Sony’s much -awaited gaming device, the PlayStation Vita, hit the U.S. on Wednesday as the company tries to compete with the mobile gaming industry. The Post’s Hayley Tsukayama reports:
While most mobile games don’t have the hours of storylines that portable titles do, consumers have been turning to the quick puzzles and short spurts of gameplay for those moments they spend standing in line, on the train or waiting for a ride.
With the Vita, Sony is trying to reverse that trend by upping the quality of its portable play. Not only has the company packed the Vita with features — a rear touchpad, two analog sticks, great graphics and a beautiful screen — it’s also made an effort to support the company’s back catalog of games while developing around the Vita’s new features. There are lots of bells and whistles — a gyroscope and a standard pack of augmented reality (AR) cards to name a couple — but Yoshida said that he hopes it’s clear that Sony worked hard to make this handheld a pleasure for dedicated players.
The company’s also working on porting titles between the Vita and the PlayStation 3. “We really kept portability in mind,” the head of Sony Computer Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida said.
A long with being portable, the Vita is a solid device with a 5-inch OLED display and a huge touchpad. VentureBeat.com reports:
At first glance the Vita appears almost identical to the PSP. It shares nearly all of the PSP’s dimensions, but the Vita couldn’t be more different. The Vita is sleek, bold, and immediately stunning, unlike the plastic frame every PSP model has shared. The eye wants to look at the Vita’s gorgeous glass front, very crisp labeling, and expertly crafted controls.
The front of the Vita is almost exclusively made of glass, a design shared by Apple’s iPhone 4. The Vita doesn’t look like a kid’s toy; it looks like a serious gadget, a futuristic piece of technology. It isn’t soft around the edges nor does it feel childish. A plastic frame is glossy but easy to grip, and on the back are two finger rests to grip the Vita.
From top to bottom the Vita looks and feels solid. I carried it around in a bag and pockets, and though the glass front did give me pause, the Vita is a stable device. It is huge (3.3″ x 7.2″ x 18.6″ h/w/d and 9.8oz), so don’t expect to carry it in tight jeans or small bag pockets. The build quality is very high, and I had no trouble or worry when holding it in a pocket.
The Vita has a very similar control layout to the PSP and Dualshock controller: a d-Pad and analog stick on the left, four face buttons on the right, as well as a Playstation (home/return) button, start and select buttons, two shoulder buttons, volume controls, and power. The Vita is the first portable games console with a second analog stick, which makes it easier to play traditional home console style titles on the Vita. Nintendo’s 3DS will receive an attachment with a second analog stick, but the Vita has two unique features over the 3DS: a 5″ OLED touchscreen display and an equally large rear touchpad.
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