Official PSVita launch thread.

[Rage187]

Coles Notes: They need to differentiate the Vita from the consoles for it to be a success.

Really? If they put exact copies of console games on it, I might consider buying one. I'd love to have the full version of Mass Effect 3 in my hands. That would sell me on it in a heart beat.

 

[Aikouka]

Coles Notes: They need to differentiate the Vita from the consoles for it to be a success.

I wonder if it would do better if it was almost considered a "hybrid phone" kind of like Sony's Xperia Play; except it lacks the actual phone part of it.

To fit the bill, it would really need to target that same gaming segment. Heck, I bought a puzzle game on iTunes last night for $1 just because it looked potentially interesting. I certainly would not do that with a $30 game.

 

[mmntech]

I benchmarked the Vita today, or rather its browser using BrowserMark and Sunspider. The results were quite underwhelming.

BrowserMark: Higher is better
PSVita: 15,652
iPhone 4S: 86,818

SunSpider Javascript: Lower is better
PSVita: 42,748ms
iPhone 4S: 2,255ms

For comparison purposes, it's slower than the iPhone 3GS according to some of Anand's old benches. I'm going to chalk this up to poor coding in the Vita's laughably bad browser. There's no way it's that slow.

I know the Vita isn't a MID, but I wonder why Sony insists on putting such horrible browsers on its gaming systems.

 

[Jules]

I benchmarked the Vita today, or rather its browser using BrowserMark and Sunspider. The results were quite underwhelming.

BrowserMark: Higher is better
PSVita: 15,652
iPhone 4S: 86,818

SunSpider Javascript: Lower is better
PSVita: 42,748ms
iPhone 4S: 2,255ms

For comparison purposes, it's slower than the iPhone 3GS according to some of Anand's old benches. I'm going to chalk this up to poor coding in the Vita's laughably bad browser. There's no way it's that slow.

I know the Vita isn't a MID, but I wonder why Sony insists on putting such horrible browsers on its gaming systems.

Indeed. I pretty much never use the brower since i always have my iPhone 4 on hand. I did use it a few times for wallpapers but thats it.

 

[mmntech]

Indeed. I pretty much never use the brower since i always have my iPhone 4 on hand. I did use it a few times for wallpapers but thats it.

True. However, it would be nice if you could watch online videos on it. Especially on that gorgeous screen. Apparently it supports HTML5 but not HTML5 video. I hope Sony comes out with a YouTube app for it.

 

[gorcorps]

Got a good deal for one on craigslist. $175 for wifi+3G version that was barely touched. It also had a 4gig card in it, but I'm not sure if that's the default or not. The guy selling it was really cool too, so I hung around and shot the shit with him for an hour or so. Downloading Motorstorm now and might pick up a game or two over the weekend. Thinking Rayman first because I love platformers like that.

 

[blurredvision]

Got a good deal for one on craigslist. $175 for wifi+3G version that was barely touched. It also had a 4gig card in it, but I'm not sure if that's the default or not. The guy selling it was really cool too, so I hung around and shot the shit with him for an hour or so. Downloading Motorstorm now and might pick up a game or two over the weekend. Thinking Rayman first because I love platformers like that.

The 4GB was standard with the launch 3G unit.

Since you love platformers, I highly recommend Mutant Blobs Attack on the Vita store. Only $8 and very fun.

 

[Aikouka]

The 4GB was standard with the launch 3G unit.

Since you love platformers, I highly recommend Mutant Blobs Attack on the Vita store. Only $8 and very fun.

8GB was standard with the launch unit. 4GB was standard with the rip-of... err... First Edition bundle.

 

[gorcorps]

The 4GB was standard with the launch 3G unit.

Since you love platformers, I highly recommend Mutant Blobs Attack on the Vita store. Only $8 and very fun.

:thumbsup: Good choice. I'm liking it so far

 

[gorcorps]

Is the network incredibly slow for anyone else? I think it's a Sony thing... people complain about the PS3 for the same reasons. Downloads take forever regardless of wifi signal, and MvC3 games are unplayable they're so choppy. Are there any ports or anything to worry about on the router side? I have tomato installed.

 

[purbeast0]

got my taco bell win package last weekend while out of town - the first edition bundle and HSG. debating if i should keep it or just sell it. played a demo unit at target few weeks back and just not sure if it's worth it to keep.

 

[ViRGE]

Is the network incredibly slow for anyone else? I think it's a Sony thing... people complain about the PS3 for the same reasons. Downloads take forever regardless of wifi signal, and MvC3 games are unplayable they're so choppy. Are there any ports or anything to worry about on the router side? I have tomato installed.

Yeah, I'm finding downloads to be slow, though it's not clear if it's the network or the memory card.

 

[gorcorps]

Yeah, I'm finding downloads to be slow, though it's not clear if it's the network or the memory card.

:hmm: I forgot about the memory card speed. It wasn't rated very highly either, so that may be part of it.

 

[bebopulation]

What's the homebrew like on the Vita?

 

[ViRGE]

What's the homebrew like on the Vita?

Effectively non-existent. The Vita itself hasn't been jailbroken; the PSP mode has using a PSP hack, but that only gets you PSP homebrew and the vulnerable game has been pulled.

 

[gorcorps]

Effectively non-existent. The Vita itself hasn't been jailbroken; the PSP mode has using a PSP hack, but that only gets you PSP homebrew and the vulnerable game has been pulled.

This

There's been grumblings of somebody possibly getting access to the PSP side of things without needing a game vulnerability, but that hasn't been released. And then that'll only allow PSP homebrew. There's some good SNES emulators and stuff for the PSP so it could still be useful, but we're a ways off yet from anything Vita specific.

 

[mmntech]

:hmm: I forgot about the memory card speed. It wasn't rated very highly either, so that may be part of it.

I think it may be a bit of both. Downloads are okay but Sony's online apps are quite slow for me. Literally Google Maps is faster on my iPhone 3G than it is on the Vita. I've also had problems with the location services, which seems to be okay now. I think it does have some kind of network issue.

 

[gorcorps]

I think it may be a bit of both. Downloads are okay but Sony's online apps are quite slow for me. Literally Google Maps is faster on my iPhone 3G than it is on the Vita. I've also had problems with the location services, which seems to be okay now. I think it does have some kind of network issue.

I notice that my wifi turns itself off too for some reason. The thing will go to sleep, then when I turn it back on the wifi doesn't click on again until a game tells me I'm not signed in to PSN. It also stops my downloads

 

[Aikouka]

I notice that my wifi turns itself off too for some reason. The thing will go to sleep, then when I turn it back on the wifi doesn't click on again until a game tells me I'm not signed in to PSN. It also stops my downloads

That's strange. My downloads keep going even when the device goes to sleep after a minute. However, the game downloads will not install until I resume the device.

 

[blurredvision]

I've found that if you're downloading something and you hit the button to turn the screen off, it will stop your downloads. However, if you leave the screen on and let it timeout based on your settings, the downloads will continue. Kind of stupid, surely something they'll fix in the future.

 

[mmntech]

I notice that my wifi turns itself off too for some reason. The thing will go to sleep, then when I turn it back on the wifi doesn't click on again until a game tells me I'm not signed in to PSN. It also stops my downloads

Mine does this too. I guess they did it to save battery life.

 

[gorcorps]

I've found that if you're downloading something and you hit the button to turn the screen off, it will stop your downloads. However, if you leave the screen on and let it timeout based on your settings, the downloads will continue. Kind of stupid, surely something they'll fix in the future.

:hmm: Maybe that's what I've been doing out of habit because that's how I use my phone too.

 

[purbeast0]

mods if you aren't okay with this please just delete the post.

Yeah, that's not appropriate. Sorry. But you can link to it in your sig
-ViRGE

 

[bebopulation]

Effectively non-existent. The Vita itself hasn't been jailbroken; the PSP mode has using a PSP hack, but that only gets you PSP homebrew and the vulnerable game has been pulled.

Still not jailbroken? I'm a bit surprised this far into its release, honestly. I was also under the impression that Sony was "okay" with the homebrew on the PSP to some extent. Is that not the case anymore?

Either way, I'm holding off on my purchase until some homebrew hits. I'm not against buying Vita titles and I like the idea of an online store to get some of the older titles, mind you, but my primary interest is running a SNES/NES/etc emulator on it.

Is there a good site or RSS feed I can follow on this topic?

 

[ViRGE]

Still not jailbroken? I'm a bit surprised this far into its release, honestly. I was also under the impression that Sony was "okay" with the homebrew on the PSP to some extent. Is that not the case anymore?

Either way, I'm holding off on my purchase until some homebrew hits. I'm not against buying Vita titles and I like the idea of an online store to get some of the older titles, mind you, but my primary interest is running a SNES/NES/etc emulator on it.

Is there a good site or RSS feed I can follow on this topic?

Sony has never been okay with homebrew. Just look at what they did to anyone that tried to jailbreak the PS3; anyone with the skills is absolutely terrified to try at this point. Plus piracy (which cannot exist without homebrew) is what made the PSP's software attach rate in the US so pitifully low and drove US devs away from the PSP in the first place. So Sony has every desire not to allow homebrew on the Vita.

At this point if you're waiting for homebrew on the Vita, you're likely going to be waiting for a very long time. Sony, Microsoft, etc no longer make the kind of trivial mistakes that made breaking into the PSP so easy.