6 Failings Of The Playstation Vita
It looks amazing, but all may not be so rosy
by: AxiDer (formerly AXIS of Reality)
©2011 Alex Baldwin
With the PS Vita’s release inching closer and closer, I’m back once again to cut through the excitement and raise the potential questions and issues that may harm an otherwise excellent console.
Several months ago the companion article to this for the Nintendo 3DS raised similar queries, some of which were remedied upon release and some of which still remain.
Time to see what Sony can do with their second dip in the handheld pool, hot on the heels of the underwhelming Sony Ericsson Xperia Play phone.
1. DEVELOPMENT COSTS
In spite of Sony’s claims, the simple fact is that to meet the graphical expectations that go along with hardware specs more time and people are needed. The higher the visual detail, the more that impacts other areas such as needing more / better animation, more potential clipping issues, better LOD (level of detail) transitions to hide pop-in and more.
One of the difficulties for developers with the PSP was the higher development costs associated with projects for it compared with the Nintendo DS. This wouldn’t be as much of an issue if the potential customer base (number of people who own the console) was higher to justify the higher costs, but with the DS selling significantly better with lower development costs and smaller teams necessary, it was hard for publishers to justify the business sense in developing for it.
2. OLED SCREEN
This is both a positive and negative.
For those not up to speed on screen technology, OLED (aka: AMOLED) screens differ significantly from LCD / LED screens. While LCD screens use a layer of transparent coloured crystals (red, green and blue for each pixel) in front of a single continuous white backlight to display images, the pixels in OLED screens actually produce their own light.
What this means is that when displaying a darker colour anywhere on the screen, the actual light brightness from the individual pixels in the dark area will reduce.
As a result, when displaying black the pixels involved will completely stop producing any light. This means that OLED screens have a theoretically infinite contrast ratio, making colours incredibily vivid and the ability to show true black.
The downside is that just like shining a light at the sun, when under direct sunlight OLED screens (with the exception of Samsung’s Super AMOLED screens used on most of the Galaxy S line of smartphones) can appear so washed out to the point of not being legible at all.
LCD screens, in comparison, are still able to reflect some of the sunlight off the pixels so they can still be viewed to a certain extent.
3. SIMILARITIES TO SMARTPHONES
There’s no denying that the unprecedented popularity of smartphones and subsequent app stores has seen portable gaming explode, but in a totally different direction to traditonal handheld consoles.
While the Nintendo 3DS has differentiated itself by using a form factor different to most smartphones (clamshell), 2 displays, stylus control and an uncommon glassesless 3D screen, the PS Vita mimics a large smartphone with the exception of the dedicated buttons, thumbsticks and touchpad on the rear. (ED: A rear touchpad that some reports claim gets in the way of comfortably holding the unit)
Without any clear novelty beyond its power, casual or mainstream gamers may not see the value of owning one with AUD$80 games alongside their smartphone with increasingly sophisticated but much cheaper app games like NOVA 2.
This will be Sony’s biggest marketing challenge.
4. PROPRIETRY MEMORY CARDS
Unfortunately Sony did not learn their lesson with UMD.
While most people know that the PS Vita’s games will come on flash carts, what many are not aware of yet is that the memory cards for downloaded content, media, saved games and more are not the Memory Stick Pro Duos the PSP used but an entirely new format created by Sony exclusively for the PS Vita.
What this means is that instead of adopting a more widely available format such as MicroSD or standard SD (used by the Nintendo 3DS), Sony will effectively be able to fix the price of their PS Vita memory cards to whatever premium they want while either being the exclusive manufacturer or licensing others for a fee.
Good business for Sony, bad for the consumer.
5. DURABILITY
Through the traditional slab design of the hardware (as opposed to clamshell like the Nintendo 3DS) there is a lot more potential for damage with the huge screen and protruding thumsticks on the front, and the touchpad on the rear.
This makes a case or shell a necessity, instead of just a recommendation like the 3DS.
Hopefully the front face will use a material such the Gorilla Glass used by some smartphones such as, once again, the Galaxy S line that is approximately 20 times more difficult to scratch or damage that regular glass, which itself is more durable than the plastic used by the original PSP.
6. ONLINE PERFORMANCE
It’s great that online gaming reached handhelds with varying degrees of success last generation.
While Nintendo still seems to struggle with providing a consistent, user-friendly service and Microsoft not in the dedicated-handheld arena, this is where Sony can truly shine.
What worries me, however, is the optional inclusion of 3G mobile internet in the PS Vita.
As we all know, a constant, strong 3G signal is hard to come by and could prove to be an extreme annoyance for other players in a server with some using 3G and the potential lag spikes that could result from lower bandwidth and fluctuating signals.
In particular, as 3G would really only be useful when travelling or away from home (where most people have WiFi) and signal drops could become a real issue if you find yourself or other players in a match suddenly being disconnected when they move between 3G wireless signal range and towers.
Also, if the rest of the world follows the same system as the US (exclusive to AT&T) then only certain mobile carriers may be able to be used.
• PS Vita slideshow
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In Short…
We can see the amazing promise this new portable gaming device has. Sony has learned a lot from the issues with the PSP and PSP GO, but still faces some of the problems they encountered before.
The price is good (at least in the U.S.; we are not so sure about Australia), the product is powerful, the initial games promising, and as usual there is plenty of potential.
The question is how much the developers and gamers will support the system, especially with smartphones now entrenched in the portable gaming market.
©2011 Alex Baldwin
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Filed under: 1st Party Titles, Editorial, Handhelds, Xbox 360 Tagged: | games, NGP, nintendo, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Organic light-emitting diode, Playstation Vita, PS VIta, Sony, Sony NGP, Sony PS VIta, Sony PSVITA, Wi-Fi
1 – This may be true, but in an interview, Sony stated that the PS Vita is going to be the easiest Sony product to develop for, which will most likely lower cost and headaches for developers.
2 – Yeah, this is a legitimate concern.
3 – So what if it has features similar to smartphones? That’s a good thing. Besides, Sony already stated that PS Vita games cost $40, not $80.
4 – Now this I can agree with. Let’s hope they improve….
5 – Simple, just take good care of your things and buy a case. Problem solved. Though, it would be a good idea to use GG.
6 – While this may be true, some areas of the nation have very good coverage. Where I live, 3G is everywhere so it’s not necessarily an issue for everyone.
Please note that $80 is Australian. Even though our dollar is currently better than the US Dollar, we still pay up to $120 for new retail games. The RRP for the PS Vita here so far is AUD$350 and $410 for 3G.
I don’t know which cave you came out of but I think you’re off the radius with some of your arguements.
1. 2D vs 3D cost. Hello? get a clue.
2. Who in their right might will play their handhelds with the sun directly shinning on your handhelds? Even with smartphones I rarely see someone actually playing with their phones under the sun. That’s idiotic. Majority of people know that playing like that can damage your eyes. Again. Get a clue.
3. There’s a big difference between a need and a want. Smartphones sell not bec of the games. It’s because people need it for the call and text. Games are secondary. And the games? seriously? Games like Angry Birds? C’mon. You buy an expensive phone for Angry Birds or some mini-crappy games that you can finish in a few hours? Seriously? Games like Uncharted, Little Big Planet, Ruin, Dragon’s Crown, Gravity, Resistance, Killzone, Bio Shock and many others that are coming to PSV is what makes it more appealing than smartphone games, you play these games for hours, weeks, and months with your buddies. But PSV is a WANT. You want to play these games on a proper handheld not on a smartphone.
4. By now, you should already know that Sony likes to introduce new tech and storage medium (PS1, PS2, PSP, PS3, as if these don’t ring a bell to you). So, why is this a fail? I gotta admit UMD is trash, the limited storage is what developers are complaining about. But, they already learned. They’re introducing new cards that have big memory storage. And knowing Sony, they’re bring new business to 3rd party storage media developers. In a few months after PSV is released we’ll see 3rd party propriety cards that are compatible and cheaper than Sony’s. Both PS1 and PS2 got 3rd party memory cards, PSP is compatible with 3rd party memory sticks, the PS3 is compatible with 3rd party harddrives. This a win/win/win situation for Sony, 3rd party media storage developers and consumers.
5. We’ll just have to wait and see when the PSV comes out before we say that the screen is less durable than PSP or smartphones. You can easily buy a film for extra protection for your screen though. The clamshell is far more vulnerable to breaking. Kids like to “smash-close” their DS/3DS like a book. I already saw many DS having cracked screens bec of that.
6. The only flaw I see in here is the 3G exclusive connectivity with AT&T in the U.S. I for one felt sorry for the U.S. consumers. As far as 3G connection goes, that will depend on the ISP. I can already see hackers jailbreaking the 3G PSV so they can get away with AT&T. Hey, who doesn’t see this coming?
Development costs is a piss poor excuse when you include that this device is target at Iphone and Playstation 3 styled games. It provides a choice for production time and money along side one of the best (and cheapest ) Dev kits provided in any past generation. Did you know their Dev kit can be bought for Vita at $4,000? Other pieces of hardware charge $11,000 MINIMUM let alone at LAUNCH. Hearing somebody complain about a OLED screen seems hilarious as a tech, and talking about the worries playing with 3G when that a great option. Besides… have you tried out the 3G yet? Let alone the new and improved PSN services on the Vita? Geeze this article is laughable.
Point #3 is rather fail when $80 games are mentioned…
Vita games will cost a very fair $39. 99 each. Not to mention how pretty much the whole article is just pure speculation since the thing isn’t even out yet.
When I read a site I do not assume they are talking about items in my home currency…because sites are often from around the world and often don’t say the currency. I could easily see a site from America that says games will be $29.99, but I won’t assume it is only my currency: it could be Canadian, NZ, US, or many other nations that use the $.
In this case it is AUD$.
Your arguments 2-5 fair points but the other two i can counter.
In terms of argument 1, the Playstation Vita dev kit itself costs only $3000 which will make it easier for indie and of course mainstream developers to develop games for the Playstation Vita and is a lot lower entry price then most development consoles which are in the $10000 range.
As for argument 6, Sony have already stated that you WILL NOT be able to play games over a 3G connection as it is just not reliable enough.
You didn’t mention one of the most important failings:
No Video Out port. So no hooking up the Vita to your TV.
I use this feature on my PSP Go all the time so am very disappointed the Vita can’t do the same. I’ll probably wait for the Slim version.
Sony said No Video Out Feature at launch, but the port on the bottom of the PSvita is multipurpose and video-out features may be implemented through firmware updates after launch.
This is something that SHOULD have been listed. Your reasons are ridiculously out of line.
Stupid reasons. The PSV looks amazing. How can you hate something that’s not even out yet
See comment below about ‘hate’. Plenty of people have concerns about the Wii U and upcoming games….
PS Vita doesn’t interest me at all. Sony doesn’t understand handhelds. Handhelds have their own peculiarity… Nintendo is king of handhelds, and 3DS is immensely better. And in 3D.
If it’s so better then how come the 3DS is doing shit in sales
Sony dosen’t get handhelds…oh I bet that’s why the PSP failed……….Oh wait it didn’t
I think the 3DS has the most potential this year and next. It has already displayed a better online system than the HD twins by Showing Capcom hosting Street Fighter IV running more smoothly online than its console counterparts. It may be a bit pricey, but Nintendo absolutely does not sell its products at a loss. On top of that, Nintendo has been releasing free games to the early adopters to sweeten the deal.
I might pick up a Playstation Vita, but I will wait for it. I might pick up a used final-run Vita after it dies, and hunt down used games on eBay, just so that I can be ensured I have a Vita that works with fewer issues, and that I can open up and fix manually or modify should it break down, without worrying about warranty issues or Sony’s online police hunting me down.
I think the 3DS is suffering a bit from other Nintendo platforms: not enough good games and support from other non-Nintendo devs.
That is fair, but it burst out of the gate with some core fighting franchises and announced RPGs by established third parties (just look at some of the press that Heroes of Ruin is getting, despite simply being a Diablo III clone, and THREE Shin Megami Tensei games? I don’t think there was any other console to have that much Atlus support right off the bat), and sold respectably for a non-holiday release. The landscape is looking a lot greener for early adopters of the 3DS than for the early adopters of the Vita.
Speaking of green… someone just StreetPassed me! Laters.
Haters gonna hate
Then he hates the 3DS too (and I know he bought one). No console is perfect, and pointing out flaws is not necessarily hating.