimada, Sony Director of the Second Division of Software Development, the original PCH-1000 series PlayStation Vita already includes an upscaler that supports up to 1080i resolution, however it was decided that the idea for video output for the original Vita was to be scrapped in favour for releasing the PlayStation Vita TV as a separate device for television connectivity.[82] The in-built scaler has been removed from the PCH-2000 series PlayStation Vita model.[83]
Game card
A PlayStation Vita card (left) and memory card (right).
Memory card
The PS Vita is incompatible with standard memory cards, such as SD cards, and instead stores data on proprietary PS Vita memory cards, which are available in sizes of 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB[86] and 64 GB.[71]As of the 3.10 system update, a maximum of 500 applications and games can be stored on the Vita's memory at any given time.[87] When the limit is reached, applications or games must be moved or deleted in order to access those beyond the limit.[88]
No comments:
Post a Comment