PS Vita: My thoughts so far

I got a chance to play a friends Vita and had this to say.


The PSVita won't officially go on sale until Feb 22 but there is an early bird bundle that allowed people to purchase the Vita and get it a week before it's release. Now if you want one you can hop on craigslist or go to an independent game store and purchase one at a premium.

First let me say that the Vita is a huge device. It probably won't fit in your pocket but if you carry a backpack or leave it in the car all the time you should have no problem transporting it. It's not necessarily a bad thing that the Vita is huge because it has a nice 5 inch OLED screen which is perfect for movies and gaming. The colors are nice and look way better than any smart phone out there.

The touch screen is nice and responsive and the back touch work great depending on the game your playing and how you use it. I don't mind the back touch panel at all as long as games don't force you to use it. One example that comes to mind is Ocarina of Time on the 3DS. Whenever you enter FPS mode you can control it with the D-Pad as well as motion sensing but there's no way of turning off the motion sensing so any little unwanted tilt will screw up your shot.

One problem though is that you can only scroll the main menu using the touch screen. You can't use the D-Pad or joystick to scroll and select with the buttons. So if you have sticky fingers I suggest a screen protector.

The controls are better than the PSP but only by a margin. The buttons are way too small and the joysticks don't extend as much. For such a big device, the controller is disappointing. The do respond fairly well but if you have thick fingers you might end up pressing the wrong button. There is also no dedicated camera button and as long as I looked I couldn't find the camera App. I'm sure it's in there somewhere you just have to look for it.

Another problem is that the main screen is too busy. Everything looks like a cluttered mess. I wish they would categorize everything. Also going back to the main menu is several button presses away instead of just one button press away.

I hope in the future there are updates to fix some of these issues. There's no doubt in my mind that I want to get the Vita in the near future but right now I think I will pass. $250 is not a bad price for what you get but for the average Joe, It's still too expensive. Games run from $30 to $50 which is a small set back to get a started bundle going.

Remember this is just a short demo of a friends PS Vita and what I took away from using it for an hour. My experience may be different once I own one. But at least this made me decide that I will wait for a price drop or to buy one used as I already made the mistake of purchasing the 3DS at a whim and was fairly disappointed.

Never the less if you do get a Vita, there is a strong line up of games already available as well as some great games coming in the few short months. Games such as: Uncharted, Marvel vs Capcom, Street Fighter X Tekken, Asphalt, Fifa, Mortal Kombat, etc.