PSvita Review

The new PSvita! This is Sony’s latest handheld and the most powerful portable games system on the market, beating everything available right now. So let’s look at a breakdown of the key components that make a console.

Specs – The PSvita comes equipped with a quad core ARM CPU, so it’s powerful but requires no cooling. It’s impressive graphics are powered by a quad core ARM GPU. The ram is 512mb with 128mb of VRAM for the graphics. This means it has more total Ram than the ps3 or 360! ARM processors are known for their low energy to performance needs and are growing in popularity, they are designed in Cambridge in England, then individual manufacturers build them as required. It is very good Sony are using these processors as they are easy yo design for and show that Sony are aiming to make the Vita the easiest system to code for, unlike PS3.

Controls – every conceivable input method is catered for here starting with the usual physical controls. This system has two analogue sticks so it closely resembles the experiences possible on home consoles. To complete the lineup you have the famous playstation buttons and layout, augmented with a front and rear capacitive touch screen, motion controls and AR (alternate reality). These are utilised in one way or another in most of the games on PSvita and feel very natural in use. The rear touch pad is even used in the Vita Facebook app to scroll around and open pictures. These technologies are well implemented and give the Vita an edge in combining two opposing control methods.

Games – Sony’s PSvita system has launched with 40 games of varying quality, although none of which stand out as bad. The biggest selling title by far is Uncharted: golden abyss which took 65% of all uk attached sales. Other games of worthy note are wipeout 2048 for its amazing graphics and interoperability with wipeout HD on PS3, Little Deviants for its brilliant use of AR and touch my katamari as its just a great game. All of these games cost much more than a comparable IOS game but offer so much more in quality of controls and graphics. It really is you get what you pay for here. At least for now people seem willing to pay the prices and the games are worth it. It is worth mentioning the games come in small packages that actually quite cute and even smaller than Blu-ray boxes!

Price – There are two versions of Sony’s PSvita, one has only Wifi and the other has Wifi and 3G. The latter model will of course require data contracts from vodafone in the UK, the prices for this are more reasonable than AT & T in the US. Vodafone even did a pretty decent preorder package with Wipeout 2048 as a free download.
The two consoles cost around £220 and £270 respectively, but memory cards are required for game saving and the best deal seems to be the 8gb for £25. It would’ve been nice for Sony to include this but just factor it in when buying your machine. The games cost between £20 – £40 and pricing seems to depend largely on quality, this is something fairly new and doesn’t really happen with home consoles.

What you get – in the pack you’ll find you PSvita console, a charger USB lead with plug adaptor, headphones and instruction manuals. AR cards are also included as are required by some games.

Comparisons – Well the 3DS has some things the PSvita doesn’t get and the big one is 3D, it really depends on what you want from your games. It is obvious Nintendo have sacrificed spec in other areas in order to make 3D affordable, it’s overall construction, controls (only one analogue stick) and processing power are someway behind PSvita. That said of course the 3D effect is implemented well and can be turned off if needed, games such as metal gear 3D make great use of it. The second screen is also great for displaying maps and the like but is resistive not capacitive, meaning a stylus is required, unlike PSvita or IPad.
The other major competitor will of course be Apple and it’s IPod / iPhone / IPad. Having the same OS across all three devices means games can be downloaded on one and used on all. These systems however carry a hefty price tag and cannot at present match PSvita for specs. The IPad however has a massive screen and much better battery life and is at present more versatile. Design wise it’s a matter of choice as to which you prefer.

Final conclusions – The PSvita is THE system to have if you really love your games, but for the more casual among us Apple’s products will appeal more as the games are cheaper and the devices are smaller, except iPad! . Nintendo is the only manufacturer to bring 3D so it is worth considering if this is important to you. Only time will tell who comes off best and I for one look forward to the developments in the future.

Checkout my blog @ http://cdk-games.blogspot.co.uk

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