Is Sony about to tap into a new market for portable video games?
Sony’s new handheld console, the PS Vita, is a machine with the power to make otherwise dry-mouthed games players drool with desire.
Unlike the flimsy PSP Go, this feels sturdy and well built, and every square millimetre is packed with features.
In addition to the impressively vivid 5-inch (12.5 centimetres) OLED touchscreen, there’s wifi, Bluetooth, two joysticks, direction and button controls, front and rear cameras, a microphone, motion sensors, and even a rear touchpad.
Inside, it has the sort of power that puts many small computers to shame, with a quad-core ARM processor to ensure that your games and video content don’t judder when played back. Owners of PS3 home consoles can link the new Vita to their existing machines and enjoy a degree of remote access via the internet from anywhere in the world.
Skype, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Foursquare will be available to users, as well as a web browser and a built-in detector for other Vita players in your area.
This is a brilliant little machine and I love it.
That’s not to say there are no buts. And here they come.
All of this technology comes at a high price
The design of the console is nifty, but the two protruding joysticks and sensitive screen mean a carrying case is a must. Games are by download or flash cartridge only, so no previously purchased titles on UMD for old PSPs will play.
Plus, all of this technology comes at a high price. At launch on February 22, the PS Vita (wifi only) will set you back £210 at Amazon, or £260 if you opt for the wifi plus 3G model.
To put that in perspective, an Xbox 360 with 250GB of memory currently sells for £179 at the same retailer, and a PS3 £10 more. To make matters worse, the Vita comes with no inbuilt storage and uses proprietary memory cards (an old Sony habit) to store data.
Bundles including memory cards will be available at launch, but the 8GB on offer won’t last you long when some of the launch games require half of that space.
So who’s going to buy this machine?
That, for Sony, is the big question. It knows that the Nintendo DS consoles and, latterly, Apple’s iPod touch, have helped make portable gamers of us all. The gamble Sony is taking is that there exists a market for intricate, immersive games that involve more than five minutes of finger-flicking as a timewaster on the morning commute.
It’s a cliché in the world of gaming that great machines will fail if there’s nothing great to play on them, and the raft of launch titles Sony has assembled is designed unashamedly to appeal to those who rushed out to buy a PS3 to play exclusive titles such as Resistance: Fall of Man.
A stunningly beautiful white elephant?
Thus, the Vita will launch with the following products from Sony’s own studios: Uncharted: Golden Abyss, the fourth tale in the ongoing Nathan Drake saga; Wipeout 2048, the latest version of the space racing game; ModNation Racers, the build it and race it yourself motor-racing game. There’s also a Vita only edition of FIFA Football from Electronic Arts, with other third-party titles such as Assassin’s Creed in the offing. Casual gamers will be catered for via Sony’s online martketplace, where so-called Minis retail from 60p.
I’ve played most of the launch titles, and spent many hours in the company of Nathan Drake in particular. In all cases, the game designers have pushed out the boat to incorporate as many features of the new console as they can.
Thus, balancing on a log in Uncharted can require holding the console level, reading a secret message means holding the console up to a bright light source, and fighting requires well timed strokes of the screen. The games are designed mostly to be playable either by touch or buttons, according to user preference, and it’s a mix that works well.
Games like this won’t come cheap, though, at around £30. So again, we’re back to the big question: Is Sony about to tap into a new market for portable video games? Or is the Vita a stunningly beautiful white elephant?
Over to you.
