PS Vita - impressions

[JSR]

Thought we needed one for the console itself to.


Only played a few hours on it, here are my impressions in the form of a list:

-The buttons are too close to the sticks, makes me look behind me in Wipeout when i only wanted to hit square.
-The battery life seems shorter than I what I heard, should maybe adjust some settings.
-The GUI is very ugly, the bubbles make it look very dated.
-I hate how not only the OS, but also the menus in most game requires you to use touch, with no option for buttons.
-The trigger are bit too loose for my liking, doesn't quite jump out as fast after being pushed down as I'd liked.
-The PS Store for the Vita is better than it ever was on PS3 or PSP. Like how you can switch category without having to drop out of the game you're looking at.
-PSP emulation is pretty good, doesn't do anything magical to the games, but the screen make them look better than the PSP could make them look (IMO).
-The device is so big that I find it cumbersome to hit the middle of the screen without readjusting my grip (which you have to do every time you launch a new app)
-The operating system is much more intuitive than I thought, very streamlined compared to anything Sony had before
-The interface is super fast, and handles multi-tasking better than any other gaming console today

Current rating of the console itself: Pretty nice - 7/10


Edit, some more:
-Love the size and colour of the game cases
-None of my two games came with a manual, lame
-Would have loved if it had two or three slots for games
-The Start and Select buttons are a bit too hard to hit in the heat of the moment
-It's surprisingly lightweight

[ETC]

The psp emu can be improved if you touch the middle when a game is on to turn on the upgrade filters / activate right stick

[JSR]

Yeah, I already did. Made a nice difference. Also loving the second stick function, looking forward to playing Syphon Filter again like a traditional action game!

[rmoxon]

Dont really agree about the interface being superfast and handling multi tasking well, I have only had it a day and its already froze up severl times, including twice while it was booting up for the first time and several times while I have been downloading.

I do agree that the buttons are a bit too close to the right stick though, Not that the Dual shock is a brilliant peice of design or anything but the sticks could have done with being placed more like they are on that, meaning slightly more inward rather than almost directly under the buttons.

My biggest gripe though is that unless Im missing somthing (and I really hope I am) they have missed a trick by not letting you customise the controls for PSP games so you can map buttons to the right stick, it would have improved alot of games.

As far as the actual games go though I am mostly impressed and they are great looking to boot. I was slightly disapointed at first becuase Uncharted is incredibly jaggy looking but other games like Wipeout and FIFA look nothing short of stunning.

Overall as a games machine it already feels like somthing a bit special, but as for its many other features and uses im yet to be convinced.

[JSR]

You can assign the right stick to either the face buttons, the d-pad or the left stick. Just press on the screen for a couple of seconds while in a PSP game, and a menu pops up.

It has not yet frozen on me, and I'm currently zooming between the shop, trophy list, near, web browser and much more without any slowdown.

[rmoxon]

You can assign the right stick to either the face buttons, the d-pad or the left stick. Just press on the screen for a couple of seconds while in a PSP game, and a menu pops up.

It has not yet frozen on me, and I'm currently zooming between the shop, trophy list, near, web browser and much more without any slowdown.

Oh right, fantastic!, didnt know about that. Does it save a seperate configuration for each PSP game? as Id want Monster Hunter to use the Dpad but somthing like Resistance to use the buttons

[Daragon]

Is everyone using the EU PS store? Any PSP games up on it atm? What's the average price for them?

[rmoxon]

Is everyone using the EU PS store? Any PSP games up on it atm? What's the average price for them?

The PSP games are the same ones that are on PSN... except for some reason I cant seem to find Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker for some reason. It can still be bought on a PS3 and transfered though.

[nonny]

I'm still on the fence on this but I have to admit playing one yesterday in a store had me gripping my wallet and wondering whether to bite the bullet. It was only my common sense overriding the desire that stopped me grabbing one to take home.

I only played FIFA, Wipeout and Uncharted but I liked what I saw in those game. FIFA looks incredible and pretty damn close to the home versions though I took ages to get used to the back touchpad shooting mechanism. Uncharted... well it is jaggy and the inclusion of touch UI on some pieces seems pointless and just shoe-horned in for a "look at what I can do" feeling control wise.

The biggest thing I take away from the actual machine is... It's light, it's comfortable for my big hands and I didnt mind the twin sticks but agree the buttons are too close. And of course lastly... the screen. It's impressive and as a whole the unit feels pretty amazing to hold and use which is so important.

My biggest gripes and the things that brought me back to reality. Well the launch titles dont amaze me too much. There is no real system seller but definitely a range of decent titles. I'm not bagging it massively but there was nothing I picked up and couldnt put back down.

I also think the battery life and UI are factors to work on. 3~5 hours is acceptable but only just but I think if it was 8~10 hours then it would be a non-issue. Right now for me I know I would get annoyed having to plug it in to charge so often. Even my iPhone peeve's me off because of this.

The UI, well it's decent but I think they decided to keep it fairly childish just appease all demographics. It's nice enough but just a bit to twee.

So for me... every time I walk past one I'll pick one up to play so in fairness Sony have me interested. But. In the back of my head I want an improved version. Some firmware updates, tweaks and a better battery (and second wave of titles) and I could be digging my wallet out instantly.

All up I reckon on first-play it's a solid 8/10 though?

[JSR]

The PSP games are the same ones that are on PSN... except for some reason I cant seem to find Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker for some reason. It can still be bought on a PS3 and transfered though.

Seems Sony is testing them all before putting them up on the Vita store. The ones there are all marked "Compatible with PS Vita".

[rmoxon]

Seems Sony is testing them all before putting them up on the Vita store. The ones there are all marked "Compatible with PS Vita".

Ahh, ok....

BTW is there any way to transfer PSP games from UMD onto my Vita? I have a stack of games that are useless at the moment.

[ItsThere]

Ahh, ok....

BTW is there any way to transfer PSP games from UMD onto my Vita? I have a stack of games that are useless at the moment.

Not yet, but maybe at some point for the JPN store. No plans for any other territories at present.

[ETC]

Ahh, ok....

BTW is there any way to transfer PSP games from UMD onto my Vita? I have a stack of games that are useless at the moment.

Looks like that scheme is going to stay Japan only

[ETC]

I own gravity rush, that changes my review score of the vita 9.5/10

[rmoxon]

So I just checked, I hold down on the screen when i have a PSP game on and I get a few options, whats this colour space thing?