PlayStation Vita Announced (Feb 22, $249/$299 for WiFi/3G+WiFI) + some games

[Dade]

Interest in Vita waning.....

http://www.destructoid.com/oh-those-pricey-vita-memory-cards-are-for-security-217081.phtml

Seriously, this is becoming stupid. Unless there are NUMEROUS "killer" games on this system I won't be getting it within the first year.

[Kevadu]

So this story has been making rounds: Vita account restrictions.

This really needs to be clarified.  Of course being limited to only one account on a Vita isn't too surprising (though it is annoying) since the PSP was the same way, but it's not clear at all what that means for account activations.  My PSP may be limited to one account for going on the store by itself but I can use a PS3 to manage my content and change the activation of the PSP withoout doing anything to the account info stored on it.  Confusing, I know.  This whole business about having to restore the Vita to factory defaults seems awfully excessive, though.

I know personally this is a pretty big deal for me.  Something like a third of my PSP games are Japanese imports (though that can at least partially be attributed to its limited library here...).  Though this shouldn't affect playing imported games on memory cards it's still a pain in the ass.  Guess we'll find out soon enough since the Japanese launch is almost here...

[Dice]

So this story has been making rounds: Vita account restrictions.

This really needs to be clarified.  Of course being limited to only one account on a Vita isn't too surprising (though it is annoying) since the PSP was the same way, but it's not clear at all what that means for account activations.  My PSP may be limited to one account for going on the store by itself but I can use a PS3 to manage my content and change the activation of the PSP withoout doing anything to the account info stored on it.  Confusing, I know.  This whole business about having to restore the Vita to factory defaults seems awfully excessive, though.

I know personally this is a pretty big deal for me.  Something like a third of my PSP games are Japanese imports (though that can at least partially be attributed to its limited library here...).  Though this shouldn't affect playing imported games on memory cards it's still a pain in the ass.  Guess we'll find out soon enough since the Japanese launch is almost here...

I personally can't think of a bigger waste of time than region-locking things... wtf for?  Give players freedom to purchase for goodness sake and stop the hasslin'.  Hm, this does affect me too, I enjoy an import every so often myself (get this, there's talent outside of north america!)

[Eusis]

It's frustrating, but half the blame lies with how pretty much every tablet or smartphone (well, that's more understandable) doesn't take into account multiple users at all, and neither did the prior round of handhelds, though in Nintendo's case it's more not understanding the need for universal accounts period. Sony pretty much sees no need to bother, and it's something I really wish would change period because something like an iPad for every person in a household is insane.

Dice: it's not technically region locking. You could just jump back and forth between your American, European, and Japanese accounts... and each time wipe the system's settings clean so you'd have to keep inputting stuff like your wi-fi settings. Really obnoxious.

[Kevadu]

Well that isn't how I expected it to work...

Having to buy two overpriced memory cards is better than having to reformat your system every time you swap accounts, I guess...

[Akanbe-]

Well that isn't how I expected it to work...

Having to buy two overpriced memory cards is better than having to reformat your system every time you swap accounts, I guess...

Hopefully the price of memory cards come down over time.  I can't see myself purchasing a Vita as long as memory card prices are ridiculous.  Fuckin piracy.

[Eusis]

Well that isn't how I expected it to work...

Having to buy two overpriced memory cards is better than having to reformat your system every time you swap accounts, I guess...

To be honest, while I laughed at this at first... for the angle I'm thinking is most likely a problem (people sharing a system, not people juggling accounts) this is actually a great thing. It means siblings or housemates can just get a card for themselves (perhaps the 4 GB one?) and trade the system around that way until they get their own, then use that card on their new system as if nothing happened. No weeding out saves, figuring out how to copy profiles (which would probably be simple anyway), just stick your old card in the new system.

Then again Sony can be retarded and might lock the cards to the systems and thus make it even more of a pain, so we'll just have to wait and see still.

[Kevadu]

To be honest, while I laughed at this at first... for the angle I'm thinking is most likely a problem (people sharing a system, not people juggling accounts) this is actually a great thing. It means siblings or housemates can just get a card for themselves (perhaps the 4 GB one?) and trade the system around that way until they get their own, then use that card on their new system as if nothing happened. No weeding out saves, figuring out how to copy profiles (which would probably be simple anyway), just stick your old card in the new system.

The problem with that scenario is that I recall reading that games are made to use either their own card or the memory card for saves, but never both.  So if a game saves to its own card there is no convenient way to distinguish the two users.

Really, everything about these memory cards so far seems like a confusing mess.  I can understand Sony's concerns about piracy given what happened to the PSP, but it has gotten ridiculous.

[Eusis]

The problem with that scenario is that I recall reading that games are made to use either their own card or the memory card for saves, but never both.  So if a game saves to its own card there is no convenient way to distinguish the two users.

Really, everything about these memory cards so far seems like a confusing mess.  I can understand Sony's concerns about piracy given what happened to the PSP, but it has gotten ridiculous.

Point there, this is more "sharing a system" as in "we each are buliding our own libraries", whether those are physical or digital ones. Then again I guess you could just wipe carts when you're done, unless Sony pulled the same crap as Capcom on 3DS to deter trade-ins.

And yeah, it feels like they went from somewhat relaxed to ultra paranoid, "build a bunker and hide in there for years" when it comes to preventing piracy. A lot of user friendliness axed for the sake of avoiding the rampant piracy, possibly even trophies (which WILL aggravate me more), and whenever it fails (ideally later than sooner) none of it will matter, just headaches while people with CFW or whatever cut out the inconveniences. At the least I'm hoping they CAN patch in copying from cart to card.

[Yggdrasil]

from andriasang:

Mario is lined up for PlayStation Vita... are you?
Vita games ship without instruction manuals
PlayStation Vita launches with first Firmware update

Does games not having a manual affect sales? I know it sounds ridiculous but I can imagine a lot of people annoyed by this. And it also kinda makes more sense just buying the digital version with the exception of the collector's editions that some games will have in the future.

Atlus and Xseed comes to mind.

[John]

I think that the lack of instructions is likely going to be something that's delineated by the publisher of the title.  More cost-conscious companies will not include the booklets - after all, the tab is still there to hold paper there.

I preordered my WiFi Vita over the weekend, good to have it paid off.  Really frustrated about memory card pricing.  I plan to shell out for a 32GB card... I filled up my 32GB card for the PSP sometime last year.

[Eusis]

I think that the lack of instructions is likely going to be something that's delineated by the publisher of the title.  More cost-conscious companies will not include the booklets - after all, the tab is still there to hold paper there.

Actually, this has already been confirmed: Apparently other games like Uncharted shipped with proper manuals. Capcom was just being cheap.

[Dice]

I think that the lack of instructions is likely going to be something that's delineated by the publisher of the title.  More cost-conscious companies will not include the booklets - after all, the tab is still there to hold paper there.

Actually, this has already been confirmed: Apparently other games like Uncharted shipped with proper manuals. Capcom was just being cheap.

Dice likes instructions books for:

1) Small game adjuncts I missed on
2) Pretty pictures.

[Eusis]

I've seen someone throw the idea of scrapping instructions and making them more into little artbooks/pamphlets. That actually seems like a good idea if you can go and make a digital manual readily readable at any moment, because I don't want them to go for both of those reasons you stated.

[Kevadu]

I thought this was interesting.  A lot of people assumed that Sony's 3-5 hour battery life claim was only under ideal conditions, but this test gave 3 hours 47 minutes for the Vita with max brightness and volume.  Of course that's still shorter than I would like, but it is significantly better than the 3DS (though that was with 3D on).

I have no idea why they chose a PSP with an expanded battery for comparison...that's not the standard battery in a PSP.  Though even with the standard battery the PSP would still win by a good margin...