Playstation Vita

[MizzouRah]

I've bought Sony TV's most of my adult life, but my Bravia HD LCD TV takes about 10 mins to clear up a line of the right side and for the picture to normalize from ghosting. It will be the last Sony TV I ever buy, that's for sure.

[RallyMonkey]

Rayman Origins release date of today may be the final straw in me heading over to pre-order the 3G bundle on my way home.....Happy Valentine's Day to me.

[wco81]

TV prices plunged like crazy and Sony couldn't keep up.

Or they couldn't demonstrate clear superiority over cheaper brands.

[toonarmy]

wco sums it up nicely. I've had good luck with Sony over the years, and my HDTV from Sony has held up wonderfully. Panasonic is another brand that I've had good luck with. Dozens of purchases of Sony and Panasonic products and never once had an issue. Heck, I still have a Sony 5 disc CD carousel that I bought in the late 80s and use to this day.

Back to the Vita, I opened my games and it appears there will be no instruction manuals with Vita games, or at least the ones I have. I know the trend is to go paperless but I hate that. PES2012 for the 3DS came with an 80+ page manual. I enjoy the colorful manuals where I can glance at them while playing and learn the ropes. Trivial niggle, I know.

[XXXIV]

That's an easy one to answer. When Sony plugged the plug on their Trinitron TV and switched to flat panels they no longer made the panel displays and were purchased from several flat panel mgfs, which Samsung is one of them. I'm not saying Samsung makes their panels but there are like 3-5 display panel mfgs in the world.

It's hard to separate yourself from the crowd when everybody else has access to the same panels. And because of the Sony name the price carries a premium.

[Danimal]

The PSP was a success? Guess it depends on what shade your glasses are.

[Blublub]

wco sums it up nicely. I've had good luck with Sony over the years, and my HDTV from Sony has held up wonderfully. Panasonic is another brand that I've had good luck with. Dozens of purchases of Sony and Panasonic products and never once had an issue. Heck, I still have a Sony 5 disc CD carousel that I bought in the late 80s and use to this day.

Back to the Vita, I opened my games and it appears there will be no instruction manuals with Vita games, or at least the ones I have. I know the trend is to go paperless but I hate that. PES2012 for the 3DS came with an 80+ page manual. I enjoy the colorful manuals where I can glance at them while playing and learn the ropes. Trivial niggle, I know.

Yeah, all Vita games are supposed to have integrated in-game manuals. Sure does suck when you get the games in advance of the system. Uncharted and FIFA have very nice boxes and all, but the wait is killing me.

[sportdan30]

In next week's Target ad, buy 2 Vita games, get one free.

[wco81]

To have those kinds of promotions at launch tells you sales aren't meeting expectations.

3DS had a lot of promos too, even this past Christmas when they had a big Mario game out.

[ScoopBrady]

In next week's Target ad, buy 2 Vita games, get one free.

Thanks for spreading the word. Looks like Lumines, Wipeout, and Army Corps of Hell will be mine next week.

[10spro]

So who got it today?

[toonarmy]

I got mine today. Man, those memory cards are so small -- very thin and about the size of those little chicklets you get in those gum machines. The free case is actually not too bad. I like it better than the ones offered for sale. Little Deviants is in a normal case, which is cool, but there is "not for resale" printed above the bar code, so you will not be able to trade it in at Gamestop or Amazon I assume once you are through with the game.

I was able to dl the full Michael Jackson game for free due to the Sony mistake on PSN last night. I know the game is probably not the greatest, but I hear it is halfway fun, and hey it was free. I will post impressions of the games later on after I play them more significantly.

[Lancer]

I've sold those 'not for resale' games on ebay without any problems. That's an option for you if you don't want to keep it. Not sure if Amazon would take it.

[toonarmy]

One word of note: there is already a system update out so when you initially set up your Vita you will not be able to put in your PSN account information until you update. You have to select the second option on the screen that asks about PSN stuff and then update the system and go back and do the PSN stuff after that, otherwise you will go in circles with the initial set up stuff. Also, I transferred a game I downloaded onto my PS3 without any hitches. So far the interface is very simple and intuitive.

[Danimal]

It's only the 3G that are on sale today right? I mean the people who pre-ordered the 3G's

[dbdynsty25]

It's only the 3G that are on sale today right? I mean the people who pre-ordered the 3G's

Correct.

Picked mine up...starting going through the circles with the PSN update and gave up at work. I'll wait till I get home. So far, hardware is okay...nothing spectacular as far as I'm concerned. We'll see once I do some gaming.

Bought Hot Shots, Fifa Soccer and Rayman and I'm renting Uncharted, F1 & Mod Nation Racers. So I'll have a good sense of the launch titles in a few days. Only game I wish I had rented was Virtua Tennis, but Gamefly chose to send me Grand Slam Tennis 2 for the 360 instead. Oh well.

[toonarmy]

Played several games, here are some quick thoughts:

Hot Shots -- Standard Hot Shots title. Control is great, as it should be. Graphics are vibrant but a little grainy. Load times between holes are nonexistent. I can fly through a round in no time flat due to the lack of load times and the feature where you can skip through the ball flight graphics. Fun to have a new Hot Shots title, so even if it is nothing revolutionary I am quite happy with it. If you've played Hot Shots before you know what to expect.

Wipeout -- brilliant game! The graphics are really good as I already knew from playing the demo. Not being tethered to a demo unit is nice and helps when it comes to controlling the hovercraft. Crossplay is going to be f***in cool with this title. I can see myself playing the hell out of Wipeout. As for load times, they are not nearly as bad as some folks have made them out to be. About half a minute per track is what I am getting. Supposedly there is a patch in the works that will shorten load times. This is a must-have game if you are into arcade racing.

Michael Jackson -- as I mentioned before, I got this game for free due to a booboo on PSN. It got a 6.5 from IGN, with an 8 on gameplay, and I think that is about right. Graphics are not great but decent. Control on the touchpad is fun if you are into these types of games. Would I have paid for this game? LOL, no. I will play it some though since it is on my memory card and is a fun little diversion.

I still need to play Uncharted, Lumines, and Little Deviants.

[Blublub]

Got mine. System itself is pretty impressive. Not real nuts about some interface decisions, but on the whole not too bad.

So far only have played FIFA. Definitely pros and cons. On the plus side it looks absolutely amazing, I think 95 percent as good as the console versions. The back pad shooting is fantastic, but I think my hands are too big to be able to use this without too many mistakes.

That said, the gameplay is quite a let down. It seems to be a direct port of FIFA 11 on the consoles, updated with 12's interface and roster updates. It's still the old button-mashing defensive system, no collision model and the other innovations in 12 like sliders. I had forgotten what a huge step the franchise took this year and it is very very difficult going back, even for a quick match.

Still, it's a very promising indication of what can be done with future releases. I don't see much reason why the VIta edition wouldn't be functionally identical to the consoles further down the road.

If you enjoyed FIFA 11 gameplay then it's a no-brainer. But if you're wedded to FIFA 12 like me I'd try to hold off until 13 releases at the end of the summer.

I'm also a little disappointed to find that (unless I'm missing something) the Table Soccer AR app is not yet available for download. I know it's mostly just a tech demo, but as a huge Subbuteo fan I'm really looking forward to this.

[dbdynsty25]

Luckily I haven't played a ton of FIFA 12 on the consoles so I probably won't notice a difference. Might have to sell my 360 version so I don't hate playing on the Vita.

[10spro]

Thanks for the early game impressions boys.

Blubub, I am really digging Fifa 12 this year and enjoy the new tactical defending. I just don't like dudes sliding all over the place as in years past and if this version plays like, I'll be disappointed. Is there not an option for tactical D?

[ScoopBrady]

Picked mine up yesterday along with Modnation Racers and Uncharted. I didn't get a lot of time with it because my wife had to go to a wake but the little I did get to play left me pretty impressed. Uncharted is gorgeous. Hard to believe this is handheld gaming. It's pretty much what I was hoping for with the PSP's successor. Oh, I downloaded the demos for Lumines and Rayman too. Rayman is another looker. I will be picking both up next week thanks to Targets's B2G1 free sale.

[Blublub]

Thanks for the early game impressions boys.

Blubub, I am really digging Fifa 12 this year and enjoy the new tactical defending. I just don't like dudes sliding all over the place as in years past and if this version plays like, I'll be disappointed. Is there not an option for tactical D?

No, definitely not. It's a shame but I fully expect it will be in FIFA 13 in a few months. I think I miss the new collision model even more than the new defending - it just adds so much to the variety of outcomes. The FIFA 11 engine just feels horribly scripted.

Save a tiny bit of slowdown on some cut scenes, the rest of the package is very solid - I would expect the next iteration on the Vita to be amazing, particularly if they build in Virtual Team and allow PS3-Vita franchise saves (like with The Show).

Speaking of which, MLB The Show should be stunning on Vita - if you're on the fence and love past Shows that alone should be a system-seller.

Now that I've logged a few more hours I am really growing to love the system. Couple things I've learned so far, though - the changing of game carts is really tedious and I wonder how long the tether on the port cover is going to hold out. If I had it to do over again I'd invest in the biggest save card possible and get the downloadable versions. I've also learned that my preference is to switch off all the touch/backscreen and gyro features possible and rely on the traditional controls. It also reminds me of the reason why I've never warmed to gaming on iOS.

One nice surprise is great integration with Mac OSX - I had seen early reviews that said there was no Mac support, but the backup and transfer of data works without a hitch using the Sony Content Manager Software. Uncharted looks even better than I anticipated - I was really floored that any handheld could look this good.

[Rodster]

Is there going to be PES 2012 for the Vita?

[dbdynsty25]

Couple things I've learned so far, though - the changing of game carts is really tedious and I wonder how long the tether on the port cover is going to hold out. If I had it to do over again I'd invest in the biggest save card possible and get the downloadable versions. I've also learned that my preference is to switch off all the touch/backscreen and gyro features possible and rely on the traditional controls. It also reminds me of the reason why I've never warmed to gaming on iOS.

I'm with you on the pain in the ass it is to change games. However, I'll deal with the tedious change as long as I can sell the game on the secondary market. Can't do it with the downloaded versions...so that's reason enough to deal with the stupid door. I suppose games like The Show I'll buy the download version because I don't end up selling the previous version until a few weeks before the new one comes out and it's not worth anything anyway.

I'm also not sold on the back touchscreen. Sure, it's cool to shoot that way in Fifa, but it's a pain in the ass to not touch it at all when you're playing. Even with my midget hands...I still need to spread my fingers out on the back to play.

[Danimal]

I was really expecting some positive reactions, especially from the Sony contingent here on DSP. While the impression haven't been negative they have certainly curtailed my desire to run out and get one next week.