This Feb. 15, 2012 photo, shows Playstation PSVita, foreground, and its predecessor. In the age of Angry Birds and Words With Friends dominating peoples on-the-go playtime, Sony is making a push into the world of handheld gaming with a gadget aimed at loyal gamers and fans of the PlayStation. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Gamers worldwide are preparing for this Wednesday, Feb. 22, when Sony Computer Entertainment will release their latest handheld videogame system, the PlayStation Vita.
The Vita, the second handheld of the PlayStation family of systems, is the successor to the company’s much-maligned PlayStation Portable (PSP) system.
Sony hopes the Vita will allow the company to break into a lucrative handheld market dominated by Nintendo, banking on what the company calls their “biggest and best launch lineup across the history of PlayStation platforms,” according to a Dec. 22, 2011 press release.
“PS Vita will offer the most popular franchises in gaming along with entirely new titles – all built from the ground up to take advantage of PS Vita and the unique ways it enables gamers to play,” Sony stated.
Unlike the system’s direct competition, the Nintendo 3DS, the Vita does not feature a three dimensional display. Instead, the Vita features a five-inch capacitive touchscreen in addition to a touch surface on the back of the device.
“Together with the front touch screen and the rear touch pad, PS Vita offers new game play experiences never before seen on any device,” Sony stated in a June 7, 2011 press release, “allowing users to interact directly with games in three dimension-like motion, through “touch, grab, trace, push and pull” finger motions.”
In addition to the dual touch surfaces, the Vita also features dual analog nubs, a feature adopters of the PSP clamored for since the devices’ original release in March 2005.
Other features include front and rear-facing cameras and optional 3G networking support exclusively available through AT&T.
Although not officially launching until Wednesday, people who pre-ordered the 3G-enabled Vita through vendors such as GameStop were entitled to a bonus, receiving their handhelds a week early on Feb. 15.
The Vita will have a lot of work to do as a replacement for the PSP. While reviewed favorably by critics on release, sales of the handheld languished against the Nintendo DS. One of the handheld’s big launch features, movies on Sony’s proprietary UMD media, were quietly phased out as users found no use for the easily damaged miniature discs, which were only compatible with the PSP units itself.
Sony’s October 2009 release of the PSP Go, a miniaturized version of the PSP that utilized a different memory format and was incompatible with UMD versions of PSP games, did little to stem the tide against the DS. It was criticized for its’ high price point and dependency on downloadable content.
Despite this earlier failed foray into portable gaming, Sony is confident that Vita (Latin for “Life”) will turn the tide.
“’Vita’… was chosen as the most appropriate name for the next generation portable entertainment system as it enables a revolutionary combination of rich gaming and social connectivity within a real world context,” Sony stated in their June release. “SCE is aiming to transform every aspect of user’s daily life into an entertainment experience.”
The Vita will retail for $249, while 3G-enabled versions will retail for $299.
“PlayStation Vita is the ultimate portable gaming device, offering all of the interface, controls and social connectivity that gamers have been dreaming about to deliver unsurpassed entertainment and completely new ways to play,” Jack Tretton, president and CEO of SCE America, said in the December release. “PS Vita features the most extensive launch lineup in PlayStation’s history, and there are more than 100 games in development, ensuring that PS Vita gamers will always have a steady stream of amazing titles at their fingertips.”
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